Printheads Scratching Super Heavyweight Plus Matte Paper on Z6200 Designjet

[MeLaDare]

Our Z6200 printer is leaving scratches on Super Heavyweight Plus Matte paper as it prints. The issue seems to be that the paper warps and wrinkles on jobs with heavy ink, and the printheads strike the raised parts of the paper.

Circumstances

• The scratches only appear on the Super Heavyweight Plus Matte paper. All of our other papers (Everyday Satin, Everyday Gloss, and even Heavyweight Coated, which also wrinkles under heavy ink) have no issues.
• This started happening in May of this year. The first print to show these streaks was similar to other jobs we'd done that day, there was nothing obviously wrong with the printer and it hadn't suffered any crashes or issues leading up to this first incident, to my knowledge. 

I've tried the following things to fix this problem:

• Cleaning the printheads (manually and through the diagnostic function)
• Replacing the Printheads
• Cleaning out the vacuum pits that hold the paper down
• Resetting the vacuum fan
• Adding additional white space to matte prints
• Attaching weights to the paper
• Changing the amount of ink used in the print profile for Matte paper
• Replacing the maintenance cartridge
• Lubricating the wheels and rails

Nothing has been a consistent fix for this problem. Our machine is out of warrantee, so HP has only been able to provided limited support. 

We seem to be having a very similar problem to the person who wrote this back in 2019. None of the suggestions in the comments have helped.

If anyone has any other input or suggestions it would be a tremendous help. Our business has had to stop offering Matte paper because every print gets scratched. 

[Repairatrooper]

Are you using actual HP media or 3rd party? Not sure if the 6200 still uses the vacuum system to pull the paper flat against the bottom. If it does  you should check the holes in the bottom plate to make sure that they are clear and providing proper vacuum.

[MeLaDare]

This is actual HP media. And yes, the 6200 uses the vacuum system, and I've already cleaned out the holes in the plate, it didn't seem to make a difference with this issue.

[D Hook]

Not sure where you're located but the service manual makes a note of this:

Vacuum suction much lower at high altitudes
At altitudes above 3,000 meters, the vacuum force holding down the paper will be lower, therefore the
paper will not be held in place properly causing:
● Ink Smearing on the Paper.
● Printhead crashes against the Paper.
● Roll Paper loading problems (low probability).

But this is a new problem right?  You've had success in the past making prints on the same type of paper without this issue?  

[MeLaDare]

We are well above 3,000 meters so that section caught my eye too, but yeah, we've had the machine for years and never had an issue like this.