A damp sponge a good way to add a little humidity inside a new Epson 3880?

[Chuck S.]

Was wondering if placing a new, wrung out, damp sponge in the print delivery cavity on top of the print receiving tray -- with all doors closed and Tumi printer cover on -- was a good way to keep humidity levels up near the print head. I've got a thin sheet of PVC that's just the right size to sit under the sponge so it is not resting directly on the Epson plastic. No free water droplets anywhere.

I've read some of the threads which discussed putting some Windex on a piece of paper towel right under the head in the parking area, but I'm still a little leery of doing that. I've also got a couple of fan-and-wick-type humidifiers going in the house. Will see if I can get RH up to +/-45% here at 8500' in Colorado with forced air gas heat. Would help my sinuses as well as the printer...

Your thoughts? Potential problems?

[Kirk Gittings]

Though I haven't found it necessary with my 3800, I have used a guitar humidifier or 35mm film canisters with a few holes poked in the top and a wet sponge inside.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Should be fine if you run a nozzle check every couple of days. That's what I do and it seems to be doing the trick. Now, if you are away from your printer for more than a few days, then that's a different story...

[Larry Gebhardt]

Should be fine if you run a nozzle check every couple of days. That's what I do and it seems to be doing the trick. Now, if you are away from your printer for more than a few days, then that's a different story...

I found that with doing only a nozzle check every day for several weeks I eventually got missed nozzles across multiple colors. I think you need to print more than a nozzle check. Not sure why this would be.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Seems to work for me... I do print a digital negative a couple times a week, so maybe that's why.