Epson 9890 newbie questions - roll paper

[faneuil]

Brand new 9890 owner here. I know the printer a bit as I used to use a friend's 9890.

I am printing directly from Lightroom (my preferred workflow)
I am using 24" and 44" paper rolls.

-I have been choosing 'roll paper' from page setup (A1 for 24" roll), but is there a way to print to roll and *not* be forced to use the the full length?
EG: printing a 18" x 18" image onto A1 setting forces printer to print onto 24 x 36 and wasting a considerable paper above and below the image.

I have tried custom sizes, but the printer return "load correct paper" error.

Second question - a minor one - the printer, when idle, makes a 'chattering' noise every 2 minutes or so. What is that? A head printer micro clean? just curious.

thanks,
Eric

 

[faneuil]

OK - learned a bit so doing better.
After a bit of poking and manual reading, I got custom paper sizes to work..

Still curious about that chattering noise is (sounds normal- but just curious)

Also read that if going on printer hiatus, it is a good idea to leave printer on and attached to utility time so printer turns on briefly once a day -- thereby doing a mini head clean.
thoughts?

Eric