crop mark error...uggh!

[spudcity]

My SP300V has started to not read crop marks after laminating. I can wait for it to reset and try to cut it again without changing anything and it works. I emailed Roland and they said to contact my tech guy. I'm sure others have had this problem and I'd like to fix it on myself if possible. Of course, my warranty ran out a month ago.

It never really has cut well and seems to veer off path easily also.

Thanks for any help.

 

[CustomRide]

My SP300V has started to not read crop marks after laminating. I can wait for it to reset and try to cut it again without changing anything and it works. I emailed Roland and they said to contact my tech guy. I'm sure others have had this problem and I'd like to fix it on myself if possible. Of course, my warranty ran out a month ago.

It never really has cut well and seems to veer off path easily also.

Thanks for any help.

We have had the same problems too. It seems as though the results improve if you move the media clamps out pretty far. We also noticed that it read crop marks better on smaller prints than on wider ones. We would even have it read them....start to cut then go all the way to the back crop mark and detect the rear marks then come to the front and stop. We were told to clean the encoder strip.

 

[SignsOfMaine]

I think if you search the forums for the words 'detect crop marks' or 'crop marks problem' you will find some other people's issues and fixes on it... from memory, I think one fix was to squeegee hard over the marks to get rid of any silvering and make sure they're easy to see, and if you're desperate you could try knifing around the marks (without cutting the print, just the lam layer) and try to peel off the lam over the marks. Less work would be to put a post-it note over the marks, then cut out around the post-its, which would be a little easier to peel. Another fix was to use a black sharpie and go over them again. Hope that helps. Some software apparently has an option for a different style of crop marks (where it detects each one manually?) or to darken the marks, though I've always seem them come off our roland as pitch black.

 

[woolly]

just for the odd occaion it wont read (TYPE of Laminate) i have some cut dots of vinyl to stick on.

woolly

 

[hoppers]

Read here:

http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43070&highlight=crop+marks

It may be the fact there isnt enough extra material at the top for the rollers to pick up on...

 

[kustomkoncepts]

Where do I start.

There has been many a time I wanted to start a ROLAND SUPPORT GROUP like AA.
I have wanted to kill my machine before. when it is not working it is very frustrating.

What are you using?

My experience below is when using Roland VersaWorks RIP.

Here is what I have had happen and the fixes or causes from it.

Machine was perfect for the first 1 year of its life then not so good the next 2 (4Years Old Now)


My 54" was prone to the SERVICE CALL 0010 (ENCODER STRIP ERROR)


and missed crop mark detection.

I had the encoder strip replaced worked for 6 months then started acting again. had the Carriage cable, Carriage Board, encoder strip and laser sensor on encoder, laser sensor on cutting head and scan Motor replaced. Has worked for a year now. I was sick of the repair bill and down time so I replace everything that was linked to my problems.

(1) one thing I do is put your vinyl in and do the sheet cut off function that way you have a straigh edge to realign when you put it back in and you will be square, align it with one of the lines that is runnign horizontal on the printer .

(2) I bypassed the saftey switch on the plexiglass cover so I can opperate the align function with it open (CLOSE WHEN RUNNING). this makes it easier to align and get the blade right in the center of the HOME dot.

Here is where I was doing it wrong before. I would put the cutting blade in the exact center of the dot using arrow keys manually and hit the (BASE POINT) button. Don't do that get it into the center of that dot but only center front to back then run it over as far as it will go to the right (TOWARD HOME LOCATION) then hit BASE POINT and it will work a lot better. it should come out and find the first dot right away.

(3) clean the little laser eye sensor on the cutting head that sences the crop marks it can get dirty and not read well.

Where is it missing the crop marks?

explain what it is doing.

if it is coming right out and going past the first one or is it missing the far one?

 

[Commander]

My friend can accross the problem and it was his PC. He used his PC that he was using for printing for other stuff as well. I rebuilt his machine and he only uses it to print and cut now and has no problems. But the quick fix is to cut a bunch of circles out of black vinyl and put them over the reg marks when it has this problem. You will notice this problem will come and go. I think the heart of the problem is the PC not the printer. It might have something to do with comunication problems. But it will read them when you put the black viynl circles over the reg marks.

 

[The Big Squeegee]

Try lowering the light levels in the room. The glare from the lights off of the laminate may make it harder for the sensor to detect the edges if the dots. I have used the cut out black dots as well.

 

[spudcity]

thanks for the help, I've been on vacation and just got back to read up. I've been using the technique you described (that you initially used) and it was usually missing the first crop mark. I'll try moving the carraige over to the right and see what happens.

what are you using to clean the laser eye?

Dale, thanks for the suggestion but I've tried different light levels and it hasn't affected the performance.

 

[kustomkoncepts]

Use a Q tip and 70% iso rubbung alcohol

what I found when I used to put it dead center on the first dot and hit BASE POINT button it would catch it most of the time but miss read about 30% of the time yes it would just miss it and start looking for the second dot and go back and forth and never find them.

by finding the center of the first dot with the cutting blade then arrow key it over as far to the right as possible then hit BASE POINT it has never missed the first dot. it gives it a chance to find it other than if it was in the center of it it starts looking right there and can miss it.

 

[Junrall]

kustomkoncepts is right about the rubbing alcohol. I would suggest using a cleaning swab... the type that is used to clean your heads and caps. That way no lint is left on the sensor.
Also, there is a thin diffuser that actually covers the optical sensor. Sometimes this diffuser will become "powder coated" with ink particles or will become dirtied from over cleaning and or ruined from being cleaned with cleaning solvent. The only way to tell is to remove the sensor and inspect that diffuser. If it is dirty I'm pretty sure that it can be rotated 90 degrees so that the clean half is over the sensor. If you're not mechanically inclined, I would suggest calling your tech to check this.

 

[InkjetAuction]

Crop mark sensor adjustment

In addition to cleaning the filter covering the sensor, there is also a service-level crop mark sensor adjustment that should be done. It's a 10 minute fix.

~E

 

[ProWraps™]

this is kind of ghetto but to fix our problem sometimes, we take a straight edge and a fine point roller pen, and redraw the crop marks on the lam over the original marks. it has seemed to work so far the times we have had to do it. hope it helps your situation.

 

[jhimes]

We had the same problem recently and was placing black vinyl circles over the crop marks as well drawing over with sharpies until we called our Roland tech. He came by and made an adjustment to the voltage setting for the eye and it works perfectly now.

 

[Helpellie]

Where do I start.

There has been many a time I wanted to start a ROLAND SUPPORT GROUP like AA.
I have wanted to kill my machine before. when it is not working it is very frustrating.

What are you using?

My experience below is when using Roland VersaWorks RIP.

Here is what I have had happen and the fixes or causes from it.

Machine was perfect for the first 1 year of its life then not so good the next 2 (4Years Old Now)


My 54" was prone to the SERVICE CALL 0010 (ENCODER STRIP ERROR)


and missed crop mark detection.

I had the encoder strip replaced worked for 6 months then started acting again. had the Carriage cable, Carriage Board, encoder strip and laser sensor on encoder, laser sensor on cutting head and scan Motor replaced. Has worked for a year now. I was sick of the repair bill and down time so I replace everything that was linked to my problems.

(1) one thing I do is put your vinyl in and do the sheet cut off function that way you have a straigh edge to realign when you put it back in and you will be square, align it with one of the lines that is runnign horizontal on the printer .

(2) I bypassed the saftey switch on the plexiglass cover so I can opperate the align function with it open (CLOSE WHEN RUNNING). this makes it easier to align and get the blade right in the center of the HOME dot.

Here is where I was doing it wrong before. I would put the cutting blade in the exact center of the dot using arrow keys manually and hit the (BASE POINT) button. Don't do that get it into the center of that dot but only center front to back then run it over as far as it will go to the right (TOWARD HOME LOCATION) then hit BASE POINT and it will work a lot better. it should come out and find the first dot right away.

(3) clean the little laser eye sensor on the cutting head that sences the crop marks it can get dirty and not read well.

Where is it missing the crop marks?

explain what it is doing.

if it is coming right out and going past the first one or is it missing the

Where do I start.

There has been many a time I wanted to start a ROLAND SUPPORT GROUP like AA.
I have wanted to kill my machine before. when it is not working it is very frustrating.

What are you using?

My experience below is when using Roland VersaWorks RIP.

Here is what I have had happen and the fixes or causes from it.

Machine was perfect for the first 1 year of its life then not so good the next 2 (4Years Old Now)


My 54" was prone to the SERVICE CALL 0010 (ENCODER STRIP ERROR)


and missed crop mark detection.

I had the encoder strip replaced worked for 6 months then started acting again. had the Carriage cable, Carriage Board, encoder strip and laser sensor on encoder, laser sensor on cutting head and scan Motor replaced. Has worked for a year now. I was sick of the repair bill and down time so I replace everything that was linked to my problems.

(1) one thing I do is put your vinyl in and do the sheet cut off function that way you have a straigh edge to realign when you put it back in and you will be square, align it with one of the lines that is runnign horizontal on the printer .

(2) I bypassed the saftey switch on the plexiglass cover so I can opperate the align function with it open (CLOSE WHEN RUNNING). this makes it easier to align and get the blade right in the center of the HOME dot.

Here is where I was doing it wrong before. I would put the cutting blade in the exact center of the dot using arrow keys manually and hit the (BASE POINT) button. Don't do that get it into the center of that dot but only center front to back then run it over as far as it will go to the right (TOWARD HOME LOCATION) then hit BASE POINT and it will work a lot better. it should come out and find the first dot right away.

(3) clean the little laser eye sensor on the cutting head that sences the crop marks it can get dirty and not read well.

Where is it missing the crop marks?

explain what it is doing.

if it is coming right out and going past the first one or is it missing the far one?

 

[Helpellie]

I would join that group! We have a LEF 300. It’s only a little over a year. We have invested an enormous amount of time and money starting and building our biz. Now that we are finally at a point where we are doing well and reaping the rewards (and it’s the beginning of holiday shopping) our printer is down.

We also have had problems with the encoder strip and had to have replaced. Now throwing a scan motor error. The machine is also saying the cover is open (it’s not) and we can’t print. Have you encountered anything similar?