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Does your Roland ever squeak?

SS Inc.

New Member
Hey guys and gals. I am new to this site, and really enjoy reading and learning new things. Hope you can help me with this problem/decision with all of your sign business experiences...I own a Roland vp-540, and decided to get a RS-640 as well (traded in my old sp-540).

I have a problem with my new (3 months) RS-640. I have been round and round with my supplier that I purchased the machine from, and just can't decide what to do. Today, someone from Roland called to check on me after the supplier contacted them. Here is what I explained to him:
When my new machine was unpacked and setup, the installers began to run test prints, calibrations, etc. I had work to do, already gone through all of the setup procedures, so I was not hanging over their shoulders as they worked. As they were doing this, one of them noticed that the machine was making a "noise". The print heads were hitting the metal cover that sits just in front of the wipers. BAD, right?

So they tried to "fiddle" with things...nothing fixed the problem except for "wallering" out the holes in the cover to make it sit lower. Fine, I said, just get a new cover as soon as you can, and we'll switch them out.

In the meantime, the machine had started squeaking as the print carriage traveled back and forth, and about a week or so later, somebody showed up to install the new cover. I was out on my own install, and when I returned, my #2 told me that everything was taken care of. Great! Or so I thought...

So I fired her up. No squeaking. That's good...so I asked #2, "so what did they do?" "They greased something and replaced that cover thing."

2 weeks later, the machine started squeaking again, not quite as bad, but still, squeaking. I needed to do a full cleaning...low and behold, I open the front panel cover, and the new metal cover has head-strike streaks on it too, and the freak'in holes are "wallered out" again.

What would you do? I know that these seemingly minor things will probably not cause printer threatening damage, but dang, I paid good money for this thing, and it's just not right.

I need to call both the supplier and the Roland guy back in a day or so...what the heck do I do? Accept a 17,000 with flaws that's "nobody's fault", or demand something?

Thanks, and sorry I wrote a book :banghead:
 
Sorry, I'm not familiar with the term "wallered out".

The capping stations on the Roland RS machines, (like the VP machines) use a system where the captops move laterally on a cam to cap and uncap the heads. Other Roland printers use a more traditional elevator for this. This can produce an unusual noise when the heads move to the right-side of the machine, where the captops are located.

Squeaking can originate from bearings or pulley assy's.
 

SS Inc.

New Member
Yes, but the heads were hitting the metal cover in there, definitely...is the squeaking normal though? My VP-540 has never squeaked.
 

SS Inc.

New Member
wallered out = take a screw driver or pliers make the hole bigger or elongated to make it fit better...
 

H2OK

New Member
Hey there SS Inc.
I am your Regional Roland Mfg Rep., and I see your plight and will be at your shop late tomorrow Morning 10/15/09 and see what you have going there, I with you....17K you should be completely satisfied and I will make sure of that.
My biggest concern is your abilty to print and I have already been in contact with your dealer and our service dept. and have been advised that your printing perfectly but this squeek is drivin you bonkers....(BTW I hate squeeks and rattles also)
I look forward to meeting you tomorrow and will call you shortly to make sure you will be available.

Regards,
The Roland RSM
 
Well there you go! Looks like Roland is right on top of keeping an eye on the message boards.. Post back when all is said and done and update us on the fix.

Thanks
Jay
 

SS Inc.

New Member
Hey guys, yes, the Roland rep contacted me via phone, and is coming by tomorrow...I will keep all interested parties posted via a bump to this post. Thanks for the replies...

To be honest, I never thought someone from Roland would read my post. Is this normal here on signs101? As I stated before, I am new to the site. I just thought I would get member (other sign makers) responses etc. with opinions on what to do next.

Anyways, stay tuned for an update-
 

BobM

New Member
H20K - Welcome to Signs 101 from Cape of Cod. Glad you're out there paying attention.
 

SS Inc.

New Member
Update:

The Roland rep showed up today to diagnose the problems. Luckily it wasn't the heads hitting that metal cover awhile back, just the front lip of the print carriage. So...we all decided the metal piece is very insignificant, and I decided that if the screw holes had to be "wallered" to make it sit a bit lower, then that's fine.

Then we tried diagnosing the squeak. Of course, the machine only squeaked a little bit, but we did strip her down to the guts to see if there might have been a larger problem we just couldn't see or hear at that time. Nothing found, hopefully the mysterious squeak is gone for good. To rat myself out, the machine was sitting level on my sub-par floor, but the stand was a little out of level from front to back. We fixed that.

All in all, I am impressed with Roland and feel like they stand behind their product and customers...whether it be the supplier (the company I bought the machine from), or the end customer (me).

My next machine will still be a Roland.
 
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