Edge 2 Issues

[SellersSign&Design]

Ok guys, it’s been a while since I’ve posted here. Probably 2 years ago or more my Edge 2 randomly quit on me. It was a gently used printer that I ran some jobs on the first part of the week, then the end of that week it fired up and did everything like normal, but when it prints no foil actually gets transferred. It runs the vinyl through and advances the foil, but it’s just blank. I contacted Gerber and after paying to speak to a technician they basically told me I’d have to send it in. We narrowed it down to most likely a head cable or board issue. I replaced the head cable with no change in the issue, and then just packed the printer away. Fast forward to now, I bought a parts printer on eBay with a bad head. I swapped both the upper and lower computer boards out today... and I’m still getting ghost prints. The voltage on both leads coming into the head from the power supply is 22.6, and the power supply is marked for 22.6 V. Does anyone have any ideas? I guess the head could be shot, but nobody including Gerber has said that they’ve seen a head completely fail like this. If I’m getting the correct voltage at the head the power supply should be fine right? Just at a loss for what to do with this thing.

 

[netsol]

Ok guys, it’s been a while since I’ve posted here. Probably 2 years ago or more my Edge 2 randomly quit on me. It was a gently used printer that I ran some jobs on the first part of the week, then the end of that week it fired up and did everything like normal, but when it prints no foil actually gets transferred. It runs the vinyl through and advances the foil, but it’s just blank. I contacted Gerber and after paying to speak to a technician they basically told me I’d have to send it in. We narrowed it down to most likely a head cable or board issue. I replaced the head cable with no change in the issue, and then just packed the printer away. Fast forward to now, I bought a parts printer on eBay with a bad head. I swapped both the upper and lower computer boards out today... and I’m still getting ghost prints. The voltage on both leads coming into the head from the power supply is 22.6, and the power supply is marked for 22.6 V. Does anyone have any ideas? I guess the head could be shot, but nobody including Gerber has said that they’ve seen a head completely fail like this. If I’m getting the correct voltage at the head the power supply should be fine right? Just at a loss for what to do with this thing.

often, when an edge gets "cranky" the first thing to do is carefully reseat EVERY CABLE in the machine

there is no guarantee that the boards are all good in the machine with bad head that you bought. that being said, it would be remarkable, though if the other machine had exactly the same problem. not to make you crazy, but there is a possibility that the " bad print head" diagnosis is a bad one & the 2 machines have the same bad board

lets start with reseating all the cables first...

 

[SellersSign&Design]

often, when an edge gets "cranky" the first thing to do is carefully reseat EVERY CABLE in the machine

there is no guarantee that the boards are all good in the machine with bad head that you bought. that being said, it would be remarkable, though if the other machine had exactly the same problem. not to make you crazy, but there is a possibility that the " bad print head" diagnosis is a bad one & the 2 machines have the same bad board

lets start with reseating all the cables first...

I have gone through every cable, at least every one I can find. I just swapped both boards today which was 90% of the cables. You’re right, there is a small chance that both printers had bad boards. I don’t think that is the case though. It just doesn’t make any sense.

 

[netsol]

let me look for my service manual.
we just moved our sign business, manuals never got unpacked yet
i will send you a pdf of service manual so we are both looking at the same thing

 

[Jburns]

Have you tried printing a head test block from the printer, not the computer?

 

[SellersSign&Design]

let me look for my service manual.
we just moved our sign business, manuals never got unpacked yet
i will send you a pdf of service manual so we are both looking at the same thing

Awesome thanks!

 

[SellersSign&Design]

Have you tried printing a head test block from the printer, not the computer?

I have, it’s the same result. Just a blank piece of vinyl coming out the other end.

 

[netsol]

just to be clear,
you said the print woud quit?
so this issue was intermittent, until it became te permanent state of the machine?
and the process the machine goes through looks identical to what used to happen WHEN IT WORKED? no steps skipped, no extra passes, no error nessages?

this should be somewhat easier than troubleshooting with someone who has never seen normsl

 

[Fred Weiss]

Basic elimination of possibilities question: Have you tried a different job with different vinyl and foil?

 

[SellersSign&Design]

just to be clear,
you said the print woud quit?
so this issue was intermittent, until it became te permanent state of the machine?
and the process the machine goes through looks identical to what used to happen WHEN IT WORKED? no steps skipped, no extra passes, no error nessages?

this should be somewhat easier than troubleshooting with someone who has never seen normsl

No it was not intermittent. The printer worked great, I printed with it the beginning of one week and then when I fired it up at the end of that week it wouldn’t print at all. I am also very big on unplugging machines that aren’t in use so it shouldn’t have been a power surge or lighting issue. When it first happened, I was printing on 3M reflective with orange transparent foil, and it left almost a “ghost” image on the vinyl. None of the orange transferred, but if you held the vinyl in the right light you could make out where the print should’ve been, almost like it heated some but not enough to transfer.

 

[SellersSign&Design]

Basic elimination of possibilities question: Have you tried a different job with different vinyl and foil?

Yes sir I tried everything. Rebooting, different vinyl, different foil, etc. Since replacing the boards and head cable I’ve been directly printing test prints through the test print button on the machine. Still nothing.

 

[netsol]

ok,
so does it still print a ghost image?


i will find manuals today, (i never made it to the shop yesterday, bought some equipment in NYC and had to go in at noon to pickup. a mistake i will never make again.( i didn't realize people "triple pack" in new york ...)

 

[SellersSign&Design]

ok,
so does it still print a ghost image?


i will find manuals today, (i never made it to the shop yesterday, bought some equipment in NYC and had to go in at noon to pickup. a mistake i will never make again.( i didn't realize people "triple pack" in new york ...)

No it no longer prints a ghost image. It makes me wonder if the power supply is bad, because that would make sense as far as it suddenly not printing at all after being unplugged and plugged back in, and would also explain why everything works except for the actual transfer of the foil, right? But if the power supply is bad I wouldn’t think I should have the correct voltage at the print head, or should I?

 

[signage]

Check the current.