Error E070Err YEncoder

[JerryIrons]

Hi everyone, I could really use some advice for a friend's printer with the error listed in the subject E070 YEncoder, for a mutoh falcon jr.

No printing, no head movement, immediately after initializing the error shows up. I have moved the head assembly in the middle of the printer, turned on the printer and there is zero movement. I can move the head with little resistance. I even tried loosening the pulley screws on the left hand side for the metal strip, but since the carriage doesn't even budge I figured that was an exercise in futility. I've gone into the diagnosis menu, and done the yencoder diagnosis. The numbers change for the yencoder when I move the head around left and right. I've cleaned off the t fence and the encoder strips I think, nothing is really dirty or that dusty or ink splattered, it looks pretty clean. I've worked on this printer before when lines rupture etc and it has been just filthy with ink and still ran just fine. Apparently he was having some kind of ink problem, started running cleaning solution through it and this encoder error just happened out of the blue and hasn't worked since. (happened at end of cleaning routine where printer tells you when to put in and pull out cleaning cartridges)

The manual isn't a whole lot of help, other than to start replacing 1/2 dozen things, including main board. Is there a way to test the motor on the right side of the printer? That's my first replacement part if I have to start shotgunning this repair I think. It seems like that motor isn't working, or something isn't telling it to turn?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated,

-Jerry

 

[JerryIrons]

On monday I'm going to have him move the print head assembly and watch the y motor on the right, to see if the pulley and spindle both are moving, just to check and see if the pulley came off. (and check to see if voltage is going to motor) Also I'm going to have him remove the print cartridges, power on the printer, and plug the cartridges in just to see what happens. I've gone through a few posts here with related info, but not sure what else to do. Probably have to call mutoh next.

 

[JerryIrons]

So, the pulley seems to be fine, and we have played around with pulling the cartridges and starting the printer. The result is exactly the same, upon starting the printer, there is zero head movement, and we immediately get the encoder error message. My next step is to call Mutoh and see if they do some type of remote tech help.

 

[CRD]

Y motor is just a DC motor. Disassemble power wire from main board and put 12 volt on it to see if it runs.
I openend once this motor for Y error but nothing special. Brushed motor.

Paco

 

[Solventinkjet]

A common problem with the ValueJets is the head lock mechanism starts to fail and causes the head to get locked up when its trying to move left during initialization. You can figure out if this is the problem by taping the lock mechanism down and starting the machine up. If it works fine, you need to fix the lock. If it gives you the same error, it could be a lot of different things.

 

[JerryIrons]

Thanks guys for the responses. I did talk to mutoh today and he basically said the same thing about that motor, it's just a servo motor (aka dumb), that once it receives voltage it will move the head. His feeling was that since the head didn't move at all, it's probably a driver on the main board that blew, especially after we went over some testing procedures that I have already done. O joy. He did mention that the motor should be receiving voltage at some point during the initial boot process, which I can measure with a meter, and if it doesn't receive voltage it's probably the main board. On monday I will take a look at things including the main board. I have repaired pinball machine boards so I may even try fixing this thing. We will see.

VanderJ are you talking about the head lock clip over on the right hand side of the printer, on top? I'm getting a Y error whether the head is over to the right, "locked" or if I push the printer in the center of the printer.

 

[CRD]

VanderJ are you talking about the head lock clip over on the right hand side of the printer, on top?
No he is talking about Valuejet, complete different machine.
OK, if you do not measure any voltage on the motor take the main board out.
Check where the Y motor connector comes to the main board and follow the red wire traces.
The overcurrent is measured by a low ohmic resistor coming from a transistor who switch on and off the motor depending on the position in relation to the T fence.
if the motor is powered by the main board controller it is expected to be counted by the T-fence in a certain time. If there is no counting or there is a over current it throws up the error.
Measure upto the transistor if there is a low ohmic path.Look for burned tracks or components. As far as I can remember there is no fuse on this motor.
Only the heads have a fuse. I have a mainboard somewhere but that is in the cellar and I have no time to check. Sorry.

Paco

 

[JerryIrons]

Ok so I went out to the printer today to check a couple of things. There wasn't an easy way to check for voltage at the y motor itself, but I followed the black/white wire to the main board, and unplugged the connector on the main board, and put a meter there to measure dc volts on the main board pins for the connector. I did measure voltage there briefly during the bootup process, right before it errors out. It's hard to measure, but I thought I got 10 volts. But regardless, it's sending out voltage. So tomorrow am I will bring a car battery and send 12 volts directly to the y motor to see if it spins.

I looked over the main board and other boards (just the one side), and nothing looks burnt out or fried.

 

[JerryIrons]

Ok, so I unplugged the connector from the main board, which runs to the y motor, and put a car battery 12 volts dc to it. It doesn't even try and move, so I'm assuming the motor is shot. I know it's getting voltage, because if I try and move the printhead assembly there is some minor resistance when the voltage is being sent to the y motor. (printer off)

I found a working used motor to install, will keep this thread updated. Mutoh wouldn't really tell me if that motor used 24 volts, or if 12 volts was enough to turn and test it even, but said it sounded like the motor was bad. I'm under the impression that even if it's a 24 volt motor, it should still have done something with 12 volts put on it.

 

[JerryIrons]

It was the Y motor! I received my working used y motor, and briefly touched my 12 volt car battery to it and the motor spun. Went to the printer, plugged the connector from the motor on to the board, turned on the printer and the motor spun briefly before same error message. (makes sense) So I replaced the y motor, moved the print head assembly to middle of machine and turned printer on while crossing fingers. Everything worked normally. (now dealing with blocked lines in pump tubing haha, hopefully not clogged print heads either, this is last time I work on this printer for him)

Thanks peeps for the help.