Falcon Issue

[Tiogy]

Hi all, I have been using a Falcon Outdoor for about four years or so and have been doing my own maintenance and repairs but, this is a new one for me.

I just replaced a broken steel band (Carriage belt) and am now getting lines of color running through and forming a silouette around the printed images. It started out with magenta and now includes black lines as well. These lines are not present on nozzle checks - only with print jobs so I suspect some issue in the data stream. Any ideas?

 

[renamer38]

Hi all, I have been using a Falcon Outdoor for about four years or so and have been doing my own maintenance and repairs but, this is a new one for me.

I just replaced a broken steel band (Carriage belt) and am now getting lines of color running through and forming a silouette around the printed images. It started out with magenta and now includes black lines as well. These lines are not present on nozzle checks - only with print jobs so I suspect some issue in the data stream. Any ideas?

-Is your printer clean (wiper,capping,heads...)
-What kind of colors your are using (original or?)
-What kind of interface with ext. PC do you have (cable_etc)

*maybe electrical problem : CR board ,mainboard ....^^?=

 

[Tiogy]

Thanks for your reply

-The machine is clean - I did several extensive cleanings inside and out with a complete head wash also
-Colors are Mutoh Eco-sol Ultra
-Cat 5 cable from network hub to SEH pocket print server on printer parallel interface

The problem started immediately after the belt replacement and I opened the machine up again to recheck all of the data cables for potential damage, poor connections, etc., including the print server.

 

[bob]

Clean your encoder strip. When you changed the belt you might have left a big nasty thumb print or something on it.

 

[randya]

very likely the belt tension is off, probably too loose.

 

[Tiogy]

Do you have any tips for adjusting the belt for proper tension? I tightened it up quite a bit and that made no difference. I also cleaned the decoder strip a couple of times - no change.

 

[randya]

Do you have any tips for adjusting the belt for proper tension? I tightened it up quite a bit and that made no difference. I also cleaned the decoder strip a couple of times - no change.

With the carriage in the docking station, go to the middle of the machine and put a single finger on the belt, you should barely be able push in and to deflect the belt enough to touch the beam.

 

[Tiogy]

Thanks for the tip but, no luck on the belt tightening - the Tech I contacted thinks that the head driver board may have been damaged when the belt broke so I guess I'll try replacing that next.

Update: The tech suggested that I try to eliminate one other possibility - that being a possible issue with the pocket print server. I bypassed that by hooking a printer cable directly to the port on the printer and I finally got a clean print test. There still exists a possible cause in the software as I had to use another PC to run the test due to the lack of a parallel port on my main PC. I will continue to narrow down the possible causes and report back when I know more.

I thank you all for your help

 

[Tiogy]

Final Solution

Before almost buying a new printer, I contacted Dell tech support and they helped me troubleshoot the issue. It turned out to be a glitch in Flexi's Production Manager. All I had to do was change the profile, try a test print and it works perfect. Then I changed back to the original ICC profile and the issue is gone - stupid simple.

Again - thanks for the tips and suggestions guys - :U Rock: