Graphtec 8600-160 Blade arm not engaging

[Northern Winterbeard]

Recently we have had an issue arise that when we tell the plotter to cut something the cutter carriage will move as normal but the cutting bade is not dropping down to actually cut the material. We have doe a reset to return the machine to factory default setting which has not helped the issue. However we did find that while poking around inside the carriage with the cover off something did engage briefly to get the blade to drop again, although it was not dropping far enough for the blade to touch the material. After trying a few test cuts, and trying to cut a simple stripe to see if it would work the blade arm stopped engaging again.

I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue and if so what you did you fix it. I am just trying to see if this is something we would be able to repair ourselves before calling in a tech from our local Graphtec dealer.

 

[sonnyphoto]

attach a video.

 

[JBurton]

Just curious, is the cut off knife dropping when you push down on the plotting blade? If so, take a ball point pen and stick it, and it will release the cut off knife. (Though if I recall correctly, if this is the issue, it will drop the cutoff knife during normal cutting.)
Otherwise, I believe this is the solenoid. Unsure if that's and easy fix. Ikarasu knows these better than most.

 

[Joseph44708]

My 8600-160 did the same thing two years ago,
Had to replace the whole cutting head.

 

[Joe House]

It's not unusual for the sheet cut blade to interfere with the pen block if it doesn't reset normally. As JB said, take a pen or pencil and push it in the left side of the carrage and make sure that the plunger is out (to the left).
With the power off, can you move the tool holder up and down? Does the sheet cut blade move when you try to push down the tool holder? If this doesn't fix it, you'll likely need a new pen block.

Good Luck