HS15+ Errors

[White Haus]

I just replaced the drum on our HS15+ and despite taking longer than expected, was able to get it all back together.

Booted up fine, and started doing some test cuts to check the quality. Cut dept accuracy was much better with the fresh drum, which I "borrowed" from an old GS15+ we had kicking around, but the cut quality wasn't great and even circles weren't perfectly round.

I tried going into diagnostic mode and running those tests and it started acting up and beeping non-stop.
Tried following the steps in the manual but it just keeps beeping and flashing lights.

When I turn it off, both the drum motor and belt motor seem to spaz out and both give a violent jolt before the machine powers down.

We've run into this before and it seemed to just go away after powering down/unplugging overnight, but I obviously need to find the source of this issue.

Has anyone ever seen this where the plotter goes crazy when you power down?
If I can get that issue corrected, how do I make adjustments to increase the cut quality?

Thanks in advance, really hoping someone has run into this before!

 

[White Haus]

Additional info: It's actually all of the motors that spazz out when powering down.

After re-reading the instructions to determine error codes, it's throwing error #4 - "Power Relay Closed" and the only further instruction is to call Gerber Field Service. Hmm.

 

[Billct2]

could be a solenoid, that's what was diagnosed on our super sprint that had similar symptoms.
the solenoid isn't switching off when the plotter is turned off
tapping the solenoid fixed it for a while but eventually it had to be replaced

 

[White Haus]

could be a solenoid, that's what was diagnosed on our super sprint that had similar symptoms.
the solenoid isn't switching off when the plotter is turned off
tapping the solenoid fixed it for a while but eventually it had to be replaced

Thanks Bill. I took everything apart and tapped the solenoid a few times and it seems to boot up okay now. Fingers crossed that it's going to work for now.

Still on the hunt for any instructions on how to fine tune the cut quality of the plotter if anyone knows how....!

 

[Jburns]

did you oil and clean the rails? check for play in the blade holder, disconnect and reconnect the electrical connections ( careful at that age they are brittle).

 

[White Haus]

did you oil and clean the rails? check for play in the blade holder, disconnect and reconnect the electrical connections ( careful at that age they are brittle).

Yep, I tried all of those. Blew out 15+ years of dust and checked all connections. I even tried adjusting the tension a bit on the belt but no noticeable improvements.

I also tried comparing cuts from our swivel blade (what we usually use) and the tangential blade and the lousy quality is consistent w/ both.

I wonder if there's a service manual out there somewhere? There has to be an adjustment somewhere.

The only adjustment I found in the owner's manual is the black disk, but blade holder nob is sitting at 12:00 as it should be. I guess I could try anyways and see if it helps.

 

[Sign Impressions]

We had the same motor jitter issue a while back. Had a tech out, and he suggested the same thing, tap on it with the back of a screwdriver, which fixed it, as ours was stuck in the closed position and wouldn't open up (I believe this was a relay in our unit). Every now and then we get the jitter during shutdown, but all is well when we turn the machine back on. He offered this suggestion, since the replacement board was a few thousand dollars, and they don't perform any de-soldering components from the motherboard.

As far as the cut quality, we had some type of similar issue, and I'm going on 10 years ago of memory when we replaced our worn out roller.
From what I can recall, one of the belts wasn't tight enough, and when we tightened it more that we thought necessary, then the accuracy was back on track.
Any slack, caused bad cut quality.

Sorry I don't recall what exactly we tightened, wish I could be more specific.
If I had to guess, it was the belt that runs the cutting head carriage back and forth, the exposed one you see.

I do recall freaking out that it wasn't working correctly until we tightened things down...

 

[White Haus]

We had the same motor jitter issue a while back. Had a tech out, and he suggested the same thing, tap on it with the back of a screwdriver, which fixed it, as ours was stuck in the closed position and wouldn't open up (I believe this was a relay in our unit). Every now and then we get the jitter during shutdown, but all is well when we turn the machine back on. He offered this suggestion, since the replacement board was a few thousand dollars, and they don't perform any de-soldering components from the motherboard.

As far as the cut quality, we had some type of similar issue, and I'm going on 10 years ago of memory when we replaced our worn out roller.
From what I can recall, one of the belts wasn't tight enough, and when we tightened it more that we thought necessary, then the accuracy was back on track.
Any slack, caused bad cut quality.

Sorry I don't recall what exactly we tightened, wish I could be more specific.
If I had to guess, it was the belt that runs the cutting head carriage back and forth, the exposed one you see.

I do recall freaking out that it wasn't working correctly until we tightened things down...

Thank you!! That does help - there is a simple adjustment to tighten/loosen that belt so I will try that and see how it goes.