Need Help Mimaki UJF 7151 Plus II - Carriage making alot of noise + errors (Video)

[Eirikprint]

Hello, our UJF 7151 Plus II started showing "Error 404 y-origin" yesterday, and today it showed "Error 50a y-origin". After I restarted the machine today, the error was gone - and I did the following test:

1. Execute and confirm [#TEST]->[SENSOR TEST] - >[Y-ORG].(Confirm that the ON/OFF display is switched by moving the carriage left and right.) 2. [Execute [#TEST]->[CHECK ENCODER].

Nothing noteworthy happened during the test, everything seems fine - and this is what was read from the "Check Encoder" settings:
M: 2.0mm - 400puls
E: 43.5mm - 2. 600puls

We started hearing a clapping sound from the carriage yesterday during printing, and it doesn't start until it is halfway into a print or so. I took a video to show. What could be causing this?

Update: I just did maintenance > carriage out and cleaned up, and I decided to film the carriage going back home just in case anything happened. Now we are getting this error again:

Update again - we found out what the slamming noise is after further watching the video. If you look in 0.25 speed, you can see and hear that the mechanism for the tray is being hit by the carriage.
I am not sure, but this isn't supposed to be hit during printing right? What is the name of this tray/mechanism anyway?

 

[Eirikprint]

We did an emergency stop right after the video stopped - because we don't want to cause any harm to the printheads or carriage. Edit: I just updated the main post instead of writing more responses. Will continue updating the more we learn.

 

[Eirikprint]

Update on our situation. We talked with a technician who told us to clean the Encoder Strip - if this wasn't the problem, then it would probably be the encoder sensor.
We tried cleaning but to no avail. Every startup results in a "Error 50 A - y origin" error. We noticed however that it sounds like something is "rubbing" when the carriage is trying to position itself over the station assy.
So, it seems that the station assy is giving a bit more resistance than it should, and we tried helping the carriage by gently pushing on the station assy when it was settling in on startup. This resulted in a clean startup - and we tested this 3 times now, with the same result. If we don't help by gently pushing on the plastic bracket (as shown in the picture above, and also on the video) then we get a "Error 50 A y origin" again.

We haven't taken out the station assy yet, because we can hear that there are springs underneath - and we didn't dare have that flying inside the machine when we don't know what it looks like yet.

Could resistance of the station assy be the problem here? The first error we got was "Error 404 y-origin", but this only appeared twice. As far as I could tell this is an overcurrent warning. Wouldn't this suggest that the motor has to work harder than expected, and therefore throw us this error? Or possibly that the motor is done for? We don't hope for the latter.

Heres a video showing the situation this far.

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

Looks like you're just bumping the capping station, the station is pretty clunky on the 7151 series, so pretty noisy. That said, definitely check the encoder strip for wear or damage. Depending on the motor type driving the carriage, there might be an encoder there as well. If it is using a DC motor, there will be 2 connections, 1 for motor power (usually thicker red and black wires) and an encoder. Have had the encoder come unplugged before, would cause the carriage to slam into the side of the machine.

If getting origin errors, likely the endstop might be having issues, dirty, ink contamination, or maybe not aligned or even damaged.

As for using the e-stop, be careful with that. If it gets hit at peak acceleration, can damage the machine as the motor braking of the carriage also gets disabled.

 

[Eirikprint]

Looks like you're just bumping the capping station, the station is pretty clunky on the 7151 series, so pretty noisy. That said, definitely check the encoder strip for wear or damage. Depending on the motor type driving the carriage, there might be an encoder there as well. If it is using a DC motor, there will be 2 connections, 1 for motor power (usually thicker red and black wires) and an encoder. Have had the encoder come unplugged before, would cause the carriage to slam into the side of the machine.

If getting origin errors, likely the endstop might be having issues, dirty, ink contamination, or maybe not aligned or even damaged.

As for using the e-stop, be careful with that. If it gets hit at peak acceleration, can damage the machine as the motor braking of the carriage also gets disabled.

Will keep the e-stop in mind for next time, thank you! We checked the encoder strip, and cleaned it, and we can't see anything wrong with it. It is still tight and appears fine to the eye, and now its clean too. As shown in the last video, for some reason the printer starts fine if we help the carriage move the tray just a little bit.

Also, while doing this we found this sensor which we didn't know was there, does anybody know what this is for?

 

[JBurton]

I'm sorry, totally not relevant, went looking for a service manual as if I could help, came across an operation manual, scrolled a few pages, then burst out laughing:

Who has 11 employees to lift and move a printer? I'm sorry, more than 11 people.

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

I printed the 11 guys diagram out on stickers; it is hilarious.
The part in question I believe is the zeroing LED for when you want to set a new origin.
Do you have a service manual?

 

[Eirikprint]

I printed the 11 guys diagram out on stickers; it is hilarious.
The part in question I believe is the zeroing LED for when you want to set a new origin.
Do you have a service manual?

Set a new origin, as in Y origin? Just curious because its the only sensor I can think of that may be affected when we help move the plastic tray into position during start-up. Maybe the ink has built up in the grooves/slits, and the motor can feel that there is too much resistance when it's trying to push? It is pushing plastic on plastic, so if that gets clogged with ink it would make sense for it to get more sticky over time?

We have the installation manual / the manual that explains most of the machine, but not the Service manual. We have gotten snippets from a different manual that the technicians use earlier. But it seems Mimaki is gatekeeping alot of information, especially regarding the head of the 7151. The manual we have is the same one you can find online, the same that JBurton found and started laughing at.

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

Set a new origin, as in Y origin? Just curious because its the only sensor I can think of that may be affected when we help move the plastic tray into position during start-up. Maybe the ink has built up in the grooves/slits, and the motor can feel that there is too much resistance when it's trying to push? It is pushing plastic on plastic, so if that gets clogged with ink it would make sense for it to get more sticky over time?

We have the installation manual / the manual that explains most of the machine, but not the Service manual. We have gotten snippets from a different manual that the technicians use earlier. But it seems Mimaki is gatekeeping alot of information, especially regarding the head of the 7151. The manual we have is the same one you can find online, the same that JBurton found and started laughing at.

The origin is just the print start, not the machine origin/home machine as defined by the hardware and end-stops. It's for setting a temporary origin, like you'd find on a vinyl cutter if wanting to start halfway in on a sheet that was already partially used.