NEED HELP IN THE WORST WAY! XC540 Acting very weird!

[awalracing]

Looking for any help or suggestions you may have? At my wits end! A few days ago my XC540 was just finishing a job and it was going to park. It made a clunk nose and beeped. The code 0106. After googling it, it said to do a Limit initialization. So I did this by pressing and holding left, up, right then power. Got through that and it started printing off to one side after laying down it's initial passes. (It's almost like the 1st half of the print head print perfect, then the next half is pushed to the side a bit.) Thinking it might be the encoder strip or sensor, I cleaned them and tried again. Same thing! So I went ahead and change the encoder strip, still didn't work. After talking to a few people, I was advised to make a detailed post. So hear we are. Here are a few test prints. #1 In the service menu, print menu, Horizontal test It finishes the print and says "set head hight to high" with a beep then won't let me back to any menus without shutting it down. Small writing seems blurred on DT3 #2 Service, print, bidirectional test It finishes the print and says "set head hight to high" with a beep then won't let me back to any menus without shutting it down Small writing seems blurred on DT3 but better then #1 and boxes look way off. #3 Service, print, fill test Then went back and parked properly. Allowing me to use buttons and menus again. Test looks good other then the color edges are shifted. Cyan, magenta, black seem to be affected. Yellow, LCyan and Lmegenta look unaffected. Although it doesn't look like a color issue, it looks like it shifts out then in again. Video to follow. #4 Service, print, bi-directional check Then went back and parked properly. Allowing me to use buttons and menus again. All lines look really good other then the very look like it's missing a few. The other is about 11" from the start and there bunched up. #5 showing how lettering is starts good, then shifts off. #6 Your typical test print. First half is good, second half shifts off. I was advised to clean the encoder strip and sensor, after doing so it seemed to get worse. i will post more photos in the comments below as i can only upload 5. last night i when to bed very frustrated, could get anywhere with this thing.
I woke up this morning with positive vibes and wanting Roly to work more then anything in the world! To my disappointment, I started a test print and my Light Cyan is streaking everywhere. (photos in comments) it only seems to be getting worse. Im avery small bussiness and with out this machine running we have no income. So PLEASE Anything else you might need to know, shoot me a message. I'll be around the printer until it's up and running again. Thank in advance.

 

[awalracing]

These are all of how it was printing before cleaning encoder strip and sensor

 

[awalracing]

after cleaning the encoder strip and sensor

 

[awalracing]

This mornings wake up surprise

 

[dweavers]

bi directional calibration perhaps, have you tried also printing a job unidirectional?

 

[Joe House]

It looks like your print carriage is skewed. Your heads have deflections and dropouts and something is messed up with your encoder. You may also have an electrical issue with your cyan head - a cable or something.

Good luck with this.

 

[FrankW]

This is typically a problem of the linear encoder (plastic stripe over the print area with little markers), dirty or damaged. Try to clean with water. It is possible to turn the encoder upside down to solve the problem, but of course only if that wasn´t done already during the live of the printer.

 

[netsol]

Water, not isopropyl?

 

[Joe House]

Water, not isopropyl?

You can use either. Just don't use the regular cleaning fluid on an encoder strip or you'll have a clear strip.

 

[DL Signs]

Code 0106 can just be a limit initialize value lost, a fault in the tool carriage/ head carriage disconnect, or a backlash issue. If you heard a clunk when it happened, I'd focus on those components to see if something broke or skipped position. With this, also check the belt tension if the machine has had a lot of use.

 

[coltonwanderson]

Hey There! Alot going on here, so I apologize if I misunderstand anything or suggest something you have already done. It also seems like there may be multiple things going on, so I'm going to start with just a few things.

1. when you replaced the encoder strip did you ensure that the carriage can move all the way across without the sensor scraping the encoder?
2. did you run the linear encoder setup after installing the new encoder?
3. When you were running the unidirectional and bidirectional test prints and it gave you the "set head height to high" message, did you change the head height? There should be a lever on the left side of the carriage with a 2 or 3 height settings. You have to physical move the lever to the highest position so that it can resume the test pattern. It wants to run the adjustment at multiple head heights, but you have to physically change the height, it can't do it on its own.

 

[awalracing]

so the blue smearing has quit. turns out that it was a connection that had come loose. Pushed it back in and it working good as far as that goes, but i still have the issue of it printing double vision.

UPDATE!!! This morning i woke up to do a test print and see what we were up against for the day.... now i cant even get it to finish its page setup. Does one pass and gives me error code 0110. Clean strip...


I have a brand new encoder strip, cleaned the sensor multiple times, tried it in different spots on its little slide area. Nothing seems to help, just getting 0110 ....

 

[coltonwanderson]

so the blue smearing has quit. turns out that it was a connection that had come loose. Pushed it back in and it working good as far as that goes, but i still have the issue of it printing double vision.

UPDATE!!! This morning i woke up to do a test print and see what we were up against for the day.... now i cant even get it to finish its page setup. Does one pass and gives me error code 0110. Clean strip...


I have a brand new encoder strip, cleaned the sensor multiple times, tried it in different spots on its little slide area. Nothing seems to help, just getting 0110 ....

did you run a linear encoder setup when you replaced the strip?

 

[awalracing]

i cant now, it wont get past the 0110

 

[coltonwanderson]

These are the steps from the manual for that error code.
Base on my experience of the most common issues, I would hazard that the scan motor is likely going bad. The scan motor gets a lot of wear and tear on it; might help to go to the history menu and see how many hours it has.


- Confirm whether Encoder Scale is between the slit of Encoder Module in a whole width of the machine.
- Check cable connection between Linear Encoder Board and Head Board
- Confirm connection between Belt and Carriage
- Linear Encoder replacement
- Scan Motor replacement
- Servo Board replacement
- Main Board replacement

 

[awalracing]

F motor has 93 hours
S motor has 1290 hours

 

[cornholio]

Is it an original encoder strip?
They can have different stepping...

 

[coltonwanderson]

F motor has 93 hours
S motor has 1290 hours

That's getting pretty old for a scan motor, that may well be the issue...

 

[Jim Hancock]

Did you run the limit initialization after replacing the encoder strip?

Please, never use water or cleaning solution! The encoder strip is a piece of graphics film that is processed in water-based chemistry and water and cleaning solution will soften the emulsion and can permanently damage it.

This is the best way to do this. You will need gloves, a clean microfiber cloth and acetone. Yes, acetone... It will not damage the encoder strip in any way. 91% alcohol is ok, but doesn't get all the ink off like acetone will. NEVER use alcohol less than 91% as the water content in 70% alcohol will soften the emulsion on the encoder strip (it's a piece of graphics film) and can damage it. I have cleaned hundreds of encoder strips with acetone and never damaged one.

Cut several 2 inch squares of the microfiber cloth, wet it with acetone, and fold it over the encoder strip and wipe the stripe gently using your thumb and forefinger to hold the cloth against the encoder strip. Do this several times with a new square of cloth until the cloth is clean.