Roland XC-540 possible bearing problem, grinding

[krstep]

Hello everyone. I have Roland XC-540, it was working perfectly, but suddenly after a really short amount of time there appears a grinding noise behind the cutter assembly as far as i can hear it.
When the head is printing, after less then a minute there appears a horrible grinding noise, and if you don't click pause the head stops and shows MOTOR ERROR 0010 0010. If you click pause and wait a few minutes it can print again.
The noise is coming from somewhere here:

I will record the noise that is happening later if you need.
We tried lubing the rail, tried to lube the bearing behind here, but only solves the problem temporary.

I wanted to buy this bearing from AliExpress (Original THK linear bearing rail block for Roland SP-300 SP-300V SP-300I SP-540 SP-540I SP-540V VS640 printer SSR15XW slider) but I don't know if it fits my machine the XC-540.
The only other option i found was the whole rail, which is very expensive.
Will these bearings fit or maybe there are other for XC-540?

Edit: Also, if you try and slow the head speed to <600 mm/s it solves the problem temporary, but after a bit it gets stuck while printing again.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

[White Haus]

Judging the condition of that poor thing I don't blame it for breaking down. It's hard to believe how it could possibly be working perfectly. That thing needs some serious loving! (And a new filter surge mist pad)

Sorry, not helpful I know.

Have you considered replacing the scan motor?

 

[krstep]

Judging the condition of that poor thing I don't blame it for breaking down. It's hard to believe how it could possibly be working perfectly. That thing needs some serious loving! (And a new filter surge mist pad)

Sorry, not helpful I know.

Have you considered replacing the scan motor?

Yeah you're right it we have pads it's just been neglected a little since we had issue with printing.
No I haven't thought about replacing the scan motor, but I suspected it, however the noise doesn't seem to be coming from it, it runs smooth.

 

[krstep]

Here's the video. Here i'm printing with head speed 600mm/s, but uni direction so you can hear the problem better.

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

It might be your pulley system, I had the same problem with my Mimaki and made same type of noise, installed new pulleys and problem was solved

 

[Zoogee World]

I recently had a grinding noise as well on my VS-300i, turned out to be the scan motor. Might want to look into that as well.

 

[Sean@CedarHouse]

Pully bearing, Scan Motor, Scan motor gear (the nylon one) or rail bearing. Your belt might also be sticking the the pully because of ink mist. Might want to clean that as well.

Use some 3 and 1 oil on the bearing rail first to see if that helps.

My guess is a pully bearing... Just a guess.

 

[Zoogee World]

Easy way to figure out if it's the scan motor or not is to disconnect it from the machine and manually move the cutting carriage and if there is no grinding and it moves freely, then you know it's the motor, if you're still experiencing issues, then it shows that it isn't the motor.

 

[krstep]

Easy way to figure out if it's the scan motor or not is to disconnect it from the machine and manually move the cutting carriage and if there is no grinding and it moves freely, then you know it's the motor, if you're still experiencing issues, then it shows that it isn't the motor.

That's a good idea, I will try this and see if the noise persist.
Thanks for the ideas everyone!
Also, I have also got MOTOR ERROR 0080 while only performing a cutting job, with a strange noise.

 

[Zoogee World]

That's a good idea, I will try this and see if the noise persist.
Thanks for the ideas everyone!
Also, I have also got MOTOR ERROR 0080 while only performing a cutting job, with a strange noise.
View attachment 160884

That's an over current error, which means there is too much pressure being put on the scan motor. Really sounding like the motor, as bearings rarely go. If you haven't replaced that motor and it has many hours on it, I would say there is a good chance that the motor is the culprit.

 

[krstep]

Just want to update the thread if anyone is facing a similar problem, we tried another scan motor, it wasn't the problem.
It was the bearing after all, it was missing balls and was out of grease.
We temporary re-greased the bearing behind the cutting carriage, and ordered a new bearing from Ali Express, when It'll arrive we'll change it to the new one
The machine now works flawlessly without noise.

 

[Zoogee World]

Just want to update the thread if anyone is facing a similar problem, we tried another scan motor, it wasn't the problem.
It was the bearing after all, it was missing balls and was out of grease.
We temporary re-greased the bearing behind the cutting carriage, and ordered a new bearing from Ali Express, when It'll arrive we'll change it to the new one
The machine now works flawlessly without noise.

Thanks for the update.

 

[gvozden]

@krstep Did you change linear bearing from aliexpress and what was model? How printer works now? I find that on Digiprint that bearing is like 384 euros+tax. (3 pcs)
Its SP-540v L-Bearing LWES15Q (Blocks - 3 pcs), right order model is LWES15C3R220Q

 

[damonCA21]

@krstep Did you change linear bearing from aliexpress and what was model? How printer works now? I find that on Digiprint that bearing is like 384 euros+tax. (3 pcs)
Its SP-540v L-Bearing LWES15Q (Blocks - 3 pcs), right order model is LWES15C3R220Q

If you need them I have tested used bearings for £50 each including shipping. These are the OEM Roland ones, not chinese copies. Feel free to PM me if you are interested as I can send worldwide and take payment with paypal

 

[Terry01]

Original THK Linear Carriage l-Bearing Rail Block SSR15XW1UU for Roland Printer | eBay

Roland SJ-540 / SJ-740 / FJ-540 / FJ-740 / SJ-745 EX / LEJ-640 / XJ-740 / XF-640 / VS-640 / RA-640 / RE-640. Roland SJ-640/SJ-645EX/XJ-640. Manufacturer: Roland. Printer Compatibility Net Weight: 160g.

www.ebay.com

 

[damonCA21]

Original THK Linear Carriage l-Bearing Rail Block SSR15XW1UU for Roland Printer | eBay

Roland SJ-540 / SJ-740 / FJ-540 / FJ-740 / SJ-745 EX / LEJ-640 / XJ-740 / XF-640 / VS-640 / RA-640 / RE-640. Roland SJ-640/SJ-645EX/XJ-640. Manufacturer: Roland. Printer Compatibility Net Weight: 160g.

www.ebay.com

Those are the wrong bearings for an SP model, they are for the earlier ones...

 

[damonCA21]

Original THK Linear Carriage l-Bearing Rail Block SSR15XW1UU for Roland Printer | eBay

Roland SJ-540 / SJ-740 / FJ-540 / FJ-740 / SJ-745 EX / LEJ-640 / XJ-740 / XF-640 / VS-640 / RA-640 / RE-640. Roland SJ-640/SJ-645EX/XJ-640. Manufacturer: Roland. Printer Compatibility Net Weight: 160g.

www.ebay.com

And no, Roland never made the bearings themselves obviously, but the OEM ones were made in Japan. The ones you have linked are made, and sold from China. Shall we take a guess on which are better quality?

 

[guillermo]

That's a good idea, I will try this and see if the noise persist.
Thanks for the ideas everyone!
Also, I have also got MOTOR ERROR 0080 while only performing a cutting job, with a strange noise.
View attachment 160884

 

[damonCA21]

A sticking bearing can give the scan motor error. The motor is trying to move the head as normal, but the bearings are giving too much resistance so it causes the error

 

[guillermo]

I see that someone replied with the information, I wan to add that the problem is with the linear bearings, I had the same problem, no offense to any business here, but I bought those from amazon, I paid about $80 each with tax and shipping and I replaced myself, took me about 2 hours, but I saved a lot of money, service was about $3000 and probably all day. but is tricky, I remove the left and attached the first on in the first hole, from left to right, then I remove the second one and move it more to the left, screw it in and move the carriage all the way to the left. with a screw driver, I inserted in the first hole from right to left, unscrew the bearing, remove it and immediately attached the new one, screw it and the rest was very easy. this happened about 2021, no problems up today.