Roland xr-640 Carriage 10 and 40 errors

[Caw]

One of my Roland xr-640 roll to roll printer/cutters is giving me a headache. It will go on printing for 2 hours and then the carriage will "loose its way" or just randomly separates from the cutter via magnet and throw a 0010 or 0040 error. I turn the unit on and and off and I'm back up and running....for around and hour before it does it again, sometimes 2. Or maybe it will go for the rest of the day no problem...tis a gamble.
I've lubricated the track, cleaned the encoder strip with alcohol. The tech was called to fix the issue around a month ago and he did replace the drive motor but he also said there wasn't any issue with it at all that he could find but the motor was due for a change anyway(it was getting a little loud).
Anybody have a direction I could look next?
This printers have been very reliable up to this point. It's not hitting the media, still prints very well, just got to get it to quit stopping randomly.

 

[Joseph44708]

The head unit must be hitting something for the unit to seperate.
Check the edge guards, make sure they are flat.

 

[Terry01]

If the head carriage isn't hitting anything, the bearing in the print carriage needs removing and cleaning and relubricating, or replacing if its the same as other printers.
Its usually the cutter carriage bearing that wears out first, but in your case it sounds like the print carriage one Part#21895153

 

[Caw]

Thanks! We recently cleaned and lubricated the bearing on the cutter side but maybe we need to get into the back of the print carriage side and get that one cleaned up as well. I'll post how it went once we get in there. I hope we don't need to get a part but who knows with this thing.

 

[Joseph44708]

The XR-640 is a great printer. I now have two of them, both bought used.
I print roll to roll on them both and cut everything on Graphtec cutters.
6mil vinyl and .030 magnet.

 

[newprinterguy]

This thread is old but hopefully help can be found.

This is my first post and i recently started a new job as a print shop operator (no experience) in a design and manufacturing company. Nobody here knows anything about the Roland xr-640 aside from me and what ive learned on my own about it in the last week or so. Basically all i was shown is the daily care and cleaning of the machine.
Online support is my only hope for success. Warranty expired and owners refuse calling a technician because of price.

This machine has been finicky at best. I see the following errors regularly and cannot print more than a few feet before encountering one, usually that the carriages are seperated.
-(service call 0105, 0106)
-Scan motor error
-unrecoverable sensor limit.

Things ive tried,
-recalibrate cutter carriage properly. step by step.
-cleaned the encoder strip with prop alcohol.
-reinstalled the cutter carriage and recalibrated again.
-messed around with the printer pressing all the buttons...

This is becoming an all day affair and i have many things to print and not much time.

Extra info,
This printer after a dozen passes or so starts to have a knocking sound getting progressively but gradually louder as the print progresses. I cant identify the cause but im assuming this has something to do with the separation issues, its giving me separation anxiety.

Thanks in advance for any wisdom..

 

[Joseph44708]

Change out the Scan Motor.
OEM Motor $1200
15 minutes, Very easy.

 

[cornholio]

If the printer has lots of if prints on it, look at the belt pulleys, as their theeth can get filled up with ink spray and dust, causing the belt to jump teeth.
The other place, a knocking sound can come from is the plasic gear on the right side pulley. (It's a inexpensive part, while pulleys or the belt cost a fortune...)

 

[newprinterguy]

Thanks guys! ill update once things have happened.

 

[newprinterguy]

If the printer has lots of if prints on it, look at the belt pulleys, as their theeth can get filled up with ink spray and dust, causing the belt to jump teeth.
The other place, a knocking sound can come from is the plasic gear on the right side pulley. (It's a inexpensive part, while pulleys or the belt cost a fortune...)

do you know if the normal cleaning solution is safe for the material of the belt? I do not want to degrade it.

 

[Zoogee World]

As Joseph has mentioned if you're having a clunking noise while it moves, there is a good chance it is the scan motor. You could try the limit initialization to see if that helps too. However, it does sound like a new scan motor is need, especially if it hasn't been replaced in a long time.

 

[newprinterguy]

The solution turned out to be cleaning some gunk out of the belt, regreasing with white lithium grease and then reinitializing the limit. Luckily avoided calling a technician and replacing any parts. Best case scenario!
Thankyou everyone for the support and suggestions.

 

[cornholio]

Exactly what I expected...