Need Help Roland XR-640 doesn't recognize any of the 8 ink cartridges

[Adis]

Hi everyone,

I have a Roland XR-640 that I am trying to fix. Seven months ago we had problems with the printer where the test print was inconsistent on one of the heads. We called a certified Roland tech to troubleshoot and fix the problem. He told us he needed to replace one of the heads. Once he replaced the head the printer didn't print from the second head at all. (The one he didn't replace) Troubleshooting we found fuses 2 and 3 blown on the head board. They kept blowing so he told us we needed to replace the main board. After replacing the main board the printer started working again.

Fast forward to last month, our printer started missing few colors on the second head, they would come and go when we run a test print. We called the same tech and he suggested we start by replacing the damper and cap tops.

When he replaced the damper and cap top the head stopped printing completely again. After some troubleshooting we found that fuses 2 and 3 on the head board were blown again. We replaced the fuses but they blew again as soon as you power on the printer. The tech recommended we replace the main board again.

We spent around 7K for repairs in the past 7 months for a certified Roland tech and we still don't have a 100% working printer. The printer is out of warranty and Roland is not willing to warranty the head board.

I tested the head board and found a shorted transistor. I de-soldered one of the transistors from the old board and soldered it on to the new broken board. Now the fuses don't blow when the printer starts but I have a different problem. When I try to complete the setup process all ink cartridges start flashing as if they were missing or empty.

These ink cartridges worked just fine prior to the repair and are not empty. I tried replacing the cartridges with new cartridges but it's as if the printer doesn't recognize them at all.

I thought maybe something screwed up with the configuration because I was turning the printer on and off repeatedly to test the fuses so I tried changing the ink type to unknow and back to the E-Sol Max2 C7 but now I am stuck on a message Set Col Crt 7 8. I can't do anything but power off the printer on the main switch. Powering it back on asks me to set the ink type and then goes back to the above message again.

Is there a way to troubleshoot a bad ink board? Did anyone come across something similar to this before?

Any help would be appreciated.

Edit: Broken/Shorted head board not main board.

 

[Solventinkjet]

I never want to be the guy who disses other techs but if both times he was there the fuses mysteriously blew, that's a red flag. I've worked on machines for over 10 years and I've blown 2 fuses. My co-worker who's been doing it for about 4 years hasn't had one yet. When a fuse blows the first course of action should be to find the source of the short, fix that, then replace the fuses. Usually it's a bad cable or someone worked on the machine before it was completely discharged. You can pop a fuse even after the printer isn't plugged in. In my experience it's extremely rare for a main board to be the cause of the short. It's almost always a dirty, broken, crooked or otherwise damaged cable and usually the head cables.

Edit: Oh BTW, you are probably in ink fill up mode due to the board resetting for whatever reason. There's a way for you to trick it but I can't remember on that model. Maybe Jim Hancock would know. He's better on Rolands than me.

 

[Adis]

I never want to be the guy who disses other techs but if both times he was there the fuses mysteriously blew, that's a red flag. I've worked on machines for over 10 years and I've blown 2 fuses. My co-worker who's been doing it for about 4 years hasn't had one yet. When a fuse blows the first course of action should be to find the source of the short, fix that, then replace the fuses. Usually it's a bad cable or someone worked on the machine before it was completely discharged. You can pop a fuse even after the printer isn't plugged in. In my experience it's extremely rare for a main board to be the cause of the short. It's almost always a dirty, broken, crooked or otherwise damaged cable and usually the head cables.

Edit: Oh BTW, you are probably in ink fill up mode due to the board resetting for whatever reason. There's a way for you to trick it but I can't remember on that model. Maybe Jim Hancock would know. He's better on Rolands than me.

I understand what you're saying. I find it odd also. It could be because the machine wasn't discharged properly first. Is there a proper discharge procedure on these when doing a repair? In our case the issues seems to be with the bad head board since I found a shorted transistor on the new and the old head board. They were not in the same place but are in the same row. My concern is that we couldn't identify what caused the head board to go bad. And replacing boards is expensive especially since Roland is not willing to warranty them for more than 3 months. Roland support wan't much help with troubleshooting. They basically told us to unplug cables and keep replacing fuses until we find the cause. We unplugged all of the ribbon cables from the head board and the head but fuse 2 still kept blowing with just power to the head board.

 

[Jim Hancock]

I can help you with the ink type issue, but it needs to be done on the phone. I also suspect you have a number of repairable head boards. The random nozzles could be dampers or caps.

Are the dampers black or white in color? I have worked on two XR's that were having random nozzle dropout and solved the problem by replacing them with white dampers. I know the service manual call for the black dampers, but I don't know why black instead of white. The machine is not running UV ink and the membranes are clear which would make them unsuitable for UV, which must not have light striking the ink anywhere.

Another tip is to use a swab and cleaning solution to moisten the manifold posts and the rubber O rings on the bottom of the dampers before putting the dampers in place. this helps get a better seal then pushing the dry rubber O ring onto the manifold post. If you don't want to replace the dampers, you may want to consider pulling them, cleaning the post to remove any dried ink, clean the bottom of the dampers, then moisten both and reinstall. If you do decide to replace them, the dampers I get from solventinkjet.com have been trouble free.

Examine the top edges of the caps and make sure they are nice and straight and not distorted. Also make sure there is a spring attached to the side of the caps. I followed a dealer tech repair where the tech replaced the caps and left the springs off. These spring help keep the cap aligned and are needed.

Because of the multiple times the fuses have blown, you need to remove and inspect the head cables on both ends, looking for anything that doesn't look right, i.e., any trace that is not straight and secured on the ribbon could be a problem. Also clean off any ink with alcohol. As long as the ribbons are disconnected, burnish them with a pencil eraser. Only burnish in the direction of the traces, going from the ribbon body towards the end of the ribbon to avoid doing any damage to the traces. When re-installing them it will be helpful to have small hands due the job, they are a pita to install. Obviously be sure they are all the way in and straight.

Light it off and see what happens... Of course after we fix the ink type issue.

 

[Adis]

Jim,

Thank you for the response, I sent you a message with my phone number please feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience. If we can get pass the ink issue it will be a lot easier to continue diagnosing any other problems that the printer may have.

 

[Ray Casiano]

Blown fuses on the head board generally doesn't cause the main board to go out, Usually a transistor on the head driver is blown. If cables aren't inserted correctly or not put in the right place when installing the heads will always cause a blown fuse. If a trace on the end of a cable moves and touches another connection will also blow the head board or the actual print head. Your ink cartridge issue is generally done during main board setup! To check what ink type is set currently go to the machine (Menu->System Info->Ink Type). If the machine thinks your running White or CL it wont recognize your other ink cartridges.

 

[Jim Hancock]

Note - the OP added a note to their original post to note the issue was with the head board, not the main board.

I spoke with the OP at length yesterday. The blown fuses were due to shorted transistors on the head board, which they have now repaired. We went through the tech level ink type selection process several times and each time the printer would have flashing lights for cartridges 1-6. The OP then started going through the machine, checking all the ribbon cables and discovered the ribbon connecting the ink bay to the ink tank board was damaged. Once replaced, the printer is now functioning correctly. At this time, they have some issues with the light cyan & light magenta on head B, which we are trying to resolve.