Need Help Scan Motor Error? Printer currently dead in the water

[Bryce I]

Our old Roland XC-540 is giving an error notification every time I hit setup. SCAN MOTOR ERROR CODE: 0080 0080.

Tried a limit initialization. No changes. I tried to slide the carriage across with my hand, and while I could move it, it feels like there's way more resistance than usual.
Any thoughts?

 

[Jim Hancock]

Clean the guide rail with alcohol, clean any buildup around the ends of the bearing blocks on both the print and cut carriages, then, using a foam swab, lightly lubricate with lightweight machine oil, like 3in1 oil. By hand move both carriages back and forth 10-12 times to distribute the oil into the bearing blocks. Post your results please...

 

[7_nebo_7]

If lubricating does not help then replace scan motor. Usually life time of scan motor 5000 hours.

 

[Bryce I]

Clean the guide rail with alcohol, clean any buildup around the ends of the bearing blocks on both the print and cut carriages, then, using a foam swab, lightly lubricate with lightweight machine oil, like 3in1 oil. By hand move both carriages back and forth 10-12 times to distribute the oil into the bearing blocks. Post your results please...

Thanks Jim! working on it this morning. will share results.

 

[Jim Hancock]

To be clear - lightly lubricate the rail itself. My post seemed to indicate lubricating the bearing blocks. The oil on the rail will do that.

 

[MikePro]

aye, that resistance you're feeling is most likely what is throwing the error. cleaning should help, worst-case you may have worn-down whatever pads/clips that glide on the carriage rail but chances are that its all just gummed-up full of misc. grime and dragging/skipping across the rail.

 

[C5 Service&Repair]

If lubricating does not help then replace scan motor. Usually life time of scan motor 5000 hours.

scan motors have a lifetime expectancy of 1500 hours, not 5000.

Separate the carriages and slide the print carriage back and forth, then the cutter carriage. The print carriage should glide free and smooth since the scan motor and belt are not attached to it.
If the print carriage is hard to move, if it is the bearings you should feel the grinding on the rail. If its the motor then the resistance should seem to come from the belt.

 

[Bryce I]

Having a hard time separating the carriages They don't want to come apart! But I notice when the machine is turned off I can move the carriage easily by hand, but when the printer is on, there's a lot of resistance when you push the carriage

 

[Bryce I]

Ok Sooo,
Lubricated the rail and replaced the scan motor. replacing the motor got us past the error, and it seemed ok for a minute. printed a couple things, but then the carriages separated mid print. this happened a bunch of times. The printer would fire up, start printing, and then lose its carriage mid print.
We carefully took some things apart, looking for worn down bearings or something gunked up somewhere. Didn't see anything. Now when I turn on the printer I get scan motor error 0010, right away.
When the printer is turned off, you can slide the carriage with your hand and there's no resistance, but when you turn on the printer, it becomes tough to move the carriage by hand. Does this rule out the pads/clips that guide the carriage being the problem?
I tried moving the carriage over to the far side, and then turning it on. the carriage smoothly glides back to its home position, before giving the error. So it seems like the resistance that's causing the error is specifically caused by the carriage trying to move out, from its home position?

 

[Solventinkjet]

Did you run the limit position adjustment after replacing the motor? I would start there.

 

[Bryce I]

I did, moved to cap position, hit enter, Then it says: Setting Up The Limit. I hit enter, and it goes right to SCAN MOTOR ERROR 0010. If I remember right, when things are working, this is when would separate the carriages?

 

[Solventinkjet]

I did, moved to cap position, hit enter, Then it says: Setting Up The Limit. I hit enter, and it goes right to SCAN MOTOR ERROR 0010. If I remember right, when things are working, this is when would separate the carriages?

Yeah usually it would disconnect, reconnect and then unlock and move to the far side of the machine. I would see if you can get into service mode and run the linear encoder setup and calibration, then run the limit position again and see if that works.

 

[Bryce I]

That's a little deeper into the modes than I've been. We do have a tech coming out here in two weeks. I'm going to start a new thread that includes this next question but figured I should leave it here too.:
We're in a rural community that's a several hour drive away from the nearest tech. So when we do get them to visit us, we don't have the luxury of them looking at the printer, then ordering parts and working on it. We always try to properly identify the issue and order the parts before we book the tech.
Right now we know that "something" is causing this, but haven't narrowed it down. I want to order every part that might be causing the problem. In fact, I think I want to order any replaceable or consumable part, and really take advantage of a tech being here with the printer all opened up. This printer is over a decade old. Any part that's supposed to be replaced after X amount of time probably should be now. (you can tell a lot of the parts are old, but when working, it's still a hell of a machine)
Our distributor has a good return policy on parts that we don't end up using, so might as well right?
I need some help with this list. off the top of my head, thinking:
scan motor (in case the one we put in was bad.
encoder strip
cap tops
wiper and sponge

There's a bunch more right?
Any insights are welcome. Thanks!

 

[MikePro]

you think it might just be as simple as a dirty/stuck limit sensor? once had this issue on my jv3 and it turned out not to be the motor that i replaced, but rather the optical trigger that recognizes the carriage's zero-position.

 

[Bryce I]

Well that would be awesome! any insights on how I could confirm or rule that out?

 

[MikePro]

i just did limited tinkerer's inspection. I'm sure I could have removed it to look-closer, but started by disconnecting & reconnecting the wires to make sure its not just a loosely seated cable, and cleaned the working parts with a lint free cloth (on my mimaki it was a black stick on the carriage, and the optical sensor above the maintenance station that had a channel in it that the stick seated-into which would block the light beam, triggering the sensor/photoeye.
...mine had a clump of black debris/dust/ink, idk what it was but I just had figured it couldn't hurt to wipe out the slot with an eyeglass cloth and it was on there, and the gremlin magically disappeared and left me an extra scan motor i never found use for again.

regarding the previous question about whether the carriage moves freely while powered-off negating the possibility of bad clips/pads, the answer is yes you would easily notice the difference between a glide and a draaaaaaag/hop/skid

 

[Bryce I]

Thanks! I'll bookmark this and bring it up when we're taking her apart.

 

[C5 Service&Repair]

A few things.
First the tension on your belt is probably too low, or the belt is junk and isn't holding tension.
If when doing the limit position setup, the machine isn't pulling the carriages apart for you, then the first step isnt being done correctly. It should say, set to home, then you lock the carriages on the pin, then set to cap pos, and you again make sure its locked on the pin, then it should separate the carriage and say setting up cut limit, then you slide the cut carriage all the way to the left against the wall as far as it will go and hit enter.

 

[Bryce I]

Interesting... That could be where my problem is coming from. I just went into Limit Initialization, it says Move To Cap Position, I slide the carriage home until it clicks, and hit enter, Printer says Setting Up The Limit, I make sure the carriage is all the way home, and hit enter, but as of now, I get Scan Motor Error 0010, and the carriages do not separate.
{EDIT} Just tried it again, with the hood up so I could see what's going on better. Got a half step further than before. I hit enter on Setting Up The Limit, and it says Detecting. The carriage move a couple inches, and then it says Position Invalid Out Of Range. And it just beeps until you turn off the printer.

 

[Jim Hancock]

Yes, the print head carriage needs to be locked in place when you do the cap position step. Move it to the left just a bit from the home position and then slowly bring it back to the right until you hear 2 faint clicks and immediately stop moving it. Try to push it back to the left, it should be locked in place. It's a little tricky, so you may have to do it several times, but it must be locked before going to the next step.