SP-300V Cutting Issue

[dsv118]

A few days ago, one of our employees were supposed to be watching the machine while it was printing a long print to make sure it wouldnt bind, as the machine was starting to cut, the employee left the room and the vinyl bound up.

The problem I now face is that when the machine bound up the blade on the tool carraige struck the media clamp and actually scard it. Changed blade, now machine will not cut correctly, cut is WAY off the mark.

I am in charge of servicing this machine, I have done a lot of work on it and never ran into this issue. In service mode, under print/cut adj. the blade still wont line up with the print. automatic adj. doesnt do anything, just throws the adjustment settings in the extremes -/+3 or 4 mm, remind you the max is +/- 5mm.

Manual adjustments dont work either, the cut is the same if i move from -.35mm to - 4.0mm .... Now I strongly feel that its the crop mark board aka linear encoder board ... or the cut carraige board ...

My main concern that I am seeking an answer to is does the tool carraige itself have any mechanical adjustments on it that adjusts the blade when you are in the print/cut adj. or are all adjustments done through the sensors ... any help with this would be greatly appriciated, Roland cant asnswer this and neither can the dealers we work with or techs. I do have extensive knowledge on this printer and have troubleshot many problems with successful fixes ... any problems with this printer I should be able to answer ... I'm just stuck on this one ... Thanks in advance!

 

[Gabriel]

Hello

I met this problem so many times... I guess you're in the same situation. It's not the blade, it's the encoder strip. Try to clean it and then tell me the result. If you need another encoder strip, just ask and I can tell you where you can find a new one.

 

[dsv118]

Thanks for the advice .... by the encoder strip i take it you mean the sensor by the blade? I have cleaned it with no reults .... Or do you mean the plastic strip at the top that runs the length of the machine, I havn't cleaned it but will do now and see what happens.

 

[Gabriel]

I don't mean the sensor, but the plastic strip. Clean it and something will change!

 

[dsv118]

Gabriel, I thank you for your advice ... cleaning it did work ... I just couldnt imagine the tool carraige not being meessed up or the sensors woth how hard it hit .... but maybe it just jared some dirt loose and sprinkled the encoder scale ... This was a first for me ...

Even though I would have my settings dialed in while in service mode, when i would restart the printer in user mode and print/cut ... It would be way off, and going back to service mode the print/cut would be way off as well ... hence me thinking it was a sensor issue ... NOPE it was dirt ... thanks much

 

[InkjetAuction]

Service Level Print-Cut Calibration

Sounds good. Glad it was an easy fix.
If it had not worked, I would have done the complete procedure for a service-level print-cut adjustment.

Here it is if anyone is interested... I assume that the user knows how to getinto and nav

1. Be sure that the tool carriage is secure to the carriage cable (check bolt and check cable for damage).
2. Check all screws and bolts securing the tool carriage to the linear rail block. Tighten.
3. Check wire tension (7lbs for the SP-300V)
4. Ensure that you are using the latest firmware (check roland support wizard)
5. Do a Limit Initialize (LEFT + UP + RIGHT + POWER)
6. Power-up in Service Mode. Setup some test vinyl to cut -- ensure that downforce and blade depth are correct
7. User Menu -> Calibration –> Cutting Adj. -> Feed setting (set to zero)
8. User Menu -> Calibration –> Cutting Adj. -> Scan setting (set to zero)
9. User Menu -> Print-Cut Adj. - > Feed Setting (set to zero)Menu -> Print-Cut Adj. -> Scan Setting (set to zero)
10. Do an Environmental Match
11. Do a Service-Mode Cropmark Sense Adjust
12. Do a Service-Mode Crop-Tool Adjust (set to zero first)
13. Do a Service-Mode Print-Cut Adjust (set to zero first)

This procedure has worked for me in some pretty whacked situations and when there has been a severe head strike

~E

 

[Gabriel]

InkjetAuction you are right! But dirt on encoder strip can also cause bad cutting situation. Hope you knew that. I don't think those setting are really necessairy, but you can reset to 0 all those feed and scan setting in the print/cut adjust menu.
dsv118-glad that I could help!
Best wishes from Romania!

 

[dsv118]

InkjetAuction ... Thanks for the advice, I didnt know if you were aware, maybe I didnt state ... but I did that, for me thats kind of rule of thumb when trying to eliminate problems ... but my problem was that no matter how far i would adjust the print/cut settings or crop mark sensor stuff ... nothing would work if I were set my feed and scan to -5mm or +5mm the result was the same ... absolutley no difference in change of the cut.

Gabriel gave me the small dumb piece of information I was looking for that I looked over, shame on me for not thinking of that ... Kudos to Gabriel though! I service our roland printers ... I know quite a bit about our particular models, but wasnt thinking out of the box like I should have ... Given what I seen happen to our printer and the scared media clamp I just thought there was no way nothing was broke ... I was almost positive something mechanical or the sensors got messed up.

I greatly thank the both of you for your opinions, but Gabriel is absolutley right and so is InkjetAuction! First do InkjetAuctions steps ... if there are absolutley no changes, take 5 seconds and clean your dirt covered, inksplattered encoder strip!!!

 

[Gabriel]

:U Rock: