Summa S-160T (non cam) - Internal Error 2 & 4

[natallica]

Not sure if it's just weird electrical gremlins or what but our Summa seems possessed sometimes.
Jobs cut great, they cut accurately...but every once in a while it'll pause, sit for a bit chewing on data and then "Internal Error 2""Internal Error 4" or "Error on X Axis" shows up on screen.
Vinyl is loose (not heavy tugging), speed is about 12ips or so, knife pressure is light just enough to kiss cut. and this continues to happen. Front and rear media sensors all work and are calibrated properly.
This happens about 1 out of 5-8 jobs.

Growing a bit tired using the force and handcutting the remainder of the job... I even try to set them up so text and smaller items cut first, in case it decides to puke, it'll end up on a square or easier shape near the end of a job.
No info on the web that I can find, and I'm pretty tech savvy so I've been searching for a Service Manual, but to no avail...you'd think it was some lost pages of the bible it's so scarce.

Anybody have any info that would be helpful at all?
I realize it's an old cutter, but in my opinion it's bound to be something that could easily be fixed, whether it's a motor/encoder/etc.

Thanks in advance,
-N8

 

[PHILJOHNSON]

Good morning,

What software are you using to send the cut files to your Summa? Have you recently changed computers or updated any software on the computer that is connected to the cutter? Just wanting to rule out anything software related, if possible, before moving onto any potential hardware issues like a defective x-motor. Let me know if you can provide any additional info on the software side of things and I will give you some recommendations from there.

Thanks!

Best regards,

Phil Johnson
Airmark Corporation
(800)527-7778, ext. 112
philj@airmark.com

 

[natallica]

Good morning,

What software are you using to send the cut files to your Summa? Have you recently changed computers or updated any software on the computer that is connected to the cutter? Just wanting to rule out anything software related, if possible, before moving onto any potential hardware issues like a defective x-motor. Let me know if you can provide any additional info on the software side of things and I will give you some recommendations from there.

Thanks!

Best regards,

Phil Johnson
Airmark Corporation
(800)527-7778, ext. 112
philj@airmark.com

Yes Sir, we have...however we've had this issue for a while before. I was figuring it could be software/PC related.
• Upgraded to a PC (new i7 with nvme drives 16gb RAM)
• Also we are now running a Flexi 21 subscription and also have Onyx Production House 21 (haven't used yet with Cut Server)

But I've been fighting with this for quite a while even with the older PC and Flexi software dating back to Flexi 12/Onyx 11.

There seems to be no common variable when this does it, some jobs cut OK, some have an unrecoverable error. Even tried resending/recutting the jobs and they fail approx. at the same spot. Some jobs are 20+ft long and cut all they way to the end with no issues. I had just assumed it must be the cutter because of it's age (2009-ish) that something must be needing replaced since everything else has changed and still the issues persist.
Firmware (9980039) was updated several years ago too because no one here knew there was one, and that it would make paneling on the cutter available along with some gui menu adjustments.

-N8

 

[PHILJOHNSON]

Tech suggested updating the firmware, but it looks like based on the version you mentioned above that you have already done that. Here is the reply I got from tech after letting them know you have already updated the firmware - "the internal errors are typically semi conductor / memory errors. New PCB is likely needed". So, it sounds like the mainboard is slowing going out which could explain why the errors are intermittent instead of happening on every job. Tech also said that it is possible the software is sending a bad command to the cutter, but I think that is unlikely given that you had issues using multiple programs and also on the older and newer versions of both.

If you end up needing a new mainboard/PCB we have a couple of them in stock. I could also get some pricing together for a trade-in credit towards a new machine if that ends up being a consideration.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or if there is anything else I can do to help out.

Best regards,

Phil Johnson
Airmark Corporation
(800)527-7778, ext. 112
philj@airmark.com

 

[natallica]

Tech suggested updating the firmware, but it looks like based on the version you mentioned above that you have already done that. Here is the reply I got from tech after letting them know you have already updated the firmware - "the internal errors are typically semi conductor / memory errors. New PCB is likely needed". So, it sounds like the mainboard is slowing going out which could explain why the errors are intermittent instead of happening on every job. Tech also said that it is possible the software is sending a bad command to the cutter, but I think that is unlikely given that you had issues using multiple programs and also on the older and newer versions of both.

If you end up needing a new mainboard/PCB we have a couple of them in stock. I could also get some pricing together for a trade-in credit towards a new machine if that ends up being a consideration.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or if there is anything else I can do to help out.

Best regards,

Phil Johnson
Airmark Corporation
(800)527-7778, ext. 112
philj@airmark.com

Noted, Thanks so much for your assistance Sir!

This may sound like a dumb question, but when a RIP handles the placement and overall settings for printing and aligning the OPOS marks, how important is it that the parameters are exactly the same on the cutter? The reason I ask is, I was digging into all of the menus in both areas, and there were discrepancies as far a 'mark size', 'mark count on x-axis' and 'x/y distance measurements'. Since each job sent can have some different parameters as far as count, does the cutter freak out if these are 'inconsistent', or does the Summa only do what the RIP tells it to do?

Figured I'd throw it out there, hopefully this makes sense.

Thanks again
-N8

 

[PHILJOHNSON]

It's possible the different parameters could be potentially causing some of the inconsistencies from job to job but based on what my techs are telling me it's much more likely that the mainboard is starting to have issues that could get progressively worse over time. One thing you could try to eliminate the different software being the cause of the problems would be to run a bunch of jobs using Winplot and see if you get similar errors. If you run Winplot and get the errors every 5-8 jobs like you mentioned above that would confirm the theory that the mainboard is the cause of the issues. If you run a bunch of jobs out of Winplot and don't get any errors at all then it's more likely the Onyx/Flexi could be sending bad commands that are causing the errors.

Hopefully that all makes sense but let me know if I can clarify that anymore or do anything else to help.

Best regards,

Phil Johnson
Airmark Corporation
(800)527-7778, ext. 112
philj@airmark.com