Need Help UCJV300-160 Shocked me - Screen went a bit haywire, and a few weeks later, my Y motor is completely failing.

[RonnyCrack]

3-4 weeks ago, I was shocked by my UCJV while rewinding the roll backwards after a long print, to send through the cut portion of the job. I noticed later that the screen looked a bit different (slightly washed out/interlaced looking).

I can't remember if I just restarted the printer, or if I shocked myself again and the screen fixed itself - but it went back to normal nonetheless. A week or two and a few jobs later, I was rewinding the roll backwards again, and was shocked again, so I took a look at the screen, and yeah it seems it was directly caused by the shocks. I tried restarting the printer, and the screen went even further washed out, but one more reboot brought it back to only slightly washed out. Another week or two passes, and I'm printing a large job overnight. I wake up and it was interrupted in the middle of the night by a Y motor error. Okay... So I try to send a job through again at high speed, and it keeps failing after a few passes. Then I figured out "Normal" speed still worked. That kept me in motion for about another week, before Friday night at about 2am, immediately when I walked into my shop, and almost as if to mock me, the printer gets a Y motor error... Lol I caught it red handed. The head would still move left to right via controls on the printer, but I couldn't get a job to even finish a full pass on the slowest print speeds. I figured a restart might help, but since restarting it can't even attempt to move from it's home position, just throwing Y motor, and now Y current errors. From what I understand there should really be no circumstance in which I'm shocked by/am shocking my printer. And I was also told it's also unusual for a motor to go out that fast in a 3 year old machine. I'm worried that replacing the motor will be no help, because something else might be fried in there, slowly frying other components.
So do I spend $500 on a motor, and if it gets fried, then spend $1500 on a main board & another motor, and if those get fried... what's next? Do I roll around on a rug until I have enough static electricity in my clothes to power a house, and zap that bad boy? Lol

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

Motors are technically on the common replacement items list. Under good circumstances and with luck, the Y motor will last the life of the machine. Check your encoder connection on the motor and also take a look at your braking resistor connection. If the braking resistor is going out, can cause a lot of similar issues with print. Most UCJV300 motors have serviceable motor brushes as well, so might be worth taking a look at those as well.

 

[RonnyCrack]

Motors are technically on the common replacement items list. Under good circumstances and with luck, the Y motor will last the life of the machine. Check your encoder connection on the motor and also take a look at your braking resistor connection. If the braking resistor is going out, can cause a lot of similar issues with print. Most UCJV300 motors have serviceable motor brushes as well, so might be worth taking a look at those as well.

So maybe just bad luck? Any idea if the shock could have caused it? Or if the screen still looking wonky from the shock could be indicative of anything worse?

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

Color screens like that can be pretty susceptible to damage, but as long as the system seems to be functioning otherwise. Good to take a peek at the motor and see if it shows any signs of damage, dragging, etc.

 

[RonnyCrack]

Color screens like that can be pretty susceptible to damage, but as long as the system seems to be functioning otherwise. Good to take a peek at the motor and see if it shows any signs of damage, dragging, etc.

It doesn't seem to look out of the ordinary at all - sorry to keep barraging with questions but you think it's the best bet to just replace the motor?

Edit: I retract this statement, lol.

The black cord was bent up against the back of the chassis (I'm bending it on purpose in the pic so you can see the cracks), couldn't see it until I was able to get the motor out.

This could... definitely be part of the problem lol

I'll order a new motor and see what comes of it.

 

[victor bogdanov]

static shock, I've learned to touch my leg/knee to any machine I'm rolling material on to keep static from building up. Killed a Graphtec with static right to the screen. Now before I touch any buttons on my machines I make sure to touch them somewhere on the body to get rid of any static away from sensitive parts

 

[RonnyCrack]

static shock, I've learned to touch my leg/knee to any machine I'm rolling material on to keep static from building up. Killed a Graphtec with static right to the screen. Now before I touch any buttons on my machines I make sure to touch them somewhere on the body to get rid of any static away from sensitive parts

Good to know I'm not the only one / doesn't seem like an electrical issue. Yeah I've been tapping on the guide rail in the back to release static in the days prior to the motor fully shitting the bed.

 

[netsol]

static shock, I've learned to touch my leg/knee to any machine I'm rolling material on to keep static from building up. Killed a Graphtec with static right to the screen. Now before I touch any buttons on my machines I make sure to touch them somewhere on the body to get rid of any static away from sensitive parts

Victor, i wonder if it was a static shock, or, PERHAPS a faulty
ground
he should check the humidity in the room first, and, if the room is carpeted, he should probably put a static mat down & ground one mat

either, to a cold water pipe, or by drilling a 1/2" hole through the concrete(?) floor and hammeriing in a copper spike

regarding the color display, lets get this thing grounded before you are consoling him over the price of a system board

BACK TO THE ORIGINAL QUESTIONS, we are certainly not in heating season.

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

Your machine's ground should be redundant, but you might want to try an outlet tester. A properly grounded outlet is vital on a large format printer in general as there's a big electrical assembly flying back and forth over plastic all day. It's basically a Van De Graaff generator in the making.

There is a chance the motor is bad. It's a bit of a pain but unhook the belt and see if you feel any weird resistance on the motor. Also good to check the crown pulley (small/big belt cog) to see if the bearings are crunchy.

 

[RonnyCrack]

Victor, i wonder if it was a static shock, or, PERHAPS a faulty
ground
he should check the humidity in the room first, and, if the room is carpeted, he should probably put a static mat down & ground one mat

either, to a cold water pipe, or by drilling a 1/2" hole through the concrete(?) floor and hammeriing in a copper spike

regarding the color display, lets get this thing grounded before you are consoling him over the price of a system board

BACK TO THE ORIGINAL QUESTIONS, we are certainly not in heating season.

Don't think it's a faulty ground because it is never constant, only a shock specifically after rewinding 20+ feet backwards thru the machine. and I've tried an outlet tester and everything seems okay. It's never shocked me in any scenario other than rewinding backwards at high speeds for a long time.
Also humidity is generally pretty high, arguably too high (50-70%). Static mat is a good idea.

 

[RonnyCrack]

Your machine's ground should be redundant, but you might want to try an outlet tester. A properly grounded outlet is vital on a large format printer in general as there's a big electrical assembly flying back and forth over plastic all day. It's basically a Van De Graaff generator in the making.

There is a chance the motor is bad. It's a bit of a pain but unhook the belt and see if you feel any weird resistance on the motor. Also good to check the crown pulley (small/big belt cog) to see if the bearings are crunchy.

I took the motor out and it doesn't seem to show any resistance but I edited my previous reply to you to include a picture, which shows the black cord bent and slightly cracked. Which could totally be the culprit... I'm probably going to take off the insulation from the bent part and see if there's any broken wires in there. Will also check the bearings!

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

Only cracking I see is in the encoder wire sleeve, not too bad. But yeah, any bare exposed wire should be insulated.

 

[RonnyCrack]

Only cracking I see is in the encoder wire sleeve, not too bad. But yeah, any bare exposed wire should be insulated.

Seems fine inside, which is discouraging I guess. Not sure if buying a new motor will yield any results or just be a waste of $500

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

Check those grounds first.

 

[RonnyCrack]

Check those grounds first.

My electrician buddy has already come by and made sure everything is operating properly, I'm fairly certain any shock is me absorbing a bunch of static from the vinyl rolling backwards so fast (I do it with the cutting arm out) and then shocking the machine when it builds up too much. If I tap the rails under the media holding arms in the back of the machine, it seems to disperse there and not affect the printer. I'm pretty sure a static standing pad, or glove, or static bracelet attached to the machine would solve that issue.

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

I know some vinyl cutters with 'tint kits' have an extra ground strap that drags on the media to help dissipate static are a thing. Can also try an ion donor compound like static guard on the printer/floor to try and help cut down on static as well.

 

[netsol]

I know some vinyl cutters with 'tint kits' have an extra ground strap that drags on the media to help dissipate static are a thing. Can also try an ion donor compound like static guard on the printer/floor to try and help cut down on static as well.

We fabricated an arm with metallic tinsel hanging on the substrate of the mutoh hybrid
this sort of thing might work for you

 

[IPreferPC]

Just for info, our 2018 UCJV300 did a Y motor in July 2023; completely seized (and smelled awful)

I've never had a static issue at all with this machine, but that may be due to our 3rd pin on our aussie outlets.

 

[netsol]

You get static problems in the winter when the heating system dries out the rest of the humidity
this is your winter but probably not heating season?

 

[RonnyCrack]

You get static problems in the winter when the heating system dries out the rest of the humidity
this is your winter but probably not heating season?

Summer
I'm in Michigan. Humidity in my shop (garage) ranges between 40% and 80%