Defeated: Advice Welcome, Media Setup Error

[theprintlabtx]

Hey Guys,

So I have a Roland XC-540 second hand. A couple of weeks back started getting the issue where I would get pinch roller errors when I would setup new media. And occasionally getting the 0.0 width thing as well. I didn't think much about it, did a breif googling and didn't find much. Well last week it got to the point where it wouldn't setup at all. I get the pinchroller error every single time. I tried re-positioning rollers, messed around with the clamp, and nothing fixed it. So I did some more thorough googling and found that it was most likely the cutter carriage cable, or the media sensor. I checked the media sensor and nothing seemed out of place to I replaced the cable. Sadly, with the replaced cable, it's the same error. I am at a loss, anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ragnabrok]

Cut carriage cable, cut carriage board, connections on the board and the proximity sensor on the tool carriage, any of those could be the most likely issue.

If you've already replaced the cut carriage cable, and didn't put it in upside down, or forget to plug it back into the servo board, the next likely is either the cut carriage board which is super cheap, or the sensor itself. Neither will likely look broken on inspection, unless the sensor is torn off.

An easy one is also to look at the connections from the tool carriage to the cut carriage board. there are 3 connections, and they are all different so they can't be put in the wrong spots. go ahead and pop all 3 off and put em back in, its free and quick to try.

 

[theprintlabtx]

Yeah I disconnected those to pull the board out to swap the cable. I'm guessing there is no way to narrow it down a bit more so I don't end up buying more parts that don't need replacing is there? One thing I noticed is that the brief pause the carriage makes when it encounters the pinch rollers on the end, it doesn't look like it's pausing when the sensor is at the pinch roller, it seems to pause when the roller is about at the print head carriage. Does that mean anything that you know of?

Also, I am having a hard time seeing the best way to get the media sensor off to replace it if I needed to, anyone have a link to instructions how?

 

[Ragnabrok]

If you have a REALLY long screwdriver, you can remove the sensor from behind the printer, else there are 2 allen screws holding a bracket to the linear bearing. Just taking the 2 screws off you should be able to spin the bracket enough to get to the sensor on the back.

This ones a bit harder to narrow down, a sensor check could tell you if the sensor responds, the board is a kind of change it and hope that fixes it scenario.

 

[theprintlabtx]

I did a sensor check and I got this. I looked it up and it says the media sensor wasn't on, but I didn't know if that meant it wasn't in use or it was broken. Did I read it right from what you know?

 

[Ragnabrok]

the upper case W is the pinch roller sensor, move the head back and forth in front of a pinch roller, or wave a piece of paper or something infront of the sensor to see if it triggers that W. Try to trigger it across the platen width as well, it might only work or not work in certain areas.

 

[theprintlabtx]

Thanks for the help. I tried putting something in front of it and sliding it in front of the pinch rollers and it never gave me the star. So I am assuming that means it's not working. Just to be sure, you are talking about the sensor in the circle on the attached right?

 

[Ragnabrok]

thats the one, looks weird from that side Just remember that it can still be something wrong with the board, that the signal isn't making it to the sensor. The board is cheap enough to just replace it anyway, less than 10 bucks as long as you aren't getting hosed.

 

[theprintlabtx]

So at this point, I have replaced, the carriage cable, the sensor and the board and I am still getting the right pinch roller error. I am at a loss. Is there something that I am missing?

 

[Ragnabrok]

unless the metal bracket on the pinch roller itself is bent too far up or down that the sensor cant read it, or pushed too far back, you're off into board territory, which gets scary.

 

[theprintlabtx]

Well it is with much relief and a dash of embarrassment, I write this to tell you the problem has been solved. I logged on this morning to read your reply and with a bit of desperation I walked to the printer seeking a last ditch effort. After considering the cable in the main board was oriented correctly many times through this process. I decided to turn it around anyway, and I voila we have a set media width. Thank you so much for all your help in this and it will not soon be forgotten.

Thanks!