Falcon Jr. Locking up midway through print??

[Slack11]

Hi,
My Falcon Jr. is driving me nuts..... I'm trying to print my first wrap on this, and am having troubles midway through printing panels. I first printed my side panels, they are very simple , just two colors with a swoosh type design. No problems, printed close to 13' of vinyl without stopping. I am now trying to print my hood which is a colored background with a flame design (not a picture) and a vector based logo in the center. I've tried this 3 times, and each time the printer willl actually lock up in the middle of the job (approx 30-40% through. The screen on the printer will still say receiving, but the printhead stops and it just freezes. Even after waiting, I'll pull the lever to pick up the feed rollers, and the screen is locked, nothin will happen, it just stays with all the lights on and the receiving screen. I have to physcially shut the machine off before it will become unstuck.

What could be causing this? I have the printer connected to the computer with a parallel port cable. I have not used the network box that was given with the printer. Would that fix the problem? Is there a transfer rate of data somewhere that culd fix this? Like I said this is the first time for this so I am ver new.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Nate

 

[schurms]

I printed a 17 foot file last night with no problems, could be your computer not having enough ram ? How big is your file ? What format ? What Rip ?

 

[randya]

this sounds very unusual, like a communications issue. But com problems with parallel are extremely rare (well except for slow speed).

What RIP are you using?

Why not use the SEH print server?

 

[Jackpine]

Use the network setup that came with the printer. Yo will not be sorry.

"I have the printer connected to the computer with a parallel port cable. I have not used the network box that was given with the printer. Would that fix the problem? Is there a transfer rate of data somewhere that could fix this? Like I said this is the first time for this so I am very new."

 

[stuart@accupress.com]

Mine did that til CalGraph came out and the voltage on the servo was set too low from the factory. He fixed it and it never happened again since.

 

[rosebud]

Same happened to me when I first got the printer. Calgraph came out and fixed the voltage and it was fine after that...for the time being. For the next 4 years it would still occur but only rarely. Now within the past three months it's gotten worse. So bad that I cannot get through a days worth of printing. Even worse is after I shut everything down, reboot then resend the print it only prints half of the image. Meaning if I was printing a 48" wide box it would only print halfway horizontally. The print head would only go half way across the media and stop the image perfectly in the middle. Then I have to shut down, reboot again and sometimes it works itself out and sometimes it doesn't.

So my question is..does this voltage adjustment become a reoccurence that needs to be fixed ever so often OR is this a one time fix and my problem is something else?? I have a call into Mutoh but they are not being helpful as I am out of warranty even though this happened from during warranty time. I also have given up with Signwarehouse they can't give any answers.

 

[randya]

So my question is..does this voltage adjustment become a reoccurence that needs to be fixed ever so often OR is this a one time fix and my problem is something else??

To my knowledge this is a one time fix, i have not heard of this 'fading', but I suppose anything is possible as components age.

 

[rosebud]

Took my meter out, checked the voltage on the board and it was at 5.29 so I guess over time this will need to be fixed again. It's been atleast 2 years since it was last changed. Just a heads up to those that also had the same problem. MAYBE you'll need to readjust yours as well.

 

[rosebud]

Just for the record...anything within 5.15 and 5.3 is acceptable as for voltage to your mainboard. So if you had the same problem and a tech (or you) adjusted your voltage from 4.85 to 5.15 then you are good. This will not "fade" over time and need to be readjusted. Hope this helps!!