JFX200 - media strike error, nothing hitting

[Junkie]

As the title mentions, printer stops and throws media strike error, but it is def not hitting anything Happens each time after about 4 or 5 short passes in pretty much the same spot, but everything moves freely and nothing is hitting anything. Dead in the water right now. Anyone ever experience this or something similar? Thanks!

 

[Modern Ink Signs]

A few things to check

clean table? No ink on table…

check/clean the “crash bars”. You can get ink build up on them

 

[Dasdesignguy]

I would, with the keypad, slowly move the carriage over the spot where that keeps happening and look very closely. Move it around a bit you should easily be able to see what is going on. Like Modern Ink said I'll bet one of your crash guards is out of alignment. They both need to be exactly 1mm above your substrate. You can loosen the two small screws above them and use a long 1mm feeler gauge to adjust the height. Then screw them back down slowly a few turns on each screw then the other till tight. The 1mm feeler should then slide freely underneath the crash guard and then add a .10 mm feeler on top of the 1mm, it then should not pass, that should be it.

 

[Junkie]

Thanks for the replies. It is def not hitting or binding. We have the head jacked up to 10mil, an the bed just has vinyl on it, os there is about 1/2" gab. The crahbars are clean and move freely. Once we het the error message, you can immediately move the print carriage freely back and forth.

 

[Junkie]

Thinking it is something with one of the electrical boards.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Check and clean your encoder strip. If there is ink splatter or grease in that spot it can cause a "jam."

 

[Junkie]

We did clean the encoder strip as well, unfortunately no change. Talking with a tech and messaged him some of the error codes and he is thinking, it may be the HDC PCB board. Hate to spend $1k and find out it is not the board. Just trying to exhaust all other possibilities first I guess.

 

[Solventinkjet]

We did clean the encoder strip as well, unfortunately no change. Talking with a tech and messaged him some of the error codes and he is thinking, it may be the HDC PCB board. Hate to spend $1k and find out it is not the board. Just trying to exhaust all other possibilities first I guess.

You might think about changing the encoder sensor and maybe the jam sensor first just to be sure. It could be the HDC board but as you said, it's not cheap! If you are specifically getting jam errors and not over current errors, I would suspect the sensors. If you are getting over current errors, I would suspect more of a physical issue.

 

[Junkie]

I just ran a test (I know it would not be recommended, but wanted to see). I unplugged the crash sensors from HDC board. Head jacked way up, printing a slow carriage speed and hand ready on the stop button. Did a test print and did the exact same thing. 4 or5 passes and stop abruptly in roughly the same spot and received error message that there is a media jam. I am at a total loss.

 

[Solventinkjet]

I just ran a test (I know it would not be recommended, but wanted to see). I unplugged the crash sensors from HDC board. Head jacked way up, printing a slow carriage speed and hand ready on the stop button. Did a test print and did the exact same thing. 4 or5 passes and stop abruptly in roughly the same spot and received error message that there is a media jam. I am at a total loss.

That makes me think it's the encoder sensor even more now. Wouldn't hurt to change it as it's a fairly cheap part. If an encoder has major damage or ink splatter on it, it will act as if the head is jammed when the sensor hits that spot. However sometimes the damage or ink splatter can be very small and so it doesn't trip the jam error but the error slowly builds up pass by pass until it's enough to trip the jam error.

Also, look really close at the encoder in the are the carriage stops. It can be hard to see damage sometimes but if there is, you might need a new strip.

PS: Good call on the troubleshooting. Not a bad idea at all. Although I'm sure Mimaki would disapprove, us field techs are always having to break the rules to get the job done!

 

[Junkie]

I took a look at encoder in that area and looks good to the naked eye. The sensor looks dirty on the outside, so maybe it is on the inside as well. I think maybe I will pull it and clean and try it again. See if we get any different result.
Thanks for the all the insight

 

[Junkie]

Super dirty, but did not change anything. Still 4 or 5 passes than acted as if there was media strike and stopped and threw error message.

 

[rjssigns]

Super dirty, but did not change anything. Still 4 or 5 passes than acted as if there was media strike and stopped and threw error message.

In my experience encoder sensors are a consumable. Just because it looks good doesn't mean it is. I wasted a lot of time with my old Roll to Roll on that one. Got to the point I needed to get printing. Put in a new encoder sensor and whaddya know back to printing perfectly.

 

[Junkie]

Makes sense. As cheap as it is, I will order one and give it a go.

 

[Joseph44708]

Had the same thing happen on a Seiko W64.
Did everything but pull the skin off my face.
Turns out it was the scan motor. Just wore completly out.
Found a NOS online and works perfectly.
Mimaki bought Seiko for the technology and discontinued parts.

 

[Gregg Lindsay]

Had the same thing happen on a Seiko W64.
Did everything but pull the skin off my face.
Turns out it was the scan motor. Just wore completly out.
Found a NOS online and works perfectly.
Mimaki bought Seiko for the technology and discontinued parts.

This.
I would check the Y (scan) motor also. Look for black dust. That belt is notorious for stretching and failing.

 

[Junkie]

Ok, thank you. Will do