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Me & my mutoh are freaking out

tsgstl

tsgstl

New Member
Mutoh VJ1204 with Flexi rip
When it prints it starts shifting to the left with every pass. Then it prints grey all the way across and off the roll sometimes printing a CMYK patch randomly.

This has happened in the past and a quick encoder strip cleaning usually fixes the problem. This time not so much. I even cleaned the disk for the first time and while it was dirty (much dirtier than the strip) it is still doing it.

Its Friday and I have some clients that desperately need some things today. Is their any fixes for this or am I needing a New strip, New disk?

As always any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.
 

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Solventinkjet

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
Take the center top cover off the machine and run the print with it off. I have seen this exact problem happen on a Mutoh and it ended up being the plastic shields that cover the CR cables were making the cables pop up and down which caused the signal to be jumbled. If it prints fine without the cover it is most likely the plastic shields that need to be replaced.
 
tsgstl

tsgstl

New Member
VanderJ said:
Take the center top cover off the machine and run the print with it off. I have seen this exact problem happen on a Mutoh and it ended up being the plastic shields that cover the CR cables were making the cables pop up and down which caused the signal to be jumbled. If it prints fine without the cover it is most likely the plastic shields that need to be replaced.
Click to expand...

at first I would of thought "no way" but I have the right side off and when it prints that cable does bounce up and down pretty good as it prints.

I have now cleaned and lubed the t-fence and removed the capping station and cleaned it and around. It did seem like one of the tubes was disconnected and there was a lot of oversparay everywhere. It's hard to tell because when it freaks out it knows no boundaries printing ink everywhere. I am now focusing on the tension to see if maybe that is the problem. It's hard to tell if it is a communication problem (encoder related) or a free moving left and right problem causing a communication error.

thanks for the idea
 
S

Stealth Ryder

New Member
Data cables from MB to Head Board or Head Cables.... Print Head as a last resort but only if it does this each and everytime... My guess, cables.....
 
tsgstl

tsgstl

New Member
I have checked all cables, still same problem.

I keep going back to the encoder strip. This is the exact problem I have had in the past and each and every time it was fixed with cleaning the strip. Now there is a area of the strip that shows wear. I got the best pic I could of this area. you can see little white dots forming, possibly from cleaning the strip? Could a bad encoder strip be the cause here? Or am I just hoping this is the cause?

And thanks to all of you guys, it really is like a support staff here. I really appreciate the advice
 

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Solventinkjet

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
The issue is purely a bad electronic signal. The encoder would not cause the issue you are having. If you checked the connections of all the head cables and CR cables and they look good, it has to be the head, the mainboard, or the CR cables/plastic shielding.
 
tsgstl

tsgstl

New Member
VanderJ said:
The issue is purely a bad electronic signal. The encoder would not cause the issue you are having. If you checked the connections of all the head cables and CR cables and they look good, it has to be the head, the mainboard, or the CR cables/plastic shielding.
Click to expand...

the shielding definitely shows wear.
it was very dirty under the center cover, I have never removed it before. every place that has a bracket is showing wear from what appears to be the bottom tray not the top cover.
 

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Solventinkjet

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
Yeah it looks pretty bad. Try running a print with the cover off. If it prints normally then I would just replace the shielding. If it still has the same problem I would replace the entire cable/shielding assembly.
 
tsgstl

tsgstl

New Member
Yeah its been off since the guy said take it off.
Same problem.
I have always fixed every problem myself, these printers are fairly ez to crack into. I am contemplating throwing in the towel and calling my St. Louis tech. My pits have no more sweat to give and my eyes are getting heavy from lack of sleep.
 
Solventinkjet

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
I know what your talking about. It might be more expensive but calling in a tech is a good way to get rid of the stress. If you need any parts check out Solventinkjet.com we can get you any part you need. Thanks
 
letterman7

letterman7

New Member
One of the cables is bad. Just went through that a few months ago. Had them replace the cables and one of the motors (was getting a little buzzy..). So far, perfect prints every time!
 
tsgstl

tsgstl

New Member
Just an update:
I shared all the info in here and pics with the tech. He talked with Mutoh and came out yesterday with the Head cables and encoder strip. Didn't work and now it shuts off every time it reaches a certain point towards the left hand side on start up giving the same CR movement error as listed above. We overnighted the CR cables and the CR motor. He will be back Sunday (which is pretty cool of him) to see if that fixes the issue. Been a week without my printer, totally sucks and I'm tired of giving customers excuses. If it is fixed Sunday night I shouldn't have lost any business, but I'm going to have to work day and night for a few days to catch up. I will update this after the next go.

Thanks again for all the advice, I actually thought he was coming with the cr cables instead of the head cables but I'm not the expert.
 
GAC05

GAC05

Quit buggin' me
When the tech replaced the encoder strip did he clean the sensor that reads them?
Has it ever been cleaned or replaced?
I've had encoder issues and even with a new fence they did not go away until the sensor got cleaned. (Have not seen the gray printing all the way across the media before).

wayne k
guam usa
 
tsgstl

tsgstl

New Member
Yes cleaned the sensor
Changed strip
New cr motor
New cr cables
New print head cables
New dampers

Now after you hit ok on the media it stops with the cr704 error when the head goes back to check media.

Only thing left is the main board. I'm just not even sure that's the problem. Tech looking at it now.
 
Solventinkjet

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
Don't go changing your main board just yet. This is a common problem in Mutohs. The head lock mechanism gets bent after time and the solenoid can't reach the lock to un-lock it. Tape the lock down and try to run the printer again. It may be as simple as replacing the lock mechanism.
 
tsgstl

tsgstl

New Member
VanderJ said:
Don't go changing your main board just yet. This is a common problem in Mutohs. The head lock mechanism gets bent after time and the solenoid can't reach the lock to un-lock it. Tape the lock down and try to run the printer again. It may be as simple as replacing the lock mechanism.
Click to expand...

its when it is already out of the lock and traveling across the middle
the same printing problem as well. still having a hard time matching each pass
 
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