Oiling a 4B/4E

[Jillbeans]

Hey Fred, or Tony, or anyone....
I do oil the bars on my 4E and try to keep my sprockets clean.
I remember once Fred (maybe) mentioning that there is another place to oil this thing. I do sometimes put a drop of oil on the blade assembly but I'm wondering if I should be opening up the case where the Theta belt lays, or any other places I'm missing.
I get times where the plotter does not complete vertical straight cuts on letters, rarely horizontal ones. Usually with cast vynull and a new blade.
Thanks!
Love....Jill

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

Nothing insides the Gerber 4a or 4b needs any oil that I know of, there are small oiling holes on the top of the machine them are the only ones I ever put oil into. Jill are you using the regular blade holder or the tubocut swivel blade.

 

[Jillbeans]

Thanks for that. Just using the regular blade holder.
May I ask the location of these small oiling holes? I wonder if it is in my manual.
I always forget to read the manual!
Been thinking of getting the 4B back out but I can't remember which slot the LMK module gets placed into. The 4B was louder but more reliable on long cuts.
Love....Jill

 

[Fred Weiss]

I don't know of any oil holes on any of the older Gerber 15" plotters mentioned in a previous post. The one oil hole that many miss oiling is the one in the oilite bearing inside the toolhead. The reason it gets missed is that it is pointed down and is out of sight when the plotter is in its normal home position.

To get at it you should remove the black metal cover for the toolhead. Looking down you will see the bronze oilite bearing with a chrome shaft running through it. Rotate the chrome shaft 180 degrees and you will see the hole in the bearing. Gerber recommends one drop of sewing machine oil in that hole once every six months.

Other than that, the key with old Gerber plotters is to clean the shafts with alcohol and then wipe them with a light coat of sewing machine oil.

If you still experience bad cutting, the next thing to check it whether the theta gear belt has lost any teeth and if your toolhead is properly homed. If all that is okay, then the final thing to do is to replace your x-axis bearings and drum support shaft ... which will restore the cut quality to like new.

 

[Service Sign Co]

This cable should be in the right slot,unless someone moved it.One way to find out for sure is to check it.

 

[Jillbeans]

Thanks for that picture!
(I'm the one who took out the LMK when I stored the 4B)
hahaha
The Theta is only a year old, so that's OK I think.
This weird no-cut thing only happens on the corners of letters, not the same ones each time.
Thanks!
Love....jill

 

[beckys]

thats alot of pressure you have on there..have you tried a new blade??
I tried everything under the sun, then finally took a good look at blade(was ready to ship to plotter dr.)there was a nick in it, and it would not connect the letters...
put in a new blade, and could not believe I was that stupid...hahaha

 

[Jillbeans]

I was cutting 651, I did have too much weight on.
The blade is pretty new too, only about a month's worth of use on it.
I will check it out though, as I have also had a nicked blade before.
Love....Jill

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

Jill no Tubo blade in your machine, that must be like watching grass grow LOL. On the 4b that I have It has little red marks where you put the oil, and on some of them red marks theres a little hole located around the ends of the carraige. Back then when I bought this machine I was told to never oil the swivell part of the blade holder.

 

[Jillbeans]

Bumping this back up.
Today my 4E started acting sporadic.
It's like the little forked bar which lifts the razor/head cutter thingy is out of whack.
I was running a 50-yard roll which is probably too heavy, and it started to make even more noise than usual.
The cutter part seems to be cutting too high (blade not touching the vynull)
So I dug out the 4B. I hooked it up fine but when I put in the LMK it freezes up.
(doesn't do the same series of beeps when you turn it on)
Without the LMK, it does work, it just seems rather slow compared to the 4E.
My <^> keypad doesn't want to work anymore so I am having to move the cutter assembly part by hand, which is probably really bad for the plotter.
I sure wish I could afford an Envision.
Love....Jill

 

[Fred Weiss]

Does the theta gear belt have all its teeth on the 4E. When you boot up is it correctly finding it home position which is such that it would cut correctly on the X axis is the vinyl moves to the left. If this is not happening then you need to check the theta belt and re-home the tool head.

 

[CBurr]

The easiest solution would be to take the plotter part of the 4B and hook it up to the 4E base. The cutters are the same just different color covers.