OOOh noooo

[zmatalucci]

Please Help!
My Sp-540 just started printing way out of wack, and I don't know why!
I have attached a picture. Picture this, if I go to print a straight line, it comes out wavy. Any ideas?
Thank you in advance!!!

 

[jiarby]

pinch rollers not pinching and the print is moving around while it feeds??

 

[mbarden]

That is a dirty encoder strip. Assuming you know what that is you can try and clean it very carefully with alcohol. Do not use cleaning fluid as the solvent will damage the strip. Take the top off the prnter and use soft cloth or paper towel. You may need to recalibrate printer to the encoder strip as well. I have had to do this once and called my local distirbutor and they walked me through it. If none of that works then the sensor that reads the encoder is going out. It is a little laser light on the head carriage.
Hope this helps
Mike B
Big River Sign Co.

 

[threeputt]

Zeth, easy fix. The previous poster has it right. The only thing I would add is that the encoder strip is also calibrated on the bottom (the part that you don't see). So if you find that the strip is damaged, scratched or whatever, you can flip it over. One screw on each end.


Obviously handle with care and keep it hospital clean.

 

[Former member]

I just went through the exact same thing. Its the encoder alright. I cleaned mine, and it fixed it temporarily. About three days later same thing happened again. The sensor that reads the strip had gone bad. I replaced the strip and sensor, and all is good now.... about $350 for parts

 

[zmatalucci]

I just had the tech out here a month ago, and he cleaned the encoder strip.
$500 later and I'm still screwed:

 

[Gino]

Then he probably didn't clean it properly. Either complain and get him back out to do it right or get another tech person.

However, like mentioned, you can do this yourself in about 1/2 an hour.

 

[zmatalucci]

Thanks for the help. I'll see what I can do tomorrow, and hopefully it works!

 

[Prism1]

Just cleaned mine today as it was doing the same thing. Did the compressed air thing 2 weeks ago, but problems again today. I removed the strip, cleaned it with Iso alcohol, removed the encoder board, soaked a lint free cloth with the alcohol, and cleaned between it too, went into service mode, and ran the calibration. Works great!!

Here is a link to a great article about this. I hope it is OK to do this?? Please forgive me if not.

http://printingdigital.net/forums/s...r-board-cleaning.html?highlight=encoder+strip

 

[Goodgirl]

Sometimes after cleaning an encoder strip it will work for a little while and then stop working again. You can always try taking it out and flipping it over. This will only work IF the bottom side of the encoder strip is clean and not damaged. Then you have to go and initialize the linear encoder strip in service mode. Which if you are under warranty they probably will tell you to call your service provider. Otherwise you can sometimes get someone to walk you through the steps. It's really pretty easy!
Good Luck!

 

[ChiknNutz]

I've cleaned mine, but never removed it to do so. I just run a cleaning swab damp with IPA down the length of it, both sides. What more is there?

 

[threeputt]

Prism1 thanks for posting that link. Though I've cleaned my encoder strip several times, I never thought to clean the slot in which it runs. So I've gleaned that information today thanks to you. I have used compressed air to blow out the area around the sensor's "eye" with good success, also.

Original poster, is your printer in a dusty environment? If so, try to limit that as best as you can. We are in the process of constructing a floor to ceiling room to house our saws, even though they are in a completely different room and one of them is equipped with a dust collector.

This we feel will further limit dust creeping into the design area.

Good luck.

 

[Prism1]

I had cleaned my strip many times too, but the photo eye was VERY dirty.

 

[zmatalucci]

how do i slide the print head to access the screw to the right?