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Cadet Printer – Head striking media
My printer has recently become very prone to head strikes. This used to be a very rare occurrence but all of a sudden it is becoming a much bigger problem. When the print file is first sent and the printer starts up the plotter pen is catching the vinyl causing it to jam. Any ideas as to the cause and how to rectify it?
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11 Replies
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Ah you as well.
the heated vinyl is sticking to the underside of the media clamp. and when the vinyl is moved forward it bulges up and catches the knife head. then jams up.
only happens on some glossy vinyls.
partial cure to rough up the underside of the media clamp with some 600 wet and dry.chris
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Had the same problem with my versacamm – noticed a similar issue to chris. My media clamps had traces of glue on the underside causing them to stick to the vinyl. Simply cleaned it off with isoprop.
Also I use the smart knives from matthias which hang lower than a standard blade so I always remove the blades unless I am cutting. I also run a little vaccuum when printing to prevent the media curling, especially when the heaters are turned up.
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Chris – you are the mother of all print gurus. Your advice is spot on as usual. I examined under the media clamp and discovered a lot of gunk (dried ink etc). Same on the printer itself directly under the area where the clamp sits. I’ve cleaned it up and so far so good :thumbup2:
Likewise Owen – I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. 😀
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I’m still having a problem with this. Even without the knife fitted the carriage is snagging the vinyl when it first goes to start printing. I have cleaned the machine thoroughly yet something is causing the vinyl to lift up just as the printing begins. I have managed a temporary "fix" by feeding extra vinyl forward and holding it taut as the machine starts up but this is not a satisfactory long term fix.
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think its still the same problem, i cleaned mine many times but not until i roughed it up a bit did it cure it.
it only does it on mine with a certain make of material.
also as its printing do you hear a small click every time the vinyl advances between passes.chris
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i did a physical head clean this morning as strikes have been on the up.
Get the muck of it lolJV3 tho
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Just a final update on this for anyone else that may experience a similar problem.
I finally traced the cause to the vinyl cutting knife (i.e. the one that seperates the printed vinyl from the roll – not the plotter knife). When this is operated a small wheel pivots down onto the vinyl to hold it in place while the vinyl is being cut. It turned out that this wheel was remaining in the "down" position after the cutting operation (It should automatically return to it’s horizontal position due to a spring action). Then when the next print operation was started this wheel was what was catching the vinyl causing it to pucker and cause the head strike. A few "flicks" was all that was required to get rid of the stickiness and return to mechanism to normal operation.
I finally got to the bottom of it only after heeding Chris’s advice and following his suggestions made via pm. I doubt I would have solved it otherwise so thanks again Chris 😀
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Phil
We had this on our new mimaki and put some strips of Teflon tape along the length of the vacuum strip (not covering the holes) This stopped all the materials we put thro from getting snagged on the carriage. Before this we sprayed a rich silicon onto the print, pre – heat and post heater areas which worked well also but you had to do this quite regularly. With
the tape we haven’t had to touch it for 3 months now -
Hi Mark,
Do you mind letting me know where you got your teflon tape. We have to print
on a material which has a high grip on the reverse, and it doesn’t feed through
very well. I’ve tried a silicone polish, which helps, but this tape sounds better.Many thanks,
Jamie -
Hi Jamie
I got it off the Mimaki engineer from Hybrid services If you give them a ring they might have it, if not there are a lot of suppliers if you Google Teflon Tapes
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Thanks Mark.
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