can anyone help please have problems with Mutoh SC650?

[Tez Watson]

Help…

I’ve got my KeySpan USB adaptor installed and connected, hooked up the SC650 and fired up SignCut-X2. I’ve selected the serial port (KeySerial) and matched the settings to those detailed in the Mutoh User Guide. Can’t seem to get the two talking to each other.

Likewise I have tried to access the Settings Plot using the keyboard on the plotter and again nothing. If I power it down and back up again all the lights falsh until I press Enter then I get nothing at all.

Am I flogging a dead horse here or have I missed something. Is there something I should be doing or anything I can check to see if this plotter is alive and kicking…

Thanks in advance

Tez

[John Childs]

Hi Tez.

Can’t help much because I know nothing about the SC650 or Signcut, but the first thing I would do is to look in the cutter manual to see if there is a test cut routine. Usually initiated by a series of button pushes on start-up.

If successful, that will prove that the cutter is working, then you can worry about communicating with your computer.

[Robert Lambie]

like john i know nothing about this machine or software.
If you do not have any manuals etc for the machine i would consider contacting a mutoh dealer and see if you can purchase one? if the machine is old, the chances are they will have an old manual lying around. at least by offering to purchase the manual, you can tell them why you need it and maybe get a bit of advice at the same time. i cant see the manual costing you anymore than £20. they may even by able to tell you if its a compatibility issues and point you in the right direction of a driver download or a CD they sell…

[Chris Wool]

hi

quote :

Likewise I have tried to access the Settings Plot using the keyboard on the plotter and again nothing. If I power it down and back up again all the lights falsh until I press Enter then I get nothing at all.

on some plotters you get nothing until you put in media and lower the pinch rollers then setup.

but you must try as john says to prove

chris

[Tez Watson]

Thanks guys

I have downloaded the manual and therefore some idea of where I’m going but having never seen the machine in action I don’t know things like what happens when one first switches it on. Most other printers/plotters I have used will do a little routine (head dance) that is the self-check. As I say all this does is flash all the leds and then nothing.

I loaded up some vinyl and attempted to do a test cut, but this requires the machine to be off-line which is a state i cannot seem to force it into. The keyboard does nothing as regards moving the head/vinyl manually.

I will get to the bottom of this, I suspect that something has become disconnected in transit from Yorkshire to Scotland, it will probably be something very simple (I hope so!)

Regards

Tez

[Chris Wool]

quote :

but this requires the machine to be off-line which is a state i cannot seem to force it into.

i would have thought that you have data in the print Que trying to make the plotter work but not the necessarily the correct data.

chris

[Jon Marshall]

If all the lights are flashing there is an error of some kind. To get into offline mode you just press the online button so that the red light goes off.

[Tez Watson]

Just had the machine apart and cleaned out eight years worth of crud blocking the fan (which was not running) reassembled and I now have all the lamps on but no longer flashing. I have re-seated all the connectors and I am starting to wonder if some crud has been dislodged and is affecting a microswitch or photoelectric cell (if there are any)?

[Tim Painter]

You should be able to get an error report by pressing a certain button a combination of light will be displayed reporting the error.

Just had a refresh of the front panel hit ‘enter’after start up and any error will be displayed.

Also make sure that the sheet cut off assembly is in it’s correct position as this will cause an error, the arm should be over to the left and moving about free if in transit it has been pushed over and is pressing on the sheeting off blade top it will cause an error. Also make sure the left hand pressure wheels as set in their correct position.

The online manual available from Mutoh is not as complete as the original hard copy manual, it lacks the error codes. These are reported by a combination of the LED’s after pressing the enter button when the start up has finished. If you can get the light combination prob best to post here and see if anyone has an original manual.

Tim.

[Tez Watson]

Hi guys

Everything now back together and I’m pretty much back where I started power up and all lamps/leds flash, press enter and they clear leaving no lamps on. No manual control of roll feed or cutting head – nothing, I think it’s an ex-cutter…

Takin’ a break for lunch maybe my brain needs food!!

Cheers

Tez

[Tim Painter]

Check that the cover micro switch is working – you should be able to trace to the connector easily. See if it is making and breaking OK.

It’s on the RHS of the front clear safety cover.

[Russell Huffer]

Hi when i switch mine on the head moves to the right and only 3 lights are on.

Russell.

[Tim Painter]

Also have you tried resetting to factory defaults?

Power on with Origin & Page buttons held.

[Tez Watson]

If I do a factory reset the lights do a bit of a dance and then all the lights start flashing as one. The head does not move at all, I can move it by hand (it’s sat fully to the right) and the pinch rollers are positioned over the gripping rollers.

There are two sets of what look like LEDs on the platen (it could be an LED and a sensor) they are very dim I will clean them with a cotton bud and see if anything happens.

A bit of grub has given me renewed energy, I’m pretty determined to make this bl**dy thing work.

Thanks for all the help and advice.

[Paul Lester]

Hi Tez,

I also have a Mutoh sc650 which played up exactly the same. A quick phone call to Artsystems gave us the solution. The eproms on these cutters tend to lose data every now and again and need to be reset. There is a special routine known only to people in the know if you know what I mean :lol1:

Please be aware i am not a Mutoh engineer and if it does not work please don’t blame me

The procedure is

1. Firstly you have to start the cutter in Diagnostics mode by pressing MENU up, VALUE down and VALUE up keys simultaneously and at the same time turn the plotter on.

You should now hear the Fan start.

2. Now press Origin until 10% LED is on

3. Now press VALUE down, VALUE up, VALUE up, VALUE down one at a time

4. POWER OFF PLOTTER

When you restart machine normally you should now get the machine that does it’s nice setting dance. Please be aware the above routine will reset the plotter to default values. A calibration will need to be done and speeds feeds knife offsets forces etc will need to be set again.

Also I have found the parellel port communicates better than the serial. I use Signtools3 as a driver for my cutter straight from CorelDRAW X3 and it works great!

Good luck!

Paul

[Paul Lester]

Hi Tez,

Also you will need to load a scrap piece of vinyl and make sure the feed rollers line up top and bottom. The top roller will move along if pushed and you will feel a click when it is correctly above the bottom roller. For the machine to start also the roller lever needs to be in the down postion.

Cheers

Paul :lol1:

[Tim Painter]

Tez the ones on the platen area should just sense media is loaded they are photo cells of some sort.

Have you checked the micro switch def works on the cover?

Also check that the CUT OFF knife holder is definitely up and the arm that activates it is just swinging – when I first used a SC650 I thought it had to be pushed to the right if it was the machine just did nothing.

Also double check the connectors you took off that they are around the correct way. If I recall correctly there are also ribbon cables, you should be able to slide the latch on the connector and pull them out a little and push back in to re seat them.

Also ‘very gently’ lever up the Prom chips and push them back down they may have got corroded where the unit has been sat idle.

If the EEPROM’s are the problem you should get an error light though. Doing the reset procedure mentioned does not always sort them sometimes a new set is required. Also I have been told it’s best to run these units on anti surge device as mains spikes can also knock out the EEPROM’s

Tim.

[Tez Watson]

Thanks to everybody that chipped in, sure enough those EPROMs had taken a walk. I got fantastic help from Art Sytems who talked me through the process and bingo!

A letter of thanks will be going to Art Systems, but now I have the info to hand thanks to Paul (thanks a million for that!)

Now let’s get it connected up (ha ha)

Cheers

Tez

[Paul Lester]

Hi Tez,

Glad it is working

Yep I definately owe the guys at Artsystems a pint too!

Cheers

Paul