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Print head problems
Hi Can any one help (new member)
I have had my sp300 for 3 years, the black head started to get drop outs and wouldnt clear when cleaned so I soaked the head for a few hours
that helped so I soaked it again for a few more hours, every time I soaked the head the better it got so I soaked it for 24 hours thinking that would clear it properly, I put the head back in but it wouldnt print at all including the blue so I bought a new head from belgium thinking I had buggered up the old head over soaking it, but the new head doesn’t print either, if I swopp over the ribbon cables from the other head it will print, I have also swapped the cables from head to head so the cables are ok, is there anything in the engineers setup that can turn the head back on or do I need a new circuit board.
I cant understand what has gone wrong as the machine was always powered down when I did any work on it.
Help please!!! Eric -
9 Replies
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Hi Eric,
First of all I need to clarify what you have tested when you swapped over the cables.
The head fuses on the SP300 (in fact on all printers) are extremely sensitive and if the head cables get connected or disconnected whilst there is power to the machine the relavant head fuse will blow. (This will also happen if machine is switched off but the power is on at the main power switch. You should only plug and unplug head cables when the mains cable is not attached.) Also if you have any wet ink or cleaning fluid on the head cable ends or if it drops into the connector slot when power is present it can also blow the fuse.
When you swap over the head cables (cables for Cyan/Black swapped with Magenta//Yellow) do you still get a test print on the magenta/yellow. If you do the head fuse is OK. If not you have blown the head fuse. From your post I think this is what has happened.
The bad news is that the head fuse is on the main board which costs £ 900 + VAT. The good news is that if you know someone handy with a soldering iron you can fix this for about £5. The head fuse is a surface mount component which is soldered directly onto the main board. You can buy a replacement one from Roland spares, and solder it onto the board. It isn’t difficult, but it is tricky and if you are no good at soldering I would STRONGLY suggest you get some who is to do it for you. You may want to buy a couple of fuses in case you blow one soldering it on. You can check the head fuse with a simple multimeter to confirm if it is good or bad.
You should then be cooking with gas. If I have misunderstood your cable swap out, and the head fuses are good, then let me know, and I will go through the diagnose head proceedure with you.
By the way, was this head you got from Belgium a genuine Roland one or an Epson one. If it is not a Genuine Roland, did you change the manifold as the Epson heads are ftted with a non solvent resistant manifold which will melt in a matter of weeks if you don’t swap it.
Mike.
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Hi Mike
Thanks for the reply I had already sussed that a fuse had blown from reading a post about another printer,
the head is a roland head, it has been in for a couple of weeks & hasnt melted yet, one head & 4 dampers cost me 390e rip off britain again.
you wouldnt know how to get in to the engineers menu would you I have tried some of the sequencess in other posts but they didnt work,
my firmware is 5.90
ps I can handle soldering on the fuse just didnt know where to get one
I bet some company like RS components would have them for about 10p -
Hi Eric,
I’m afraid that if I posted this information on a public forum Roland might be a bit annoyed – (hundreds of people going into service mode and messing machines up). I am not allowed to send private messages as I am a supplier to the industry and there are strict board rules about private communication.
However,, if you looked at the last message in this post you might be onto something 🙂
http://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … rvice+mode
Mike
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i recently fixed a guillotine for someone, with a blown PCB board as i own 7 vending machines i know a great guy who rebuilds vending machine pcb boards for a living. he had no trouble replacing the fuses and a few blown diodes on the guillotine board.
the new board from china would have been 375 us dollars, but i stripped it down and repaired the board and the leds for £55
i can get him to test out your board for £15 if you want, he wont be familar with the roland firmware, but his testing gear will be able to tell you if anything is blown and all these bits are only pennies to buy if you know where to look.
cheers
simon
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Hi Simon
I have found the fault on the board it is one of the soldered on fuses just trying to get a cheap replacement fuse Regards Eric -
Hi Mike
Ihave tried the instructions on this post this is for a 540 mine is a sp300 Im told it also depends on the firmware
Regards Eric -
maybe time to stop messing with it, if you want my guys address please let me know, not sure what the site rules are on sending you his details though.
wouldnt suggest you do your own soldering, its a bit of an art to do it.
cheers
simon
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hi eric
i am lead to believe that are only one or two different fuses which are used on quality manufactured pcb,s not sure why roland use a £900 version
they should be several different fuses one by the power supply regulating ac in then one or maybe even more on the pcb board itself on the board there should be a capacitor and a regulator that smooths out the current to dc. these should all blow well before any major components in theory!
there is likely reason why you have blown the fuse,
did you disconnect a cable whilst live? hopefully you have fiddled with something while the machine was turned on. the fuse blowing is actually good news it is there to protect the other components on the board, most of which are very low voltage thats why the fuse blows straight away. dont mess to much or you may wipe the NVM chip (non volatile memory) which remembers the software data.
one of the first posts sent back to you suggests you may have mistakingly changed the head cable while the board was fire up. also most likely i think.
if not check ! you havent got a more serious earth problem to 240 volts
keep on speaking to mike!!!!.
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Sorry eric you are right, i didn’t read the last post of the thread I gave you thoroughly.
Follow the instructions in the thread but when it comes to the last 3 keys keep them pressed in whilst you hit power.
Mike
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