[Harry Stebbing]

Thanks for your replies, much appreciated. After much consideration regarding the vinyl panels, which it seems are actually available on the internet, I chickened out and went for a simpler option, staining and varnishing ! I know, I know, the easy option but at least I’ll know the varnish wont ‘pick up’ where the vinyl might. My trusty Vesacamm doesn’t get a lot of use these days and I thought this would be a good excuse to use it but the boards are very nearly there, once the masking tape comes off and they get their final couple of coats of varnish.

Thanks again for your thoughts. I’ll perhaps post a picture of them in use as I’m sure I’ll be expected to play once they’re handed over.

Cheers,

Harry

[Harry Stebbing]

Thanks Colin, I’ll stop worrying now. I don’t mind if there’s nothing I can do if the only alternative is a sizeable outlay. I don’t do enough now to warrant upgrading. It’s only really a hobby now.

[Harry Stebbing]

Thanks Robert, I appreciate your thoughts and have looked at the RAM which appears to be 8Gb’s. Which from trawling Google seems to be more than enough, with the suggestion that 2Gb’s will suffice. As for the graphics card, that seems to be more difficult to assess as Google gives too many makes/options to allow an easy comparison. It’s an ‘Intel (R) UHD Graphics 630’, if that means anything ? It’s certainly something I’ll mention to our ‘computer wizkid’ who looks after our computers.

Thanks again for the pointers. Anybody any thoughts on “Autosave” adjustments on X5 ?

[Harry Stebbing]

Thanks everyone for all your help. It’s got me out of a muddle. Glad it proved useful to others too.

[Harry Stebbing]

Must have been the “Num loc” doh !!

I’ll start again. Anybody know where I can find/obtain both the “Horse & rider” and “Bicycle” symbol for a finger post I’ve been asked to make ?

Thanks in advance,

Stebbo (Anybody know how to delete the first post ? )

[Harry Stebbing]

Good to know your thoughts on the cap height. It’s kinda what I thought but I’m so nervous at doing anything that might mess something else up that I really can’t afford to replace !!

I’m fairly certain that it was cross contamination as the yellow supply pipe really is yellow now and no longer murky. Good result. I do intend to use genuine Roland caps as I don’t have too much faith in Chinese copies. (Not sure I’m allowed to say that anymore ?) And I take your point about cheaper inks. I reckon I’ve probably used nearly a cartridgeworth on all the power cleans. Is ‘medium clean’ enough to just purge the heads ? I’ve looked at SL’s web site and will look to Nazdar inks next time I need any.

In light of the recent problem, I’m intending to run a regular full colour test page to keep everything clear. I have always left the machine switched on believing the three minor purges a day would be enough but since the machine stopped having it’s regular once a year services, I’ve done nothing other than the ‘manual clean’ when needed. It really does get so little work, but lesson learned and I’ll do my regular test page in future.

<font face=”inherit”>Last query (I think !) In carrying out the full ‘bells and whistles’ clean up. One area I find most frustrating is the “Serge Mist filter pad”. Is this something that ought to be change regularly as it’s </font>absolutely<font face=”inherit”> filthy and I can’t help but feel it’s waiting to cross contaminate everything in the </font>vicinity ?

[Harry Stebbing]

Yep, done that. Much much better. Thanks again.

Flicking through the service booklet, I panicked when I came across a section called “Cap height adjustment”. As I’ve had both caps out, will I need to adjust them ? I was very careful when lowering them by counting the number of turns of the screw. In fact I turned it the wrong way to start with and 3 1/2 turns later I’d obviously pushed them tight against the heads. Whoops ! I backed them off and now take that to be the correct height ?

Sorry for all the silly questions but it’s good to have help from someone who’s already been there before !

[Harry Stebbing]

I’m afraid to admit this but – No. I haven’t been for two or three years with no problems. I started to use Grantham’s own because of the price and the much lower workload.

[Harry Stebbing]

I think I’ve spoken too soon. The yellow print test is showing 95% nozzles clear on the yellow head but the colour isn’t that good. Looking at feed pipes the yellow looks a bit murky and looking with a magnifying glass at the printed yellow it seems to be covered in quite dark dots. have I over cleaned it or did that last head soak cause a problem ?

I feel if there was a way to draw genuine yellow through the feed pipe it would cure the problem. Is that feasible ?

[Harry Stebbing]

Managed to clean the pipe really well and the cap itself. Then did several power cleans and It seems 95% on the yellow and 100% on the magenta. Certainly good enough to do the job that brought all this to light. Good result. Every days a school day. Thanks Kevin, you’re a star.

[Harry Stebbing]

Definitely established that the pipe on the right hand cap is blocked. Thanks for the help Kevin. I hope that sorts it once I’ve gone and bought a syringe.

[Harry Stebbing]

I’ve just held the waste bottle in my hand and rotated the pump by hand and there’s definitely inky air bubbles being blow out of the waste pipe !!

[Harry Stebbing]

Thanks for all your help and advice so far. I’ve now managed to obtain a Coreldraw X5 Graphics Suite. On reading the installation instructions it mentions “registering”. Not being very computer savvy and not installing a second hand cd before, is that something I need worry about i.e. compromising the previous owner or me for that matter ?

Would be grateful for your thoughts.

[Harry Stebbing]

Thanks Fred,

Interesting that you had the same situation. I’m afraid ‘the registry’ is something I know nothing about and it seems something to avoid. My computer is just another tool to me just like my woodworking and metalworking tools. But at least I know how sharpen/mend and otherwise maintain those !

[Harry Stebbing]

Hi Colin,

That was my suggestion to my computer guy but he simply said Win 7 or 8 was no longer available.
Anyway, I’ve come to the conclusion that a second-hand copy of Corel X5 or Corel X7 will be my best bet, as suggested by Hugh.
Thanks for confirming that Corel X3 is not compatible.

[Harry Stebbing]

Hi Robert,

It seems he’d have to go into the ‘register’ and apparently that’s risky and also likely to cause other functions not to work properly. That certainly seems to be a concern mentioned on Google. He was adamant that the whole exercise would be far too unpredictable and likely to lead to problems in the future.

[Harry Stebbing]

Thanks for that, Hugh.

I’ve looked on eBay and there’s one at the moment, so I’ll keep an eye on that. Will I be able to access all my old files directly? My computer guy found a “Home and Student Suite 2019” download for £95! Would that allow direct use of old files? Having said that I’d prefer the x5 as you’ve used it successfully.

[Harry Stebbing]

Hi Robert,

Thanks for the prompt response. With my very limited knowledge of the inner workings of computers I felt confident that a usb cable was fairly foolproof. None of this “ethernet and bluetooth nonsense !!” It’ll tell you how long I’ve had my Roland, ‘cos the laptop I originally used with it is still on good old Windows XP.

Anyway, despite swopping the usb socket to no avail, I did eventually solve the problem. I swopped it to yet another socket currently used for something else ? And it worked. No idea ??

Very many thanks for your suggestion.

[Harry Stebbing]

Thanks for that Graham. They say you never stop learning although I wish I’d known that years ago. I generally only do job now for friends and village events and people who say “I know you’re retired but can you just ?” I’ve tracked down a supplier for the PETG and it’s on it’s way.

Thanks again.

[Harry Stebbing]

Thanks Guys,

Good advice me thinks ! I’ll be looking at inkjets after I’ve typed this. Unfortunately I still find it difficult to throw stuff if I think there’s still a chance that I could squeeze just a little more from it. It’s an age thing I think !

Thanks again.

Harry

[Harry Stebbing]

There’s generally seems to be extra ink in the waste bottle after each clean. How else do I check them ? By pulling them off ? Before or after the pump or both ?

[Harry Stebbing]

Thanks Hugh,

I took my chance in the end and it seems “registering” is an option and not actually necessary to load the programme. It did take and age to load and eventually got stuck on what I think must have been a “graphics library” (only guessing). I did stop it but it seems the programme itself is all there, my only problem now is to sort the “Menu Bar” so that it can be easily read ? At the moment the titles only show when the cursor passes over each one. It appears to be white lettering on a white background. Any thoughts

However I must thank you again for the advice on going for X5. I’ve just got to fathom the ‘little differences’ between the two programmes.