print head sticks and makes noise

[Mardulia]

yeah, but now that I'm looking at it I'm not at all sure it'll give me better access to the back of the printhead. hmmm.

 

[jtoolman]

You do not need to remove the head. Do so and you might as well look for a new printer.
Directly behind the Head carriage at the same level of the encoder strip is a position sensor with a vertical rectangular slot. That is where the encoder strip is supposed to be threaded through. Once you do so, you can reattach it to the right side.

The encoder strip tells the head via it's sensor what the exact position along the carriage rods.
Without that the encoder to tell the sensor when the head it, the drive belt and motor would slam the head to the right or to the left.

There tons of video on YOUTUBE about this.

Here is one:

The man is rebuilding a printer and in this video he describes the removal and reinstallation of the encoder strip. He also has a head carriage removed so you can see where the position sensor is located on the rear of the carriage.

SO DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING APART!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b42eW03_MyU

Joe

 

[jtoolman]

I looked at your video but I cannot really see what the encoder strip is doing. But I did notice that for some reason you unlocked the head and moved it before your turned on the power. Why did you do that????

If you saw the encoder strip loose it likely came out of the sensor slot, and you then re hooked it not knowing about this sensor, it is very likely that it is simply passing along the rear of the carriage and it is not through the sensor slot like it should be.

If you had a chance to watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b42eW03_MyU
you can see that it is not required that the head carriage unit is removed. Play with it and eventually you will pass it through the sensor slot. Once you have it through re hook it to the right connector and you should have no more problems.

Joe

 

[Mardulia]

I think somebody wanted to know why I could move the printhead without pulling the plug. But whatever. I haven't been able to look at threading the strip into the sensor where it's supposed to be. And yes, that is the problem. I did look at this video and it makes perfect sense. I spent half the day at the doctors office today and didn't feel so well. I'll get to it tomorrow, I hope, and let you all know how it goes. Thanks for all your input!

 

[jtoolman]

Hope you fell better soon! My wife also was bit by a Deer tick and went through a couple of weeks of antibiotics and feeling crappy so I know how you must be feeling.
I was the one who asked about moving the carriage. If know where the carriage lock is, then no problem. I was just wondering why you powered it on after you manually unlocked it. No biggie!

I know you will be basically trying feed that strip blindly but don't give up. Just try not to damage it as in kinking it. Once you are able to get it to feed into that slot you will know it and you will be home free after reattaching it back unto the hook on the right side.

Get some rest as you can always hit this again tomorrow!

 

[Mardulia]

Waaaah! It didn't woo-rk! I got the strip in ok. It actually wasn't that difficult. Just a question of finding a decent vantage point. The print head moves very slowly back to its housing, makes a some promising clicks and whirs, sounding very normal and then moves back into it's housing, rattles and all the lights start blink- just like before. Could I have damaged the strip? Seems likely, somehow. Could cleaning it have done damage? Can I get another one? Or maybe it needs to be reset somehow?

You guys are awfully patient. I appreciate all your help.

 

[jtoolman]

SHOOT!!!! That's not what I wanted to hear.
Cleaning is simply done with Windex and a tissue so you would have to be really rough to damage it as the vertical lines are really embedded into the plastic strip ( Mylar? ).

Try one last thing, turn it off, and pull the plug out of the outlet for about a minute. Plug it back in and restart the printer. Make sure the head begins from the parked position. DO not manually position it anywhere.

If is not a lot of trouble could you have someone take a video from the point you push the ON button to the point where the head "Rattles" and all the lights blink. Make sure you are including the whole printer, with the camera help almost above so I can see what's happening. Make it as steady as possible and well lit. I want to see the area near the purge pad once the head traverses to the left during the re start.

Thanks
Joe

PS: To the rest of the Forum members, any one have any ideas?????? Mike, Martin??

Joe

 

[PeterBJ]

The timing strip markings are read/counted by a double optical sensor. This sensor contains 2 LED's and 2 phototransistors. The LED's shine a light through the strip where it is not covered by a vertical black marking, and the phototransistors detect light or no light. It might be important that the printed/etched side is towards the photo transistors, else light might get diffused and this could prevent proper detection. There might also be different end markings on the strip, so right/left orientation might be equally important.

This gives 4 possible ways the strip can be attached. So I suggest trying all the ways the strip can be attached.

 

[Mardulia]

The strip is marked with an s on the right side, which I'm guessing should read right, and it does. The left side includes a pin hole for the spring thats holding it. So there its really pretty clear which way it should go, I think.

@jtoolman. I've uploaded a new video here: http://youtu.be/4bbzcYjpPv4. I hope it tells you something. Don't think its a great video.

 

[PeterBJ]

Mardulia wrote:

The strip is marked with an s on the right side, which I'm guessing should read right, and it does. The left side includes a pin hole for the spring thats holding it. So there its really pretty clear which way it should go, I think.

English is not my primary language, so I don't know how "s" means "right". Please tell me. "s" could also mean both "start" and "stop". This is no help either. A Google search didn't find much, but this suggests that "s" could actually mean "left":

The Latin word meaning left is sinestra, which medical or technical documents sometimes used instead of left handed. At times, left-handedness has had negative connotations, which explains its connection to the word sinister. The Latin word for right-handed is dexter, which is the root of the word dexterity and related to skillful.

Link here: http://www.ehow.com/facts_5769835_do-o_s_-stand-eye-exam_.html

If nothing else works try mounting the strip with the "s" marking at left and reading as a proper "s". If that doesn't work then try the last two ways the strip can be attached.

For some reason the Canon timing strips have an "L" marking for left and no "R" marking for right. I don't know if there is a connection?

Hi jtoolman.

Could you please take a look inside one of your Epson 22oo printers and check if the "s" mark is at the left or right side of the strip, and if it reads as a proper "s" or more like a question mark ? This might solve the problem with the correct orientation of the strip.