MH Series Troubleshooting Guide: Rough Draft

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Barry Jenkins
5 years ago
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1 MH Series Troubleshooting Guide: Rough Draft

2 Poor Cutting Lifting Corners: If the corners of the material are getting pulled up then the carriage speed will need to be reduced and the blade depth should be checked and probably reduced. If both the blade depth and the speed are ok then check the pressure setting on the cutter control panel. Cuts are not connecting/jagged Cuts/Uneven Depth of Cuts: Many different cutting problems can manifest themselves from problems with the carriage, pinch rollers, blade holder/blade, feed roller and the motors. If the cuts are not connecting, but they are lining up, then the blade offset needs to be adjusted in the software. In SignBlazer click Cutter>Setup and look for blade offset on the right side of that screen. I recommend starting at.25 and adjusting that value by.05 from there. If the blade offset adjustments do not fix the problem then test with the pen attachment that comes with the cutter. If the problem does not exist in the test with the pen then try replacing the blade. If that does not resolve the issue then the blade holder is most likely defective. If replacing the blade holder does not fix the problem then the issue is in the carriage, the feed roller, or the pinch rollers. Problems in any of these parts can result in jagged cuts and uneven cut depths as well as misalignment and tracking issues. Below is a list of possible problems with each piece of hardware and the recommended troubleshooting steps. Carriage: Problem: The carriage has popped off of the track which is causing jagged and ugly cuts with an uneven cut depth. Solution: Pop the carriage back into place by pressing it gently up and onto the track. Problem: The carriage arm is not moving up and down. Solution: See the solution to this in the Hardware section. Problem: The carriage is will not move left or right. Solution: There is a problem with the motor, see the Hardware section. Problem: The carriage arm seems to wiggle around and is not stable. Solution: Tighten the screw holding the two pieces of the arm together. Pinch Roller: Problem: The pinch roller is leaving a pattern in my vinyl. Solution: The pattern is actually on the backing of the vinyl, not on the vinyl itself. The pattern will not be present on the vinyl once it is removed from the backing and applied.

3 Problem: The pinch roller doesn t seem to be straight and is causing a crease or a tent effect in my material. Solution: Replace the pinch roller. Feed Roller: Problem: The feed roller is moving up and down on one side which is causing a distortion in the cut. Solution: The end cap on the side that is loose will need to be removed. The piece that holds the feed roller in place on that end has popped out and needs to be put back into place. The gear on that side may need to be removed in order to get to this piece. Problem: The tracking seems to be off on one side. Solution: The set screws that can be found along the feed roller may be loose. If the loosen too much they might start catching on the edge of the frame of the machine. Problem: The feed roller does not move at all. Solution: Either the motor or the motherboard is malfunctioning. See the hardware section. Software Issues Cutter Not Responding To Software: There are many different solutions to this problem, some of which are hardware related and others software. This section will only cover the software aspect so assume that we have confirmed that the USB is connected and the computer sees the device. The first thing to check is whether or not the USB driver is installed. You can easily check whether or not the driver is installed by simply plugging the USB connection into the computer and the cutter and turning the cutter on. If you see the Windows has found new hardware window pop up then the driver has not been installed. The USB driver can be found on the USCutter Support Site. Once the driver is installed the procedure splits off depending on the software you are using. See below for SIgnBlazer and SignCut instructions. SignBlazer: Open SignBlazer, click Cutter, and then click Setup. Once in the Setup screen make sure that the proper MH series driver is selected in the first drop down box. Then take a look at the options in the second drop down box and find the Com# that is labeled USB Serial Port. Select the USB Serial Port and click OK. You should now have a connection established with the cutter. If you do not see a Com# that is labeled with USB Serial Port in SignBlazzer then open the Device Manager in Windows and check to see which Port the device has been assigned to. You can

4 check this by opening the Ports section of the Device Manager. If the Com # that has been assigned is >8 you will need to change the Com# by double clicking on the port, clicking advanced, and changing the # in the drop down box. SignCut: Open SignCut and click Cutter at the top of the screen. Check the top three drop down boxes on this screen. Make sure that you have USCutter, MH Series, and USB Serial Port selected, and then click OK. You should now have a connection established with the cutter. Cuts Are The Wrong Size: This problem is always a software problem. If the cuts are coming out a size other than what was specified in the software then you will need to do a cutting size correction in the software. SignBlazer You can run a cutting size correction in SignBlazer by opening the software, clicking, cutter at the top of the screen, this will bring you to the cutter screen where you will see the Setup button at the top of the screen, click the setup button in order to open the Setup screen. On the right hand side of this screen you will see the Cutting Size Correction button. Click on this button and read the instructions. You will want to load the pen attachment and a piece of paper for this test if at all possible. If this is not possible then loading the blade with some vinyl will work just fine. The test will cut a square of a specific size. Once the square is cut you will need to get an exact measurement of what was actually cut and input your measurements into the Cutting Size Correction screen. Once this calibration is complete the cutting size should be fixed. SignCut: The SignCut calibration is very similar to the SignBlazer calibration. Open SignCut and click the Cutter button. On this screen you will see a Calibrate Cut Size button. Click on that and instructions will pop up on the screen. You will need to cut a box and measure it exactly; then input that measurements into SignCut. Only Part Of The Design Is Cutting: If some parts of the image are cutting and others are not then you can generally chalk that up to certain colors being activated while others are not. In SIgnBlazer you will need to change this in the Colors box which can be found in the top left corner of the Cut screen. In SignCut you can enable/disable colors by clicking on them in the top right corner of the screen. If all of the colors are activated and you are using SignBlazer then you will want to make sure that your entire design is vectorized and all of it is inside of the work space on the Design screen.

5 Hardware Issues The Cutter Will Not Turn On: This problem can be a result of many things. With broad spectrum problems like this you will always want to check the easiest solution first. In this case the easiest solution would be that the power switch is not turned on. Once you have confirmed that the switch is on you will want to swap the power cord to see if you have a defective power cord. You will also want to use a different outlet for good measure. Next you will want to check to see if the fuse is out. Open the fuse holder on the left side of the machine and take a look at the fuse to see if it is intact. Now that you have covered the basics you will need to move onto slightly more technical solutions. You will need to open up the left end cap to check the connections that run from the power socket to the fuse holder to the power switch and finally to the power supply. Check these connections to make sure they are all fully connected and also take a look at the wires to make sure there is not any damage. If all of the above checks out then the issue is most likely the power supply. A voltmeter will be needed in order to test the input and output on the power supply. If you do not know how to test the power supply with a voltmeter then you will need to refer to Howard s electrical guide. If the power supply checks out then the last possibility is that the cutter is actually getting power, but it was hard to tell because the main board is not outputting to any of the peripheral components. If this is the case then the mother board will need to be replaced. The Cutter Is Not Being Detected By The Computer: This issue can be caused by many things. With broad spectrum issues such as this one you will want to start with the easiest solution first. The easiest solution in this case is to try an alternate USB cable (this would be to test to see if the usb is defective). You can often find the proper USB cable (USB A to USB B) on a desktop printer. If the new USB cable does not work then it is likely that the I/O is either dead or disconnected from the mother board. You can test to see if it is functioning at all by connecting the serial cable (make sure you use the serial cable that comes with the machine, it is a null modem cable and this is required for the MH series of cutters) and trying that connection type If you do not get any results from the serial connection then you will want to open up the right side end cap of the cutter and the right side bottom panel as well. In the right side end cap you will see the I/O board. Check to make sure the ribbon cable is securely plugged into the I/O

6 board. Once this is confirmed track the ribbon cable to the mother board from the I/O board and make sure it is securely plugged into the main board. If the computer is still not seeing the cutter then the I/O board will need to be replaced. The Blade No Longer Lifts: This problem is most likely caused by a fried Z-Axis chip, but there are two tests that you will need to run before you can be positive. The first test is to check the carriage itself to make sure it is mechanically sound. A D Batter and a Phillips head screw driver are required for this test. Use the screw driver to remove the face plate from the carriage. Apply the D battery to the two solder points on the top of the carriage simultaneously. The carriage arm should hop up as a result of the charge from the D battery. This shows that the carriage is intact. If the test fails the carriage will need to be replaced. The second test requires a voltmeter. You will need to use the voltmeter to check the continuity of the wires that run from the motherboard to the carriage. Reference Howard s guide if you do not know how to do this. If there is continuity between the motherboard and the carriage then the problem is certainly the Z-Axis chip. If there is no continuity you will need to carefully inspect the wires for damage or disconnections at the solder points. No X/Y Movement: This is probably a bad motherboard. You can easily check this by exposing the motherboard and exchanging the x and y motor connections that run into the main board. If the problems switches from the original motor to other when the connections are switched you know the problem is a bad motherboard. If the problem persists in the original motor then that motor needs to be replaced. If the problem exists in both motors simultaneously then the problem is most likely the motherboard and the part will need to be replaced.

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