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My plotter has lost its home position. It give a error 16 message. My problem is when I lock all 4 motors and loosen the set-screw on clamp for adjusting location of cutting tool, and adjust then re tighten set-screw and then unlock motors and turn on plotter the cutting tool turns a little over two revolutions causing it not to go back to same position every time I turn on power which in turn keeps the error 16 in there. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
-------------------- Michael Grant Mike Grant Signs 2140 Glasgow Ave. Cardiff, CA. 92007 mgrant@nethere.com Posts: 29 | From: San Diego, CA. | Registered: Aug 2004
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Hi Michael and welcome aboard. I have both a 4B and a 4E that I barely know anything about after having one for 6 years and one for 1. (I'm a painter mostly) Except that if you call Gerber they will charge you an arm and a leg to fix them. And that there are some folks on here who used to have them before they upgraded and still know quite a bit about fixing them. And that there are folks who buy them from Ebay all the time. So SURELY someone out there can help you. I know that my old 4B loved to get wiped down with rubbing alcohol on all the connecters, then get blown off by a can of compressed air or even an air gun. Sometimes it's something simple, like a piece of dust stuck somewhere, or like the time I had something plugged in BACKWARDS....Good luck and I hope that someone on here is better at helping you than I was. I can at least offer empathy because I do know how crappy it is to go thru this! Love...Jill
-------------------- That is like a Mr. Potato Head with all the pieces in the wrong place. -Russ McMullin Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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Had the same thing a few years back. At the back side of the plotter on the end of the barrel with the sprockets on it there is a wheel with a slot cut in it. There is an 'eye' that sees the slot and that's where the blade "zeroes" itself. I got away with cleaning the slot out and cleaning the 'eye'. But after another year nothing helped and I ordered a wiring harness for the plotter and changed it out myself...about $80.00 if I remember correctly. Try Advantage sign supply, they were who I ordered my part through.
-------------------- John Byrd Ball Ground, Georgia 770-735-6874 http://johnbyrddesign.com so happy I gotta sit on both my hands to keep from wavin' at everybody! Posts: 741 | From: Ball Ground, Georgia, USA | Registered: May 1999
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Gerber had another company originally make those plotters for them. In Ohio, I was blessed to have my friend's brother tell me he used to work for the main company, or whatever was the case.
So, besides cleaning and turning off and on the plotter, be comforted that some of the parts are replaceable and don't have to have the Gerber name on them. If I were more mechanically inclined, I would be able to talk to you more about it, otherwise, all I hear is about the stepper that goes bad after years and years. Good luck, as many machinists can help you too.
The only problem I have ever had in 12 years is that the clamp that holds the vinyl down on the sproketts came loose so and the bar slipping off, but a fellow letterhead in Chicago offered to fix it for me for a favor, the part costs under 10 bucks he said.
The plotters are pretty basic, thank God.
Oh, btw, besides cleaning with qtips, and using a can of compressed air for inside, also I oil the band that the blade housing slides back and forth on. That will save the rubber for years and years! Just use 3 in 1 oil.
[ August 16, 2004, 06:44 PM: Message edited by: Deb Fowler ]
-------------------- Deb Fowler
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible - Walt Disney (1901-1966) Posts: 5373 | From: Loves Park, Illinois | Registered: Aug 1999
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Almost forgot! It can also be the little rubber-coated chain inside the tool holder, they get to missing teeth and can cause the same problem.
-------------------- John Byrd Ball Ground, Georgia 770-735-6874 http://johnbyrddesign.com so happy I gotta sit on both my hands to keep from wavin' at everybody! Posts: 741 | From: Ball Ground, Georgia, USA | Registered: May 1999
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Thanks everyone so much! It was that sensor. It must of had some dust or something on it. I just sprayed some brake cleaner on it and let it set a few minutes and it found it way home once again.
-------------------- Michael Grant Mike Grant Signs 2140 Glasgow Ave. Cardiff, CA. 92007 mgrant@nethere.com Posts: 29 | From: San Diego, CA. | Registered: Aug 2004
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