[Solved] HP DesignJet 500 Error 86:01 when trying to trim sheet

[RngScottGus1]

(Edit - the encoder strip was dirty - cleaning it removed the error.)

Our printer is throwing a 86:01 error message when the print head goes to the left side to pick up the cutter to trim the sheet off the roll.

During four tests I ran, on two occasions the error arose just before the print head picked up the cutter (another millimeter and the cutter would have engaged), and the other two occasions the print head just engaged the cutter but did not pull the cutter towards the paper.

The cutter slides back and forth easily. I can easily move the cutter across the paper and trim the paper with almost no effort at all. If I manually move the cutter to the center of the axis and then turn the printer on, the print head moves to the left and pushes the cutter completely back to its rest position (past the spot where the print head must stop to engage the cutter) and returnes to the right to contine the start-up process.

I inspected how the print head picks up the cutter. The print head must move its hook to precisely a certain location in the cutter to pick up the cutter. If it moves too far the cutter finger loops around the print head hook and does not engage. The print head is moving past this spot during start-up, so there is no dirt preventing it from moving.

From these results I see that the print head is physically able to move the cutter, there is no junk on the chrome bar impeding the cutter and print head movements, the cutter is properly seated on its tracks, and the print head is able to be moved electronically along the entire axis, including past the point where it must pick up the cutter. I deduce no physical problems with the printer.

But the controls in the printer think there is a problem and are throwing this error anyway. I did put a little oil on the cutter end just in case, but this did not clear up the error. I also upgraded the firmware to version A.04.02 and still get the error.

I have searched on this subject and so far nothing I see seems to be like this problem. Also I have looked into the troubleshooting guides. System Error 86:01 recommends looking at Scan Axis Usage - ours is 36%, well under 100% recommended for lubrication. The issue happens on the cutter side, not the service station side. And the carriage movement test passes, and only moves from the service station to the middle of the axis.

Any thoughts?

P.S. This thread has been moved from Printers – Deskjet to Designjets. -HP Forum Moderator

[davidzuts]

2 things come to mind. First and obvious which you mentioned is lubrication of the rails. It could be a matter of the rail lacking enough lubrication just in that area where the cutter is located. Make sure to use synthetic oil and just a small amount. Second is the belt could be starting to fail and when the carriage moves to that area something with the belt either over the motor pulley on the left or the pulley on the right side has a defect and causes the area to occur. First thing I would do is the lubrication as it is easy and most times will solve the problem. Also what happens if you turn the cutter off. Do you still get the error at times or only when the cutter is turned on.

[RngScottGus1]

Thanks, David for your help. I lubed the bar on the cutter end but still got the error. On two of my tests I noticed that the head did not go over far enough to engage the cutter, just a hair short. So the head is stopping due to something else than the cutter impeding the head's movement. I'll inspect the belts for any junk & report back.
I did turn off the cutter, but the printer insists on using the cutter to trim the end of the paper roll when calibrating the paper (which we had to do because one of the troubleshooting steps was to remove the paper).

[jasonmiamifl]

There is a way to try easily :

Before you print & after you set the paper size etc , then go to    advance paper setting &  pick disable cutter   ... so printer won't cut.

*********************    work or not  or else problems  ????

Also There is another harder way to try...........

Open left cover & remove the cutter....................

Keep your finers cross...............

[RngScottGus1]

OK, It's working! No more errors.

Jason, thanks for the thought. I did not know there was a setting to disable the cutter at the printing PC. But the paper-roll-loading routine insisted on using the cutter anyway, so we couldn't get to be able to print without the error.

We disassembled the printer to get to the back of the print head, so we could inspect the belt, as David recommended. No junk, broken teeth, or any other visible problems.

Then I looked closely at the metal & plastic encoder strip that stretches across the paper under the print head belt. Turns out it has lots of little black lines running across it vertically. Superimposed is a lot of ink splatter. Hmm, I say, might there be an optical sensor in the print head that reads these little lines? Well there is. And it's getting confused by the splatter. So I clean and re-assemble everything. And the printer starts up, loads the roll, trims just fine, prints, no errors.

So the encoder strip was dirty. Cleaned it and the error went away.

Thanks, all, for your help!

[Resolutiongbcom]

probably belt problem