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Dirty Little Secrets - Keep It Clean!

7/7/2015

1 Comment

 
I continue to be shocked at the condition of plotters that people bring to me to fix...Seriously folks, you need to keep your plotter free from dust, dirt, dust bunnies, sawdust, clay dust, concrete dust, etc. That stuff gets on the carriage rail and these machines are very sensitive to any resistance on the carriage rail. You'll get error messages that may or may not look like they relate to any problem with the rail. These plotters will often give a totally unrelated error message for many problems, so you can't always be sure. 

A plotter I worked on last week was giving 79:04 error codes and 86:01 and yet the plotter just needed to have the covers removed and all the collected years of dust removed...a spray can of compressed air and a big fluffy paint brush and we were back in business. No more error messages. 

If you have your plotter in an environment that is going to be dusty, make sure to cover it. I use big flannel backed tablecloths from the dollar store and a friend uses a big outdoor grill cover. You could even make it out of clear vinyl. 
If you are using it so much that you don't want to cover it, at least use the compressed air can and blow it all out every month. And when you are done with the blow out wipe down the rail and put 3-4 fresh drops of mineral oil, baby oil or 3in1 oil on the rail...be careful not to get the oil on the silver encoder strip...if you do wipe it off with a soft piece of cloth. Do not scrub the encoder strip!

With just a little love and attention your plotter will continue to produce for many years!
1 Comment
Dominic
8/6/2015 10:17:07 pm

Hello from England - and thanks for the blog

My question relates to oiling the rails when installing a new belt.

I took my 1998 2500CP plotter apart, took out the old belt, which was worn but not completely broken (No small job).

I put a new belt in and the carriage juddered as it went down the rails - it would not run smoothly - but only when under tension from the new belt.
I tried a few things, but in the end had to put the old belt back on - which works fine - so it probably wasn't an installation issue.

The (friendly) vendor is worried that I may have used the wrong lubricating oil.

Can you help with a simple guide to the best oils and grease to buy?

If you watch plotter servicing videos about changing belts etc , done by apparently specialist plotter guys, the impression given is that many light oils (including sewing machine oil), are OK. Some say do not use WD40 - except on the belt, according to one!

- and you too seem to suggest any light oil would be fine.

On the other hand - a HP official lubricating and cleaning video shows a product DB2-68 from the service kit.
Googling that I found an ebay seller wanting $275 for a bottle - mamma mia, can't be right - and why is the picture Photoshopped?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DB2-68-LUBRICANT-OIL-4-FL-FOR-HP-DESIGNJET-PRINTERS-GENUINE-USA-/321615581166

My 1998 2500CP has printer plodded on for many years with no fresh lubrication and the old belt now works OK again.
- so you would not think it was that fussy about lubrication

Incidentally, I probably should put some more of that pink silicone grease on the plastic gears too.
That product seems cloaked in mystery too and I suspect that one of the many third-party silicon greases would be fine.

A small and simple list of suitable compatible types of silicone grease and oil would be good!

Many thanks, Dominic

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