What a damaged encoder strip looks like from a Designjet

[Kiran Otter]

For those who haven't had this issue I thought I would share this, since I almost overlooked it myself. The damage to this encoder strip was so minor I almost didn't see it. Yet it was enough to cause paper jam messages on a HP Designjet 4500 (86.01 error.)

Kiran

IMG_1592.JPG
IMG_1590.JPG

[Lance15]

Re: What a damaged encoder strip looks like from a Designjet

Thanks Kiran! Such minor damage such as that is easily overlooked. Even smudges/finger oils can confuse a unit that uses encoder strips to detect location. I recently had a run-in with one of those DVD burner autoloaders that prints directly onto the disc once it's burnt. Looked at the encoder strip without a flashlight, you would think everything is fine. Once you get a light on the strip though, you can instantly see issues. Fingerprints and ink spray. Little piece of water dampened cloth and it started working great again!

[Kiran Otter]

Re: What a damaged encoder strip looks like from a Designjet

Here's another from a T1700. Couldn't figure out what would leave a pattern like that but it sure made the printer unhappy. It would continue to print but make this awful clunk when the carriage would skip at that point.

bad encoder strip.jpg

Kiran

[blackcat4866]

Re: What a damaged encoder strip looks like from a Designjet

iPF encoder strip.JPG

This is from a Canon iPF710. I had some difficulty getting an image ... can you see the missing marks? It's a camera view through an Eisenbach 20x magnifier.

HPDJ500 encoder strip.JPG

This is a HP Designjet 500 encoder strip that did not come clean, without losing some of the silk-screened lines.
=^..^=