ECRM Mako 36 problem

[MaraJade]

I have an older MAKO 36 film imagesetter. I am getting variations in my screens when they should consistant. (example: An 8in long screen at 10% will read as 9% on one side and drop to 3% on the other).

Wondering if the laser is dying or any other possibilities?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[VladCanada]

What about to clean up the mirror of the spinner?

 

[DTEC]

More than likely it is your film or chemistry and not the 36. Try another roll of film preferably not the same lot number. Be sure to clean your film processor and put fresh chemistry in and that your temp and dwell time is correct. Do not clean the cake mirror with anything but canned air and a soft horse hair brush, no chemical cleaning agents or Isopropyl alcohol, just a dry brush or a high grade microfiber cloth ( do not touch the cake mirror with your fingers). The spinner motor would have to be removed in order to get to the spinner mirrors; this I feel is not necessary because it is in a sealed housing and spins at very high speed for any dirt to be on it.

 

[cjwworld]

I had a imagesetter like that. It would be fine until about 4 inches to the edge. Turned out that the laser is misaligned

 

[BillJ]

The Mako mirror is not "sealed". If have seen several that have been dirty. That being said, dirt is usually not the only problem. It can also be caused by either the spinner motor or the optical calibration is off. The position is set by the start of line sensor on one side and the farther it gets from that point the higher the error. If the spinner encoder is dirty or failing it can cause this problem. Your best bet is to get a tech to check it out.

 

[MaraJade]

Thanks for the info everyone. It looks like I need to get a tech in here. I'll reply with the outcome, maybe it can help someone else.

 

[ajr]

Could be the circulation pump on the processor, you could have warm dev one side and cooler the other. Seen this problem before, maybe try stirring dev up before putting film through.

A

 

[MaraJade]

Thanks - It does appear that our pump is not functioning on the developer. I'll fix that and run some calibration strips.

Also noticed that some of the fine lines in some type is filling in on part of the sheet. Hopefully that is also connected to the developer