HELP! PrePress Solutions PantherPlus Imagesetter

[PaperThinAir]

This dino is giving me some serious headaches!

This imagesetter's main function to produce films for burning screens used on our automatic silk screen press.

For some reason nearly every time I print to this machine it crashes in the last stages of imaging the film. The RIP for this machine is running OS9 and PantherRip, files are sent from ID4 and Quark 8 on a G5 running Leopard, could this be a communication error?

It seems as though changing the print settings themselves in Q8 and ID4 make no difference so It doesn't appear as though I'm outputting incorrectly as OCCASIONALLY it runs just fine after a number of reboots of the RIP and the imagesetter.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated as PrePress Solutions Inc no longer exist and I have yet to find an imagesetter tech who's willing to help.

 

[discountprinting]

From my years of computer & printing experience I would look at what processes are running on the RIP computer. You may have a conflict caused by a process running in the background. It is hard to say without knowing your computer's configuration. You may want to try a clean install of the operating system & the RIP software, that may solve the issue. The other option (most likely to fix the problem if you have hardware issues) would be to buy a new computer to run the rip software & re-install the RIP on it. Might also trying increasing the RAM on the computer....

Since it is imaging film ok up to the end I think I would safely rule out it being the imaging unit unless a laser is possibly going out...would suspect this if lines or stray marks start showing up....

Hope this helps you out...

 

[PaperThinAir]

Thank you so much, I'll have to try setting up the rip on another computer.

However, what is concerning is that you mention stray marks being an indication that the laser may have an issue. The Rip receives the files correctly as far as I can tell but when imaging the film and it crashes, the resulting film shows all kinds of errors toward the last inch or so. It goes from the correct image to all these horizontal lines in seemingly random patterns.

 

[bmarple]

Try dumbing down your postscript to level 2. If that doesn't work, try level 1. Sounds suspiciously like a postscript issue. It's been more than 10 years since I last touched a Panther. Good luck.

 

[jotterpinky]

Just out of curiosity does anyone have the software RIP for the Panther Imagesetter. We have been having hardware problems on our Mac and have been trying to migrate everything over to a new system. Unfortunately we do not have a copy of the RIP software for the Panther and have been forced to move it to the corner and outsource our plates until someone has time to track down the software from the vendor. We've looked a bit online but haven't been able to find the manufacturer...seems as though the phone numbers we've found online lead nowhere.

If someone knows where I can obtain this please let me know

 

[PaperThinAir]

PantherRIP

PantherRIP

PrePress Solutions was once less than 15 minutes away from my office, but as far as I can tell they no longer exist. I may have the software on disc somewhere but I don't know how the file sharing laws concerning this situation work.

 

[johnmpcny]

I have whole rip

I have whole rip

I have panter rip 8 with Dongle. It is ps 3 with the Mac Os9 and has escor. If you want I will sell it for $300

[email protected]

 

[elsievo]

We had a bad spot on our hard drive of the Panther RIP. When the computer tried to write to it the Panther would hang up and no longer write.
We put the software on another Mac and its been running fine. A bit slower because it was an older Mac but working none the less.

We're running Quark 8.1, ID4 off a G5 Power PC mac using Leopard, to a G3 running OS 8.6. Still works.

 

[gg2017]

Glad you found your problem. I haven't used a Panther RIP for 10+ years and this info is common knowledge and could be outdated...but don't rotate your images within Quark other programs. Once you find the angle you want, use Photoshop to rotate the image and place it back in. In the old days that would take minutes of my ripping time...sometimes 1/2 hour or so depending on percentage of rotation. Those rips did 90 ,180, or 270 degrees fine but hated angles like 3%.

 

[Marc.Ram]

This dino is giving me some serious headaches!

This imagesetter's main function to produce films for burning screens used on our automatic silk screen press.

For some reason nearly every time I print to this machine it crashes in the last stages of imaging the film. The RIP for this machine is running OS9 and PantherRip, files are sent from ID4 and Quark 8 on a G5 running Leopard, could this be a communication error?

It seems as though changing the print settings themselves in Q8 and ID4 make no difference so It doesn't appear as though I'm outputting incorrectly as OCCASIONALLY it runs just fine after a number of reboots of the RIP and the imagesetter.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated as PrePress Solutions Inc no longer exist and I have yet to find an imagesetter tech who's willing to help.

When you say it crashes, do you mean the Imagesetter crashes (shows a bomb icon and a number)? if so try this from the Keypad: tell the machine to advance some film. If the Imagesetter crashes then, (Shows a cherry bomb on the LCD) you may have something blocking the SOL (start of Line) sensor, this could be dust or may require you to do a beam steering adjustment. Worst case you may have a laser problem.

Marc

 

[elsievo]

Another item to consider if it is crashing during ripping or printing is a bad page buffer drive.

Is your panther set up with single or dual page buffer drives?

If you have two you can disconnect one at a time and try to find the culprit. It will still work with just one.

Don't know if Bob Weber or some other business like that have any drives in stock, if that is the problem.

 

[Marc.Ram]

Another item to consider if it is crashing during ripping or printing is a bad page buffer drive.

Is your panther set up with single or dual page buffer drives?

If you have two you can disconnect one at a time and try to find the culprit. It will still work with just one.

Don't know if Bob Weber or some other business like that have any drives in stock, if that is the problem.

Good point elsievo, it could be drive related. the machine will work with just one drive, but it needs to be the boot drive.

All panther Plus units should have two Page Buffers. One of these will have the system software that gets loaded when you boot the machine. If you disconnect this drive, the imagesetter will not boot. The drives can be reformatted, but if you do this with the boot drive, you will need the boot software to reload. This can be done by putting the imagesetter in scsi download mode.

BTW Panther Pro units have three or more, but still one has the boot software.

I am lazy, so I like to check the simple things first. Please let me know first if we are talking about a bomb icon appearing on the LCD panel of the machine and if the film advance causes a bomb 2. This is an interesting side effect of the machine checking the SOL sensor before advancing film, if it does not get the expected reading form the sol, it does not advance the film and crashes with a Bomb 2

Marc

 

[Bethart1]

Panther 34P trouble

Panther 34P trouble

We have a Panther 34P that is crashing also.

The RIP is running on an old Mac9500 and it seems to read the files sent fin. Itbuffers the images, but wehn the imagesetter starts to access the laser to image the actual plate, the imagesetter goes straight to the cut mode and then errors out. It gives an error code of #15. Does anyone know what this means?

We have been having some issues with heat seeming to affect the laser. When the room temperature is above 75°, the plates come out grey on one side. Could this be a symptom of what is happening now or just coincidence?

Anyone else run into these problems? We have a processor attached directly to the Panther, but it does not seem to be causing any trouble.

 

[Marc.Ram]

Panther 34P trouble

Panther 34P trouble

Hi Bethart1

You may be having a couple of different issues.

The first issue seems to be that one of your cutter sensors may be damaged. There are optical sensors on either side of the machine to detect where the cutter is.

If one sensor is broken or unplugged, the machine will not see the cutter when it is parked in that position. It will then assume that the blade is in the path of the film and fire the cutter motor, expecting to see it on one of the sides of the machine. This is probably why the cutter activates.

You can test by manually putting the cutter on one side and then the other. The side that is working will allow you to image film, since the machine will see the cutter. Since your machine has an online processor, this will only be of limited help to you, but the sensor should be relatively easy to source directly from its original manufacturer.

The Bomb 15 is a Polygon Speed error and indicates that the speed of the polygon fluctuated beyond tolerance while imaging was in progress. This could be due to a couple of different things, (Polygon or Polygon Driver Board) including an unrelated reaction in the control software to the cutter being activated during imaging.

The grey on one side of the plate could be due to clipping of the laser beam by the Second Cylindrical lens mask due to thermal creep, or Build up of dust on the Polygon leading edges. If your Polygon is the silver faced version, you should be able to carefully clean it. If is the older Gold surfaced one, cleaning is much more unlikely.

Remember that SilverMaster type plates are positive acting, so reducing the light energy that gets to them will give the appearance of fogging.

What type of Processor are you using?

Marc

 

[Bethart1]

Panther 34P trouble kept cool

Panther 34P trouble kept cool

Thanks for the response. It helped to look at some different possibilities.

Our weather lately has been warmer, and the temperature climbed in the room with the Panther. We turned on the A/C and let it run overnight. In the morning, the problem was no longer present. The Panther imaged, no premature plate cutting and no graying. All our problems are definitely temperature related.

I'm glad it worked, but am concerned as we are headed into the warmer summer months. The temperature in the Panther room climbs in the summer, even with the A/C running.
Any ideas about temperature-only affected parts? Definitely something with the laser.

 

[dcoyle4040]

Hi Bethart1

You may be having a couple of different issues.

The first issue seems to be that one of your cutter sensors may be damaged. There are optical sensors on either side of the machine to detect where the cutter is.

If one sensor is broken or unplugged, the machine will not see the cutter when it is parked in that position. It will then assume that the blade is in the path of the film and fire the cutter motor, expecting to see it on one of the sides of the machine. This is probably why the cutter activates.

You can test by manually putting the cutter on one side and then the other. The side that is working will allow you to image film, since the machine will see the cutter. Since your machine has an online processor, this will only be of limited help to you, but the sensor should be relatively easy to source directly from its original manufacturer.

The Bomb 15 is a Polygon Speed error and indicates that the speed of the polygon fluctuated beyond tolerance while imaging was in progress. This could be due to a couple of different things, (Polygon or Polygon Driver Board) including an unrelated reaction in the control software to the cutter being activated during imaging.

The grey on one side of the plate could be due to clipping of the laser beam by the Second Cylindrical lens mask due to thermal creep, or Build up of dust on the Polygon leading edges. If your Polygon is the silver faced version, you should be able to carefully clean it. If is the older Gold surfaced one, cleaning is much more unlikely.

Remember that SilverMaster type plates are positive acting, so reducing the light energy that gets to them will give the appearance of fogging.

What type of Processor are you using?

Marc

We have a paper down in Milton that is getting the Bomb 15 error. Thanks for pointing us in the right direction. Do you know where I can get a service manual for any panther imager. Preferably the pro 46.
thanks

 

[Bethart1]

missing manual

missing manual

I don't know where to find any Panther manuals.

We do now keep the area cool and have not had any more problems with the Panther itself.

The attached processor is a Cordell, no longer made. Even when it was first installed, it had to be adapted. We have had issues getting replacement parts (roller assemblies, etc) for it.

With the cooler air, we have a new problem with the switch that tells the Panther film is entering the processor. This occurs after the first plate is printed. Since the Panther thinks film is entering, it will not advance any more plates until that sensor/switch tells it the film has completely entered the processor.

We have started to leave the lid on the processor open in the morning, with the safety switched bypassed, so the processor continues to warm the activator, but the fans and open lid help reduce the moisture. When we need to run plates, we close the lid and the processor works fine. I can only surmise there is condensation building up overnight in the switch.

 

[Anton Lix]

Hi Anybody know this message means on a Panther VR

Controller V2 . 0 R3
DiskSiop0-to-Drive SCSI Write/Read Test
ERROR : PB Drive ) Init, FAILURE
SubTest Pbm Dsip0Drive
PBM Tests To Continue Press +> Exit

Thanks

 

[elsievo]

Don't know for sure, but sounds like your page buffer drive died.
If you have a dual page buffer machine you can still get by. Slower but functional.
If you only have one, good luck finding a replacement and if you do, let me know if you find a source. I would check with some repair places like Bob Weber, Inc.
The drives don't seems special but I'm sure the formatting and startup software on them is. Last one I bought cost $1,200.

 

[Davis.zhou]

Hi Anybody know this message means on a Panther VR

Controller V2 . 0 R3
DiskSiop0-to-Drive SCSI Write/Read Test
ERROR : PB Drive ) Init, FAILURE
SubTest Pbm Dsip0Drive
PBM Tests To Continue Press +> Exit

Thanks

Sound Like you have the PBHD startup problem.
The program of the Panther is located in the PBHD 0
You can try to un-plug the SCSI cables and then plug the PBHD-0 SCSI cable to PBHD-1 and download the panther program to your new PBHD-0 (the old PBHD-1). The panther program should be found in the installed CD.