jagrjones

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About jagrjones

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  1. While setting different step sizes will change the size of cuts in many plotters that has not been my experience with the CE7000 series. Instead step size works like resolution where setting higher values results in slower but more accurate cuts when cutting designs with fine details. @MrsPib I think the setting you are looking for is "Distance Adjust". Which graphtec describes as: "DISTANCE ADJUST value corrects any deviation in the length of cut or plotted line segments, which occurs depending on the media being used. DISTANCE ADJUST value for the deviation is specified as a percentage of the total distance. For example, a setting of +0.05% adjusts a distance of 2 m (2,000 mm) by 2,000 x 0.05% = 1 mm, making 2,001 mm. DISTANCE ADJUST can be specified for each CONDITION No." You can find the "Distance Adjust" setting in the cond/test menu on the plotter.
  2. The graphtec manual says you can change the step size (see attached). It may be oversimplifying what what is happening when those settings are adjusted. I'm not doubting that there is something happening in software when the step size is changed as Pawdell and darcshadow theorize. I'm not sure what's going on there... all i know for sure is 1) current graphtec software defaults to 254 steps/in, 2) with this setting small figures/letters look terrible, 3) with higher settings 1016/2540 steps/in small figures/letters look significantly better and 4) changing the step size in software results in a step size change on the plotter and artwork comes out the correct size despite the change in step size.
  3. What is the step size set up as on your plotter? When I use cutting master 4 to send 2540 steps/in data to my CE7000 the plotter switches to 2540 steps/in and the artwork prints the size expected. The same happens when I send data using Graphtec Production Manager. I would expect that a size mismatch between the data sent to the plotter and what the plotter is set at to result in artwork being scaled larger or smaller than intended. Not if the hardware is set to 1/2540. If someone really wants to validate this themselves set software and plotter to 254 steps/in. Cut Arial lettering at 0.25" height (PQRS will be enough, those letters will all look awful). Set software and plotter to 1/2540 and repeat the test. You will find the letters come out much much cleaner (and the correct size).
  4. mistwist, I also had some challenges with small details and hangnails on my new ce7000. I recommend trying the following: In CM4 or Graphtec Pro Studio Production Manager increase the Step size from 254 to 1016 or 2540. This is the "resolution" your plotter cuts at. It will cut slower, but more carefully, the higher you go. I cut small a lot so I use 2540. This should increase the accuracy of fine details. In the condition settings on the plotter, set tangential mode to 2, and overcut to .004" for both "start" and "end" this will greatly reduce the frequency and hangnails on curves where the blade starts/stops cuts (especially noticeable on small lettering).
  5. NTBVinyls, I had this same problem. USCutter and Graphtec were unable to help me except to rule a ton of things out and I ended up finding the solution on my own. CM4 and GraphtecProStudio production manager both default "step size" to 254/in. This is fine for letters and figures over 1" but once you go smaller than that you really need more resolution. I cut very small all the time so I went all the way up to 2540 but most users would probably be fine with 1016 steps/in.
  6. I'm cutting Oracal 651 including thier metallic silver and gold colors (not sure if that's just as hard on blades as other metallic colors). I'm not cutting paper or gouging into the backing. Time in days/weeks isn't really a good measurement of blade life because I could do 1 cut in weeks or cut all day every day and both would result in different amounts of blade life. I'm more interested with what users end up doing when the blade stops cutting all the way through the vinyl and weeding becomes tough... do you just increase pressure forever or at some point are you readjusting the blade downward?
  7. Do you find that you need to adjust the blade depth or only pressure as the blade wears down? I set the blade to the depth of the media, starting force on my CE7000 was 11 and everything cut great. Cuts starts to get a little light after a couple of weeks making the vinyl hard to weed so I bumped the pressure to 12 and it cut like new. After a bit I had to bump it up to 13... and now I'm at 15. How high do I go on pressure before I start to have problems? Should I be starting over and resetting the blade depth or do I just keep adding pressure?