dwneumann

Darin, I am having a similar problem... random cuts that always happen exactly at the same place in the file. Can't be static if its that repeatable, time after time. In my case the random cuts change if I change the cutting speed on the cutter. The random cuts still happen, and they are still 100% repeatable, but they happen later in the file if I increase the cutting speed, earlier in the file if I decrease cutting speed. I can start a file that goes for 90 minutes fine... then bam. Random cut. Does your problem also change with cutting speed? I am of the opinion that either there's a bug in the updated FTDI virtual serial port driver, or an incompatibility between the sign cutting software and the new driver. Did you by chance update your USB dirver (or did Windows update it for you) since the last time it was working perfectly?

It sounds like the software's idea of what commands to send to the plotter are wrong. Is there a way for you to view or change the command strings sent to the cutter for a pen up command, pen down command, move, reset, initialize, etc.? Check whether sign blazer and flexi both have the same command strings specified.

Usually a reboot works for me too, but not this time. I have rebooted several times and power cycled the cutter several times. Very persistent problem :-(

hobby glass carving using sandblast resist in Creation PCut CT630 ...

hmmm,that's an interesting question.... It doesn't happen on smaller files that only take a few minutes to cut. This file is quite an intricate design. It takes almost an hour to complete cutting at 20mm/sec. I had not thought of file corruption because it does complete successfully if cut fast enough. But I will test a different similarly intricate file and see what happens.... Thanks.

Thank you skeeter. My cutter only has a USB port (no RS-232) and my laptop only has a USB port so unfortunately I cannot try using a real serial interface. I have not changed the cable, laptop, or port since it last worked. There is no USB hub, router, or any other device between the cutter and computer. My cutter is not on a stand but I did try grounding to the metal legs of the table it sits on. This had no effect. I also pre-cut the resist from the roll to avoid static buildup (I use a rubber sandblast resist, not sign vinyl), and I power cycled and unplugged the cutter and the laptop many times during my troubleshooting. The random cuts also happen on regular paper when plotting with a pen at less than 60mm/sec cut speed. This, plus the fact that the random cuts always happen at exactly the same point in the plot, makes me think it is not a random effect such as static charge but rather something that happens after a certain amount of data has been transmitted, or perhaps whenever a specific memory location in the cutter's memory buffer is read. I'm still stymied.... Regards, Dean

Argh!! I have been using my Creation Pcut CT630 with a licensed copy of SignGo successfully for a long time without problems. Now (after 6 months of not using it) I am trying to cut a dxf file that I successfully cut 6 months ago, but now I get random cuts occurring part way through the file. The cuts are random but they always occur exactly at the same place int he file. I checked my communication settings and flow control settings. All appear to be correct and identical to what they were when everything was working (9600 baud, 8/1/none, hw flow control). The program communicates with the cutter for about 10 minutes before the random cuts start happening. (This is at a cut speed of 20mm/sec.) I can reproduce the random cuts at *exactly* the same place in the file over and over again. Suspecting a flow control problem (buffer underflow or overflow) I sped up the cut speed to 30 mm/second to drain the buffer faster, and indeed the program gets further along in the file, but then the random cuts happen, and again, it happens repeatably at exactly the same place in the file. I can try the same file over and over again and the random cuts happen at the same place (but a different place at 30mm/sec than for 20mm/sec). If I increase the cut speed even further to 40 mm/sec the program gets even further, but eventually generates random cuts. If I switch to pen plotiing I can increase the plot speed to 60mm/sec and then the file gets all the way through without any random cuts (or pen lines in this case). The USB virtual serial port driver had been updated to FTDI's latest, so I suspected a driver bug causing problems with flow control. so I rolled back to 2.6.0.0 which worked for a long time, but no change. I ran a serial port monitoring utility and observed that no RCS/CTS control signals are being logged. I don't know if the serial port monitor program is supposed to log them or not. I have attached the first bit of the serial port monitor log file to show what settings the computer and cutter negotiate. I have RTS/CTS enabled, DTR disabled and XON/XOFF disabled in the SignGo package and driver. I am using USB port on cutter to USB port on PC (Windows XP). I have spent 2 days trying everything I can think of to explain this. Do these symptoms sound familiar to anyone? THanks for any and all suggestions..... Dean rave-bear-totem @ 20 speed hw flow cntl.htm

I'm having vinyl slippage problems when I cut sandblast resist (heavy vinyl) on my pcut ct630. If I plot my design on paper first it comes out perfect. When I replace the paper and pen with vinyl and blade, the design comes out distorted (mostly in Y axis but also a little bit in X axis). A 24" circle will end up as a 24x25" ellipse. I've tried adjusting pen pressure, laying the vinyl horizontal on a table to eliminate weight of hanging vinyl, etc. Adjusted tracking (tracking is better with paper than with vinyl, indicating vinyl slippage?). I believe the weight of the vinyl is cauing slippage or the pinch rollers are not pushing down firmly enough. I found another poster that said his slippage problem was solved by adding a 3rd and 4th pinch roller. Thought I'd try that, but I can't find pinch rollers for the PCUT CT630 on UScutter.com site (or anywhere else for that matter). Can anyone help with either my slippage problem or finding parts fo the PCUT? Thanks.....

I just got a PCUT 630 and am trying to cut line drawings that I have created in Rhino3D. When I import these to SignBlazer as .AI or .DXF only half my lines show up (after changing view to wireframe mode). These are simple designs... less than 100 splines, all in the 2D construction plane, no embedded bitmaps. Have also tried generating a vector PDF but SignBlazer can't deal with those. I have outsourced the cutting by sending these PDFs to sign shops to cut. Those shops handled these files, as PDFs, just fine. What are you guys doing to cut designs on PCUT cutters from Rhino3D or AutoCAD? I must say I am unimpressed with SignBlazer and would pay money for a signcutting program that works reliably (reluctantly because the cutter is advertized as coming with software that does this). Better yet a printer driver for the PCUT 630 through which I can set any device parameters as needed and then send HPGL to it, this is the way all HPGL plotters work. If you have any suggestions for how to make this work in SignBlazer or other programs that do this and actually work, I'm all ears. Thanks for *all* suggestions and sorry if my frustration is showing through :-) Have tried to attach a sample file but this forum rejects DXF file attachments. Dean

I just got a PCUT 630 and am trying to cut line drawings that I have created in Rhino3D. When I import these to SignBlazer as .AI or .DXF only half my lines show up (after changing view to wireframe mode). These are simple designs... less than 100 splines, all in the 2D construction plane, no embedded bitmaps. Have also tried generating a vector PDF but SignBlazer can't deal with those. I have outsourced the cutting by sending these PDFs to sign shops to cut. Those shops handled these files, as PDFs, just fine. What are you guys doing to cut designs on PCUT cutters from Rhino3D or AutoCAD? I must say I am unimpressed with SignBlazer and would pay money for a signcutting program that works reliably (reluctantly because the cutter is advertized as coming with software that does this). Better yet a printer driver for the PCUT 630 through which I can set any device parameters as needed and then send HPGL to it, this is the way all HPGL plotters work. Will post this question to the SignBlazer foum too, but if you have any suggestions for other programs that do this and actually work, I'm all ears. Thanks for *all* suggestions and sorry if my frustration is showing through :-) Have tried to attach a sample file but this forum rejects DXF file attachments. Dean