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I got my new PCut yesterday. Had it running in a few minutes. Had some problems last night, which I was able to resolve. Today, doing a large sign order, I was going along making all kinds of cuts and things were perfect in terms of blade pressure, ability to weed, etc. Suddenly I began a new graphic and the cutter cuts unevenly. On the right side of the vinyl, the blade cuts properly. But by the time it gets to the middle, it starts to score the backing. By the time it gets to the far left, it cuts through the backing, bunches up the vinyl like crazy, and brings things to a screeching halt. I ruined several feet of vinyl trying to extract the vinyl from the machine a number of times. Set the blade pressure to a lighter setting, reset the blade to a different height, but the problem persists. The blade carrier is on track, but the cut is very uneven. Don't know how it went from perfect to terrible in such a short time. The nylon wear strip next to the grit rollers is scored from the blade on the left side, but not on the right. Any help much appreciated. Trying to finish a large order.

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Update. Attempted many different settings, but to no avail. I raised the blade depth to the point that you can barely see the blade coming out of the holder. I was running a pressure of 125 when I was cutting properly, and gradually decreased that to 50, but that didn't help either. Even with all the changes, the blade is still cutting through the backing and causing the vinyl to bunch up and stop the machine. This all happened after it had been cutting great all day. Very confusing. The thing I would have expected - blade carrier off track - was never an issue.

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Update #2. Thinking that it perhaps might be the nylon wear strip that had become abraded, I decided to take the strip off, clean it up a little, and reverse its position on the machine. Since the machine was cutting deeper on the left, I thought maybe this would alter the cut with a better wear strip portion on the left. This didn't accomplish anything. The cutter is still cutting so deep on the left that the vinyl backing is cut through and clogs the cutter. On the right the vinyl is barely scored. I'll admit I'm at a loss for solutions, but I'm dead in the water with only part of a sign order done.

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Sticky,

Thanks. Yes, it's in the back hole.

I also found out a workaround for this problem, maybe. The graphic that was causing the problem was one that was placed at right angles to the machine. When this was sent to the cutter, the cutter tried to weed from right to left across the entire length of the graphic, which was about 22". Everytime it made the entire outline weed cut, the problem would show up. When I reoriented the graphic so that it was parallel to the feed, the problem went away.

So, what happens is that when the blade navigates in parallel to the vinyl (front to back) I don't seem to have any problems. When it goes at right angles to the feed over long dimensions (left to right) the vinyl tears because the blade pressure seems uneven. That's a concern for me. I don't want to have to orient all my cuts a certain way because placing them the "wrong way" might cause the vinyl to tear. This is especially true when try to optimize the cutting area to save vinyl. If I have a graphic 22" X 3", I'd like to think I could set the cutter up so that the 22" dimension (I use 24" vinyl) was at right angles to the feed. From what I experienced Saturday, this wouldn't be possible.

I'm wondering if others have experienced problem with right to left weeding over long dimensions. Seems I saw something on the forum about the machine "not liking" to make these kinds of cuts. Is that true? If so, why?

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I have a new 12" refine cutter. So many problems.

1) Pinch roller won't hold the vinyl. Tried adjusting the screws; did not work. Then filed plastic a bit .that worked.

2) The belt drive for silver roller fell off; opened up and fixed that; now it works.

3) test cut: uneven; outer square ok. inner not cut deep enough. tried everything; blade, holder adjustment;

nothing works. Problem: Forward cutting is OK. backward (blade coming back) no good. and hence uneven cut.

Do not have solution to this. No warranty as I am from CANADA.  ;D;).

There is no quality control inspection for this machines. Specs are poor and manufacturing is shoddy.

What more can say. Stuck with a lemmon as so many have!!! ;)  ;D

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Josh,

I'm not sensing that lots of people are having problems. I'm not willing to give in until I find a solution. I keep hoping it might be an idiosyncrasy - that perhaps the cutter interpreted the graphic in such a way that it manipulated the cutter to cut erratically. I don't know, but still looking at all possibilities. My mind always works on a logic premise. This problem is very illogical because the machine gives no indication that it should cut in such a crazy manner. The slide rail for the blade carrier isn't bent, the cutter head doesn't wobble, the wear strip isn't degraded enough to cause this, etc., etc.

Sorry to hear about your problems. Hope you find a resolution also.

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Guest sciondrgn

From my limited experience with the machine I have had good luck so far.. The largest I've done is 40" legnth wise with no issues.. Here is some things Im doing that works well on my machine.

This is Using a PCut CT900 36" Cutter and Sign Blazer and Flexi software

-Smaller width vinyl I am cutting on the left side of the machine while larger 15"+ widths on the right side.

-Blade is in the back position and raised about 1mm from the fully seated position. (In the fully seated position the blade would rest on the vinyl causing the vinyl to rip and cut straight through)

-Machine Pressure is set to 106 Using Avery A4 Vinyl (From my understanding this will need to be adjusted depending on blade type and material)

-Blade Offset is at 0.30 in SignBlazer and 0.27 in Flexi

-Speed Varies depending on Image, Fonts and larger images with not much detail im running 50-60 and for smaller cuts or more details I run 40

As to your orientation issue I've cut both ways placing images length and width of the vinyl and get good clean cuts. Other then lining up the vinyl to make sure it doesnt float when being pulled through the machine I have gotten good results with the above setup!

Hope that helps some!

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Thanks Scion,

Before the problem occurred I had been running pressure of 125 using FDC calendered vinyl. The blade wasn't protruding far in the blade holder. After the problem I went down as far as 40 in pressure and sunk the blade to the point when only the very tip was visible, but it was to no avail. I was running the vinyl on the right side, but my image was about 22" wide, so it was cutting pretty far to the left. I had the speed at 60 initially, but went down to 40 to no avail. I haven't done anything with offset since I got the machine, so it's on default settings.

Today I ran a different graphic that was wide and shallow like the one I did Saturday that caused all the problems. Today it was fine and I didn't get any noticeable variation in blade depth. The vinyl backing didn't get perforated, and the vinyl ran through the machine fine.

I have never seen this happen before, but do you think there's any possibility that the graphic I was trying to run caused the cutter to perform in this fashion? The graphic was a text box where I had skewed the letters in an arc shape and where there was a lot of excess vinyl to be weeded around the letters. I have never heard of such a thing, but I'm wondering if the cutter "interpreted" the image in such a way that the blade depth was lowered in some parts of the graphic as opposed to others. I always thought the blade remained at one depth during the entire cut, but looking at the blade today, it appears to be higher than it was Saturday when the problem surfaced. I don't know. I'm scratchin' my head on this one. Thanks for all your help!

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Guest sciondrgn

I dont really think it could have been the graphic itself..

I know on mine the blade tip is just barely sticking out and it cuts good. as soon as I adjust it out the smallest amount it will start cutting through the backing..

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make sure the rail that the blade runs on hasn't come loose and slipped down. I hope that makes sense. Basically when you are looking at the machine from the front, the blade holder and arm rides on a rail held to the side by a screw or two, make sure it hasn't come loose and slid down just a bit. Even dropping the slightest would cause the issues you are having.

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Sticky,

Thanks. That's one of the things I checked to make sure it wasn't the blade holder and rail assembly. The rail is firmly in place. The blade holder assembly is on track and seems to fit properly. That's where the lack of logic starts to grab me. Everything says this can't happen, but it did.

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Now I'm supprised!!!!

I've not seen a thread this long without someone from USCUTTER chime in and help!

I know they care, I've seen the posts..??

Hello.... someone help this person!

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Now I'm supprised!!!!

I've not seen a thread this long without someone from USCUTTER chime in and help!

I know they care, I've seen the posts..??

Hello.... someone help this person!

Sorry, I overlooked this topic because it is in the General Discussion category, and not one of the Support categories. We are always happy to assist.  ;)

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I have a new 12" refine cutter. So many problems.

1) Pinch roller won't hold the vinyl. Tried adjusting the screws; did not work. Then filed plastic a bit .that worked.

2) The belt drive for silver roller fell off; opened up and fixed that; now it works.

3) test cut: uneven; outer square ok. inner not cut deep enough. tried everything; blade, holder adjustment;

nothing works. Problem: Forward cutting is OK. backward (blade coming back) no good. and hence uneven cut.

Do not have solution to this. No warranty as I am from CANADA.  ;D;).

There is no quality control inspection for this machines. Specs are poor and manufacturing is shoddy.

What more can say. Stuck with a lemmon as so many have!!! ;)   :angry:

With so many things out of order with this cutter, I would think that something is still loose on the cutter causing a bad test cut. In the box of cables was an Alan wrench for tightening the silver metal feed rollers. Make sure each one is tight without any play, and you might even check the sprocket for the feed rollers located on the left hand side. Just remove the left side case to expose. Some have had issues, the majority have not. Overall they are great cutters for the price point. Warranty or not, we would still ike you to have a cutter that cuts as it should. Keep me posted with what you find.....and welcome to our forums!

:)

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I got my new PCut yesterday. Had it running in a few minutes. Had some problems last night, which I was able to resolve. Today, doing a large sign order, I was going along making all kinds of cuts and things were perfect in terms of blade pressure, ability to weed, etc. Suddenly I began a new graphic and the cutter cuts unevenly. On the right side of the vinyl, the blade cuts properly. But by the time it gets to the middle, it starts to score the backing. By the time it gets to the far left, it cuts through the backing, bunches up the vinyl like crazy, and brings things to a screeching halt. I ruined several feet of vinyl trying to extract the vinyl from the machine a number of times. Set the blade pressure to a lighter setting, reset the blade to a different height, but the problem persists. The blade carrier is on track, but the cut is very uneven. Don't know how it went from perfect to terrible in such a short time. The nylon wear strip next to the grit rollers is scored from the blade on the left side, but not on the right. Any help much appreciated. Trying to finish a large order.

This one is tough. Some users with this issue have found that by trying different pressures and cutting speeds, they were able to cut fine across the full width once they had it fine tuned. Some have had to replace the cutting strip, or remove it and replace it. Some have checked the space between the feed rollers and the rail the carriage rides on along the full width and adjusted accordingly to resolve. As for the bunching up, I have heard that some put tape or clear vinyl on to cover the little gap the material sometimes catches on. Keep me posted on what you find with the uneven cutting.

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I think I have found a way to perhaps massage the machine. I raised the blade slightly more than before. I am not trying to cut the same type of graphics as when the problem surfaced either. I'm hoping that maybe it was just an anomaly that happened when all the wrong conditions were present. It hasn't happened since, so I'll be a happy camper if this keeps cutting as intended. Is there a chance of getting a wear strip, though. This one got scratched up somewhat when the problem erupted Saturday? I just got the machine Fri. Thanks.

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