tbirddmnd

Newbie to this forum (and to cutters) and I'm totally stuck!

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Hi and thanks for this great forum.

I bought a Creaton PCUT CTN630 and it's assembled on the stand. Looking through here and reading many topics hasn't helped much, unless I can't figure out what to do.

I have the .doc file for newbies and I'm stuck at the point where the plotter pen is supposed to print the test square. Nothing happens when I press the PAUSE button - no movement, nothing. The fan is operating though! I went ahead and opened the SignBlazer Elements and typed the word HELP and then did the command to cut to the A4 paper and nothing happens. The fan is still operating! I have 6 USB ports, 2 of them in the front and it's plugged into the right-most one.

I inserted the blue disc that came with it but can't get anything to install off it. I did manage to load the SignBlazer Elements program. I have a PC, Windows XP Pro SP2, tons of space on the 500GB hard drive. I downloaded and ran the driver the .doc indicated to run if I'm using solely the USB since I don't have a spare serial port - my monitor is connected to the only serial port.

Did I miss a step? Looks to be a great instrument, if I can use it! Thanks!!!

Gonzo

tbirddmnd@att.net

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It would be best to call USCutter tomorrow when they open ( Pacific time ) They will walk you thru it or take control pf your computer via remote site .It would take a book typing back & forth IMO . Reading the sections that deal with your cutter & what software you are using is going to help you get up to speed regardless .  :thumbsup:

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Hi,

If you followed the new bie manual and get stuck you first have to solve that.

If you press twice the pause button (the manual says once only) what happens when plotter machine is set in dsiplay to OFFLINE?

About the USB problem follow the steps in the newbie manual and read carefully about setting up the USB ports!

Regardless the number of USB ports or where located on your PC you have to manually set the correct ports in Windows and in SBE as the manual describes.

Watch out your monitor does not work over a serial port as that port has different number of pins although it looks almost the same as a dedicated serial port.

Let us know the progress.

Paco

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I recently started cutting too. I had the same problem. I had to end up using a back usb port on my computer. I work on computers and sometimes the ones on the front port do not have as much power as the back ones.

and then watch the control panel when you plug it in to see what com port becomes active so you can set SBE to that port.

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Thanks for the replies!

Paco - when I pressed PAUSE once it was set to offline. The manual that came with the machine says to press PAUSE twice. I did so after I posted my initial question and I got the small rectangle to print. It does nothing further after that.

bamafan - I'll have to try plugging it in to one of the free back ones, but first I'll need to get a longer USB printer cable. The one I have is barely making it to the front now. I didn't think it mattered much?

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sometimes it dont. sometimes it's makes the world of difference!!

Mine is cutting like a champ now that I switched to the back port.

Good luck with it!! Its fun once you get it working!!

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Thanks for your replies, I'll give it a try this evening once I get home. I'd really like to get going on making some vinyl decals for my hoodliner business!

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Sorry if the manual was not clear and I will change to press pause twice in teh 4.4 version.

And is correct it only cuts the small sqaure.

This is to check if you adjusted the pressure and blade depth OK when your using the blade.

if weeding this square does not work you can change both without losing much vinyl.

Like said check in the control panel of Windows if there will apear a virtual USB port when you hook the USB cable in the front port and use the new bie manual to make them both the same in SBE and Windows.

Paco

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Thanks Paco, I haven't gone that far yet, I just put the pen attachment in it last night. There are 2 holes in the holder, I put it in the first one. I'll try re-connecting the USB to one of the ones in the back to see what happens.

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In some machines the pen or knife can be put in front or rear.

Use it in the front for time being.

Ok for just using the pen. It saves vinyl.

Just follow the manual then NORMALLY nothing can go wrong (knock Knock)

Paco

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I had all of these same issues! I'm trying to do the test cut and I can't even get the machine offline. It locked up on me once and I had to shut everything down. It's connected to a laptop. How do I know which USB ports are my "strongest"?  THANKS!!

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Did you followed the new bie manual?

If you did where did it go wrong?

This makes trouble shooting for others easier.

Paco

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That red button was mentioned in the new bie manual!  :thumbsup:

Paco

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Paco, it's all  very overwhelming at times and confusing when first starting out. I read the "red button" section in the manual, but didn;t apply it to my situation, my apologies.    Now how do I keep the cutter from hitting that red button repeatedly?

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Like the new bie manual states it cuts from RIGHT to LEFT.

So if you like to cut 40 cm witdh and put the home position in the center of a 60 cm cutter then .............red button problem.

Always start at 5 cm from the right handside and take care the witdh your cutting.

Paco

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Ok, here is my issue, the "home" and what not.  If I don't understand the basics, the rest is just jibberish. I'm more of a see it, do it, teach it person, so following written direction is not my forte.  I'll be sure to consult my newbie manual again.  Maybe it will click and I won't have to ask anyore, apparently stupid, questions.

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No, they're not stupid questions!  Everybody has to start out somewhere!

1.  take the cutter offline

2.  use the direction keys to move the cutter head to the right, but not touching the red button on the right.

3.  press the "crosshair" button in the middle of the 4 direction buttons.  This sets your home position.

4.  Cut away!

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Thanks, outbreak.

That is what is written in the manual  :thumbsup: ?

Paco

happy cutting and try and error

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I'm still totally stuck!

I have the USB connection in the front, COM 4, my cable isn't long enough to reach the back. I was able to draw the square with the pen a month ago, and that's it.

I next try the bit about the HELP and I can get it to 5 x 5 like you indicated in your manual, I go to CUTTER, press CUT TILE, and then......

........nothing happens.

I tried it several times, nada. It says it's ON-LINE. So I shut it down and bailed out. Oh yeah, the fan works!

ADDED: I did install the driver you indicated if you're using a USB connection. I also made sure that "Serial Enumerator/Emulation" is ticked.

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What are the settings in the windows hardware manager for the serial USB com port 4 and what are your settings in the printer section of SBE?

If possible make a screenshot of both.

If they are not the same it will not work!

Is the plotter set at 9600 bps baudrate?

Sometimes they switch to 19200 bps.

Offline the machine and press the mode button untill you see either one of them.

If it is not 9600, change it by pressing + or - button.

Did you skipped a step in the new bie manual?

Let us know, we will get there anyway.

Paco

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Hi Paco, thanks for your reply.

For COM4 I have: 9600 bps, Data bits 8, Parity NONE, Stop bits 1, Flow control is Hardware.

OK, I figured out what the problem was, I wrote my wife's first name and got it to write out. You may want to address that there is a dropdown just above the COMM SETTINGS button, and it's the field for OUTPUT DEVICE. It has to match the COM that the USB cord is plugged into. In my case I'm plugged in to COM4, but my OUTPUT DEVICE dropdown indicated USB001. I didn't see that anywhere in your instructions.

Next step is to follow the manual you wrote and proceed to putting in the blade and the vinyl.

Now I'm getting way ahead of myself so here goes: I'm decent at Photoshop and it can save my drawing that I need to cut as Photoshop .eps files. How do I import those in to the SBE program? I saved an .eps file in a folder and couldn't figure out how to open that file in the SBE program.

Thanks again and I'm sure there'll be more next time!

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Ok I will ammend the manual with the words you have to choose the same COM port as the hardware setting of Windows. Version 4.5 is in the make but at my work.

Sorry for it being not so clear.  :thumbsup:

Chapter 19 of the manual tells all about bitmap and vector files.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111

Photoshop produces .eps files but those are bitmap (pixels).

you can import in SBE as pciture but for cutting you have to convert it to vector inside SBE.

Illustrator can produce vector files which can also be saved as .eps but are vector files.

Plotter only work with vector files.

And follow the steps from the manual.

They are there not for nothing placed in this order!  :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :angel:

Paco

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