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Reducing Wasted Vinyl?

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I'm getting about 1.75" of unused Vinyl on the leading edge when the vinyl exits the cutter while cutting using SignCut. Is this adjustable in the cutter settings somewhere? I figure I'm wasting about an inch everytime I cut and with heat applied vinyl $ I've become more consious of it. Thanks

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The cutter measures the material width from pinch roller to pinch roller, so make sure you set the pinch rollers as close to the edge as possible to utilize the full width.

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Appreciate that, however that is not the axis I am wasting vinyl on. It's not side to side but rather the front or leading edge of the vinyl going thru the rollers that has aprox 1.75" of waste before the cut. Is this something I have to live with or is there a way to reduce it via the control panel?

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Not sure, are you having it measure the length of your sheet of material, or is it set to measure a scroll?

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I measure for scroll as I cut from a roll. I measured a piece today after cutting and the waste on the leading edge was closer to 1 5/8". I consider 'waste' to be the unused portion of the area prior to the weeding box on the leading edge as the vinyl comes out of the cutter. 

When you cut on a Copam back at the office, how much unused vinyl exits the cutter throat prior to the weeding box? That is what I was asking  about reducing. Is there a setting or trick to reduce this 'waste'?

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Once the cutter has measured the material, you can manually move the cutting origin by using the arrow buttons, then holding down on the Enter button to reset the origin.

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I have the opposite problem, mine starts about 1/2 to 5/8" from the blade and when the the vinyl advances it slams into the slight ridge where the "ditch" or whatever you want to call it is, I have to pull some extra out after measuring or run the edge of the vinyl between my fingers so it will curl up and no go into the ditch..  :huh: hope that made sense..  have looked in signcut settings for advancement but didn't find, manual method working so far..

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i also curl the edge up by hand so the vinyl doesnt make that catching noise . It never has caught enough to cause a problem , but cant be good . 

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mine has caught a few times, results have been: cause cutter to jam, make cut distorded, jusr make a irritating slamming noise as jumps over the ridge, curl w/ fingers and stand there an watch to make sure gets over the hump helps

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your correct I do that sometimes when cutting sheets, but I cut alot off rolls so I use the slot for cut off w/ exacto knife, makes a nice blade track,

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I'm dumbfounded. When I measure a scroll and then register it to the Copam by selectiing enter on the cutter console I end up with vinyl out over the alignment tape on the front of the cutter. I can manually advance the vinyl by using the arrow keys, however I cannot retract the vinyl to a negative point on the Y axis, or a cut starting point less than my original refence location. Is this what you are saying the software should enable me to do to eliminate waste from the front? 

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hkind of / sort of,  I have same problem w/ scrolling past, and I have not been able to move my carrage w/ the arrow keys, I tried holding down the arrow key and press enter and it started cutting "Copam", when i 1st got the machine I thought it had gemlins in it :huh: with all that said this is what I do, it maybe unorthodox but it works:

I've quit worring about waste... hard habit to break but trying.. fact of life w/ vinyl..

I measure scroll on roll cuts width only and then do a testfeed in sign cut2

life is much better this way, wish I had the techincal answer :police:

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Once the cutter has measured the material, you can manually move the cutting origin by using the arrow buttons, then holding down on the Enter button to reset the origin.

I'm dumbfounded. When I measure a scroll and then register it to the Copam by selectiing enter on the cutter console I end up with vinyl out over the alignment tape on the front of the cutter. I can manually advance the vinyl by using the arrow keys, however I cannot retract the vinyl to a negative point on the Y axis, or a cut starting point less than my original refence location. Is this what you are saying the Copam should enable me to do to eliminate waste from the front? 

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[Once the cutter has measured the material, you can manually move the cutting origin by using the arrow buttons, then holding down on the Enter button to reset the origin.

]

I have not been able to move my carrage w/ the arrow keys, I tried holding down the arrow key and press enter and it started cutting "Copam",

I have no idea, please disregard any commnets I have made here sorry for the confusion

I'm dumbfounded also

gg

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Once the cutter has measured the material, you can manually move the cutting origin by using the arrow buttons, then holding down on the Enter button to reset the origin.

I'm dumbfounded. When I measure a scroll and then register it to the Copam by selectiing enter on the cutter console I end up with vinyl out over the alignment tape on the front of the cutter. I can manually advance the vinyl by using the arrow keys, however I cannot retract the vinyl to a negative point on the Y axis, or a cut starting point less than my original refence location. Is this what you are saying the Copam should enable me to do to eliminate waste from the front?   

I do not think it can retract once it has measured, but it can advance and you can also position the carriage anywhere along the measured width.

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It's pretty simple, really.  You just have to work around the limits of the plotter.  Here's how.

1. After you turn on the plotter but before you put any vinyl in it, slide the two outside pinch rollers to each side of the plotter as far as they will go on each end. (Don't go past the end of the rollers)

2. Select "scroll" and allow the plotter to measure the width of its bed, still with no vinyl. 

3. Now place your vinyl where you want it to feed from, just make sure you fully cover the cutting strip. Don't worry about aligning the vinyl yet, just get it close to being straight. You may wish to reverse curl the vinyl edge before you feed it in, so that it doesn't catch on the little trough.  Remember that when you use this method, you have disabled your stops that keep the cutter from cutting past the edge of your vinyl, so make sure by taking a measurement that your vinyl roll/piece is wide enough for your project.  You probably do this anyway.  Also allow for drift on long runs.

4. After you have installed the vinyl and dropped the pinch rollers, advance the vinyl far enough for it to drape over the front edge to the lower alignment guide.  Hold the vinyl in place and raise the rollers. Align the vinyl with the alignment guides without letting it slide too far forward or backward. Sliding it side to side is ok because the width setting is the already set for the entire width of the machine.  Clamp the rollers and scroll the vinyl back up. 

You can now set the cutter to start wherever you wish, just don't forget to hold the enter button down for a few seconds to reset the origin before you send the plot, or you will be cutting off of the edge the vinyl.

You don't have to reset the machine for each subsequent cut, just reset the origin.

Hope this helps.

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I just thought of an even easier workaround.  Funny how the simple things don't come to you right away, but when you're working with half a brain as I am, thats just life.  Anyway, here it is.

Do this procedure before loading vinyl into the machine.

When you first turn your machine on, slide the outside pinch rollers as far as they will go on each end of the machine and select scroll.  This sets the width to its widest setting, allowing you to set the x axis anywhere you want.

Next scroll the y axis forward to about +300 (More if you need it).  Press and hold enter to reset the origin.  Thats it.  Now you can load the vinyl.

This setup procedure allows you to pull enough vinyl in to measure it against the guides, and still roll it back to set the origin where you want it.

***** Hello, is anybody out there? *****

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Hi ,

Sounds like there is more people like me who have post-depression parents , WASTE is NOT an option LOL . I think the above method is good .I just measure as normal , lift the pinch rollers & move the vinyl back 1" . I don't think it would track true , but i only do smaller decals .

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