Non working R721 and Mac

[SBS 0]

Hey Guys, new to the forum, but not new to the business. Back in late 2007, bought the Refine 721 25 to have as a backup to my Rolands in case of problems. Well, lost a plotter and finally put the 721 to work or so I thought. i have in use a PNC1000 20" cutter,  a PNC 960 24" Roland, and a Graphtec 20"  The 24" 960 was the one with the problem, so I unplugged, cabled up the R721, reset my Flexi Cut software to accept the "1000 as the default for the Refine, sent a file and nothing.

By what is with the "instructions" stating it works with Flexi, setting the driver to a PNC1000, it should work...right?  Wrong. :bang:

I have been using these Macs as design and cut since 1999 with Flexi Cut as the bridge to plotter without problem. These are 6400 towers with G3 upgrades, 9.2 OS and a Lombard G3 Powerbook on 8.6 OS, using the standard round pin serial ports. The serial cables are the ones that came from Roland with the plotters for the Mac. I have swapped thes back and forth between machines, and the cables are operating properly with the 20" Roland.  Sure, I can use what plotters I have to finish my work, but I do not like having a seam in the middle of 22" letters. I have stayed with these because of the serial dongles provided with the Flexi Cut software. None of these 3 machines have USB ports. I've tried different cables, settings, plotter output devices (i.e. Setup in FlexiCut ) nothing works. From what I've read here it seems like I'm not alone. I probably should have read the boards before my purchase.

Plan B...I received SignCut X2 with the machine and had loaded it up on another Powerbook, a G4 Titanium, registered it and tried to put it to use...for some reason it seems to be locked in Demo mode even after registering it with the "3 year site license". I tried to import a Flexi file.open a Flexi file...no avail. When I attempted to use the refine plotter with this machine, I did get the machine to partially cut the SignCut X2 logo, but not a full cut... :bang: I've read about the USB / serial converter to help with the communication, but in honesty, isn't this a "band aid" for an inherent that should have been corrected? Even if I buy the USB unit to get the plotter to work with the G4 I still have the issue of not being able to import / open Flexi files. :notsure:

Synopsis...I have a machine that won't work as stated, software that isn't compatible with 8 years of files, and customers that I'll have to buy some time with.

I'm open to suggestions and ideas.

[Guest Terry]

Don't know anything about Macs, but I would think you would need atleast OS 9 or 10, also seen something about a keyspan usb convertor on ebay for macs. I do know people are using the 721 with Macs. Did you check prodution manager in flexi to be sure it's the correct driver and did not default back, you may have two or three drivers listed in prod manager and need to check the correct one before sending. Not much help, I know crap about Macs but I think thats an old OS that CS2 won't even work with.

[SBS 0]

The machines are on a local network for file transfer, but have each been attached individually to the cutter and two of the 3 are on OS9.2. Only the laptop is on 8.6. Being these are older machines, it is no value to upgrade to the later 10. xx, being there are no USB ports and the maximum ram and G3 architecture are at the minimum of requirements.

Each of these have worked with the Rolands without a hiccup. After changing out the plotters, i.e removing the Roland and plugging in the R721, setup in Flexi was gone through resetting the port with the "proper" driver as stated in the paperwork and changed in Production manager. Once again, nothing.

All values in options have been changed, swapped, you name it. Baud @ 4800, 9600, 19200...handshake on / off, data bits...everything. I've tried every combination. Changed out cables, to the point of trying older serial modem cables. Even went as far as taking a pad and writing them all down as trial in HOPES that I'd hit the lucky combo to share.

So far I've had the opportunity to waste about 16 billable hours trying to get this to work. :bang:

[BannerJohn 1,324]

Post this in the SIGNCUT section of PM Kimon directly. He is the Signcut expert.

[Kimon 1]

Happy to assist you, but first you must be aware that Signcut works on SignCut-X2 works with windows 2000 / XP / Vista and Mac OS X Panther / Tiger and Leopard. So in order to run signcut we will have to use your mac with a modern OS on it.

When you say demo mode why are you thinking that is the case? What does it say after signcut in the title bar at the top of the signcut window

after Signcut...?

The Keyspan adapter solves a communication problem between some macs and some import cutters, until a different chipset is used that will be the best solution, some hardware is just not cross platform ready. If the signcut log cut partialy this may not be needed for your machine.

We need to check your settings so please open Signcut and click settings>cutter and in the cutter dialog please tell me what you have set for Manufacturer, Cutter, Device and Baud. The 721 defaults to 9600 each time it is powered off and on so that is what you should set it to in Signcut so they match.

If you would like real time support either drop me a pm with a good time to contact you or try our live support feaure on the sc-x2.com website and we can try to get you going right away.

As far as your customer files are concerned - flexi uses a propriatary format that is exclusive to them. The only way to open flexi files .fs is to use flexi or export from flexi to a standard format like eps. If you need some help doing conversion drop me a pm and we will see if we can assist in batch editing them for you.

[Jerry Bonham 1]

As a few know we have been building a SignBlazer Vinyl Cutting plugin for Mac OSX with Illustrator CS2 and CS3.

It has the identical cutting menu so many love in SignBlazer Elements on a PC.

Many have told us that it is the most complete and easiest to use cutting menu in the market.

You don't even need to read a manual to use it.

The one for CS2 is complete and in the final pre-release stage.

Anyone can have a copy to play with and try out.

just email me a request or PM one.

It will run for 30 days.

The reason we have written PlugIn this is there are so many complaints about Macs and the lack of a DIRECT plugin for Illustrator .

You just type up text and cut.

No copying and pasting,

No creating outlines of text.

Also we will be making another version shortly so that you can use the LaserPoint cutter with Illustrator and a Mac with OSX (all 3 flavours)

This will enable you to make CutMasks or contours in Illustrator and do the rego thing with the laser and cut out printed work.

One thing that i have found out that really surprised me a lot was that most of the USB chip manufacturers don't support Macs at all.

This is the reason that we have to use a

Keyspan USB to Serial converter

Or we have found that the Z-Tek one is better and about 20% or one fifth of the price of the Keyspan.

What i like particularly about the Z-Tek is that the latest drivers are always available on their website.

Both Mac and PC.

I am sure other USB to Serial converters work as well however these are the only two that we have had success with on the Mac with OSX

With Flexi yes you will have to export all your files as EPS.

Then Illustrator will open them.

Last comment if you have a new Mac and you run Parallels then you can use the PC based SignBlazer Elements without a problem.

We have many doing this right now.

Jerry from SignBlazer.

[SBS 0]

Kimon, Jerry,

While I appreciate the responses, I'm not willing to do way with three computers, software, two other working plotters and years of files just to try something new. I know I can resave all of the files from Flexi, as Illustrator files, I've done it before. I cant slow business down that far to start again.

Kimon, I'm using a G4 with OS10.4.11. When I use or attempt to use SignCut X2 it would state "test mode.  I would get a registration box, for PE & LE even after I had restarted after entering the code.  SignCut X2 remains in the "cut area". As for the bar, "SignCut X2 Test Mode / Applicatons/Signct/sc.ai.  Once again I would have to go back, enter the code etc. As for the last time, I did this, it shows my expiration as 15/12/08, the date I entered the Code. I just have reentered it all and showing a date of 2011 now..maybe this time it'll "stick.". All of the settings are there, baud, cutter, etc, it recognizes the plotter is there.

I'm sure I'll like the upgrade to a newer faster machine, but in time and cost, it isn't feasible. If the Refine 721 plotter "worked" as it should, I would have been able to be cutting by now.

Guys, still back to the problem at hand. It should work as a Roland PNC1000. It doesn't.........nor as an 1100 or any of the other Roland or Graphtec drivers that are listed in the plotter setup in Flexi. This is where my problem lies.

[Jerry Bonham 1]

I am sorry that my suggestions are of no help.

There is nothing wrong with a Refine Cutter.

I know nothing about signcut.

However if required i could demonstrate any Refine cutter cutting perfectly from Mac OS10.4.11 using Illustrator CS2 and our SignBlazer plugin.

Jerry from SignBlazer.

[arhash 0]

okay maybe I can help.  I recently switched from being a 20 year PC user to being a "new" MAC user.  Of course the first thing I wanted to know is if my Refine cutter would work with my new macs. Here is a few things that I ran into.  First it wouldn't work with the normal USB connection.  I had to go out and buy a Keyspan adapter. From what I read on the forum this seems to be standard with using MAC and Refine cutters.  No big deal, I ran to the local COMPUSA and bought one.  Can home installed all the driver and viola! working cutter.  I as well ran into problems with SignCut.  It started doing some really funky funky stuff like:  random lines, pressure problems, carriage problems.... I mean the works.  I was soooo pissed.  Freaking MACs.  I got over it and got on the forums and figured out a bunch of crazy stuff and here are my results:

1.  ground your machine (this will cause a ridiculous amount of problems.)

2.  Make sure after you register your software you run an update (this solved a bunch of the wild cuts problem)

3.  Save from illustrator as an EPS file and then in Signcut go to file>open>.EPS

4.  GET LEOPARD.  leopard rocks but a funny thing happened.... things just started working better

5.  Change the date on your system (this worked for me on a bunch of software on my PC it might work on a MAC)