louroberto

Does anyone here have a right answer?

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Hello,

I am having a mother !@#$%&! lock up problem with my creation pcut. I searched high and low here and over at sign blazer forums but can not seem to find an aswer to solve this !@#$@#! problem. I have wasted almost 10 yards of vinyl trying to get this peice of !@#$ to work correctly. I have adjusted my settings, I have tried new usb cables, I have tried Hardware, xon x off everything that is here and on the sign blazer forums. I have downloaded the supposedly fix for sign blazer elements and did nothing but waste 7 hours with this crap! Sign Blazer says its hardware, US Cutter says its software! Does anyone have a fix for this. I have a big job to get done and have wasted too much time and now $$ with no success in getting my Issue resolved. The cutter will start cutting and just decide to freeze up. So far in 7 different location on the same or even diffent graphics. I have tried new files, I am running windows xp with over 2 gigs of ram and nothing!!!!!!!!!!!  The cutter seems to do exactly what everyone elses' cutter from here that I read about is doing. This problem is all over this forum and sign blazer forum. What is the deal. Can someone please give me some advice that has not already been given because I tried everthing that is on here with nothing worked. What the !@#$ PLEASE HELP ME GET THIS RIGHT!!

Thanks

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Guest fivestar

Maybe post the file in .eps format and someone can try and cut it out to make sure it is not the file itself.  I am at home so I can't cut it tonight, but I can tomorrow if nobody else can tonight.  BTW, how big is the file you are cutting, it could be a buffer problem.  I think the pcuts only come with  1 meg of RAM installed on them.  My refine has ran into that problem before and I had to cut it in sections.

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Well...in my windows xp machine that has 4gb of ram I have no issues whatsoever. USB works just fine. Heck, I even have my blade holder in the wrong spot yet it cuts perfect each and every time.

I looked through your previous posts to see what symptons you have but I did not see anything. Have you pm'ed kenimes with all your info yet?

Have you tried the serial cable?

What kind of programs do you have running in the background that may be affecting your computer? Have you taken a look at all the processes and apps running or even the performance?

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I run Signblazer on an old 1ghz computer,256 megs of Ram,and have never had this problem with files of any size. I use the USB cable with a 6 foot extension (which some say won't work).

So, I have no idea since I can't duplicate the problem. However,posting your settings in SB and on the cutter would be a good start to solving it.

Has it ever worked? Can you cut smaller files OK?

You can't just try one thing then the other...everything has to be exact. I have seen many people who didn't have one tiny thing right and it caused problems. As small a thing as proper grouinding could be the cure (my machine isn't grounded at all,btw).

In short, I know a lot of people have problems but I guess I'm just lucky because I'm doing it all wrong and mine cuts fine.

Yes, this problem is all over the forums..but most people don't post when things work fine,only when they have a problem.

My 'piece of crap' cost me $360 and has probably made me about $10,000 this year.

I  agree with fivestar (as I always do) I think it could be a memory buffer problem...memory in the cutter,not the computer.

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on a side note, ive found a wonderful way to not waste vinyl on initial cuts of new designs....

use paper, put the pen tip in the plotter... then watch it draw, youll get to see if its going to do anything wrong...

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Thank you too all. The cutter has worked fine in the past. I have many successfull jobs so far. Here is the file I am trying to cut. My settings in blazer are. Baud 9600, data bits 8 stop bits 1, flow control- I have tried both settings. These settings were exact in the device manager also. I have tried 3 new usb cables and a fresh install of both the software for blazer and also the usb drivers. The only thing that I can see that is different is the size. I tried cutting an 18 x 24 inch from another graphic and it worked fine. Then I tried to break this design into sections but it was still freezing more often than not. I also downloaded the updated version of the blazer software. I have cut some other designs since this afternoon when this started but it is dominantly freezing with this one in particular. I have tried everything that is stated on evry post here like I said, nothing seems to work. I even tried recreating the whole file and it still does it. I am stumped on this one and it is driving me crazy!I guess because I am on a deadline job and can not seem to get this sucker to cut right! Yes I was ranting in my first post but that was hours of aggrevation with no good results. I am at a complete stand still here !

matt_proud.SBD

matt_proud.SBD

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Well,

I spent the weekend trying ways to clear this up. I was able to successfully cut this piece by piece. Meaning each line of text I cut seperately. I still think I should be able to cut this all at once. It did freeze up 1 time in this process but at least I got the signs complete. Hope we can all work together to help US Cutter or Sign Blazer clear this up! Thank again

Lou

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I almost always do 1 line at a time. Reason being, I get 5,6,9,and 12 inch wide vinyl dirt cheap. If I have a line of text that is 4", I use the 5 inch vinyl. I have very little waste and that means more money in my pocket to pay for $3.25 a gallon gas and $5 a gallon milk,not to mention $2+ loaf of bread. Every dime counts these days.

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Guest fivestar

Lou I do not have sign blazer so I can't open the file you posted.  I would still have to "guess" that's it is a buffer issue.  Glad to see you got it completed even if it was line by line.

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Louroberto seem you and I must have twin machines , mine worked fine for the first couple mths  but had alot of issues

with the USB connection i replaced the cables bought short ones long ones

I have to unplug the USB cable from the machine turn on the macine and plug in the cable to get it to work

I have to this every cut , If i forget when i click cut the program hour glass comes up and not responding

I have to make sure to save the file first just in case  and lately it gives up for no reason half way through

the cut and waiting comes up on the screen  I hace 2 gigs of ram  i have reformatted and started over

no difference i have tried another machine , my laptop which as a big graphic card and lots of ram same issues

and yesterday it went to the end of the graphic about 32" out did a cut and started back to the begining but forgot to stop

the vinyl came out and the rollers just kept spining until i turn of the switch . this machine is a nightmare

i have wasted enough vinyl to put a good downpayment on a quaility machine

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I had the same issues. I switched from USB to Serial connection and the problems went away.

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Using usb I cut lou's just fine. Alot of wasted vinyl though doing it this way.

Have either of you been in contact with Ken?

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Well,

I spent the weekend trying ways to clear this up. I was able to successfully cut this piece by piece. Meaning each line of text I cut seperately. I still think I should be able to cut this all at once. It did freeze up 1 time in this process but at least I got the signs complete. Hope we can all work together to help US Cutter or Sign Blazer clear this up! Thank again

Lou

[/quote

Hey man, one question for you does the cutting head ever touch the two red switches at each end of the cutter.  I had to resize the artwork then cut again because the cutting head was touching the red switches.  I was able to cut the sign with no problems at all.  If the cutting head comes in contact with those switches the cutter will stop cutting and lock up.  Check to see if this is the case with yours.

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This is an issue we are trying to figure out. Problem is, we cannot recreate the issue here with several different files and cutters customers have sent me that they have had a problem with. We think it has something to do with the USB driver and a conflict on certain computer systems. Nobody on Earth has the same internal hardware, the same external devices hooked up at one time or another, and the exact same software programs on their machine, so this leaves so many different variables in what could be causing the conflict. Why do the majority of the PCuts work fine on USB, and only a select few have this issue? Not sure, but we are doing what we can to try and figure it out. In the meantime, try another computer if at all possible. Maybe get a dedicated computer for around $100-$150 at a yard sale, or computer shop that will only be used to run the cutter, and load nothing else on the machine....just the software and the USB drivers. We could also send you a replacement motherboard, but I have found that the issue is still present after replacing this part, so it does not appear to be a cutter issue. I have had customers send back their unit having this problem, only to find that it does not have the problem here on my tech bench.

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I tried mine on a brand new laptop from Dell and still have the same issues ,

I have my pc just for cutting I even reformatted that machine and just loaded the software

for the cutter and the first cut was when it cut the last letter of a 30 in  word and on the way back to the first letter it forgot

to stop  it just kicked the vinyl out of the machine and the rollers didn't stop until i

turned it of with the switch on the side. Yesterday when i went to make a simlpe cut for a customer

when it went to start cutting it just stop and waiting came up on the LCD , when i tried to advance the vinyl  with the keypad it would got about

a foot and stop and the keypad had no functions until i turned it of and back on

Any Ideas?

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Do you know anyone that has a serial port card you can put in your laptop and try that?

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Do you know anyone that has a serial port card you can put in your laptop and try that?

That would be my suggestion, or try another computer. This would at least tell us if it is a cutter issue, or computer issue.

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Ken,

with all do respect I find it hard to belive that you want me to purchase another computer to run this machine after I already spent 400 + on this cutter. I am a business owner and if I told one of my customers that they would never use my services again. This is not an issue with our computers. I have been in the design feild for 13 years and never heard of such a thing. The problem is the machine. I have a top of the line computer for design and have NEVER had an issue like this before. I can not even cut a 18 x 24 inch sign out for christ sake. This machine is faulty and I would like to get it replaced. It is not even a year old and is still under the warranty so how do I go about sending it back and getting a new one?  This seems to be a very bad situation. I hope we can get it resolved

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Hi Louroberto ,I agree this is not a computer problem , have you tried yours without a computer hooked up ?

Mine without the computer hooked to it , i load vinyl and try to advance it 50 inches and back andit craps out

the blade goes down and the keypad  does not function at all , i restart it and the same thing  and that is just advancing the vinyl

and when i try to cut it just stops when it wants and with thes machine you can't restart and start where you left off

I have wastes more vinyl since i bought this machine  then i have in the last 5 years , I had to take out my old Master yeasterday to finish a job

Only problem  mine is only 5 mths old but I don't think shipping is covered and i paid 150 dollars to have mine shipped to Newfoundland Canada

If i got to pay 150 dollars to ship it back  Idon't know about that?;)?;D?;D?:huh:??:huh:?????//

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Hello,

I am having a mother !@#$%&! lock up problem with my creation pcut. I searched high and low here and over at sign blazer forums but can not seem to find an aswer to solve this !@#$@#! problem. I have wasted almost 10 yards of vinyl trying to get this peice of !@#$ to work correctly. I have adjusted my settings, I have tried new usb cables, I have tried Hardware, xon x off everything that is here and on the sign blazer forums. I have downloaded the supposedly fix for sign blazer elements and did nothing but waste 7 hours with this crap! Sign Blazer says its hardware, US Cutter says its software! Does anyone have a fix for this. I have a big job to get done and have wasted too much time and now $$ with no success in getting my Issue resolved. The cutter will start cutting and just decide to freeze up. So far in 7 different location on the same or even diffent graphics. I have tried new files, I am running windows xp with over 2 gigs of ram and nothing!!!!!!!!!!!  The cutter seems to do exactly what everyone elses' cutter from here that I read about is doing. This problem is all over this forum and sign blazer forum. What is the deal. Can someone please give me some advice that has not already been given because I tried everthing that is on here with nothing worked. What the !@#$ PLEASE HELP ME GET THIS RIGHT!!

Thanks

Yes this problem shows up on these forums occasionally, mainly because people who have no problems do not post.. There is probably nothing wrong with the cutter,the software,or your computer. Everyone I have helped with this problem, it was a matter of settings or conflicts. Everything has to mesh together correctly to make it work. Of the many hundreds (perhaps thousand,for all I know) most people have no problems. The ones that do,it is almost always aUSB problem and I can't thik why they didn't go back to making the cutters with serial connectors sooner than they did. FRom time to time the cutters (which are tested before shipment) become damaged in shipping(we all know how well UPS and FedEx take care of their packages,how gently they handle them) I've seen a bad USB cable fry a motherboard,as well as a spike in power. It could be anything.

Ken will send a new motherboard. If that doesn't solve the problem, then  it's not the cutter.

The operation of the cutter is controlled from the motherboard. It is worth a shot.

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I find it very hard to believe its anything but a cutter issue I am having the problem Iwas told usb ,connection issue try different computer,motherboard.I tried everything except a motherboard and had no luck.So then I bought and installed a motherboard. Presto it worked fine,,,,, for about twenty minutes,then in the middle of a cut  nothing .same thing again No screen saver network disabled virus software disabled all the common try this things already taked care of and to be clear I installed the board started the computer and plotter started making cuts and never changed a setting or even turned anything off it worked fine for twenty min. and then froze and now it just freezes just like before. I give up                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

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I find it very hard to believe its anything but a cutter issue I am having the problem Iwas told usb ,connection issue try different computer,motherboard.I tried everything except a motherboard and had no luck.So then I bought and installed a motherboard. Presto it worked fine,,,,, for about twenty minutes,then in the middle of a cut  nothing .same thing again No screen saver network disabled virus software disabled all the common try this things already taked care of and to be clear I installed the board started the computer and plotter started making cuts and never changed a setting or even turned anything off it worked fine for twenty min. and then froze and now it just freezes just like before. I give up                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

You are saying that after you installed a new motherboard,after 20 minutes it was back to doing the same thing it was doing before?

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