Chuck Birchfield

MH-871 feed issues

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I just bought an MH-871 cutter and got it set up and started cutting pretty quickly. I love this thing, but I am having a small issue that I have not been able to correct and I'm hoping someone here can point me in the right direction. If I cut a stencil , and try to cut a second one it rolls the vinyl back and tries to cut over the same area. If I run one stencil and cut it off and try to print another it rolls the vinyl backwards and out of the track. I have tried tried reset, origin etc and it seems the only thing that works is shutting it off and turning it back on. 

Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks in advance  

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typically I used to reset the origin before the second job...that should do it. .  - but your software may have another option-- what software are you running?

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Take it OFFLINE, then set the origin, and return ONLINE.

The MH has a brain fart and requires it to be told where to start a second cut, even though logic would dictate that the cutter remembers the end point of the previous job (or the "advance after cut" command within the software) and starts from there. This odd machine just doesn't.

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.....   What cutting software are you using? In my sure cuts alot 4 pro , i can tell it to advance a certain number of inches after it cuts and then that allows me to do the next design cut. I dont think that cutter will have the setting  for doing it in the cutter itself, i think only in the software you are using..

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I am using  Vinyl Master Cut 4.0. It;s what I was able to download after purchasing this cutter.  I'm pretty sure I tried what Slice&Dice suggested, but honestly not sure. I'll be working with it more today and will try that again

Primal Decals. Looks like the software has an "Advance After Plot" setting, but doesn't seem to let me set the distance

 

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Interestingly, VinylMasterCut (basic) does not contain an option to specify the distance of vinyl advance after job finishes. That is something their software engineers might want to add, since it's a fairly standard command.

Chuck, by doing what I said (Offline, Origin, Online) your machine will behave as you want. Sure, it's kinda ridiculous to have to designate a new start point each time the machine has finished a cut, but that glitch is an internal problem within the motherboard circuitry, I guess.

Also, if you are not thrilled with using VinylMaster, there's an option to load a (no-fee, no registration) cutting program HERE

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Thanks. I'll check that out. 

My cutter is not at my house,  but in my shop which is a 20 mile drive. I got there this morning and intended to try the offline-origin-online thing  and completely spaced it off... just got too busy too fast and forgot all about it. I WILL check out this other software though. Thanks

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It's not a glitch, just a way of thinking. The cutter does not know when a new job is started, or when the last job is finished, it just does what the software tells it to. So when the cut is done and you send a new job to the machine, the first thing that job does is tell the cutter to return to the home position. It would be possible to have software designed so that it uses relative distances rather than absolute which would then allow you to send job after job with out telling the cutter to reset the origin. Another option would be to have a cutter/software combo smart enough that the software sends a job finished command to the cutter and the cutter then resets it's origin automatically. The easiest way for the people making the software/building the hardware though is to just have user hit the reset button.

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3 hours ago, darcshadow said:

It's not a glitch, just a way of thinking. The cutter does not know when a new job is started, or when the last job is finished, it just does what the software tells it to. So when the cut is done and you send a new job to the machine, the first thing that job does is tell the cutter to return to the home position. It would be possible to have software designed so that it uses relative distances rather than absolute which would then allow you to send job after job with out telling the cutter to reset the origin. Another option would be to have a cutter/software combo smart enough that the software sends a job finished command to the cutter and the cutter then resets it's origin automatically. The easiest way for the people making the software/building the hardware though is to just have user hit the reset button.

This sounds better to me than the "brain fart" explanation by Slice&Dice, LOL

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darcshadow and Mb20music, I respectfully disagree with that explanation ---  this certainly appears to be an internal defect with the MH circuitry, as designed. Since I've owned all three 'budget' cutters (MH, SC, and LPII) it's only the MH does not know that it needs to start from where the last job ended. Both the SC and LPii handle this fine.

So when the cut is done and you send a new job to the machine, the first thing that job does is tell the cutter to return to the home position. --- When a job ends the cutting head moves all the way over to the Kill Switch, which should create a NEW home position in the cutter's brain. However, the MH fails to recognize this action correctly, (while the LPII and SC have no such problem with it).  I call it a glitch or brain fart because the cutter shouldn't behave like that.

Hey, I wonder what ever happened to Chuck?

 

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The Kill Switch as you call it is nothing more than an end stop for the X-axis. The printer moves till it hits it and then it knows it's location. I agree it wouldn't have taken much to have the X end stop also reset the Y position and I can't think of any reason to not do so other than it was a bit more programing that would have had to been done and it was a cost savings not to add this ability. It's not a glitch or a defect, it's just the way it was designed, obviously not the best design, but it is working as intended.

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I did say "this certainly appears to be an internal defect with the MH circuitry, as designed."

Working as intended? Well, it wouldn't be the first time the Chinese engineers did stupid stuff like this, or even worse.

Yeah, "obviously not the best design" :rolleyes:

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