Lorne D. Manor.

New to vinyl. Just got a fc 7000 75

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I think you may be confusing blade depth and cutting depth/pressure. You want your blade holder almost touching the surface of the vinyl when you are cutting and the tip at that moment just scratching the carrier sheet/backing so that you cannot feel the scratch from the back side. Mz Skeeter has posted how to set this blade exposure by hand several thousand times on the forum so I won't elaborate on that. Once the blade depth is set THEN you work into the cut depth on the actual vinyl by adjusting the cutting pressure (in grams) until it gets to that point where the blade is actually cutting all the way to the paper carrier. Many new people think there is a correlation to how deep into the vinyl the machine will cut and the amount of blade sticking out of the holder which is the wrong way to look at it. I have seen many people try to adjust how deep the blade cuts by turning the adjustment so that more blade sticks out of the holder which is wrong. Too much blade protruding from the holder causes more inaccuracy than you can imagine; it doesn't seem like it would make that much difference but it definitely does. I don't think this issue is what's causing you trouble but as I read through your thread it seems like that point may have gotten glossed over. 

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thank you very much for the information and your patience. this has been all very helpful 

i have been getting it to work sort of but many weird things keep happening. i am working thru it and learning a ton as i go,

ill let you great people know if i have any more troubles. i am reading everything i can. its alot. seems my older cutter is somewhat unsupported but work in hpgl mode.

i would like to get it to work in g mode but i cant figure it out at this time. would be neat to use the cross cutter for when the job is finished.

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You have to use Graphtec software to use GP-GL mode.    Cutting Master software.   Have you been able to download the Graphtec Cutting Controller (windows only)?   You can run the cross cutter right from your computer with the Cutting Controller.   The cutter does not need to be on GP-GL to run the cross cutter.   Will run on HP-GL and run the cross cutter from the Graphtec Cutting controller. 

I don't understand what you mean by unsupported.  There is a user manual. It's pretty detailed. 

I think the things that are different between the FC7000  and FC7000MK2 is the media basket and the firmware.  I bought my cutter right before the FC8000 were introduced, so it had been out a while. 

As mentioned several times, you should be setting the blade depth according to the directions, that I have posted, then use the force of the machine to get where you want cutting deeper. . Most sign vinyl is 2-3 mil thick.  

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i have figured out the blade depth and pressure  i got it cutting good now. thanks for your help. i will try to figure out the cross cutter. the graphtec america site has a cutting program that will not work on my machine i tried. its for a mk version that wont communicate when i try.

 

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The link for the Graphtec cutting controller is under FC7000.    The user manual says it supports FC7000.    Your cutter has to be sitting there ready to cut before the Cutting controller will open. 

file:///C:/Users/Toshiba%20User/Desktop/GTCTPLCTL/Controller%20User's%20Manual.PDF

• Supported cutting plotter: FC7000 (USB connection) Note: The Cutting Plotter Controller will not operate if it is connected via a printer or serialport

fc7000.JPG

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4 minutes ago, Lorne D. Manor. said:

ok the drivers.....i will try to re install them now.

 

The windows controller is below the drivers.   You have to install and extract it. 

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i have installed the controller...it works but wont run the cut off function...when i try it starts to run back and forth like crazy then says cut off error.

i have tried to install the firmware but it wont run the set up exe file correctly. it is supposed to pull up a menu to choose the firmware file but it opens a printer like page. the file is not there to send to the plotter/cutter

 

i am slowly getting there folks thanks once again

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When you are open and using your Graphtec Cutting Plotter.  Does your condition on your vinyl cutter screen change to Condition 9?   If the display is not showing condition 9, then you are not controlling the vinyl cutter from your computer. 

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24 minutes ago, Lorne D. Manor. said:

ahhhh i did not know this. ill check

 

I will rephrase that,  you CAN run on other conditions that you set to.   The cutter its self only has 8 conditions. (4 buttons) BUT only Condition 9 is from the Cutting Controller.   I only use Condition 9 for cutting. .  Everything can be changed on the Cutting Controller.  Upper left corner of Cutting controller. there are 2 places to click. Use Plotter settings  or use Controller settings.  You want to have USE Controllers settings clicked.  You can usually hear the fan come on if you click Use Controller settings. 

 

condition9.jpg

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