vixencharm

Laser point 3 wobble cut & more issues plz help

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Spent all day tweaking the speed, pressure, roller tension, blade offset, overcut to no avail. Blade depth is perfect. Blade is clean of any residue or debris and is tight in the carriage. Cutter is days old and has not made a single good decal yet. Ive attached an example of the pen attachment on calibration. It cuts the same on greenstar vinyl.Tech support was patient attempting to correct the wobble but it didnt fix it. Still has wobble. The corner cuts are too sharp, yet the vinyl still doesnt cut through the fine details completely. Ive gone as far as tightening the belt...this machine will not make a clean cut for nothing. Any ideas what I am doing wrong or do I need to RMA this?

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You stated "blade depth is perfect".  So how did you set your blade depth?  Too many incorrect instructions out there. 

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  Which is why I was asking.  1/2 credit card  is about 10 times too much blade exposed out of the blade holder. . Vinyl is only about 2-3 mil thick and you only cut with the very tip of the blade. 

This is correct way to set your blade depth.

To start with, you should set your blade depth correctly, by taking the blade holder out of the machine, and in your hand, firmly cut across a piece of scrap vinyl, you will be cutting. You should only be cutting the vinyl and barely a mark on wax paper backing, Adjust blade to get there, Then put the blade holder back in machine, and use the force of the machine to get there, same results, only cutting the vinyl and barely a mark in wax paper backing. You should just barely see and feel your blade tip out of the blade holder.

 

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Yes thats what i did, i started at half width of cc then held in my hand and applied downward pressure cutting through the vinyl but not the backing. I adjusted until it was perfect. Agreed..the tip barely sticks out. The wobble using the pen is shown in the pic. When cutting using the 45 blade it has the same affect showing micro jaggedness on edging of decals.

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You should be making a slight mark on the backing, that way you are cutting the vinyl as well as the adhesive.  Also use a drop or 2 of light oil in the blade holder, so blade spins freely.   Make sure the wheels of the carriage head are firmly down in the track. Having  slight marks on the backing also helps if you need to replace a small piece of vinyl, you can see the outlines. Too much blade exposed can cause that wobble. It's less blade, more force for your set up. Blade so far in, that you wouldn't even think it would cut. 

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Ill try the oil tomorrow, being its wobbles with 2 different blade holders using either the pen or blade, leads me to believe the carriage itself is the issue.

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What does the test cut look like, right from the cuttter test feature? Try a different cutting software.  There are other trials out there. Which cutter model are you choosing in the cutting software?   Which cutting software?  When using the pen tool, the blade offset should be on zero. 

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Test cut looks like perforated edges. Tech support had me using both vinylmaster and test button. Same results. This model cuts a square with a diamond in center. The diamond weeds fine but the remaining  is held together with thin attachments most tests. I had not tried any different software. I am not sure what driver installed. I did not go to zero on pen it was at .1 and upto .25. I didnt think to physically feel if the carriage had wiggle till seeing a youtube link on here. The cutter is at work else id attempt some of your suggestions and upload pics. I appreciate your help. 

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You can try Sign Blazer, it's a little old, but it's free and it works! It's also a great way to kind of test stuff out because it's been around forever, and has been proven reliable for use, as well as testing.

When I get perforation dots on my vinyl, it's usually due to the cutting strip needing to be replaced, but that shouldn't be an issue you have, unless you've already put some blade gouges in the cutting strip.

What kind of force and speed are you using? I know you've tried different settings, but let us know.

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If the jagged is evident using the test button on the plotter , the issue is within the plotter itself.  Carriage s not on tracks or loose.  Using the test button on the plotter eliminates all outside sources.    The square and diamond should have no wiggle in the cut or pen plot.

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Is it just me, or does the jaggedness look very uniform?  Like each little arc is the same size and direction.  Take a look at the letter "E" and the long, vertical portion is nearly straight, which would be when the carriage sits still and the vinyl is pulled.  But then you look at the ends of the three legs of the "E", which should be the save situation as the long section, but instead it's 3 nearly identical jagged profiles. A loose carriage shouldn't produce identical jaggedness. The plotter is being told to cut that way.  My guess would be the wrong plotter profile.

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I have seen  people select the wrong cutter also and it does this. But OP claims they don't even know which cutter was chosen in Vinyl Master.. Pretty easy to check in Vinyl Spooler.   They  didn't answer that question.   My Demo only has Laserpointer 11 on it.  Doesn't make sense that only part of the TEST cut is good. Wish they would post a picture of the TEST cut right from the cutter. (Not Pen)

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The cutter selected in vinyl master is correct..34" laser point 3. I was asked which  driver, which did not register to me what was meant. The problem was not with the software. After checking the stability of the carriage, including the rollers were on track I recut with the same jagged edges. I oiled the blade and verifired it spun freely. No dice. I finally got fed up and changed the blade in a last ditch effort and viola it cut nicely. I never retested using the pen plotter except to calibrate for contour cut, which only drew 2 lines on a printed grid. So I do not know how it looks using the plotter on letters or designs. None the less...it cuts vinyl, contours decently (needs a tiny bit more calibration) and appears that maybe a combination of wiggling the carriage and changing a defective blade solved the problem. I may run a plotter test now that I am revisiting this post. Thank you for all the help.

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Glad that you got it back running. Chance are, if changing the blade fixed the issue, then most likely the tip of the blade had broken off.

The small tags that you're getting on the corners/closing of some of the text, it's usually an off set problem. Please keep in mind that if you decide to swap out a pen for the blade in the carriage, the offset for a pen is typically 0.0, as using a blade is not a 0.0 offset. Every machine can have a slightly different offset value, even within the same models, so that's something that needs to be dialed in on your own.

 

 offset pic.gif

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Arms offset = 0, laser offset=0, blade setting = PEN. Still has wobble! 

Cuts decent enough on vinyl, but after working on contour cutting for custom decals and stickers...I just cant get it calibrated to give a tight cut. So I reset everything to zero and started from scratch. This cutter clearly still shows wobble. 

 

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And it still does this when using the test button on the cutter? It looks to me like a step count issue, but if it does it with the test button that would rule that problem out. Maybe a slipping belt or damaged teeth on the gear? Although that seems unlike as that would cause misaligned and other issues.

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I contacted support, i think i just need a RMA. Nothing but problems with it. Sometimes the carriage gets stuck to the right and cant move back left without a reset. The belt is tight. It shows wobble on test cut.. ruling out software/drivers.

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OK, return it.

Not every unit is produced as totally problem-free; they're made in China, notorious for lack of quality control.

Get the RMA, and go on with your life.

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