Newbie1234

SummaCut D60 loading 6 inch width vinyl help?

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Hello everyone.

I just started working for a new small business that manufactures fishing products (tackles, baits, etc). The partners are currently running it and asked me to try and learn how to use their SummaCut D60R for the time being until they get a warehouse person that knows more. Apparently the person before me was able to find a work around, but I have no idea how! And they didn't leave notes on it. Personally, size wise, I think it's too small to go through properly but idk. I have no idea what I'm doing and I'm trying my best.

Essentially they want to be able to make the 6 inch material be able to work through the Summacut D60R, but when I try to load it, the vinyl material just moves around and doesn't cut properly and stops cutting all together. And when I try to move it around to fit better in the machine, the cutter either can't "find it" (has to scan for the size as I have no idea how to change this manually in the cutter control program), or it will scan it, but when I try to load the design to print, it says that the job is too small (which it isn't).

I was wondering if you guys have any idea how I can make a work around? If not, that's okay too. I took a couple pictures to give you guys a better idea.

If there isn't a work around, it's not that big of a deal as it sounds like the person before took awhile to figure it out.

Thank you!

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20220819_103319.jpg

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I can't see the far right pinch wheel. Be sure that it is in it's detent position. There is a definite spot and sort of a click sound very faint. Once it's in the corret spot then you slide the left one over until you are on the vinyl. Your left pinch roller is close to the edge but within tolerance that I use when cutting on scraps. You can cut down to about a 2" wide piece. As to it not scanning you probably have a sensor out. I've never had mine do that so I can't give you much help on that specifically. Summa offers free live tech support regardless of who owns their products. Look them up and give them a call. They are wonderful. 

On a side note perhaps you are using a broken blade or too much cutting force which can cause the smaller peice to react weird.  Could be some gunk built up on the grit roller underneath. Summa recomends yearly cleaning with a soft plastic bristle brush. I find a stiff toothbrush works great to kind of sweep out any debris that finds it way into the roller. That particular vinyl appears to be quite stiff. Summa's usually squish a substantial track into the vinyl when clamped down. If you are having to run some higher cutting force to get through it that could be some of the reason as mentioned.  If possible it's better to leave a little more sticking out past the roller (like about 1/2").  There is a spot in the machine control that will let you turn off the width sensor and some people do this but I like having it measure the width. Summ's strong pressure ususally renders the vinyl unsuable from the roller out so having a known measurement is key to making sure the whole thing gets cut. 

Also your D60 is a 30" machine (same as mine) and typically come with just two pinh rollers but sometimes if people are cutting heavy materials they add a third middle pinch roller which have lighter pressure and reduce the smallest possible width by a couple inches. If your machine has three you wil have to use all three.

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I have no problem cutting vinyl that's only 2" wide  on my Summa D60.   You need both pinch rollers on the vinyl and the brass roller below.

Hows the blade depth? 

 

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Hey everyone, thank you for the responses! I'm sorry that I didn't respond right away. I thought that I had set this thread up so I can see the responses, but clearly I didn't. And I have been busy doing other tasks for the company, but I'll try to respond to everyone that has replied to this post.

On 8/21/2022 at 5:13 PM, darcshadow said:

Do you have both pinch rollers holding the vinyl?

Yes, both pinchers are on the the roller, at least to the best of my ability. The right one clicked when I placed it in the correct space. It's the left side I'm having difficulties with because in order to fit the width of material in, the left one when it clicks in is too far to the left for the material. I'll include some better pictures that should appear at the bottom of the post.

14 hours ago, dwp99 said:

I have no problem cutting vinyl that's only 2" wide  on my Summa D60.   You need both pinch rollers on the vinyl and the brass roller below.

Hows the blade depth? 

 

Would I be able to check that in the Summacut Control program or the GoSign program? Or would be on the machine itself? I apologize for not knowing how to do this!

21 hours ago, Wildgoose said:

I can't see the far right pinch wheel. Be sure that it is in it's detent position. There is a definite spot and sort of a click sound very faint. Once it's in the corret spot then you slide the left one over until you are on the vinyl. Your left pinch roller is close to the edge but within tolerance that I use when cutting on scraps. You can cut down to about a 2" wide piece. As to it not scanning you probably have a sensor out. I've never had mine do that so I can't give you much help on that specifically. Summa offers free live tech support regardless of who owns their products. Look them up and give them a call. They are wonderful. 

On a side note perhaps you are using a broken blade or too much cutting force which can cause the smaller peice to react weird.  Could be some gunk built up on the grit roller underneath. Summa recomends yearly cleaning with a soft plastic bristle brush. I find a stiff toothbrush works great to kind of sweep out any debris that finds it way into the roller. That particular vinyl appears to be quite stiff. Summa's usually squish a substantial track into the vinyl when clamped down. If you are having to run some higher cutting force to get through it that could be some of the reason as mentioned.  If possible it's better to leave a little more sticking out past the roller (like about 1/2").  There is a spot in the machine control that will let you turn off the width sensor and some people do this but I like having it measure the width. Summ's strong pressure ususally renders the vinyl unsuable from the roller out so having a known measurement is key to making sure the whole thing gets cut. 

Also your D60 is a 30" machine (same as mine) and typically come with just two pinh rollers but sometimes if people are cutting heavy materials they add a third middle pinch roller which have lighter pressure and reduce the smallest possible width by a couple inches. If your machine has three you wil have to use all three.

The right pincher as far as I know is in the right spot as I heard a little click when I moved it, but I have a funny feeling the scanner on the right side of the machine may be out. I talked to one of the owners and apparently he thinks that as well. Even when I put the longer length material (around 28') and put it through the GoSign program, it'll put the job slightly to the left and won't use the material as effectively. I'll have to call Summacut and see what they can do to help. 

I'll check the blade and see if there's any gunk build-up, but I also could be using too much force. It was set to 150 gr, tried it on a job and it wasn't strong enough only for me to go up to 160 gr, which was probably the problem lol. So I'm going to set the gr to 155 gr and see what happens. It's a pretty thick vinyl, so that part is going to take me a bit to figure out what the best cutting pressure is. 

I'll have to look into the machine control and see if I can play with the width! I had no idea the machine could do that, but that's why I'm a newbie lol.

When it comes to the third pincher, I'll see if we can either get one, or there could be a third pincher lying around somewhere. As you mentioned it's a pretty thick vinyl, and it might help keep the material from moving around all over the place.

Thank you guys so much for your responses and advice! 

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Start with a new blade.  Every vinyl cutter blade depth should be set up like this.  Blade depth is determined by the material that you are cutting.  That must be correct first. Then you adjust the force. 

To start with, you should set your blade depth correctly, by taking the blade holder out of the machine, and 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 barely see and feel the blade tip out of the blade holder. Regular sign vinyl is only 2-3 mil thick. You only cut with the very tip of the blade. When you think the blade is so far in the blade holder, that you think it would not even cut, that is probably correct. 

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20 hours ago, Newbie1234 said:

Hey everyone, thank you for the responses! I'm sorry that I didn't respond right away. I thought that I had set this thread up so I can see the responses, but clearly I didn't. And I have been busy doing other tasks for the company, but I'll try to respond to everyone that has replied to this post.

Yes, both pinchers are on the the roller, at least to the best of my ability. The right one clicked when I placed it in the correct space. It's the left side I'm having difficulties with because in order to fit the width of material in, the left one when it clicks in is too far to the left for the material. I'll include some better pictures that should appear at the bottom of the post.

Would I be able to check that in the Summacut Control program or the GoSign program? Or would be on the machine itself? I apologize for not knowing how to do this!

The right pincher as far as I know is in the right spot as I heard a little click when I moved it, but I have a funny feeling the scanner on the right side of the machine may be out. I talked to one of the owners and apparently he thinks that as well. Even when I put the longer length material (around 28') and put it through the GoSign program, it'll put the job slightly to the left and won't use the material as effectively. I'll have to call Summacut and see what they can do to help. 

I'll check the blade and see if there's any gunk build-up, but I also could be using too much force. It was set to 150 gr, tried it on a job and it wasn't strong enough only for me to go up to 160 gr, which was probably the problem lol. So I'm going to set the gr to 155 gr and see what happens. It's a pretty thick vinyl, so that part is going to take me a bit to figure out what the best cutting pressure is. 

I'll have to look into the machine control and see if I can play with the width! I had no idea the machine could do that, but that's why I'm a newbie lol.

When it comes to the third pincher, I'll see if we can either get one, or there could be a third pincher lying around somewhere. As you mentioned it's a pretty thick vinyl, and it might help keep the material from moving around all over the place.

Thank you guys so much for your responses and advice! 

Thinking about it I realized I may have given you bad info. My brain was not engaged fully. On small pieces the LEFT pinch roller will be locked in it's detent position and the right side will slide to make the width work. Similar to if you have a 20" wide roll or any other sized full width rolls the left side goes out to the approximate width and the right side will then adjust within that 6" wide grit area to accomodate the exact width of the vinyl. Sorry to state that backwards and probably caused you additional frustration. I think any errors you are getting is probably from not having the left side in the detent and the auto-measure (called Polling) is getting confused. 

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image.thumb.png.cfe9b75e350a91cd681d1c93914dac81.png

I'm really not sure since I don't use Summa Cut or GoSign.  I'm a Flexisign user.

There is one thing that I noticed on your D60.  The knife head is on the right of the right pinch roller.  I went back to my summa D60 which is an older 24" cut plotter and my knife head is in between the left and right pinch rollers.   I don't know if Summa made a change in the D60's over time. Can you push the knife head past the pinch rollers?   I can't push the knife head past either of the pinch rollers on my D60. 

Does your D60 have 3 pinch rollers? If it does that explains the reason it can pass the center pinch roller.

image.thumb.png.d4be5dea98207df2051ac5509c059f13.png 

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On 8/29/2022 at 9:48 PM, dwp99 said:

image.thumb.png.cfe9b75e350a91cd681d1c93914dac81.png

I'm really not sure since I don't use Summa Cut or GoSign.  I'm a Flexisign user.

There is one thing that I noticed on your D60.  The knife head is on the right of the right pinch roller.  I went back to my summa D60 which is an older 24" cut plotter and my knife head is in between the left and right pinch rollers.   I don't know if Summa made a change in the D60's over time. Can you push the knife head past the pinch rollers?   I can't push the knife head past either of the pinch rollers on my D60. 

Does your D60 have 3 pinch rollers? If it does that explains the reason it can pass the center pinch roller.

image.thumb.png.d4be5dea98207df2051ac5509c059f13.png 

In this pic you reposted they have the left one moved off the detent position and that's most likely the problem. Left set and the right slides. Your question about the cutting head is valid if the  cutter is turned on in this pic because it will move over, self check and then park just inside the right roller. It could be the angle of the shot because one of the other I couldn't see the pics roller due to the carriage head being where it should be. Perhaps they shut it off and pushed the head over?

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On 9/1/2022 at 9:05 AM, Wildgoose said:

In this pic you reposted they have the left one moved off the detent position and that's most likely the problem. Left set and the right slides. Your question about the cutting head is valid if the  cutter is turned on in this pic because it will move over, self check and then park just inside the right roller. It could be the angle of the shot because one of the other I couldn't see the pics roller due to the carriage head being where it should be. Perhaps they shut it off and pushed the head over?

Wild Goose

I just marked up the OP's photo.  I went over to my Summa D60 and tried to replicate the same photo.  I used a piece of paper so it could be seen better.  The pinch rollers are all the way down, the one on the right is in the detent, the left one isn't in the detent.  The carriage is pushed all the way  to the carriage (right) and you can't see the downward pointing white arrow on the right side like you can in the OP's photo.

image.thumb.png.35c986cb1207eeacd5b4fd9a49131678.png

The only way I could get the far right white arrow to show in the photo was to, lift the pinch rollers and slide the carriage over to the right, which drug the pinch roller off of the white paper and grit roller.

The white paper is positioned to cover the right end of the grit roller.   You'll also notice the gap between the edge of the paper and the knife holder is further apart than my photo above but the same as the OP's photo. 

image.thumb.png.5fe242a6f976708b5e42fdbbcd203f6a.png

I added the OP's photo just so it would be close to my post.  There is no way my Summa's carriage will go that far past the right pinch roller. That's the only reason I mentioned it in my post.

Maybe the newer Summa plotters will.  

image.png.bc3ca48e42ac85a3661e77e61d14e347.png

 

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