blownss

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Posts posted by blownss

  1. Posted

    That to me looks like a cutter issue not a software issue. It's as if the cutters tracking is way off. We have this same problem, the vinyl walks all over the place. so long cuts the lines are diagonal up to 2" depending on length. The issue is with these pinch/friction cutters. The tractor type are almost 100% acurate because the vinyl doesn't have the ability to walk, it stays within the studded rollers.

    To test this simply load vinyl up, make sure it's straight, and also make sure the roll is straight in relation to the cutter as well. Now that it's 100% lined up and straight take the cutter off line and use the arrow pad to spit out the vinyl, let it come out about 3' see how far off it is... I bet it's about 1" or so. Sometimes it's because the roll isn't sitting straight and the uneven tension causes the vinyl to walk. You can often solve this by rolling out 1' more vinyl than you need off the roll and let it hang so as to not create tension. On large vinyl this doesn't work so well as the backing is so rigid it walks reguardless. Othertimes it's because it's not lined up 100%, all you need is a mm from being 100% straight, and you have an inch a few linear feet later. Also, don't let the vinyl have slack while printing and suddenly get tension as it tries to feed more vinyl off the roll. That jolt will cause the feed angle to change dramatically and can cause undue wear/tear on the feed motor.

    Hope this helps, i'm definately not an expert, this is just something I've seen from over a year of ownership of a 1351 like you.

    Either way, you can play with learning how to angle things by using that technique of spitting the vinyl out. You can also cut the vinyl off the roll... line it up... then cut... just make sure you have enough vinyl. LOL

    Thanks for the write-up and that is exactly what the problem was. For large stuff now, I just do what you said and cut the vinyl off of the roll for the desired length. and it works much better.

    Anything under 50" or so I actually just cut with the vinyl fed sideways, and it eliminated this problem completely.

    Thanks again. ;D

    Mike

  2. Posted

    Ok, I think you are right kenimes in that it is vinyl drifting.

    I tried unsucessfully to get the vinyl to feed out in the same spot the whole way (about 55"). No matter what I did, it would not always come out straight, the closest I could get was 1/4". Sometimes it would feed out straight and then start to drift. Sometimes it would drift and then when I went back in with it it would drift. It does not seem to be very consistent.

    I never messed with the pinch roller settings. They are the same as they were when i bought the plotter. Is this causing the drift? I am getting very frustrated with this thing.

    I was able to get my friends logo done, but I had to cut a 50" length of vinyl and put it into the cutter sideways for it to cut it out right. This is not going to work for things larger than 50" though.

  6. Posted

    Details

    SignCut x2 version 2.19 (just updated to see if that would fix it, and it doesn't)

    MH-1351

    Tried both USB and serial interface

    Windows XP SP 2

    So I have a MH1351 and I am using the SignCut program that came with the cutter. Something I have always had a problem with is cutting large graphics (ie 40" or longer).

    Usually what happens is if it is a large shape, the start and end points of the cut won't be connected. This isn't the end of the world usually because I can just finish it up with a knife and make it look fine.

    However, I recently made a Chevy logo for a friends garage and it came out really really bad. The ends weren't connected like usual, but when I went to hang it up on the garage, this is how it looked:

    P1010002.jpg

    P1010003.jpg

    P1010004.jpg

    You can see how uneven the widths of the horizontal parts are. They should be the same size but are almost an inch different in width. The file is fine, I have used the same file for smaller logos and they come out no problems. I measured the widths/heights inside of Corel and they are identical.

    What is causing this? I'm tired of wasting vinyl on large items because of stuff like this. I am ready to throw this cutter/software out the window!!!  :why: :why: :why:

    Any help is much appreciated!!!!!!

  8. Posted

    So I have a MH1351 and I am using the SignCut program that came with the cutter. Something I have always had a problem with is cutting large graphics (ie 40" or longer).

    Usually what happens is if it is a large shape, the start and end points of the cut won't be connected. This isn't the end of the world usually because I can just finish it up with a knife and make it look fine.

    However, I recently made a Chevy logo for a friends garage and it came out really really bad. The ends weren't connected like usual, but when I went to hang it up on the garage, this is how it looked:

    P1010002.jpg

    P1010003.jpg

    P1010004.jpg

    You can see how uneven the widths of the horizontal parts are. They should be the same size but are almost an inch different in width. The file is fine, I have used the same file for smaller logos and they come out no problems. I measured the widths inside of Corel and they are identical.

    What is causing this? I'm tired of wasting vinyl on large items because of stuff like this. I am ready to throw this cutter out the window!!!  :why: :why: :why:

    Any help is much appreciated!!!!!!

  10. Posted

    How do I check the carriage to make sure it is where its supposed to be?

    I will check the feed rollers and make sure they are all tight.

    I have also had problems cutting large things as well. Like I have tried cutting out rectangles a certain width about 30" long and a lot of the times when it goes to close the rectangle it usually "misses" the spot where it started the rectagle so I have to use a knife to finish what it started. It can get very frustrating. Is this the same issue?

  11. Posted

    Hello

    I have a Refine MH1351

    SignCut X2

    Windows XP Pro SP2

    USB Connection

    Whenever I try to cut multiple copies of something in SignCut, I run into some issues. Basically what happens is not all of the copies are cut the same. I usually have problems with cuts not being closed all the way or just the way it cuts a copy is just wrong. I'm cutting some 5" x 5" decals and want to do 25 of them at a time. Basically the futher away the  plotter get from the origin when its cutting, the worse the cuts are. On this last batch I just ran, all of the decals on the far column were cut incorrectly and are unusable. Of the 25, only 17 were cut properly.

    Is this somethign with SignCut or what should I try to do to fix this?

    Thanks,

    Mike

  13. Posted

    Yeah, I know I can do it with patience and a knife, but I don't want to do the cutting that is what the machine is for. :huh:

    Plus if he wants 20 or 30 of these at a time, that is a LOT of time with the knife and weeding, when it should only take a few minutes to weed and another few minutes to tape and cut.

    I will play with that offset and slow it down....but I guess I'm not going to keep my hopes up. Seems like there are others with the same issues.... :-

  15. Posted

    Here are my details:

    50" Refine Plotter

    Windows XP Pro

    USB Connection

    CorelDraw for creating AI Files

    SignCut X2 for cutting

    Oracal 651 White

    Fresh blade, 80lbs force

    Tried speeds from 8-> 24 same result

    I have the 50" Refine cutter/plotter and I recently got a request from a friend for some decals and his local car club chapter. He gave me a JPG of what he wanted and I recreated with Corel to make an AI file for SignCut. The decals are 2"x7" so the text and stuff is pretty small.

    My problem is that it seems that on most of the shapes, the cutter isn't completely making a full cut, and when I go to weed, a lot of the little stuff gets pulled up because it isn't completely cut. I know the file is fine because I've done similar stuff with larger graphics and don't have a problem. It seems to just be with this smaller stuff.

    So here is the picture of what I am cutting out. I am weeding out all of the black stuff.

    Some of the things that always get pulled up are the little pieces of the 'F' and "E" characters. Also some of the little round headlights do too.

    And it's ALWAYS the same pieces, in every cut. So that tells me it isn't just a fluke and its either the software sending the wrong commands or whatever or the hardware not working right..... any ideas? I can send someone the AI file if they want to give it a shot on their plotter.

    Thanks!!!

    Mike

    cfansgeorgia.jpg

  16. Posted

    Hey all

    I have the 50" Refine cutter/plotter and I recently got a request from a friend for some decals and his local car club chapter. He gave me a JPG of what he wanted and I recreated with Corel to make an AI file for SignCut. The decals are 2"x7" so the text and stuff is pretty small.

    My problem is that it seems that on most of the shapes, the cutter isn't completely making a full cut, and when I go to weed, a lot of the little stuff gets pulled up because it isn't completely cut. I know the file is fine because I've done similar stuff with larger graphics and don't have a problem. It seems to just be with this smaller stuff.

    So here is the picture of what I am cutting out. I am weeding out all of the black stuff.

    Some of the things that always get pulled up are the little pieces of the 'F' and "E" characters. Also some of the little round headlights do too.

    And it's ALWAYS the same pieces, in every cut. So that tells me it isn't just a fluke and its either the software sending the wrong commands or whatever or the hardware not working right..... any ideas? I can send someone the AI file if they want to give it a shot on their plotter.

    Thanks!!!

    Mike

    cfansgeorgia.jpg

  17. Posted

    Hey all, I just purchased my first vinyl plotter here a week or so ago. I got te 48" Refine model, and so far I am pretty happy with it. I have been using SignCut and have made a few decals so far so I feel like I'm getting the hang of it. My sister is a graphics designer so I was able to get a copy of Corel Draw X3 from her and that is what I've been using to make the vector files for SignCut to use.

    Anyways, the main question I have is this. Let's say I have a company who wants to buy a bunch of the same decal to hand out or sell or whatever. I would want to cram as many of them onto the vinyl as possible as to not waste any. What is the easiest way to do this? Should I make an AI file that has a bunch of copies of the same decal over and over? Is there an easy way to tell SignCut I want the same thing cut out multiple times without wasting a bunch of material? I saw there was a number of copies option, but I wasn't really sure how this worked.

    Another question I have is about layering. Is it really as simple as making the decal in Corel with mutiple colors, bring it into SignCut, put in some of those reference points and cut out the different colors?

    I think that is all I have for now. I'm sure I will come up with some more questions a little later on. Thanks for any tips!