Contour Cutting Question

[Guest sciondrgn]

Ok was playing around with the new graphtec this evening and cut a few press items and some decals, Just still trying to learn the cutter..

Wanted to try a contour cut so had a piece of Avery 8.5 x11 Printable Media, Loaded up Robo Master, Imported an image and sized accordingdly for the paper and reg marks.  Printed that job and and it printed fine with the reg marks.. Went back to Robo Master and set up the outline and then loaded the printed paper into the cutter. It did its measurements and said it was ready to go. I hit cut and it went and read the two front registration marks then it went to the back left to read that one and then it just rolled the vinyl back into the machine and cutting head top left now and said The registration marks are not the right distance? Tried multiple times with no luck and in the software everything was pretty much grayed out.. Any ideas on what I did wrong?

I also use Flexi and havent tried that one yet for contour cutting, Im not sure how to do that in their quite yet.

[Guest sciondrgn]

Played with it more today and got it to contour cut.. Looks like the graphtec is just reallllllly picky on measurements. I moved the pinch rollers out as far as I could get them and still hold the paper and it read and cut fine.  Here is the test cuts I did,

[mr300s 1,272]

nice job did you use the Epson RX600 to print those?

[Guest sciondrgn]

nice job did you use the Epson RX600 to print those?

Yup, I dont have any vinyl media that will work with my Color Laser yet.. Thats the next step is to see what kind of paper I can get to work with it.. There is so many kinds out there I dont know which one is the best..

[Guest sciondrgn]

Im learning that the contour cutting with 8.5x11 paper is very hit and miss.. I got some of that Pappillo vinyl paper for lasers.. Printed a few with the reg marks and I cant get the cutter to read the marks for nothing.. Ive spaced out the pinch rollers as far as I can go and it barely holds on to the paper at times.. I wonder if a carrier sheet would help.. When trying to read the marks it will read the front to but it never makes it to the back before it errors out talking about the measurements are wrong..

Any suggestions?

[Guest kenya]

Bumping this topic.....

how did you resolve this problem Claw?

Thanks.

[mr300s 1,272]

Bumping this topic.....

how did you resolve this problem Claw?

Thanks.

I'm tuned in also Vette 

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

me three

[Guest sciondrgn]

Basically with trying to contour cut standard size paper like I mentioned above. have the rollers out to the very edge of the paper and use the cut line on the graphtec to line it up.. It take a couple tries but after using that line near the cutting strip I can pretty much get it lined up everytime on the first try..

Here is a video I posted up and this was with 8.5x11 paper.. You can see the edge im talking about when I first line things up and its worked fine since

[Guest kenya]

Thanks Claw.

Hey, Im just starting out with Flexi- is there a setting that automatically adds registration lines or do you draw them yourself?

[Guest sciondrgn]

Thanks Claw.

Hey, Im just starting out with Flexi- is there a setting that automatically adds registration lines or do you draw them yourself?

I use Robo Cutting master that comes with the graphtecs to do my contour cutting, It works great and easy to use..

[ramy 3]

I setup my CE5000-60 and was playing around with ROBO and contour cutting on the attached image.

I had a couple of newbie questions.

1) Is there any type of manual for Robo Master Pro?

2) When I created the outline on this image it outlined each individual section and I assume if I cut it, it would cut around each section. Is this the what its suppose to do?  I see where this would be handy so you wouldn't have to cut different color vinlys and line-up.

3) What I was expecting (right or wrong) was that the it would just outline the outer edges of the graphic, so it would have been a one piece decal. If the output from step 2 is what is to be expected, is there a way to cut just the outer edges?

As I was writing this, I'm thinking maybe my orginal expectation was incorrect, I was thinking it was going to give me a one piece decal and just cut the outer outline and not each individual piece of the graphic.

Thanks

[Guest sciondrgn]

You have to play with the thresholds and settings if you do want it to cut just the outline of the image, There is an option in there to only cut the outline, I would have to check again once I get home but you still may have to tweak it a bit to get it like you want it. There is also some paint options in the outline manager to fill in areas you dont want it to cut and so forth if the auto outline options don't have your desired results.. It took me a while of playing with settings to get the hang of it but I still get stuck sometimes myself

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

I setup my CE5000-60 and was playing around with ROBO and contour cutting on the attached image.

I had a couple of newbie questions.

1) Is there any type of manual for Robo Master Pro?

2) When I created the outline on this image it outlined each individual section and I assume if I cut it, it would cut around each section. Is this the what its suppose to do?  I see where this would be handy so you wouldn't have to cut different color vinlys and line-up.

3) What I was expecting (right or wrong) was that the it would just outline the outer edges of the graphic, so it would have been a one piece decal. If the output from step 2 is what is to be expected, is there a way to cut just the outer edges?

As I was writing this, I'm thinking maybe my orginal expectation was incorrect, I was thinking it was going to give me a one piece decal and just cut the outer outline and not each individual piece of the graphic.

Thanks

user manuals are found on the Graphtec website for their products

http://www.graphteccorp.com/craftrobo/support/program/ROBO_Master-Pro_Manual.pdf

[ramy 3]

Appreciate the feedback and the link to manual.

Thanks!

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

Thanks Carolyn

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

your welcome 

[ramy 3]

DOH!... That was much easier, once I played around with the thresold and line thickness(which gave me the output I was expecting).

Thanks for the guidance. :-)

[ramy 3]

CE5000-60 Cutter can't seem to locate registration marks? Or I'm doing it incorrectly(good chance).

I printed on a Papillio clear cling sheet 8.5x11 and have registration marks(3 point).

I slide in the sheet from the front of machine and have 2 of registration marks at front of machine.

I move the blade inside of registration mark on control side of machine.

From the software(Robo Pro), I tell it to read registration marks it reads the first one and then it forwards the sheet as if its going to locate the registration mark at back of sheet but it doesn't stop, it moves the sheet totally out of cutter machine.

Spent a few hours last night trying to figure out what I'm doing incorrectly.

Was reading the manual ion more depth today trying to figure it out, based on what I read, there seems to be a manual method of setting registration locations from the cutters controls, is that correct?

Any ideas of what I'm doing wrong?

[Guest sciondrgn]

I know with contour cutting it can be really finicky and the paper has to be lined up really straight.. I use the media cut channel to line things up.

It should be reading the first mark then moving to the right then to the back mark, Check your orientation on robo to make sure it matches how you have the paper loaded.

[34Ford 7]

Its not possible to use Photoshop CS3 to create registration marks around my image is there? Plugin?

[Sandstormdesigns 2]

Contour Cutting is very tricky on the Graphtec. However, if you watch it...it will tell you where your marks suppose to be. You can trick the plotter by taping a piece of paper on the back to allow it to read the REG. This will allow you to understand what is going on with the plotter as it read. I believe I post a complete how to contour with the Graphtec. Forget the videos or the manual...they leave out a lot of info that is important. Once you learn it...you will not forget it!

Graphtec with FlexiStarter 8.6v with Contour Cutting

First import or create a image you want to contour cut. Next select your image and click on Effect, Design Central should come up with setting options, like: Contour, Ellipse and Rectangle, choose your desire. You also have Offset values, with holes or without, stoke value, and color contour. Once you make all your selections, click the check icon, click off your design and then click it again. Next you will click Effect again and click Contour Cut Marks. Another dialog box will come up in Design Central. You can select 4 points or Graphtec Type 2, the Graphtec will read both just fine. As a beginner with this to show that it works, select 4 points. After selecting 4 points you will see four crosshairs with numbers. Click your check mark again...then click on a blank area and reselect your object. Now you are going to send to your printer. After it prints, place paper into the plotter. Your next icon would be the Contour cut icon next to the Cut icon; select that. Once the Production Manager appear, go ahead and select send....another panel box will appear saying Alignment. In this box, you have two choices... Interactive Alignment and Digitize Alignment, select Digitize alignment (Digitize alignment allows the Graphtec or any other ARMS or OPOS reading plotter to use its laser to identify the reg. marks [where as Interactive alignment is for nonlaser plotters, it is done manually by moving the plotter head mark by mark]) . Move the plotter blade or pen to the first crosshair ( Do not press Origin on the plotter), follow the instructions on the next boxes that opens, they will guide you from there. But do not press Origin on the plotter, only Okay in the software. Let me know how you come out? Goodluck and may the Force be with you!