MH 721 PHYSCO Cutter plz help

[pitkin2020 1]

hi all, i have searched through the forums but cant find a definitive answer so thought i would make a post before destroying my MH721 with a very large Hammer lol.  I have the cutter on a congrete floor on a wooden plinth and i have grounded it using a piece of wire from the cutter chassis to the stand, plugged into a surge protector (UK so plugs are grounded) and using the USB to Serial.  No problems at all until now, but never cut anything this large before.

The problem i am having is that im trying to do one long piece of lettering "SPECIALIST CARPET & UPHOLSTERY CLEANING", this was the first attempt on paper with a sharpie

I solved that problem (or atleast i thought) i didn't have the settings correct for the length of vinyl being used in SBE it was set at 1400mm long and the design was 1900mm long, changed that and it cut fine.

The second problem then came about the cutter not running the vinyl straight through the cutter making layering impossible, so i split the design down to two lines, cut the lower layer perfectly, went on to cut the top layer and it started to do this again, random slashing like a cheap horror movie.

I have restarted the laptop and SBE checked connections re did the ground wire all to no joy, does anyone have any advice or a solution please

Thanks for reading my rant lol

[pitkin2020 1]

well looks like everyone is as stumped as myself, anyway i sort of solved it now.

What i was doing before was trying to cut 2 copies of the same thing, but by selecting just 1 copy and cutting it then moving the cutter and cutting the 2nd copy it worked out fine.  Not an ideal solution as its a bit of a time waste but saved more scrap vinyl

[sarconastic 29]

Sounds like a memory problem to me. I have to limit the number of copies I make for that same reason on my LP. I have also heard that the USBport can be an issue with this. Using a Keyspan serial to usb adapter sometimes makes it work better.

Kevin

[pitkin2020 1]

i did think maybe a memory issue but it cut the bottom layer (2 copies fine) but the top layer again 2 copies it point blank refuses to do it without cutting through the whole lot.

I am using a usb to serial adapter, mainly because my laptop has no serial point and when using the USB it just will not work at all.

With regards to memory do you think its the computers RAM or the cutters memory that is the problem??  Obviously the comps memory can be upgraded but can the cutters??

[JoeBlow 5]

Usually with memory problems, it would run out of memory in the same spot each time. When the cutter calls on the memory, and if you're cut the same graphic twice, it should stop cutting in the same place each time.  Another thing to check when it stray cuts in the same place each time, is an open path in the graphic.  This is not what is happening in your case, it's not happening in the same spot each time.  I would then look at your USB conection, it could be vibrating loose during the cut, or is a poor pyshical conection and therefore stray cutting randomly.  The next option is: USE THE HAMMER.

Joe

[pitkin2020 1]

it happens in nearly the same place on the R in upholstery but sometimes it does half the R other times not, i did check for any open path in the lettering and all looks fine.  The other thing which has made me think its more a pc/software issue rather than an open path is the fact that it cuts fine when doing just one copy, it only goes mad when i ask it to cut 2 copies, the pics in post 1 are the same lettering diff designs the first is all on one line the 2nd is split into lines, as i thought the length was an issue so split it down.  I have just got flexi pro running and from PM it says my memory available is 300mb, out of the 1gb overall, do you think that is suffucent??

Tomorrow i will try it in a different USB port and see if that makes any difference.

And let me tell you the hammer was heading its way, this job im doing (thankfully its just practice for family) i thought would take me a day to cut, weed and apply app tape (there is more than just whats in the pic) and half day to apply it all, so far im at 4 days and have only done a fifth of what i had intended, lol

[Aaron636r 0]

I'm having nothing but issues with my US Cutter.  Worked great for months and now headache after headache.  Ive wasted more vinyl in the past month that the cutter us even worth.  I feel your pain.

[pitkin2020 1]

i dont actually think my problem is the cutter i think its more of a combination of software (SBE) and the cutters internal memory, i see a lot of people shout "STATIC" with this kind of problem but again i dont think this is the issue due to the fact vinyl isnt even in the machine and its doing it.  BUt the vinyl wastage is annoying, and the job im doing at the moment thanks to the slashing has made me short for the job so i have had to order a small roll 3 days after making a large vinyl order.

I do think they need to work on the USB connection problems though as serial ports are nearly non existant on new computers especially laptops