Copam CP-2500 vinyl placement?

[CopamUser2010 0]

Hey there everyone, new user and proud new owner of the Copam here. I had a question regarding the pinch rollers and vinyl placement. I am stumped.

When I put the roll of vinyl on the rollers, habit tells me to go all the way to the right. I think this way because I used to own a Refine (P.O.S.!!) but considering the the bottom rollers are in the center I put my vinyl roll in the center. I have a smaller roll of vinyl so it overlaps the grit rollers just enough for me to put the pinch rollers down on top...but here's the catch:

The pinch roller on the right will not go past a certain point due to a screw in the back. It stops the pinch roller from any further movement to the left, while the pinch roller on the left can move freely across 3/4 of the machine. The pinch roller on the right *barely* touches the grit roller all the way and because of this the cutter completely mangles the vinyl on the left side from nothing keeping it held down. Things would be fine if I could move the roll of vinyl to the right of the machine where there's a better grit roller placement, but then the vinyl roller at the bottom won't hold the roll! Not cool. On the refine the grit rollers went across the entire machine, as well as the vinyl roll holder....and three pinch rollers! The Copam has a very limited placement it seems. What am I doing wrong here? It has eaten vinyl each time I've cut so far.

I'm talking completely bending, lifting and eating the vinyl here. Not lifting because the blade is too long.

Please help?

[mars 45]

Hey CopamUser2010 -- welcome to the forum.

The grit rollers should determine where you place the edges of the vinyl.  The pinch rollers have magnet dots on them to enable the cutter to "sense " where the rollers are and it won't go past the pinch rollers on either end.

Here is how I place my roll vinyl.

1 Feed the vinyl into the machine and look at the grit rollers - move the vinyl until it matches up with one of the two on the right - and one of the other rollers on the left.

2 There are two guide scales along the top and front of the out feed.  You want to use these marks to line up the right edge of the vinyl.  Pick a mark inside the right grit roller area on the top scale and the same mark on the front scale and line the edge of the vinyl up with this pair of marks - this gets your vinyl very close to square in the machine.

3 Lock down the pinch rollers within the grit roller area -- not too close to the edge - the vinyl will "wander" a little - so at first give yourself 1/2" margin to keep it from running off the vinyl during a cut.

4 Perform the measure step and watch how the vinyl "runs" next to the marks -- if it moves away you need to go back to step 2 and realign the edges.

soon you will be able to cut the "margin" down as you get better at putting the vinyl into the machine straighter.

-Mike

[CopamUser2010 0]

OK

Well now that I received the roll of vinyl in the mail to test your advice the Copam will not turn on. I've had this thing for less than a week and used it less than one hour.

When I turn the machine on the screen will not light and the blade is forced down into the cutting strip with a loud *THUNK*. I'll leave it for a minute or so, turn it back on and *THUNK*.

What the hell. I just dropped $700 on a machine that performs *worse* than the refine? I want to believe, guys but this is really making a hard case for me. Any advice? It should be noted that the very first cut I made with the machine froze halfway through.

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

put a tech support ticket in,  check your fuse if you have one,  try a different outlet. 

http://support.uscutter.com/index.php?_m=tickets&_a=submit

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

put a tech support ticket in,  check your fuse if you have one,  try a different outlet. 

http://support.uscutter.com/index.php?_m=tickets&_a=submit

+1

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

OK

Well now that I received the roll of vinyl in the mail to test your advice the Copam will not turn on. I've had this thing for less than a week and used it less than one hour.

When I turn the machine on the screen will not light and the blade is forced down into the cutting strip with a loud *THUNK*. I'll leave it for a minute or so, turn it back on and *THUNK*.

What the hell. I just dropped $700 on a machine that performs *worse* than the refine? I want to believe, guys but this is really making a hard case for me. Any advice? It should be noted that the very first cut I made with the machine froze halfway through.

who'da THUNK it . . . sorry just couldn't resist

[CopamUser2010 0]

HA! Touche.

I'll be putting in a ticket very soon. This is terrible luck.