Cutter locking up

[Johnny Pounder 0]

I am having big problems with trying to cut multiple decals. My decals are only about 4"x6" so there not very big.  The cutter will cut two and a half of them then it locks up. It for the most part locks up in the same spot. I have read almost every post in here it seems like a hundred times trying to figure it out but with no luck.  I am using sign blazer elements that I got with the cutter. I have tried sign Cut-x2 but am still getting the same issue. I even went out and bought a new usb cable. I have tried both usb and serial, my baud rates are the same. I have reset the cutter. I have even taken the cutter apart to check to see if something was loose( Ken told me to.), nothing is loose as far as I can tell. Now for the past three days Ken hasn't gotten back with me to help anymore so does anybody have any great Ideas? Very Very Very Very frustrating.

[Popeye 0]

It almost sounds like a memory problem... it might help lowering baud rate. What is it now ?

[BannerJohn 1,324]

Popeye is right.Same thing in Signblazer and Signcut,stopping at the same place every time,sounds like memory to me.

If it is a memory problem,nothing to do but cut 2 at a time.

[Johnny Pounder 0]

Thats what it seems like to me (memory). I changed the baud rate to 19200 and it only made it stop faster.  Here is the image I am trying to do. Does this look like i should be able to do more than two at a time?

[Popeye 0]

I think the baud rate should be 9600, try that and maybe even 2400

IMHO

[gg 1]

I've had the same problem b4, some of the things I found

* make sure graphic will fit on vinyl

* pinch roller to close to graphic ( I've most problem w/ lock ups trying to cut small stuff from left over vinyl ) :bang:

* graphic has a open node or left over spec or cludder as I call it, tiny something that's not suppose to be there..

software not sure, I design & layout in Corel all I do in signcut2  is cut, all the problems I've had were error on my part or either I had a setting wrong in signcut.. make sure setting in cutware are set.

hope this helps

[kenimes 42]

I am having big problems with trying to cut multiple decals. My decals are only about 4"x6" so there not very big.  The cutter will cut two and a half of them then it locks up. It for the most part locks up in the same spot. I have read almost every post in here it seems like a hundred times trying to figure it out but with no luck.  I am using sign blazer elements that I got with the cutter. I have tried sign Cut-x2 but am still getting the same issue. I even went out and bought a new usb cable. I have tried both usb and serial, my baud rates are the same. I have reset the cutter. I have even taken the cutter apart to check to see if something was loose( Ken told me to.), nothing is loose as far as I can tell. Now for the past three days Ken hasn't gotten back with me to help anymore so does anybody have any great Ideas? Very Very Very Very frustrating.

Sorry I have not got back with you yet, extremely busy trying to catch up from the holidays and we are in the middle of moving to a bigger location.

Have you tried another Serial to USB cable? I know the included cable is not the best and have seen several cases where a name brand cable solves issues.

[Johnny Pounder 0]

The baud rate on my cutter only will do 9600 and 19200, I have had my baud rate at 9600 90% of the time with this problem. My cutter only goes to 9600 and 19200. Should I change the baud rate on my driver and sb program to 2400 or will that conflict with the cutter?

* make sure graphic will fit on vinyl. 

My vinyl is 24" wide and 7 yrds long so that's not the issue.

* pinch roller to close to graphic ( I've most problem w/ lock ups trying to cut small stuff from left over vinyl )

I don't think I understand this part. I have had my pinch rollers all the way to the edges of the vinyl and only about six inches apart some times. So if I understand you right I don't think that is it either.

* graphic has a open node or left over spec or cludder as I call it, tiny something that's not suppose to be there..

I can cut one decal just fine of my design but for some reason once you do more it locks up. It also locks up on other designs I have wich are mostly text designs.

Thanks for your reply Ken, I had hoped that because of the holidays you were busy and not just giving up on me.  I Went to Circuit City a couple of days ago and bought a new usb cable, I believe I bought a good one but I really don't know much about cables though. I have tried both the serial port and the usb port with the same results.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

The only baud rates I ever use are 4800 and 9600 but everything has to be in sync..computer port setting,software,and cutter. Are you saying that on the cutter itself ( I don't have the Copam) that you can't set the baud rate anything other than the two you mentioned?

[Jerry Bonham 1]

Hello All,

Can i suggest something.

This often happens when a screen saver kicks in.

Turn it off.

Also i have mentioned elsewhere about some new computers having Power Management on USB ports.

This has to be turned off in the BIOS.

Other things that can cause this problem

1. Not having suppressors on BOTH ends of your USB cable.

2. Too log a cable.  More than 3 metres or 9/10 feet can cause this also.

3. Loose connections at either the computer of cutter.

4. Powerful electromagnetic interference close to the cable.

With the last one i once had a case of a complete brand new system worth 18K after installation would only cut a small portion of the work and then go crazy.  It took me two days to figure this one out.  We replaced just about everything.  It was not until i brought in another new cutter and tried it on the other side of the room that we solved the problem. It worked perfectly.  When we put in the position where the other cutter was the exact same thing happened. 

It worked on one side of the room and not on the other side? that is crazy.

Then i noticed this thick orange cable running down from the ceiling in the corner where the cutter was.

It was a 100 amp 440 volt three phase power cable for the factory at the back of the office.

Moved the cutter to the other side of the room and everything has now worked perfectly for many years.

This has made aware that you cannot have anything near computers or cutters that generate EMF.

This includes things such as electric ovens, microwave ovens, radio transmittors of any kind and so on.

I guess you get the picture.

Jerry from SignBlazer.

[Johnny Pounder 0]

The only baud rates I ever use are 4800 and 9600 but everything has to be in sync..computer port setting,software,and cutter. Are you saying that on the cutter itself ( I don't have the Copam) that you can't set the baud rate anything other than the two you mentioned?

Yeah I only have 9600 and 19200, But I screwed up on were I placed the topic. I have a pcut 630 not a copam, sorry for putting this in the wrong spot. Last night I unchecked the weed all button and I could do about five of the decals, so that was a big improvement.

This often happens when a screen saver kicks in.

The screen saver never turns on when it locks, so that's not it.

Also i have mentioned elsewhere about some new computers having Power Management on USB ports.

This has to be turned off in the BIOS.

I don't know if my computer has this but I bought a e-machine about a year and a half ago, so I don't know about this one. And I'm generaly using my serial port. I have also tried the usb but with the same outcome.

1. Not having suppressors on BOTH ends of your USB cable.

2. Too log a cable.  More than 3 metres or 9/10 feet can cause this also.

3. Loose connections at either the computer of cutter.

What do you mean by having suppressors on both ends of the cable? does that come with the cable when you buy a new one, I just bought a new one a couple of days ago and it still didn't work.

My cable's are only about 6' long.

I have wiggled my cables quite a few times just to make sure they were in there properly, no change.

As far as the EMF. I have the cutter in the corner of a room in my house and there isn't anything around that has any power going to it except for my computer and two printers etc.  I will try and move it and maybe even plug it into another plug in the house to see if that works. That does seem pretty crazy that yours would work on one side of the room but not the other. It's amazing you would even figure that out.

Thanks for everybodys help, i should have done this a couple of weeks ago.

[Johnny Pounder 0]

I just moved the cutter to the middle of the room and change which plug I pluged it into and No difference. I checked the weed each copy button and I did 4 1/2, then the cutter for some reson tried to go to the other decal and left a cut from one decal going to the other.  Any other options?

[JoeCamaro 11]

Are you trying to cut only one art,or have you tried differrent ones with the same result.

You should open another file and do the same you are doing with the problme one.

It might be the file.

Joe

[Johnny Pounder 0]

I just cut 7 of the horses that came from the library that were about the same size as my decal. So it might be in my decal. How come I can cut a couple of them just fine and not more though. I will go back and look at each node and make sure they are closed.

Thanks

[Johnny Pounder 0]

I looked at my decal and all the nodes are closed( I moved each node). I also tried pressing my luck and I cut out 12 of the horse dacals and it worked fine. So it must be in my decal somehow. So now I think that brings on new problems for me. What could be wrong with my decal if all of the nodes are closed? I took a bitmap from photoshop were I made the decal, Monocromed it and then Vecorized it. (I followed the directions off of another post I read on here.) When I got my nodes I went and cleaned everything up and made sure everything was smooth. Thats it right?

[JoeCamaro 11]

Did you erase the bitmap. Make sure you only have the vector image and nothing in the back. Check it is not in the background.

[JoeCamaro 11]

Try this

Open the file, select everything, copy it, open a new document, paste it, save it with another name.

[Johnny Pounder 0]

I made sure the bitmap is not in the background, but I did what you told me anyway and it still locked after 3 1/2. I used inkscape and made a new vector image of my decal and cut it out with Signcut-x2 it cut all seven decals but they were a little smaller. I changed the sizes back to 4x6 and was going to do 8 copies and SignCut did 5 full and 3/4 of the 6th decal, and the program finished like it was done, also the cutter draged all the way down to the end scratching a line, not completely cutting just scratching if that matters.

[Jerry Bonham 1]

Hello Johnny,

I replied to your message.

Asked you to email me the offending files.

I will cut them here.

OK what is a suppressor?

It is a small ferrite core which stops extraneous signal noise being induced into your USB cable (sorry that is the simplest that i can say this).

Attached is a photo

Jerry from SignBlazer