bsworks75 2 Posted September 11, 2011 Long story shot... have had the cutter for just over a year now and have had more dang issues with it than anything. I literally hate doing work on it because SOMETHING always goes wrong. Today my husband and I were cutting birch trees for our nursery they were 94" tall by 7" wide. We placed two on one snd they printed wonderfully. We got them installed and on to the next set (we were doing a total of 5 trees altogether). We put two on one run and hit go the cutter stops 3/4 of the way through the first tree. UGH! We have learned that you need to unplug the cutter after a while (we do it after every use) so the "memory" gets cleared out because we had this issue in the past and have wasted a LOT of vinyl on the subject. Sooo... I'm curious why the first run went through fine, and they were actually large trees where as these trees were much smaller, and now on the second try the cutter starts acting funny. Anyone have any suggestions? I hate to sell the machine because #1 it HAS paid for itself this year we've had it so the little extra income is nice & #2 I like having the option to go cut something for myself if I ever want to... trouble is I'm getting near the point where I don't want to. Thanks for hearing my rant and any suggestions on how to troubleshoot the issues outline above would be very helpful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rodger 527 Posted September 11, 2011 I have a mid grade cutter ( Copam ) , but I had some problems until I went to a serial cable . I had a usb cable to serial cable that went bad & it took me some trial & error to find out it was intermittenly causing problems . Do you use a usb cable ? Even trying a new cord like you have ? It could help or fix your problem . I have read a zillion times about the keyspan cord . Have you tried that ? Is your model the model they offer a bigger memory chip for ? Static issues ? Plenty that has been mentioned many times , so best to try some if you want it to improve . You can buy a better grade cutter , but that is not the problem as MANY have great service out of all the cutters . Of course the better the cutter , the better quality & less problems . From what I have been exposed to , it seems the Gerber is the very best ? But I am sure they mess up some times also , especially if the software helps it to . 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nitsuj 5 Posted September 12, 2011 I've only owned a cutter for about 4 days, so I'm no expert on the subject. But, before I bought mine, I read the forums forum for weeks while deciding what to buy. My point is, I seem to remember someone else posting similar problems and it turned out to be static that was building up on long cut jobs. Anyhow, search the forums for static issues and see if you find a post that matches up to your problems. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BearlyRich 167 Posted September 12, 2011 Did I miss something? What cutter do you have? I looked through your posts and apparently you've never asked for any help with the cutter itself. If you have an MH cutter, do you have the upgraded memory chip installed? Are you using a USB connection? If so, get a Keyspan! or use a serial cable direct. Static!!! Read through the many posts on how to take care of this problem. No doubt, your problems with the cutter can be resolved, but you first have to let us know what cutter it is, and what program you're using to cut and even what OS is on your computer... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bsworks75 2 Posted September 13, 2011 Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll admit I didn't have time yesterday to scroll through allll the posts looking for some title that matched mine exactly. I'm using a Mac OS Snow Leopard with Sign Blazer installed through Parallels, cutting on a run of the mill MH721 (I'm not a cash horse over here, haha) I do use a USB cable and now that you mention it recall a long time ago someone mentioning to use the serial cable. When I get some free time (between my three jobs and being pregnant and taking care of my household) I'll look around more. But again, I do REALLY thank you all for giving me some clues in the right direction as to where I can start my investigation which is great because before it was like feeling around in the dark. Thanks and good day. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MZ SKEETER 4,709 Posted September 13, 2011 now that you stated your cutter, I will throw some info your way from the USCUTTER support pages http://support.uscutter.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/50/1/static-electrical-interferance-and-what-to-do Static Electrical Interferance and what to do! Posted by Hugo on 06 July 2010 10:49 AM The value line cutters (specifically the MH series) are a great choice when first getting into business, starting your hobby or generally when dealing with a tight budget. In some instances and in some environments, your cutter can be subject to a higher susceptibility of Static Electrical Interference. You'll know static is interfering with your cutter by performing this simple test: Disconnect the cutter from the PC and turn it off for 20 seconds, then reconnect and power on. Remove the vinyl and blade holder from the machine and run a cut job through the cutter that would typically fail or stall. If it completes, run it 2 or 3 more times. Did it fail? If yes, probably not static. Finally, (still w/no blade) run the same job the same way WITH the vinyl. Does it fail? If yes, Static. Vinyl is an insulator which is negatively charged; this is where the problem begins. During the process of simply un-rolling, your vinyl gets a strong negative charge. Because it's an insulator you cant simply wipe off the charge (as with anti-static wipes) unless you cut the sheet from the roll. The other point where this is an issue is when the media feeds out of the machine and lays on the floor (ESPECIALLY CARPET!) and then the cutter rolls it back in. Again the peeling away motion creates more static. Grounding the cutter ( or "bonding" to be precise) is your best option for helping to discharge the static that has built up on the cutter. Grounding can be done by running a copper wire/speaker wire from a screw on the base of the cutter to a point on the stand. Contact points should be metal on metal, which might require you to scrape away some paint. You can also try a humidifier to dampen the amount of environmental Static Electricity in the immediate area. The only real solutions: 0.5) Ground the machine. 1.) Get an ESD blower. You can find them by simply doing a Bing search (or visiting: http://www.gndzero.com/neutralization.php). ESD blowers deliver a balanced stream of ionized air which neutralizes object surfaces and insulated objects that are charged. 2.) Think about upgrade your cutter! Anytime is a great time to get a professional piece of equipment that is built on a superior design. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
