Keep having feeding problems.

[JessXEmoji 46]

Ok I've tried everything there is.  When feeding the vinyl the machine cannot keep it going straight.  Shorter decals are ok but when doing lets say 40"  long the vinyl will shift to the left or right about an 1/8 -1/4 inch by the time it reaches the end.  using 3 guide rollers make it worse than using just 2.  Ive put them on the very edge of the vinyl etc... tried running slow etc... I'm leaving slack from the roll so it doesnt pull etc...  does anyone have any tricks to keep the vinyl from moving?  Ive spent a good few hours trying everything and when test feeding a long piece it still wants to shift.  It's driving me nuts. 

[constricted 27]

i believe what you need to do is pre feed your vinyl. so if your making a 40 inch long decal, you need to put your vinyl in the machine, then run 40 inches through the machine and see if the vinyl is tracking straight. if not, then re-align the vinyl and try again. repeat this process until the vinyl is tracking straight and your all set.

 

here is a great video that will help you. the pre feeding method i'm talking about is explained at 3:35 - 4:10 in the video

[JessXEmoji 46]

His tracking was off too there at the end. I i had already done everything he did. I'll keep playing with it. Might use my macgyver tricks to keep it straight.

[Wildgoose 4,200]

Does it fall off the pinch rollers by the end? If you are still on the vinyl and just having problems with the graphic being off by the 1/4" then you might consider trying to use SignCut Pro as a cutting software. They have an option in the advanced cutting palette called stp-by-step cutting that lets you cut everything in a user defined distance before moving on. I used it a lot when I was running my P-Cut because I had the same problem you are having. It will cut everything within the first 10 or 12 inches before moving on to the next 10 or 12 inch segment. You set how long you want the segments to be, 10 inches worked about the best on my machine. When you get to the end your done and you don't have to worry about the off track. SCALP doesn't have this feature and I don't know if SignBlazer does or not. You can try a free trial of SignCut to see if it will work for you but it's a subscription based program that needs access to the internet or you have to buy a dongle. 

[JessXEmoji 46]

I wish SCALP had that. like you said it's cutting some then moving all the way back to cut something else. I have to make the weed line outline wider so it doesn't move over into the image.  I'm not a fan of subscription based stuff.

[Wildgoose 4,200]

SCALP was supposed to integrate that into their program by mid summer of 2013 but it never happened. Tiling too which is pretty much a must have for serious signwork. Sooner or later you run into something bigger than your vinyl or cutter. You might drop the weeding frame off and see if the rest goes ok. 

[alsuer 10]

my cutter was simular and I found that I had the pinch rollers too close to the edge of the vinyl. brought them in around 1 inch from the edge and started tracking straight. Hope this helps.