MH-721 MK2 Alignment Issues

[Kressen 0]

Hi all! TL;DR, I've got letters that are out of alignment from one plot to the next.

I work as an in-house designer/producer for a small (but very awesome) mountain resort. I've been using our company MH-721, along with VinylMaster LTR v4.3, cutting exclusively on 24" Oracal 651 Vinyl, for about two years now. Yesterday I started a large project creating a window graphic on 24" Oracal 8510 Translucent Etched Glass Vinyl. I've cut similarly sized plots before, with a higher path count, without any issues.

Here's the problem that started yesterday. I've attached an image of the original design, mirrored for placement on the inside of the window. I noticed that the machine cut the letter "r" on a different baseline than the following letters (the first plot, shown on left side of photo). I tried again with the same file and even more letters came out of alignment. I've tried importing the plot as a different file type, adjusting the roller arms, and changing the cut order of the plot, I've thrown away four failed tests like the attached picture. Has anyone else experienced this issue? My next idea is to try separating each line of type into it's own file and manually aligning each plot. Any advice is appreciated!

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

I hope you are prefeeding your vinyl before cutting, so you are not pulling from the roll while cutting. Always have enough vinyl slack to do the order.  I would guess the vinyl is slipping, You shouldn't adjust the pinch rollers, as a rule.  Also, how did you set your blade depth? Too much blade extended out of the blade holder will cause drag on the vinyl. This is the correct way to set your blade depth for every type of vinyl.  Never use a credit card or post it notes for setting blade depth, it is about 10 times too much blade extended out of the blade holder, It's a myth that just won't go away.   Make sure your pinch rollers and grit rollers are tight and clean.  Your test cuts from the TEST feature on the cutter are coming out correct?

To start with, you should set your blade depth correctly, by taking the blade holder out of the machine, and firmly cut across a piece of scrap vinyl, you will be cutting. You should only be cutting the vinyl and barely a mark on wax paper backing, Adjust blade to get there, Then put the blade holder back in machine, and use the force of the machine to get there, same results, only cutting the vinyl and barely a mark in wax paper backing. You should barely see and feel the blade tip out of the blade holder. Regular sign vinyl is only 2-3 mil thick. You only cut with the very tip of the blade. When you think the blade is so far in the blade holder, that you think it would not even cut, that is probably correct. 

 

[arty-rc 719]

You might want to use your pen tool and paper to test everything out before you go back to cutting the expensive Etched glass vinyl.

[slice&dice 2,450]

USB or Serial connection?

What happens if you use another font?

Does the same thing happen using SignBlazer? (RedSail driver) -- we suggest using another cutting software to narrow down the issue to hardware vs software.

[darcshadow 1,626]

It's odd that even though the letters are not aligned, they appear to be cut correctly. My first thought would have been vinyl slipping, but if that's the case I would expect the cuts to look wonky as well.

[kainth.c.s 53]

It seems like it has something to do with the feeding rollers, looks like the cutter is not coming back to the same position in case it goes off to another part of the sheet for cutting. Or it might be a static buildup. I use flexi sign for cutting and the way I was able to overcome this issue was restricting a margin of the sheet for cutting at once. I gave a value of 5 inches x 5 inches. So the machine cuts everything it can within that margin before moving to the next part.

See if you can work something out similar to this in your software

[slice&dice 2,450]

Seems like an internal circuitry glitch with the MH (maybe caused by static frying something on the Motherboard).

Have you attempted to cut anything else? Still waiting on your reply to my previous suggestions a few days ago.