Cutting Master 5 not cutting outer edges

[UO-Jeremy 1]

Hello USC forum folks,

Working on another issue with CM5.  I've setup 2 iMacs (cutting station 1, cutting station 2). One with the CE-7000 and one with our FC-8600. We're on Ventura 13.6.x running cutting master 5. (before you tell me to change and go on a windows machine I cannot, and I cannot roll back to CM4)  Both cutters have updated firmware. Tried cutting from within Adobe Illustrator 2023 and 2024. On Cutting station 1 iMac we’re getting odd cutting quality, where either the CE-7000 and the FC8600 doesn’t cut the outlines of compound and non-compound paths. When I setup the iMac initially it works just fine. All paths we send cut. But after a day or so, the cutter stops cutting outer lines of paths. When the machine stopped cutting the outer paths, I connected the FC8600 and the same result happens. On the 2nd iMac cutting station 2 everything seems to cut properly on both cutters. So, I thought ok, maybe it’s a preference file that got corrupted. I looked for a preference file and couldn’t find one. So, I used the Cutting Master 5 uninstaller. Uninstalled the software, rebooted, re-installed same effect. So, I erased the iMac and reinstalled Ventura, reinstalled Adobe Illustrator and Cutting Master 5. It cut the lines perfectly, but again later in the day, it stopped cutting the outer paths. The issue that we're seeing is incomplete cuts on outlined shapes. We had issues with the cuter cutting outlines on both compound and non-compound paths. I couldn't get a good photo of the vinyl, but I’m attaching a screenshot of what the outcome looks like. Please advise if you've seen this, or have any ideas how to fix it.

 

Thanks in advance, Jeremy Smith University of Oregon

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

Is the image above being done with a pen? Or have you tried the pen?  Have you gotten down eye level with the cutter and watched it while it is cutting? Watch the blade and the vinyl. Use a flashlight, if you have to. What do you see? Cut slow.  Like 2-3 speed. What material are you cutting?  Have you raised the force of the machine? If the blade is set correctly, no matter how much you raise the force, it will not cut thru the material. 

[haumana 1,220]

what length cable are you using from macs to cutters? are you using a hub? 

have you tried using the Graphtec Studio software to see if you're getting those same cutting results?

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

 

what length cable are you using from macs to cutters? are you using a hub? 

have you tried using the Graphtec Studio software to see if you're getting those same cutting results?

We went thru this with him on another previous  problem, University rules.  Can't change the software. They don't want to change anything. Kinda hard to trouble shoot. But good ideas!!

[haumana 1,220]

 

We went thru this with him on another previous  problem, University rules.  Can't change the software. They don't want to change anything. Kinda hard to trouble shoot. But good ideas!!

That's unfortunate.  I wonder how the University will respond if they cannot get the cutter to work properly - stick to the steadfast rules and virtually brick good equipment, or try and let someone actually help. 

[slice&dice 2,450]

--deleted--

(tried to be clever, failed, and can't contribute really any productive reply, but looking at the post by darcshadow, he might be onto something, and to get any mac person here is a slight miracle).

[darcshadow 1,626]

To me, the odd thing here is that fact that the second iMac works correctly with both cutters. That would indicate the problem is not the cutter or any of the cutter settings but something on the iMac 1, or possibly the cables being used if they are not the same cables as used with iMac 2. It's also weird that it works at first then stops.

Jeremy, are the two iMacs identical in terms of hardware? If so, can you reformat the non working one and clone the working one onto it?

[UO-Jeremy 1]

Hello All, 

thanks for the replies.

To answer Skeeter's questions:

Is the image above being done with a pen? Or have you tried the pen? the image I attached is an example of what happens As the vinyl we're cutting doesn't cut I cannot weed it properly to show you the issue. .

Have you gotten down eye level with the cutter and watched it while it is cutting? Yes the cutting blade travels along the inner paths but doesn't go out to cut the outer paths at all. I slowed it way down and the cutting software just seems to ignore that there is a path there, even though it shows on screen. What does cut, cuts perfectly with the perfect amount of force. I've done test cuts that span the entire width of the vinyl. I was thinking at first something was bowing or not making contact, but what does cut cuts correctly. 

What material are you cutting?  We're cutting Oracal 631 Vinyl with the graphic CB09uB blades.  

Have you raised the force of the machine? yes I've played with the force to the point of it almost cutting through the backing materials. In all cases, inner paths cut, outer paths are ignored. 

To answer Haumana:

what length cable are you using from macs to cutters? are you using a hub?  no hub 6' cable that came with the cutter. I have been using the same 6' USB cable that came with the cutter, and I did use that same cable when testing with the 8600 as well. So, maybe it's a cable issue. I just got frustrated with that and didn't think that through, as it did cut perfectly for about a day and and half after we erased the machine and set it all back up. I'll swap the cable tomorrow and report back. 

reply to darcshadow: That would indicate the problem is not the cutter or any of the cutter settings but something on the iMac 1, or possibly the cables being used if they are not the same cables as used with iMac 2. It's also weird that it works at first then stops.

The 2 iMacs are both 21.5" late 2017 iMacs. they are both running the same software in terms of Mac OS, Adobe Illustrator, Creative Cloud and cutting master 5 software. So, yes possible cable issue, but my experience on this, makes me think it's not hardware, but I'll swap the cable and report back. It's odd, for about a day and a half the cutter worked perfectly, then again started ignoring the outer paths. 

 

I do appreciate the helpful thoughts and suggestions. I hope you all had a good thanksgiving weekend if you celebrate it. I'll report back 

Jeremy

 

 

[UO-Jeremy 1]

Quick update.

 

I'm starting to feel like I'm in a Paula Abdul song. 2 steps forward 2 steps back. 

Forward Steps:

I tested cabling and that wasn't the issue. I finally resorted to a full erasure and rebuild again (I know do something over and expect a different result, I know. LOLOL). but after 3 days of cutting so far it's still working correctly. 

2 Steps back: Now a new wrinkle that we found. Cutting master 5 isn't saving custom cutter conditions. It was saving them before. In the pulldown on conditions 1-8 I have created 3 new condition settings, Regular Vinyl, Printable Vinyl, T-shirt Vinyl. After creating them and saving them, it shows up. If I quit out of CM5 they go away and are back to Conditions 1-8. During the term when trying to get the cutting to work, those conditions were their all term. 

the conditions isn't the end of the world, as this is in a classroom and students learning how to use the software and set conditions properly is a good thing. But, frustrating as to how/why things just almost work, but don't fully. The software is really feeling 1/2 baked. 

 

Thanks all, if the cutting software goes wonky again, I'll update y'all. 

Jeremy

 

[darcshadow 1,626]

Sounds like the software doesn't have write permissions to where ever the settings are stored. In windows you have the option to run a program as an admin. Do you have that ability on a Mac? If you can do it once as an admin, the saved changes "should" stay there for normal users.

[UO-Jeremy 1]

@darcshadow

The Cutting Station 1 user is an admin on the machine. I'll check still that the user has w/r/e permissions for the preference files. The temporary fix, I created a small conditions cheat sheet for the wall. Condition 1= regular vinyl please use the following settings. Condition 2, Printable... etc. So, they have to go in and make changes on each cut, which isn't too bad of an idea, in that they get to know the software really well. but it's so damn frustrating. I have 2 iMacs setup the same way, same versions and 1 is working like a champ on the older FC8600 and one is causing issues. But the issue isn't the cutter, if I swap the cutters the issues stay on the iMacs. It kind of reminds me in the past we used to image the lab machines from a single drive image. Boot to recovery, set the image as the source, the internal as the destination. we'd do a lab of 30 machines. There were always 1 or 2 that would have a different wall paper or a different log in image. The ghost in the machine would make Isaac Asimov very proud. LOLOOOLOL

 

I'll update if I ever get a solution.

Jeremy