Help needed - Cutter can't read marks correctly

[Guest StickerDecal]

Hi,

Need help to figure this out. VM's support doesn't seem capable. 

I am having issue with VM to cut my designs. My initial experience is great. I set up the cutter and successfully printed (using saved pdf and my other RIP software) and cut the calibration test (for the ARMS practice cut). And I also successfully printed and cut a couple of decal designs without any issue. At this point I was thrilled and thought I have this thing figured out.

However from this point on, things stopped working and nothing is working now. I followed the same work flow on my 3rd design. When it was cutting, the cutter read the right side of the marks correctly. Then it went across to the left side and read the first mark. Up to this point, everything seemed fine. However the cutter didn't go down the line to read, instead it went further to the left trying to read beyond the vinyl. I attached a picture showing the cutter position. I tried a few more times and all the same. Then I created 4th and 5th designs and the exact same issue happened no matter how I try.

Then I tried the practice cut again it still worked. I tried cutting my earlier good design from the spooler history it also still worked. However I couldn't cut new designs and really need some help to figure this out.

All my designs have similar size, which is 20"wide x 40"long and I am cutting on 24" wide vinyl.

I am using the cutter that came with HP 315 print and cut solution and set the cutter as Summa D140. (can't find HP Latex 54 cutter from the cutter list and my research tells me Summa D140 is what it is) The other software I use for print and cut is flexi and it's been working perfectly.

Thanks for you attention and any help is highly appreciated!

[Wildgoose 4,200]

I'm going to take a guess and say that the cutter probably won't read outside the pinch roller or you have another roller farther over that isn't on any vinyl and the cutter thinks the vinyl is wider than it is. Most cutters us a magnet in the pinch roller assembly to tell the cutter where the edge of the work is. This picture looks like a Summa which if true is what I use and a great machine. You will need to move the work over so that it fits within the rollers with some room to spare. I don't print so I have but rarely used the optics on mine but I know there has to be a little clear space between the outside roller and the head. In other words like maybe a half in or more inside the rollers. Mine is a 30" unit and I only run 2 pinch rollers, if your has a third in the middle then it is looking for the other roller perhaps. 

<I just re-read the original post and see that you do in fact have a Summa> That machine will give you many years of incredible service. The 140 width will def have at least 3 pinch rollers and you will need to make sure your work is within the outermost set. 

[Guest StickerDecal]

Thank you so much @Wildgoose for your insight.

Yes I do have all 4 rollers sitting within the substrate. The roller shown in the picture is the leftmost one. 

I have cut thousands using Flexi and never had such issue. With VM, some designs are cutting fine, like one thirds of my designs came out ok. 

The VM support saw my VM cut files (.pdf and .plt) and couldn't find anything wrong. They asked for Flexi cut files hoping to compare the difference. However they require the .pdf with marks printed, which Flexi doesn't generate. So now i don't know what to do. 

 

[Wildgoose 4,200]

No idea here. You're out of my area of experience. That left roller is still inside the printed marks from what it looks like.