am i wrong?

[sharon b]

i'm so frustrated i can't hardly type -is mimaki equipment a P.O.S. or is it my rep? sometimes it prints & cuts in perfect registration, many times not. finally get the rep out here & i want to strangle him!
according to him...
1. if you print & cut a job & it makes trash, simply delete the job & resend.
repeat until you get desired results. wasted time & money is not his problem.
2. if the machine won't error while he's standing here doing 1 test run, there's nothing wrong with the machine. doesn't matter how many feet of rejects i have to show.
3. print/cut registration problems ONLY occur when you put a new roll in, NEVER anywhere else. irrelevant that i had 3 ft left on the roll when it last occured.
4. he "Fixed" the problem by resetting all settings to the defaults.
5. i asked why it wasn't printing bi-directional, he swore it was. i'm no rocket scientist but i can tell the difference. checked the menu after he left - it was set on 1 way printing. he sells & installs these things for a living & he can't tell the diff????
6. since he never heard of the error "Y motor overcurrent" there is nothing wrong & nothing to fix (read as: you're wasting my time making me come out for a service call.) again, wasted time & vinyl is my problem, not his.
is this what mimaki considers "service"???
am i wrong to be pissed?

 

[Neil]

Hi Sharon,
I guess your talking about the CJV. I've had the same problems - sometimes it lines up perfectly and other times it's all over the place.

Trouble is I use Signlab so was thinking it may have been that, and was going to switch to Rasterlink/Fine Cut for print/cut to see if it works better. Sounds like it may not be the software after all?

Are you wrong? don't know. Am I wrong? quite possibly. I do most contour cutting on our Graphtec now (with 100% success and accuracy) so don't get to "test" the CJV contour cutting much anymore.

I'm sure there's probably an answer. I'll let you know if I find it.

 

[Neil]

Well I've just used Rasterlink to print & cut a batch of laminated decals and found it was pretty accurate at contour cutting with the CJV.

The worst group was out by about 1mm and I changed the pressure on the fly with that one so I think that threw it out. (I've seen that happen each time I try to change pressure mid way through a contour cut job).

So, happily, it all worked reasonably well.

You mention Y Overcurrent error. I'm led to believe that requires you to clean and oil up the slider rail that the head travels along. I've never had to do it but I think it's fairly common.

What's actually going wrong when you print & cut?

 

[sharon b]

registration can be off by as much as 1/4" in 1-2 directions, IF it cuts. over 'n over i get 'Y overcurrent' error when its changing the pressure switches between printing & cutting. honestly, how many times do you send the same job before it prints & cuts correctly? i'm sending 3-4 times. how many times do you send a job from corel before it gets to rasterlink? 2-3? if you delete old jobs from rasterlink, can you continue sending jobs from corel? i have to close rasterlink & corel, then restart both if i delete anything. and i'm not talking about huge jobs - fri was a total waste becase of 3 jobs: print/cut a green letter I 1"x1/2", print/cut 2 yellow squiggles totaling 2"x4", print/cut letters 'nd' 3"x4". i got 1 error after another. called my rep, left a message with the desk, the receptionist called back & said 'pull the plug & wait 5 minutes'. they don't even have the courtesy to call you back in person!!!! meanwhile, i have work to get out! i thought this thing was supposed to save time & money but if i fight with it all day to run 8" of vinyl where's the savings?

 

[Neil]

Do you have the pdf operation manual?
For Y Overcurrent error it say to turn it off and wait a while...not much help I know!
I'd try cleaning and re-oiling the bar.

I sent 5 separate print/lam/cut jobs around 4' x 2' and they all went okay. These went from Signlab to Corel, created contour line and reg marks, then output to Rasterlink. They all went through okay, eventually.

So I'm not sure where it's going wrong for you.
Make sure you have the latest firmware (v2.1) there's lots of print and cut calibrations to do which you'll probably have to re-do now since the tech re-set everything to default.

 

[Fine Line Darrel]

Hi Sharon,

Sorry to here about the problem. How old is your computer? and your version of Corel? I use Corel and rasterlink, never send a file more than once and I can delete in rasterlink and continue printing? And the cutting on the Mimaki works great??

Fine Line Darrel

 

[gabagoo]

Although I print with a Mimaki, I cut with a Summa and the sucker is pretty dead on. Sometimes I dont even need a bleed!!!

I cringe when I read your story as I know that frustration. I would contact your dealer and tell them the rep does not know the equipment and can they send someone else.