I have recently purchased graphtec fc4100-75 cutter, i couldnt get it to work with my mac so i bought a cheap pc with win xp, i bought 25 pin to 9 pin serial cable and 9 pin to usb cable with its own install disk. I hooked it all up, plugged it into one on my 6 usb ports, installed flexi 8.1. i made sure the ports match in device manager and production manager and all i get is write port error or cant open port. i have been searching around for anything and have played around with settings and still same thing happens, at some stage when i checked flow control it would say cutting...30%...then done but cutter did nothing. I did test cut on cutter, and it goes. i've seen the cutter work before i bought it. it was connected the same way, but used with old version of flexi. can anyone help, anyone had same problem. or can anyone tell me what settings and ports i should be using, i've been trying to get it to run for last 16hours straight, and just cant wrap my mind around it. any help plz....
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Can Anyone help, Graphtec wont cut
- Thread starter MPM
- Start date
Hi thanx for the advice, mate...i went out and bought the null serial cable, well i think..because the pins on the 9pin female plug are same as my old serial cable, 54321 and next row is 9876, so im guessing its either not the null cable or i have had the null cable to start off with. the cutter is still doing the same thing...nothing... i was thinking of trying 25pin male to 25pin female cable, i have got about 5 cables so far and none of them work, im starting to get worried its the cutter. dow you know what settings i should have set it to...like the flow control etc?
Bill Modzel
New Member
I've been running Graphtecs for years on my Macs using thier own Cutting Master Illy plug in. Works great. What was your problem. What Mac, what OS?
hi thanx guys, i got I mac with os 10.4.11 installed, i havent got any software or cables with the cutter thats probably whats why it was cheap. I've seen it work on laptop with xp setup and same 25pin to 9pin to usb cable, the guys said just install the flexi buy the serial cable and the serial usb cable hook it up and it will run, the cables look exactly same as his but i didnt have a chance to have a look at the pin sequence. When you say proprietary cable what do you mean? I have bought the 25pin to 25pin cable and still nothing is happening however today i have managed to get error 15 on the graphtec with the new cable so ill try to look it up. Are you able to buy the cable from the makers of the graphtec machines?
Thanx for the replies guys, i have had a tech look at it and it wasn't d cutter seems my software wasn't legit and he said something about dongle. Guess serves me right for tryin to pick up a bargain at d markets. Anyways I will update you guys on how things are goin once i figure out this software issue, any suggestions on cheap software? Cab you get any add-ons for cs2 so that you're able to cut with illustrator?
Bill Modzel
New Member
Like I said, Graphtec comes with an Illustrator and Corel plug in driver. It should drive
the plotter via USB. No special cables or dongles. YOu should be ready to go with what you already have.
the plotter via USB. No special cables or dongles. YOu should be ready to go with what you already have.
os101king
New Member
Wait, someone mentioned a PROPRIETARY serial cable from Graphtec, but nobody confirmed it. Is that the case? I had my USB port crack off the board (but not crack the board thank God) and I was trying to get it to work via serial cable for the time being... am I barking up the wrong tree here?
BUMP.....UPDATE
Well lets see, after speaking to the tech saying something about non-legit software etc, I have contacted Mr Masahiro in Japan through graphtec corp in usa...took me 4 weeks to find the right person....Anyways long story short, yes the vinyl cutters require a certain pin order in the serial cable. Or proprietary cable I think the last reply said. They're are specific cables the cutters use. After spending about $150-200 on other cables, I chased up a technician from a sign company and yea anyways he sold me a serial cable, one of those diy u can put together urself and woala..or TA DAAAA. My SuperDooper Graphtec 4100-75 is cutting the hell out of the vinyl I purchased...too bad I wasted about 3 meters of it figuring the machine out but hey comes down to inexperience. So for anyone having the same problem, you need a special serial pin sequence cable, just normal off the shelf cable wont do. I am running XP duno which one, with 25pin-9pin->9pin usb on com4. I i tried the Lpt port, normal 25-25, 25-9, Lpt to usb, Lpt to 9 and 25 plug. And yea in the end it was just a $55 custom cable and a lot of headaches and running around. I thought i'd let u know in case someone else has the same problem. I purchased a copy of signblazer software and the machine is running sweet. Cheers guys for all that tried to help. (by d way someone said something bout the software etc comin with the plotter...I bought the plotter on its own as second had with no software or cables, it was $500AUS, seemed like a good deal..dunno) Cheers
Well lets see, after speaking to the tech saying something about non-legit software etc, I have contacted Mr Masahiro in Japan through graphtec corp in usa...took me 4 weeks to find the right person....Anyways long story short, yes the vinyl cutters require a certain pin order in the serial cable. Or proprietary cable I think the last reply said. They're are specific cables the cutters use. After spending about $150-200 on other cables, I chased up a technician from a sign company and yea anyways he sold me a serial cable, one of those diy u can put together urself and woala..or TA DAAAA. My SuperDooper Graphtec 4100-75 is cutting the hell out of the vinyl I purchased...too bad I wasted about 3 meters of it figuring the machine out but hey comes down to inexperience. So for anyone having the same problem, you need a special serial pin sequence cable, just normal off the shelf cable wont do. I am running XP duno which one, with 25pin-9pin->9pin usb on com4. I i tried the Lpt port, normal 25-25, 25-9, Lpt to usb, Lpt to 9 and 25 plug. And yea in the end it was just a $55 custom cable and a lot of headaches and running around. I thought i'd let u know in case someone else has the same problem. I purchased a copy of signblazer software and the machine is running sweet. Cheers guys for all that tried to help. (by d way someone said something bout the software etc comin with the plotter...I bought the plotter on its own as second had with no software or cables, it was $500AUS, seemed like a good deal..dunno) Cheers
Oh and another thing, if anyone needs the pin order I do not have a slightest clue, the guys had few of them already made up at his house, I suppose I could try the continuity test on the pins with my volt meter, but only if someone is completely desperate and cant find a cable and then u could make it yourself. Cheers!!!
....again...dude with your snapped usb port on your board, i think i have seen USB PCI cards you can put in your PC that enable you to have the usb port, and also lot of the serial to usb cables work as HIDs rather than actual usb port, so im not sure if the PCI card does that, you'd have to ask at the shop. If it connects as a HID it wont work, it has to come up as a PORT connection. Thats what the tech said so Im just sort of quoting what he said.