cutter is shifting cut lines

[Anastasi55]

We have a Graphtec 8600 using Onyx. The cut lines are OK, but when it starts cutting, it was only going through half the banner at a time (which looked like a feature of the program to avoid tearing), and then everything shifted. This resulted in wrinkles and tears. I've attached photos of the errors. What could be going on?

 

[Anastasi55]

I think our other designer has another hundred to do... Part of why our boss got this system was to save hand work, along with the lack of table space to do something so large... I may try it again with wider media and a 90 degree print...

 

[Solventinkjet]

Vinyl cutters are not meant to cut banner.

 

[Anastasi55]

Vinyl cutters are not meant to cut banner.

I should have specified - the items are banners, the media is 8 mil glossy photo paper.

 

[Solventinkjet]

I should have specified - the items are banners, the media is 8 mil glossy photo paper.

That makes sense. So basically you need to use the perf cut option. The cutter needs there to be some dimensional stability when it's cutting or else it will do what is happening in your photos. Perf cut leaves parts uncut so that the paper doesn't crumple up during cutting and then you just pop them out. You might have little chads around the edges though.

 

[Anastasi55]

I thought this was perf cutting? I'm still getting the definitions correct. The cutter is also shifting the cuts by a half inch on the leftmost banner...

 

[Solventinkjet]

I thought this was perf cutting? I'm still getting the definitions correct. The cutter is also shifting the cuts by a half inch on the leftmost banner...

Perf cut cuts all the way through for about 3/4" and then lifts the blade so that it doesn't cut for about a few millimeters and then lowers down again to cut through again and so on and so on. This leave little bits still attached to the paper so that the material doesn't crumple up during cutting. If you are just cutting through on standard mode, it will always cut off eventually because the paper becomes unstable. There should be something in the manual about setting up a perf cut properly.

 

[Anastasi55]

...Could there be an issue with the push roller pressure?

 

[Anastasi55]

Reading the manual now... Trying to stay awake... I did slow down the cutting speed - maybe slower yet?

 

[bigben]

you will ALWAYS have problem using the halfcut other than with vinyl or something with a liner. Cut your poster by hand or buy a xy fotoba cutter for this application.

 

[Anastasi55]

Maybe use the Rear Set loading first?

 

[iPrintStuff]

Is this the first time you’ve tried this? A roll to roll cutter will not handle something like this well at all! Even with perf cut you’ll tear through your cutting strip

 

[Anastasi55]

Yes, we're trying this for the first time... I even set my Condition to the slowest possible speed and it still shifted and jammed.

Like I said, I wonder if we should use wider media, and rotate the job 90 degrees.... I just need to get the original files from the other designer in the morning and fine-tune it for that purpose...

 

[Anastasi55]

So far, smaller items are OK, as long as I leave a bit of space in between nothing gets tangled or jammed. Unfortunately, we're working with Adobe and Onyx. Again, we'll try a 90 degree rotation and see what happens.

 

[Gino]

So, you're making paper banners, so to speak............

Very seldom do we cut a paper product on any of our machines, unless there is a backer, to prevent this problem you are describing. All paper banners, signs or whatever...... regardless of size or how many are cut by hand or some sorta paper cutter meant for this purpose. Your boss may have wanted to save money/time by using this method, but he didn't do his homework properly. Wanting to do something and only having partial information does not mean it's gonna work without a lotta time, headaches and lost money.

If you have a hundred or two of these and you don't have the proper equipment, you'll need to get a cutter of whatever size required and start cutting. A hundred or two, shouldn't take more than maybe 2 or 3 hours. How many hours have you wasted trying to figure out something which is not meant to be done, already ?? It looks like you have over 24 hours in it already and you're not any further, than yesterday morning. Just start printing and get somebody cutting. Besides, it'll build muscles, so you're doing two things at once. Making money while exercising.

 

[Anastasi55]

Gino,

You're preaching to the choir here...

 

[Gino]

I might be preaching to the choir, but the choir doesn't seem to be singing today. You need to illustrate to your boss what's going on, by showing him his loss in time, wrong equipment and explain to him what is happening and it's not really gonna get any better without getting either proper equipment or giving in to his mistake(s) and rectifying it from one point or another.. You'll need to show him on paper, not explain it. It sounds like your boss is the kinda person who reads things and then makes decisions haphazardly. He does not listen to verbal instructions or explanations very well, or he wouldn't be trying to make things work in situations where they simply cannot.

I'll bet ya a donut, when he bought this, the salesperson never said it would cut paper like you want it to. He only heard what he wanted to hear and put the rest of the story together himself.

 

[Anastasi55]

I think he saw some time-saving for our other designer - as well as the usual usage of cutting promotional materials such as stickers and decals. Our tech support trainer, however, did say the cutter could do large items such as car wraps - but of course, that's an adhesive backed media with kiss cuts...

 

[Gino]

Your machine..................

Nowhere does it say anything about paper. We do synthetic paper, but that has a backer on it. The other stuff, as mentioned is cut on a proper paper cutter.

Paper is not considered "other specialty material".




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[Anastasi55]

The problem isn't the media, It's these long banners that are getting tangled under the rollers... I tested the blade on the same paper and it worked, although it was cutting out small hangtags. If these blades aren't made for wood pulp products (ask me about my silk shears after they've cut wrapping paper), I won't do this anymore...