cutter still not closing cuts 100%

[gabagoo]

I have a new teflon strip and it is nice and smooth. This morning I put a new blade in and it is cutting better but I can still see that it is having trouble closing small shapes. I wonder if I inadvertantly I changed a setting on the display of the plotter.
This is what it is set for on regular 2ml and 3ml vinyl 19 weight

20 speed

6 working...whatever that means..I dont ever touch that one

and finally cb09u 0... again I have no idea and never touch it.

Can I adjust either of these lat 2 units to help the plotter complete the cut?

Oh and in Signlab I have a setting here that again I never have touched and it is set for 6 overcut

any ideas on how I can self remedy this beast?

 

[signage]

What happens when you try the test cut from the control panel?

 

[bob]

I have a new teflon strip and it is nice and smooth. This morning I put a new blade in and it is cutting better but I can still see that it is having trouble closing small shapes. I wonder if I inadvertantly I changed a setting on the display of the plotter.
This is what it is set for on regular 2ml and 3ml vinyl 19 weight

20 speed

6 working...whatever that means..I dont ever touch that one

and finally cb09u 0... again I have no idea and never touch it.

Can I adjust either of these lat 2 units to help the plotter complete the cut?

Oh and in Signlab I have a setting here that again I never have touched and it is set for 6 overcut

any ideas on how I can self remedy this beast?

The 6 is the quality setting, the lower the number the higher the quality. You might try dropping this to 2 or 3 and see what happens. That might do something for you.

That last one is your blade size and offset value. You have it set to a .9mm blade, that would be the blue holder. The other choices should be cb15[u ua ub k30] for the 1.5mm blade in the red holder and 'light pen' for the built in light pointer if you're so equipped. The offset is preset for each blade selection so the offset should always be 0 unless you have a real good reason for changing it. And you don't.

At risk of sounding like a broken record, the most likely cause of incomplete cuts is dust and crud in the blade up/down mechanism and, secondarily, lack of lubrication on the tiny ball bearings in the blade holder. Remove the dust cover and blow out the blade up/down actuator. Do not lubricate this mechanism in any way, just keep it clean. Lubricate the blade holder bearings with a minute, as in minute, amount of silicone grease on the tip of a toothpick.

The point to all of this is to allow the blade to move up and down and swivel as freely as humanly possible. It doesn't take much in the way of interference to screw things up.

 

[gabagoo]

The 6 is the quality setting, the lower the number the higher the quality. You might try dropping this to 2 or 3 and see what happens. That might do something for you.

That last one is your blade size and offset value. You have it set to a .9mm blade, that would be the blue holder. The other choices should be cb15[u ua ub k30] for the 1.5mm blade in the red holder and 'light pen' for the built in light pointer if you're so equipped. The offset is preset for each blade selection so the offset should always be 0 unless you have a real good reason for changing it. And you don't.

At risk of sounding like a broken record, the most likely cause of incomplete cuts is dust and crud in the blade up/down mechanism and, secondarily, lack of lubrication on the tiny ball bearings in the blade holder. Remove the dust cover and blow out the blade up/down actuator. Do not lubricate this mechanism in any way, just keep it clean. Lubricate the blade holder bearings with a minute, as in minute, amount of silicone grease on the tip of a toothpick.

The point to all of this is to allow the blade to move up and down and swivel as freely as humanly possible. It doesn't take much in the way of interference to screw things up.

bob I have the blue holder buthave never monkeyed around with the cutter since buying it 5 or 6 years ago. Outside of weight and speed thats it. I have lubricated the holder and I am almost positive at this point that it may be these 3rd party blades. The trouble seemed to start back when I finally changed my last origianl Graphtec blade about 2 months ago. I have no idea who makes these blades but after buying a new one today and basically seeing the same problem I am convinced.

I did order 2 oem blades from Advantage about 3 weeks ago thinking that this may be the culprit but for whatever reason the package has not shown up. I have them tracking it down ( I am in Canada... need I say more.
I hope it is this blade as it is packaged with a 35 degree indication on the box and I thought graphtecs had a 30 degree blade. I could be wrong but I hope I am not. This machine is a workhorse.
I might add that on larger letters I can see when it gets back to the origin to shut the shape, many times I can see what can only be described as a small gouge in the vinyl, as though it is overcutting possibly and digging into the backing paper.

 

[screener24242]

its' your belt that moves the blade left to right. it's loose. tighten it up on the end.

 

[Forum Studio]

If blade quality creates problems, get them from Clean Cut Blade.

 

[jiarby]

lube the blade holder & piston

 

[iSign]

its' your belt that moves the blade left to right. it's loose. tighten it up on the end.

hey, good post... for a first post in 2-1/2 years, I'm betting this guy knows what he's talking about to bother chiming in now

..not that the other points aren't just as valid, but if they have not resulted in a solution, I'd be optimistic about this belt idea... in fact I might check my CE 1000-60

 

[gabagoo]

hey, good post... for a first post in 2-1/2 years, I'm betting this guy knows what he's talking about to bother chiming in now

..not that the other points aren't just as valid, but if they have not resulted in a solution, I'd be optimistic about this belt idea... in fact I might check my CE 1000-60

for me I know it is not the belt. I am pretty sure this problem started the moment I switched to this new non oem blade. will find out if Advantage's package ever arrives. It is not so bad on 2 inches and larger but on anything smaller it really is hard to weed and does not look all that good.....gonna try and send files over to the gerber plotter in the meantime.

 

[iSign]

oh well... I was hoping the best for you... I've been noticing mine seems slightly degraded from years of perfection & actually tried moving the offset setting for the first time, so i will check my belt too...

 

[gabagoo]

Well my new graphtec oem blades finally showed up. I was so excited and loaded one on. Still not shutting small letters (1") .

I think I am now ready to check the belt but how does one go about such a thing?

 

[sinetist]

Did you change that quality setting from 6 to 2 like Bob suggested? I think that might do something.

 

[gabagoo]

Did you change that quality setting from 6 to 2 like Bob suggested? I think that might do something.

no but I will.....not sure if that will do much as I have never changed it ina ll these years with perfect cutting. I give a try...let you know
thanks

 

[signwizz]

i have a graphtec and also had the same prob i changed the strip and got new b45 degree blaades from clean cut and it runs great and depending on what program u use u can change the offset there also check to make sure there is no play with the holder(that the screw is tight that holds it)
shane
im from guelph if you have any other probs send me a pm and ill give u my number

 

[gabagoo]

its driving me crazy because naturally I am leaving for holidays tomorrow and I have all this small copy to cut. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On close inspection I can see a small curl at the end of the cut on just about every letter which when weeded creates a gouge. This strange curl only appears where the cutter closes a shape. It is worse on the insides of letters possibly because I weed right to left and it pulls and makes a gouge in the copy.

New oem blade, new strip. I have butterflies in my stomach as I type this with the knowledge I have to go back into the other room and attempt to weed 1/2" thin letters. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[cfbeagle]

I would try cutting out of another program. It might not be your cutter at all. Download the free trial for Co-Cut... or download your cutter driver for Corel Draw. See if it will cut decently then. Maybe that will give you an idea if it is a hardware problem or a software problem.

 

[sinetist]

I had exactly the same thing happening (the unfinished cuts with a tiny hook at the end) when I first got my Graphtec. I fixed it by changing the settings on the display panel.

They now read (left to right) - COND.No - 1, TOOL - 09U, FORCE - 13, SPEED - 25, QUALITY - 2

I forget what they were before but the problem vanished after setting it to the above for regular vinyl.

 

[Jim Doggett]

Hmm. Sounds like some blade-up/down issue may be the problem. The curly element might be part of the enhanced over-cut routine (tangential emulation). Maybe a firmware download (and replace) might fix it. Or try turning off tangential emulation (or on, if it's off).

Other than that, I'm stumped.

Good luck,

Jim

 

[gabagoo]

Hmm. Sounds like some blade-up/down issue may be the problem. The curly element might be part of the enhanced over-cut routine (tangential emulation). Maybe a firmware download (and replace) might fix it. Or try turning off tangential emulation (or on, if it's off).

Other than that, I'm stumped.

Good luck,

Jim

Jim,oh Jim, How do I turn the tangenital off? or on? I tried reading the manual on disk that came with this beast and I was so confused I gave up. What I cant understand is that I have run this machine for years with no trouble ever, outside of repalcing cutting strips.
I just finished weeding these 1.5" letters that were so thin I actually ripped the 5's right in half because of the little curl, and 2 c's as well.

Funny enough, last night I cut 12" large bold letters and it weeded like a charm. Must be everything small is leaving little tags that cause the letter to lift or rip.
I need a holiday after the last week. I think I am running on fumes at this point with at least another 2 hours to get semi caught up enough to go away.


oh the horror!!

 

[thmooch]

this may not be a fix, but have you tried slowing the machine down to see what happens...just throwing that out there.