Cutting Errors

[janetb]

I did the graphics for a gravestone. They cut a plastic/vinyl template which gets pasted on the stone for sand blasting. The graphics seemed to import fine into his Flexi (it looked good on the screen), but the cutting machine cut some of the lines incorrectly--as though lines/objects had been moved out of place a bit (not a lot). Is there a way to preview exactly what the cutter will cut?

Thanks very much for any help!
Janet

 

[bob]

What's on your screen is Flexi is exactly what will be sent to the production manager which is exactly what will be sent to the plotter.At least that's the way it's supposed to work. If you seem to be cutting mysterious lines, have a look at the image in wire frame mode and, for extra credit, see if there's some object or another that's white as well as check for any strokes and/or outlines that shouldn't be there.

 

[janetb]

There are no "mysterious lines"....just some of the lines are moved over. Was fine on screen. My guess is that it may have to do with how the vinyl got fed into the cutter--perhaps it wasn't lying flat and consequently had some slight buckling which shifted the vinyl slightly. One letter however was moved and rotated out of place.

 

[bob]

When was the last time you removed the dust cover on your cutter's tool carriage and blew out all the dust and crap. Especially the tool up/down mechanism? The tiniest bit of crud can alter the up/down timing resulting in incomplete cuts and other weirdness.

 

[janetb]

As I said in my original post, I'm just a graphic artist---the guys who make the gravestones do the templates and 'engraving' (sand blasting)........This was the first time I've seen a cutter. But I am actually a goldsmith and have had ceremonial objects done on computer-generated milling machines and lathes, so I am a little familiar with CAD (I do my designs in a 3d program).