Cutting Master Y copies before X copies

[dypinc]

I must be missing a setting somewhere. I want the FC8000 to cut the X copies first so as not to unroll the whole roll first and then go back to the beginning and start on the next Y column.

How do you achieve this in Cutting Master?

 

[dypinc]

I have searched and searched and have not found a solution to this problem.

This is in regards to multiple copies with registration marks.

I can get this to cut just fine but I can not get it to cut the X axis copies first. It always cuts the Y axis copies first which is totally impractical as it will unroll the whole roll and then go back to the second column on the roll.

Maybe I am just missing a setting but I can not find any information anywhere to make the cutter go to the next X Axis copy it always goes to the Y axis copy.

If I do multiple copies without registration marks it always cuts the X axis copies first. Why can I not get to do the same thing when there are registration marks.

 

[J Hill Designs]

reading the CM2 user manual, there is a optimize cutting order feature in the advanced plot dialogue...

Optimize
cutting order
Select the order in which objects in the design will be
cut:
None The objects are cut or plot in the order
they were created.
Speed
Priority
The objects will be cut in an order that
maximizes cutting speed.
Restrict
Media
Movement
The objects will be cut in an order than
minimizes the amount that the media has
to move.

 

[dypinc]

I have read the same thing, but that setting seams to make no difference in going from one set to the next. That setting seams to only affect what is in the set of registration marks.

 

[dypinc]

This is the reply I got back from Graphtec. Not good.

That sure is an oversight in the design of Cutting Master, and really bad for cutting accuracy with some materials printed with printers that require heat for ink curing.

"Unfortunately, when using registration marks, the Cutting Master was designed to cut the Y copies first.
There's no control over the cutting priority when using registration marks.
My recommendation/solution/suggestion is to create the X copies as 1 file and then increase only the number of Y copies.

Should you have any question, please reply to this email.

Thank you,

Technical Support
GRAPHTEC AMERICA
www.graphtecamerica.com"

 

[bob]

I think you have the X and Y axes confused. To the plotter the Y axis is the direction of carriage travel and the X axis is the direction of media feed. The X and Y axes of whatever it is you're cutting might not map into the plotter's if you have rotated the cut at some point in the process.

I'm not sure what you're doing but if you send the job to the plotter such that the X and Y axes of the job match the X and Y axes of the plotter it should work the way you'd expect.

Not sure about Cutting Master but Flexi will, generally, cut the first column along Y then advance the media and cut the next. And so on until the media is fully advanced. This obviously minimizes media motion which is the optimum way to cut.

 

[MikeD]

sorting cut data

some software will have a check box for "sorting Data" (referred to above.)
If you don't see it in your driver, you can sometimes control the cut order by drawing your cuts in the order that you want them executed

 

[dypinc]

I think you have the X and Y axes confused. To the plotter the Y axis is the direction of carriage travel and the X axis is the direction of media feed. The X and Y axes of whatever it is you're cutting might not map into the plotter's if you have rotated the cut at some point in the process.

I'm not sure what you're doing but if you send the job to the plotter such that the X and Y axes of the job match the X and Y axes of the plotter it should work the way you'd expect.

Not sure about Cutting Master but Flexi will, generally, cut the first column along Y then advance the media and cut the next. And so on until the media is fully advanced. This obviously minimizes media motion which is the optimum way to cut.

Not according to Cutting Master. The X copies run the direction of the cutting head travel. The Y copies run the direction of the media travel. The whole point is I do not want the media advancing along the Y column first. I want the copies along the X row cut first and then advance the media along the Y column to the next X row etc. I can't believe anyone would the whole Y column (could 20' or more) advanced and then retreated to the start to do the next Y column.

Like I mentioned before, if no registration marks are used then the cutter does the X row first and then advances the media to the next X row etc. I will have to see if there is a way I can make Flexi do this with registration marks created in Illustrator with Cutting Master as I can't use Flexi to print with.

Again here is Graphtec's tech response.
"I did double check and confirmed with my programmer liaison on the cutting priority in Cutting Master with regards to the multiple registration marks.
I certainly understand the issue in media movement and I apologize for any inconvenience.
I will definitely bring this issue up for improvement of our Cutting Master."

 

[bob]

Not according to Cutting Master. The X copies run the direction of the cutting head travel. The Y copies run the direction of the media travel. The whole point is I do not want the media advancing along the Y column first. I want the copies along the X row cut first and then advance the media along the Y column to the next X row etc. I can't believe anyone would the whole Y column (could 20' or more) advanced and then retreated to the start to do the next Y column...

It sounds as if whoever did that bit of software has it wrong. The plotter's axes are as I have described them.

Think about it. Given an origin, 0,0, at the bottom right of the media then by universal convention the positive Y axis goes up from the origin and the positive X axis goes right from the origin.

The only way for this to work is if the Y axis is the carriage and the X axis is the media. To have the X axis as the carriage and the Y axis the media it would require negative values to advance along X.

Not that the X values couldn't be inverted but I doubt that any sane person would set it up so since advancing negatively along X would produce a mirror image. Unless there was an additional transformation to un-mirror the X axis.

Another way would be to make the origin at the front left corner of the media. Again, why would anyone do that?

 

[dypinc]

Forget Flexi, I forgot how big a joke that is. Cutting Master even with this flaw has far more control than flexi.

I will just have to use Horizontal segmented registration marks, but that still means I am back to having to gang up images in Illustrator based on what size media I will be using. At least for high quantities, as Cutting Master works fine if I don't need to unroll too much media for smaller quantities.

 

[dypinc]

So now as I understand it reading segmented marks only works in the media feed direction?

Anyone get it to work in the cutting head direction?

 

[dypinc]

Well a new version of Cutting Master has been that works with Illustrator CS6, but this issue with X and Y axis seems to not have been corrected.