cutting out reflective printed decals

[JgS]

I recently got an HP Latex print and cut package. today I printed decals on reflective material. When I took the print over the cutter it was not able to locate the barcode. Anyone know a trick to getting the cutter to read the barcode on the reflective material?

 

[papabud]

what cutting software did you get

 

[StarSign]

We have found cutting reflective is tricky.

 

[JgS]

flexi

 

[papabud]

i never use the barcodes. just check the first 3 digits of the number pull it up in postershop cut and hit go.
also i would make sure your reg marks for cutting are set to dark. it will find them easier

 

[JgS]

i never use the barcodes. just check the first 3 digits of the number pull it up in postershop cut and hit go.
also i would make sure your reg marks for cutting are set to dark. it will find them easier

So cool. That worked. Thanks.

 

[bannertime]

When cutting reflective we typically have the white squares that we put around the graphtech marks, but since you're reading barcodes, that wouldn't work. So maybe try blocking out some of the overhead light while it's scanning. Ex. During a certain part of the day where the sun breaks through the window just right and touches right where my marks typically are when the material is in the machine. The process fails every time it tries to read that mark. So we patched the hole, and no more failures.

 

[JgS]

When cutting reflective we typically have the white squares that we put around the graphtech marks, but since you're reading barcodes, that wouldn't work. So maybe try blocking out some of the overhead light while it's scanning. Ex. During a certain part of the day where the sun breaks through the window just right and touches right where my marks typically are when the material is in the machine. The process fails every time it tries to read that mark. So we patched the hole, and no more failures.

The barcodes never worked I had to use the squares but the cuts don't line up. I may have to try this white square thing.

 

[Dan360]

I've covered the marks with small pieces of matte laminate before which helped, but it wasn't reflective material, it was clear.

 

[papabud]

using a little piece of lam helps, scotch tape helps. i have a print file thats just crop marks for the cutter. i can sit and replace them all if it gets really bad.
but i been lucky and my latex printer with the marks darkness turned up usually hasnt been having a big problem reading the marks

 

[SellersSign&Design]

I print primarily on reflective with a L25500, and I have used Mutoh, Graphtec and Summa cutters. It was always a nightmare trying to even read registration marks and then you could forget trying get accurate cuts. Then I got my Summa... and now life is great haha. But seriously, the Summa reads the marks every time on reflective with no matte tape or white squares or any of that mess. And the cuts are the most accurate I've ever seen. If you do a lot of reflective work, I would highly recommend getting your hands on a Summa if you can find one!

 

[Bob3]

I recently got an HP Latex print and cut package. today I printed decals on reflective material. When I took the print over the cutter it was not able to locate the barcode. Anyone know a trick to getting the cutter to read the barcode on the reflective material?

I am having the same problem on a new HP Print & Cut system....did you find a solution?

 

[AKwrapguy]

Do you have the option of using a manual registration? I know that with Flexi you can choose to use cross hairs or 'bomb site' and manually set up the registration marks. We do this all the time have don't have any issues.

 

[Bob3]

Do you have the option of using a manual registration? I know that with Flexi you can choose to use cross hairs or 'bomb site' and manually set up the registration marks. We do this all the time have don't have any issues.

No, the HP Print & Cut System prints a barcode to read and pull the correct graphics file from Flexi and position/align the substrate. There is no option for manual registration that I can find. BTW, the plotter is actually a Summa which HP has rebranded as an HP.

 

[SellersSign&Design]

No, the HP Print & Cut System prints a barcode to read and pull the correct graphics file from Flexi and position/align the substrate. There is no option for manual registration that I can find. BTW, the plotter is actually a Summa which HP has rebranded as an HP.

Hmm ok well if it’s a Summa you shouldn’t be having that problem. There is an option to get rid of the barcode, you can either run it with the corner square marks only or marks and barcode. For a production shop the barcode is nice, but I don’t use them. It’s in production manager under the contour cutter tab. If it still won’t read the marks after you get rid of the barcode, I would call Summa. They are very helpful, maybe Phil will see this and chime in.

 

[MikePro]

i only have this problem with reflectives. pretty sure the issue is the refraction of the laser light hitting the glass beads of the reflective material, causing a glare that the plotter cannot read/scan.

I like the idea of the scotch-tape/matte laminate over the cutter marks, gonna try it myself.
Currently, I just apply white vinyl or regular masking tape and trace-over the cutter marks with a blackpen/finepointsharpie.

edited to add: couple of times even my "fix" didn't scan, and I just framed the scan perimeter with 1" masking tape and then it worked like a charm.

 

[Snydo]

Scotch tape works like a champ, the more opacity it has the bettter. We used to run Graphtecs and I dont miss taping crops for hours at a time one tiny bit.