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Cutting to Multiple Cutters from Multiple Computers

M

Mr. Sign Pro

New Member
So I have a Summa S160T and a S75T. I would like to be able to cut from two different computers and able to choose which cutter I send information to. Can this be done? In the past we have been jumping the USB cable from computer to computer based on which computer we need to cut from. I have looked into the USB to ethernet adapters but Summa is telling me they probably won't work because these machines don't have networking capabilities built in therefore no IP address. Any ideas anyone?
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Believe me...... it can be done. How ?? I don't know, but IT CAN BE DONE. Someone here will tell ya how. Be patient. :wink:
 
L

lgroth

New Member
With all the different variations of USB splitters and hubs you would think there is a configuration that would fit the need...
 
LEGEND

LEGEND

New Member
Not familiar with your plotter or what software you're using, but we use SAI's Flexi/Production Manager. The Production Manager is installed on the "main" computer, which is connected via USB to both Graphtec plotters and Mutoh printers. All computers are connected to the in-house network and they're setup to "talk" to eachother. When I launch Flexi on another computer and attempt to send something to the plotter (or printer), it'll prompt me to choose a way to connect to the Production Manager (and pick the printer/plotter I want). We connect via the in-house Network and if you have everything setup correctly, it'll work like magic.
 
eahicks

eahicks

Magna Cum Laude - School of Hard Knocks
Since most plotters are connected to the PC via USB or Serial cable, you can't send information from another computer on the network UNLESS you are sending to the Production Manager as stated above. Maybe soon in the future there will be a WiFi or networked plotter, like a desktop printer. That could be a nightmare though, if everyone sends jobs at once.
 
B

BIG EASY DOES IT

New Member
signspot said:
So I have a Summa S160T and a S75T. I would like to be able to cut from two different computers and able to choose which cutter I send information to. Can this be done? In the past we have been jumping the USB cable from computer to computer based on which computer we need to cut from. I have looked into the USB to ethernet adapters but Summa is telling me they probably won't work because these machines don't have networking capabilities built in therefore no IP address. Any ideas anyone?
Click to expand...

Go from both plotters to a usb hub and then to the computer. If you want multiple computers use a splitter from the hub to the different computers. Deciding which plotter from which computer will depend on what rip you are using and if it can be setup to use both plotters. In flexi you can setup multiple plotters and printers and when you send to printer you can decide at the top which plotter or printer to use.
 
PHILJOHNSON

PHILJOHNSON

Sales Manager
Hi Signspot,

The issue with the USB to network adapters is that they typically cannot assign a static IP address so there would be no way to tell the Winplot or CoCut software which of the two devices you would like to send the job to. If you could connect one of the two plotters as a USB device then you could setup the other unit as a network device and send files to the two cutters that way. That, or you could always use a USB hub with a switch like someone had mentioned previously.

Please feel free to contact our support team at (800)323-9766 if you would like to pick their brains to find a solution. They may know of a process I am unaware of to get this to work the way you are shooting for.

Best regards,

Phil Johnson
Summa Inc.
 
Christian @ 2CT Media

Christian @ 2CT Media

Active Member
PHILJOHNSON said:
Hi Signspot,

The issue with the USB to network adapters is that they typically cannot assign a static IP address so there would be no way to tell the Winplot or CoCut software which of the two devices you would like to send the job to. If you could connect one of the two plotters as a USB device then you could setup the other unit as a network device and send files to the two cutters that way. That, or you could always use a USB hub with a switch like someone had mentioned previously.

Please feel free to contact our support team at (800)323-9766 if you would like to pick their brains to find a solution. They may know of a process I am unaware of to get this to work the way you are shooting for.

Best regards,

Phil Johnson
Summa Inc.
Click to expand...

That was the issue we had with our jaguars till we found the trendnet print server which does allow for setting a static IP. It worked great with 3 of them on a network.... But I will default to you guys at Summa as you would know better than me how your machines work.
 
C

cashcow

New Member
can you assign each cutter to a computer and share it via each computer.
have the computers hooked up to the network and print to local device on the other machine.
 
J

jrsc

New Member
signspot said:
That's a thought. It would be nice if I could find a more simplified method.

I'm running Winplot, I also have CoCut but don't have it loaded on my PC at the moment.
Click to expand...


CoCut has an option very similar to the Flexi Production manager that Legend mentioned. Because the computers we send from are no where near the cutter we use an old computer we had laying around to connect to the cutter and use almost like a print server. We can send jobs from any computer then we can release the jobs to the cutter from the computer that's acting as the server when we get everything loaded. Works great.
 
J

jerry369

New Member
signspot said:
So I have a Summa S160T and a S75T. I would like to be able to cut from two different computers and able to choose which cutter I send information to. Can this be done? In the past we have been jumping the USB cable from computer to computer based on which computer we need to cut from. I have looked into the USB to ethernet adapters but Summa is telling me they probably won't work because these machines don't have networking capabilities built in therefore no IP address. Any ideas anyone?
Click to expand...

We used the KeySpan USB Server to connect to the plotter through the company network. The common USB Printer Servers don't work because the Summa USB class is not a printer class but a generic one. You need a generic USB server like the keyspan (unfortunately keyspan dismissed this product).

You can connect two or more plotter (max 4) changing the USB Class of the plotter. Using the keyspan USB Server your software will communicate normally as the plotter were connected to an USB port of the computer.

I hope this will help you
 
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