envision plotter just won't cut properly anymore :(

[gabagoo]

I still need my edge to print white on clear and that is about all I use it for. I don't change blades in this machine too often and my old blade needs so much pressure it was scoring right through one cut on every decal, making it very hard to deal with. I finally found a third part blade and installed it yesterday. Ran a pile of tests and can't believe how much pressure I had to use to do a decent cut. 40 grams on a new blade? I realized that the cutting strip was pretty worn and figured this is what all the fuss was about...removed it cleaned out the channel it sits in and applied double sided tape and used the back side of the strip. I have to think that would work. Tested some more and still seemed to need a lot more force than I would think based on using a new blade. Ran 3 runs about 3 yards each of 2" x 2" square decals. Weeding this morning, the first one weeds flawlessy, then the second weeds about half as good with many decals lifting and not cut right through. The third piece was total trash.

I am now sitting here and I have no idea how or why it is acting up. I can't seem to figure out what else to try. Maybe you can't flip over that cutting strip, but I can't see why, outside of that I am ready to just let customers know that I can no longer print white on clear.... what else can I do?

 

[Gino]

Call a tech in to look at it.

 

[gabagoo]

I need to figure out how to use my graphtec or summa to cut the decals off that machine and I'm golden!!

 

[Jeff grossman]

What’s the cutting strip look - like might need replacing . If using omega there are some test plot designs you could try- you could also call plotter dr for advice or ship it out to California for rehab

 

[rjssigns]

I need to figure out how to use my graphtec or summa to cut the decals off that machine and I'm golden!!

Should be able to. At school I made a file in Illustrator, added contour cut/reg marks in Rasterlink, printed on a Roland then cut on a Mimaki flatbed.
What I'm getting at is you should have either Rasterlink or SummaCut plug ins. As long as you can generate the marks the cutter needs to see you're golden.

 

[gabagoo]

What’s the cutting strip look - like might need replacing . If using omega there are some test plot designs you could try- you could also call plotter dr for advice or ship it out to California for rehab

I flipped the cutter strip over...new blade I had pressure at 40!! that is really high for a new blade and it worked for one set of graphics and then the next 2 were half and half but all thrown in the garbage.

 

[netsol]

gabagoo, jeff gross an is right. call jimmy the plotter dr.
he can give you the best advice & sell you whatever parts you need

 

[Jeff grossman]

Only other thing to check is the carriage track and carriage bearings - is the track clean and / or lubed and are the bearings still in good shape - new blade and cutting strip leads me to believe blade holder or carriage issues

 

[signage]

buy a new cutting strip, have you maintained machine (kept clean and lubed? do you have pen or pencil for it, try it and see what you get. I would suspect either cutting strip or something with the cutting carriage.

 

[Jburns]

I have never cut with that much force on my envision.

You didnt mention what vinyl or lam thickness you are cutting, and blade exposure amount.

The carriage may need to be calibrated with the special weight maybe.

 

[Joseph44708]

I still need my edge to print white on clear and that is about all I use it for. I don't change blades in this machine too often and my old blade needs so much pressure it was scoring right through one cut on every decal, making it very hard to deal with. I finally found a third part blade and installed it yesterday. Ran a pile of tests and can't believe how much pressure I had to use to do a decent cut. 40 grams on a new blade? I realized that the cutting strip was pretty worn and figured this is what all the fuss was about...removed it cleaned out the channel it sits in and applied double sided tape and used the back side of the strip. I have to think that would work. Tested some more and still seemed to need a lot more force than I would think based on using a new blade. Ran 3 runs about 3 yards each of 2" x 2" square decals. Weeding this morning, the first one weeds flawlessy, then the second weeds about half as good with many decals lifting and not cut right through. The third piece was total trash.

I am now sitting here and I have no idea how or why it is acting up. I can't seem to figure out what else to try. Maybe you can't flip over that cutting strip, but I can't see why, outside of that I am ready to just let customers know that I can no longer print white on clear.... what else can I do?

If you are printing White on Clear Vinyl, what are you weeding?
Please post a picture so that I can understand your problem and maybe help you.

 

[signage]

If you are printing White on Clear Vinyl, what are you weeding?
Please post a picture so that I can understand your problem and maybe help you.

When they are a certain shape you still need to weed away outside material.

 

[gabagoo]

If you are printing White on Clear Vinyl, what are you weeding?
Please post a picture so that I can understand your problem and maybe help you.

They are simply 2" x 2" squares. I have flipped over the cutting strip.... third party new blade.... Can't seem to zero in on just what the issue is...I have also slowed the cutter way down so the blade does not skip ( not that I have experienced that)
I have no intentions of having a tech look it over as for the most part the machine sits idle.
I tried running a cut job to the Graphtec and it actually worked. I had to set up 2 files...one for print and one for cut using signlab for the cut. On a short run it can work and maybe that is the solution for me at this point.

 

[Adam.Foster]

I still need my edge to print white on clear and that is about all I use it for. I don't change blades in this machine too often and my old blade needs so much pressure it was scoring right through one cut on every decal, making it very hard to deal with. I finally found a third part blade and installed it yesterday. Ran a pile of tests and can't believe how much pressure I had to use to do a decent cut. 40 grams on a new blade? I realized that the cutting strip was pretty worn and figured this is what all the fuss was about...removed it cleaned out the channel it sits in and applied double sided tape and used the back side of the strip. I have to think that would work. Tested some more and still seemed to need a lot more force than I would think based on using a new blade. Ran 3 runs about 3 yards each of 2" x 2" square decals. Weeding this morning, the first one weeds flawlessy, then the second weeds about half as good with many decals lifting and not cut right through. The third piece was total trash.

I am now sitting here and I have no idea how or why it is acting up. I can't seem to figure out what else to try. Maybe you can't flip over that cutting strip, but I can't see why, outside of that I am ready to just let customers know that I can no longer print white on clear.... what else can I do?

Sounds like the issue is your cut strip or blade. We see this often when people have worn cut strips or "fliped cut strips". Depending on how the strip is worn flipping it won't help, it just changes where the problem is. A simple test to see if the cut strip is an issue is to set the blade depth in the holder to the thickness of the vinyl your cutting, then put the vinyl on a cut mat and use the tool holder like a pen and cut a simple circle with your hand. You should be able to weed it, if not put a little more blade out. If you are cutting Gerber 220 vinyl, for example, it will have a very very small amount of blade sticking out and you will use standard pen pressure to cut the circle. If the blade is worn or chipped you will need lots of hand pressure to cut it. Once you have a good hand-cut move on to the plotter test. Create a simple 1"x1" box and repeat it 11x11.

Cut the 1x1 box job, and weed the boxes. Look at the vertical axis (15" direction) If the boxes along 1 axis don't weed well then its most likely the cut strip. (boxes along the bottom or top usually have the problem, while the middle ones look good)
replace the cut strip and you should be good. With a new Gerber blade and Gerber 220 vinyl typical force is 3.5oz- 4 oz. (setting in plot under device select and settings)

Adam

 

[gabagoo]

Purchased a new cutting strip.. will find out later if this is the issue.

Thanks

 

[jfiscus]

Might also be a blade holder that is dirty and not allowing the blade to rotate correctly?
Ours is currently dead and in storage, but what piece makes the blade go up/down on an envision? I'd check that.

 

[Ministripes]

Summa with opas is so easy to use with the edge.

I have a graphtec and can never get that to contour cut anything so have summa s120r for edge and graphtec for vinyls

The small envision isn't used much now

 

[arcman]

A little late to the thread... This might help.

When I bought my Envision, it had sat for some time. It was well used with little maintenance. The guide bushings that the cutter head moves up and down on were filled with old vinyl/paper residue. You couldn't see it but it was there. It took a LOT of penetrating oil to wash the gunk out. Lots... can't stress enough. Lots. Worked much better afterwards.