FC8600 Contour Cut Off

I don't know, that's not a small error. Maybe your media compensation setting got reset to a high value by mistake.
Have you done that test using the program manager in Flexi instead of the Graphtec utility?
One way to keep working while figuring out the issue is to print blocks of color bigger than the text you need to cut.
I did this for quite a while before I got a cutter with ARMS.

wayne k
guam usa

 

Is the material high gloss? I've had problems with the eye reading the ARMS marks correctly on materials that are extra shiny. Sometimes have to cover the ARMS with mask and hand draw over the top. Looking at the screenshots it looks like there's distortion on the cuts (ie: it's not cutting the same size as the art) and the cut's "shrinking" by the end of the line, so it could also be what Wayne suggested too.

 

My question is why are you print/cutting solid red, blue, and black letters? Just buy some red, blue, and black vinyl, forget the printer, and just cut it. It will actually look better, cost you less, and last longer.

 

I'm sure he's like me and just doesn't run enough cut colored vinyl to justify buying rolls of material to sit in the closet til he needs it again.

 

I think on basic colors like red, blue, and black, if you had the vinyl on hand you'd find you use it up quickly. So much faster for basic lettering jobs. But that's OK, keep printing simple lettering and I'll continue taking the customers after their red logo on their truck door fades in only 2 years.

 

are you running your cutter on fc8600 gplg or regular fc8600 in production manager not in rip and print and sometimes on the cutter get the setting thrown off and you have to manage it in the cutter settings manually this happened to me a few months back at total random made for a long few days

 

So a few questions,

What's your speed setting? How many rollers are you using and how much pressure on the rollers do you have? Is the plotter clean? Is the grip/feed roller filled with debris? What is the backing of the material your using (paper or plastic)?

 

It appears to be off left and right only? Is that correct. You should focus on the Y axis system. Is the belt tensioned properly? Is the motor pulley belt tight and in good shape? Have you performed the distance adjustment in the adjustment menu (service mode)? Also, as Wayne pointed out, is your Production Manager applying output compensation? If yes, turn it off. If not and other suggestions don't help, this could probably solve the problem.
Have you tried resetting the factory defaults? Press and hold the up arrow key while powering on. Follow the prompts and select HPGL.

Good luck,
Joe

 

Try one or more of the following:
1. watch out for the conflict between cutter settings and Flexi Prod. manager settings.
2. set the plotter to ignore flexi prod. manager
3. calibrate your ARMS sensor - instructions are in the user manual

 

I assume the error is on the X axis, the media feed direction. The error is cumulative, it gets worse the farther along the axis you go. Therefore it's not the mark sensor adjustment. If it were you'd see the same error anywhere along the axis. It would seem that what the printer sees as an in is not what the plotter sees as an inch. But, assuming again, that you're using 4 marks, on in each corner, since it found marks #2 and #3 it knows the size of the rectangle bounding the job and should be able to map the job into that rectangle. So why does it find marks #2 and #3 but then underfeeds the media. The only difference in finding the marks and cutting the job is that the blade is down lot of the time and the media moves back and forth. Thus the media travel when cutting the job is a lot farther that when sensing the marks. Blade depth causing drag? Down pressure causing drag? Media drive mechanism slipping? I would give good odds the problem is mechanical but then the odds against something also state the that something does happen. Interesting problem.

 

mine is off on the right side but calibration is good, mine is as a gplg in production manager, should it be regular instead