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FC9000 + Take up reel review

bsipsy

New Member
Turn on segment cutting in your software and it'll cut every segment - that's how we do print and cut, and even 50 ft ones in onyx.

I know cutting master / Flexi does it as well.
It's not the cutting that I'm having an issue with, it's the auto take up reel. I want the take up reel to function the way it does in the example video from graphtec. However, in the instructional video they created, it only says to enable the take up sensor, then execute take up before starting the job. After doing that, it still only performs the take up after the job is complete, not while it's cutting like in the video.
 

ikarasu

Active Member
Do you have a link to the video?

If you use segment marks... It'll cut between the marks and then take up before it reads the next marks.

I believe that's the only way, it will not take up if you're not using segments because it would be doing way too much back and forth and the take up real is not as fast as the drive shaft
 

bsipsy

New Member
Example Video here showing the bi-directional operation during cutting.

If this is not a function of this take up reel, then it is horribly misrepresented by graphtec.
Years ago I used to use a super old graphtec (I think it was a fc4100 series) that had a similar system for the media input. It used a tension bar and sensor to constantly roll and unroll the media so that the plotter was never pulling directly from the heavy roll. It always ran during operation, and if they could do it back then, I don’t see why not now.
 

ikarasu

Active Member
That video shows they have cut makrs every FT... There is no way to make it roll in both directions when cutting - the take up reel is slow... think about it, if you were on 100 speed cutting, how would it handle it? No system is that way... Summa doesnt do it, the $100,000 flatbed cutters dont do it... it just physically wouldn't work out. If the old graphtec did that, it was only for feeding the media. Matching feeding and take up speeds isnt as simple as that.

If you're doing print and cut... turn on segment area. It will cut each segment, and roll it up inbetween. Doesnt matter if you have a 10 Ft, or 100 FT Print... it'll roll every 12" or whatever you set your segments to.

If you're not doing print and cut... I believe you can use the pre-feed and it should roll up after every pre feed. never tested it though, and dont know how it'd work for really long prints - its in the manual

 

bsipsy

New Member
That video shows they have cut makrs every FT... There is no way to make it roll in both directions when cutting - the take up reel is slow... think about it, if you were on 100 speed cutting, how would it handle it? No system is that way... Summa doesnt do it, the $100,000 flatbed cutters dont do it... it just physically wouldn't work out. If the old graphtec did that, it was only for feeding the media. Matching feeding and take up speeds isnt as simple as that.

If you're doing print and cut... turn on segment area. It will cut each segment, and roll it up inbetween. Doesnt matter if you have a 10 Ft, or 100 FT Print... it'll roll every 12" or whatever you set your segments to.

If you're not doing print and cut... I believe you can use the pre-feed and it should roll up after every pre feed. never tested it though, and dont know how it'd work for really long prints - its in the manual


Using pre-feed does not cause it to take up at each feed, however I was able to get it to take up after every 10ft of cutting. It's still annoying though as it has to stop while it performs the take up.
It most definitely SHOULD be able to take up while cutting though, as that is exactly what the video shows. What's printed on the vinyl in the example is irrelevant because it's still moving in tandem with the main drive motor, both forward and backward. Also, speed is a very easy issue to overcome if the product were engineered properly.
 

dypinc

New Member
Using pre-feed does not cause it to take up at each feed, however I was able to get it to take up after every 10ft of cutting. It's still annoying though as it has to stop while it performs the take up.
It most definitely SHOULD be able to take up while cutting though, as that is exactly what the video shows. What's printed on the vinyl in the example is irrelevant because it's still moving in tandem with the main drive motor, both forward and backward. Also, speed is a very easy issue to overcome if the product were engineered properly.
Did you every get the take-up to operate like the video shows?
 

bsipsy

New Member
Did you ever get the take-up to operate like the video shows?
No, I was never able to figure it out. I still have to just let it roll up after cutting every 10ft. It’s really annoying but it’s still better than rolling up a 100’+ cut by hand, so I’ve learned to live with it.
If you’re not doing extremely large cuts or roll-to-roll cutting, I definitely would not recommend paying extra for it. I will say the cutter has been excellent though. Only a couple times have we maxed out its memory with jobs that are too big. Otherwise it usually handles everything I throw at it.
 
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