Gerber EnVision 375 cuts inconsistently

[Bethany]

Hello everyone!

Here at our sign shop we're having some issues with the Envision 375 and was hoping someone might have some insight.

So - we'll set a job to cut, and at first it looks like everything is cutting perfectly, but on longer jobs once we get a little ways into the roll we start noticing inconsistent pressures - some lines will be cut all the way through the backing paper and some won't even be cut all the way through the vinyl.

We've replaced the plastic strip, blade is fine and it doesn't need to be cleaned out. My boss was saying he saw something here about someone having similar issues and it turned out to be a software issue, when they updated to the latest version of Composer all the sudden the inconsistent cuts happened, but I can't find the thread.

Not really sure where to go on this, has this happened to anyone else? I've searched through the threads I can find but I don't see anyone reporting this same weird pressure inconsistency.

 

[Fred Weiss]

I don't recall any discussion of a software issue ... perhaps the plotter firmware. There was a firmware update but it was at least ten years ago.

The first question I have is about the cutting strip. When you replaced it, did you clean out the channel it gets glued into? If there are any old globs of adhesive and you insert the new strip over them, the resulting bump will have an effect on cut quality. Do you notice any regularity in where the the bad cuts occur in particular on the Y axis?

As to the blade being OK, I can state to a certainty that the only way to know that is to put in a new blade to test to see if it cures the problem. Visual inspection, even with a loupe, can miss a faulty blade.

Same deal with the blade holder. They're pretty durable but I've had two go bad in 18 years where they failed to allow proper swiveling. The only way to know it isn't the cause of the problem is to try a different one.

Beyond that I can only suggest glue residue on the tractor pins, elongated pin feed holes on the vinyl, poorly punched vinyl or dirt/lack of lubrication on the Y axis bearings. Does the issue happen with different vinyls or just with one roll?

Please let us know what eventually fixes the problem.

 

[Bethany]

Hi Fred,

I will look into the firmware update, because we've had it for 12 years and he didn't update the firmware. It does it on all vinyl, and we definitely switched the strip correctly and have tried a new blade, same thing. I do know that he hasn't done much, if any, maintenance - do you have any more information on how to lubricate the Y axis bearings?

 

[Fred Weiss]

Hi Fred,

I will look into the firmware update, because we've had it for 12 years and he didn't update the firmware. It does it on all vinyl, and we definitely switched the strip correctly and have tried a new blade, same thing. I do know that he hasn't done much, if any, maintenance - do you have any more information on how to lubricate the Y axis bearings?

They're plainly visible when you open the lid of the Envision. I've never lubed mine and my plotter is 18 years old. I do clean the metal channel on which they roll every so often with alcohol on a paper towel.

 

[Bethany]

Well - the firmware update didn't do it. But I did look around for a user manual and found it, with instructions for maintenance, so we will look at that and see if anything like that fixes it! I am pretty sure he said he never did any maintenance on it, so it could be that. Also that this issue was not a sudden issue, but came upon gradually, so maybe it was just a maintenance deal.

 

[jfiscus]

Did you try other rolls of vinyl? I have had rolls of inconsistent thickness cause issues like this.

 

[JulieS]

I see this is an old thread, but I'll put in my 2 cents... Our enVision 375 about drove us crazy several years ago. It was cutting erratically, and we sent it in to be repaired a couple of times, but it would cut just fine for the Gerber people. They didn't see any problem. I finally figured out that there's a moveable bar at the back of plotter, and if it was in the up position, the plotter would cut terribly. I have never figured out why it NEEDS to be moveable. Now I just keep a ball of vinyl wedged in there to keep it from coming up.

 

[FunkotronXL]

I see this is an old thread, but I'll put in my 2 cents... Our enVision 375 about drove us crazy several years ago. It was cutting erratically, and we sent it in to be repaired a couple of times, but it would cut just fine for the Gerber people. They didn't see any problem. I finally figured out that there's a moveable bar at the back of plotter, and if it was in the up position, the plotter would cut terribly. I have never figured out why it NEEDS to be moveable. Now I just keep a ball of vinyl wedged in there to keep it from coming up.

The rear bar should be there to help arrest the material when working with thicker, less pliable substrates. Very stiff substrates can jump off the sprocket wheels and overcome the pressure from the bail arms. Lifting that bar up just helps you load the material into the plotter more easily and should be lowered again once the material is loaded.

OP didn't follow up with their solution, my best guess is they had an early Z-axis failure with the carriage assembly. Starts to make a clacking sound after prolonged use when the blade carrier needs to lift to advance to the next plot.

 

[Russell J. Bean]

Different vinyls will cut the same thickness if they aren't changed in the output screen, or on the envision it's self. You can adjust the pressure setting on the edit screen under options in omega print. As well as the envision.You also might have the wrong vinyl selected on the screen. If you are using omega there's a Factory direct setting. 220 is the standard but use Gerber and Oracal 651 for example as quantum 2000. You might also be using an old file. That was saved in an older version and that does it. Take your object and put it in a new page unsaved.Blades typically are only 2 weeks at my shop and u barely see the exposure of the blade. That's all the exposure you need. You can also decrease the speed. The longer jobs might be going to fast and getting hung up on something. Or making the blade not cut correctly. Also be sure if you have a SSDI port to use that rather than a USB. There's a PDF manual on GSPs website for quick access. It took me 2 years to figure mine out it was doing all the same things.