Graphtec Contour Problem

[PMG]

My contours are running off in width ,i have a square with a contour cut on 10 stickers ,it starts off with a perfect contour then about the 5th on it starts running of in the width and on the 10th one its way off by a half the contour............any ideas what this could be,i messed with the off set,but didnt seem to help!!!!!

 

[TresL]

What is the thickness of your material?

 

[PMG]

I am using Orajet 3651 2.5 mil,,i did a Sensor Offset Check and everything is fine with that.

 

[TresL]

Check you distance adjustment, I've never had much issue with the width, just the length when doing contour cuts.

 

[PMG]

Its not off from the first contour,the first few are fine ,then half way they start to fall off on the width ,ill check into what you are talking about!!! Thanks for lending a hand!!

 

[PMG]

Still the same thing.I call my tech here in a few,man it was working great , i did some contours on a 100 count order today..then started on some stickers for myself and everything goes wacko....LOL O how i love these never ending days!!!!heheheh

 

[bob]

When you say 'width' do you mean in the plotter's X or the Y direction? X being the direction of media movement and Y being the direction of tool carriage movement.

Assuming you went through some sort of traditional contour cut registration process to start the job and assuming when you say 'off' you mean 'short' then...

If the error occurs in just the Y direction, either you got trouble or you have some sort of software issue.

If the error accumulates in just the X direction or in both the X and Y direction you may have some sort of hardware repeatability problem or a software issue. If it's not software, something in the media drive mechanism is slipping and/or skewing the media. Far more obscurely, the plotter's electronics isn't tracking the actual media motion properly.

If, on the other hand, 'off' means 'long' I'd give long odds on a software issue.

Note that 'software issue' probably means the software has erroneous data as to the physical dimensions of the job's overall cut area. That whatever is mapping the job's logical points to the media's physical points is somehow mistaken.

 

[PMG]

well i still have not got the problem fixed,been on the phone 3 times with tech today,i tried the sensor adjustment and it was dead on the + hairs. i also did Output size compensation and the width (Y) was dead on 12" and the length (X) was 12 and 1/16th so i adjusted for that and no luck..................heres what my problem looks like, Im stumped and tired 2 hours sleep in the past 48,trying to keep up on jobs plus trying to get this fixed .................does it ever end :Sleeping:LOL

 

[PMG]

Bump'in it up!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PMG]

STILL NO CALL BACK FROM TECH........... I AM WAY PI*%ED OFF,This is costing time/ money and material.....and possibly the job it self !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Flame]

Hey bud, so how large are these squares? Some things I've noticed are:

1. Large graphics RARELY cut perfectly. I have to rough it on contour cuts cuz it's rarely very exact.

2. Any way to cut these squares individually? Basically instead of sending 10, sending one? Or are they too small to waste your time with?

3. Hate to ask.... but are you feeding it straight? Are you SURE it's straight?

4. What kind of registration marks? Type 1, Type 2 or crosshairs? If crosshairs, are they horizontal or vertical?

 

[PMG]

Flame .....it does it the worst with small type like business car size.........type 2 auto on the registration..............if the sheet was off all the contours would be,this is a image with a border and a contour cut,all cut fine except the last few say in a row of 10/ 7 will cut correctly and 3 will not, if i print the image bigger,it does the same in that area of the sheet!!!

 

[PMG]

And when i used the cutter just as a cutter it works fine,,just the print and cuts fall off !!! on the printer i cant shift the Output size compensation,because it moves everything and all are off then.

 

[PMG]

Anyone got any suggestion???? Ill try anything at this point!!!

 

[iSign]

I'm pretty much stumped, but I will admit that from all your postings on this thread so far, I don't feel that you've explained yourself well enough for me to be sure I understand.

You mention squares, & you mention 12 x 12-1/16 ...but then you draw us a row of rectangles.

You also mention 5 good ones out of 10... then you draw the rows of yellow rectangles with all kinds of numbers of good, then bad. What do they represent... 3 different runs of different sizes?

The only thing closeto similar that I ever encountered was when I had a bunch of rows of decals that looked evenly spaced... but based on the fact that I had done "step & repeat" on some, & manually dragged copies into place on others... they were not exactly even... just very close. Anyway, I loaded a few sequences into the cutter backwards, & since they were almost equally spaced... the cutter started looking like it was perfectly aligned, but later, it went off. It confounded me for awhile, but in the end, the cuts weren't "going off" ...they were going exactly where I programed to go... that just happened to be wrong because i screwed up.

I would troubleshoot that issue by trying various components of your scenario isloated from other ones... like same art, copied into new file.

different art, with step & repeat done the same way

same art, different step and repeat.

 

[iSign]

ok, I drew one example of what I think you might mean.
Maybe you can draw one that corrects my perceptions if they are wrong, which they probably are.

In my drawing I started to draw cuts that were off on the width & it made so little sense to me, that I changed my drawing, but I think spelling out for us EXACTLY what is occuring will help us help you. maybe everyone else gets it... but I just don't know what is happening yet.

Here's my drawing of several rows of 5 square stickers with cuts. after 5 rows of the cut lining up on the print, the 6th row is off, & the 7th is further off & each row keeps getting cuts that are firther off then the last:

image removed to avoid confusion, since it was incorrect

 

[PMG]

I'm pretty much stumped, but I will admit that from all your postings on this thread so far, I don't feel that you've explained yourself well enough for me to be sure I understand.

You mention squares, & you mention 12 x 12-1/16 ...but then you draw us a row of rectangles.

You also mention 5 good ones out of 10... then you draw the rows of yellow rectangles with all kinds of numbers of good, then bad. What do they represent... 3 different runs of different sizes?

The only thing closeto similar that I ever encountered was when I had a bunch of rows of decals that looked evenly spaced... but based on the fact that I had done "step & repeat" on some, & manually dragged copies into place on others... they were not exactly even... just very close. Anyway, I loaded a few sequences into the cutter backwards, & since they were almost equally spaced... the cutter started looking like it was perfectly aligned, but later, it went off. It confounded me for awhile, but in the end, the cuts weren't "going off" ...they were going exactly where I programed to go... that just happened to be wrong because i screwed up.

I would troubleshoot that issue by trying various components of your scenario isloated from other ones... like same art, copied into new file.

different art, with step & repeat done the same way

same art, different step and repeat.

what i was talking about on this was the Output size compensation test print..... and the width (Y) was dead on 12" and the length (X) was 12 and 1/16th the test should print out a y axis line and a x axis line,both should measure 12" In your pic you show it falling off on the X axis,and mine falls off on the Y axis,say i have a row of t 10 square stickers 2x3 with a blue border and i contour cut them,6 of them will be perfect,and 4 will be off on the Y axis only as in my pic and i should not say falling off 6 will be perfect,and 4 will be off set on the Y axis,all the same amount of offset on the 4 bad ones. no matter how big i make them as shown in my pic as well on that area the cut will be off set!!!

 

[iSign]

...6 will be perfect,and 4 will be off set on the Y axis,all the same amount of offset on the 4 bad ones.

so they are 2" x 3", and you have a "row" with slightly over 30" of print area containing 10 of these "squares".

even if you print just one row, 4 cuts are off by the same amount.

(in the first post, you mention the 5th is only a little off, but the 10th is off by half, or 1-1/2"??)

if you print several rows, the 6 good, 4 bad pattern is repeated?

I don't know the Mutoh, or the "output size compensation test print" ..but i do use Flexi. Are your 10 decals done in the rip and print interface from one image... are do you create 10 across in flexi, before ripping? If in Flexi, are they done as "step & repeat" ... or copy & paste?

 

[PMG]

I thought the were running off but after getting the true measurements of the good and bad,the bad ones are off 1/16th of a 1/8th inch border!! And im doing step and repeat. and yes it repeats itself,on any design i send and even if i do 1 row it is off its the same amount but as a cutter there are no problem when i just do cut vinyl!!

 

[iSign]

ok, I see you're still on-line, so a few more ideas...

with any design huh? ...that sounds bad..

so, when it's 1/16th off... it is still exactly a 2" x 3" cut... but it is 1/16th out over from the print? ...or is it 1/16th shorter then 3"

and with step and repeat, IN FLEXI... the space between your 10 prints, is exactly the same, like 1/4"
...but on the cuts, after 6 good ones... the space between them goes off.

so, I hear you that the cutter still works right, like if you are cutting big letters for some banner or whatever... but if you send 10 small rectangles that are 2" x 3" created using step and repeat... BUT WITHOUT ANY PRINT DATA... are you saying even this cut file will proceed correctly?