Graphtec Cut Path 'Drooping"

[teethree]

I tried to look it up for a few days now, but it seems my graphtec is slightly sagging its cut path in the middle of the page, fc-7000.
It cuts fine at the left and right most sections of the page but there is a large offset in the middle, about a 16th of an inch, for example, if i were to cut 3 boxes out, left right and center, the center box would have a 16th of an inch offset vertically.

Ive cleaned all the grit rollers and double checked my settings, what could I be missing?
It does this on all my media, and did not the day before.

 

[Snydo]

Double check the tension levers on the back side of the pinch roller assembley, should be down, up, down or all down.

Is this just cut vinyl or something you printed and are now trying to contour cut? The FC-7000 is a damn good machine - hope you figure it out. Good Luck

 

[P Wagner]

Is this issue present on print & cut or for cut-only (no print)? If print & cut, what is the printer?

 

[AF]

Bent rails?

 

[Bretbyron]

Belt tension?

 

[SignosaurusRex]

It's a bit of a long-shot, but according to Graphtec service themselves, some FC7000's were manufactured with some plastic drive pulleys. On the FC700-130's, they have a tendency to crack and cause cuts to be out of whack in various locations. You will need to open up the right hand cover and inspect the pulleys.

 

[teethree]

Belt may be the issue =/

pulleys are also not cracked
tension levers are in correct settings

its the same on both cut and printed vinyl across all media types so it can't be material.
Printer is HPl25500 Onyx 11 postershop, using cut server.

Going to get a force gauge to double check the belt is there one you guys would recommend?

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

Printer problem for sure. See it millions of times on this site. $20 says if you put a ruller or straight edge across your print the middle section is bowed. The Latex use a lot of heat and bowing has been a huge issue for the first and second generation. I fought with this on our 255000.

 

[teethree]

Here i thought the cutter was the issue!
Jeeze, the media had a crease in the middle of the roll it looked like but i didnt think that would matter much, but it sure was enough, time for a free roll and peace of mind Printable Thermoflex shouldn't come with thin backers, guess thats my lesson for buying the cheap stuff.

 

[Snydo]

If your L25 is up to date firmware wise, you have a setting somewhere in the media menu called 'Straightness Optimization' mess around with that, it will let you get away with running some of the less expensive media as it does a fair job of compensating for the bowing effect.

 

[P Wagner]

Glad to hear that you got it isolated to print bowing originating from the printer, and not a cutter issue. That was the reason for my question earlier in this thread.

There are several methods to mitigate or eliminate bowing on the HP Latex machines. Searching the archives for bowing on this site is a great place to start.

 

[phototec]

Glad to hear that you got it isolated to print bowing originating from the printer, and not a cutter issue. That was the reason for my question earlier in this thread.

There are several methods to mitigate or eliminate bowing on the HP Latex machines. Searching the archives for bowing on this site is a great place to start.

Is this bowing effect only on the HP Latex machines, I have not noticed it on my Roland?

 

[richsweeney]

I got rid of most of the bowing by using 5 year material. Some of the really cheap material, even had S'ing issues.

 

[P Wagner]

It is more of a Latex-centric issue. The higher temperatures needed to cure the ink can deform some medias. It is more of an issue with the more inexpensive calendared vinyls. Options include lowering the temperature, or correcting / compensating for the effect in the printer or output routine.