Question HELP with Mimaki Contour Cutting...

[Mike Volpone]

Running Win 10, CorelDraw 2019, FineCut Pro 9, Mutoh XPJ 1641SR. Trying to contour cut decals. I run the first job of round decals 30-up. The lines and registration marks are perfect. The cut lines come out perfect. Now I go to cut some odd shaped decals 70-up. Again, the reggies and cut lines are perfect. The plotter cuts 1/3rd of them acceptable and the rest too high. On the next run, some are acceptable and the rest are too far left. On the next run, some are acceptable and the rest are too low. I checked the alignment of the cut lines vs. the print file and it is perfect. Nothing in the file has changed. I am running through a 50' USB cable. Don't know if that could cause issues?

I also have a HUGE problem contour cutting decals on 3M reflective vinyl. I cannot get the plotter to recognize the reggies even though I print them at 100% CMYK to darken them up. I have tried using a Sharpie to darken them up more post printing to no avail...

Has anybody else had problems with Mimaki plotters and Finecut Pro doing this??

Any suggestions??

Please advise.

Thank you in advance,

Mike

 

[GB2]

The 50' cable is definitely a problem, I don't think it should be over 15'. What plotter are you using?

 

[GiveUsSigns]

The 50' cable is definitely a problem, I don't think it should be over 15'. What plotter are you using?

Yes, I learned that 15' was the max for USB.

 

[RustyNZ]

Yes, I learned that 15' was the max for USB.

You can get USB cables longer with a booster but I don't recommend people using cables longer than 5m (15'). I doubt this is the cause of the problem you described though, but it is possible. Easy enough to rule out It might be the pinch rollers as someone suggested in your other thread causing it not to feed perfectly, they should be cheap and easy enough to replace (at least they are on GCC cutters we sell).

 

[myront]

What size are your runs? Reflective vinyl is pretty heavy so longer runs are going to be problematic. We try to keep under 12ft. Make sure your pinch wheels are cleaned, heavier material has a tendency to slip. We don't have any problems reading reg mark on reflective. Reg marks are roughly 1" x 1", .02" thick & Pantone Process Black C

 

[Mike Volpone]

The 50' cable is definitely a problem, I don't think it should be over 15'. What plotter are you using?

Running Win 10, CorelDraw 2019, Mimaki CG-130 FXII, FineCut Pro 9, Mutoh XPJ 1641SR.

 

[GB2]

I'm using Win 7, Mimaki CG-130FXII and FineCut Pro 8.5. Do you have the manual? There are a lot of checks and adjustments and if I ever have a problem I start going through all the settings but it ends up making my head spin especially since it's written in Japanese/English. I can give you a copy if you need it but I've never encountered a problem such as you describe.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Try intermediate marks and make sure you're loading the media straight

 

[Mike Volpone]

The 50' cable is definitely a problem, I don't think it should be over 15'. What plotter are you using?

But it cuts vinyl 100% perfectly. It's just the contour cutting that sometimes gives me problems... Mimaki CG-130 FXII

 

[MikePro]

regarding reflective registration marks: the scanner has issues reading reflective media, as it was designed to scan the black line against a white background. reflective media, by nature, catches/reflects light in a prismatic fashion.

I have always just framed the print with 1" white/yellowish masking tape and use a black solvent pen/finesharpie to redraw the alignment marks over the top and it scans perfectly.

 

[Mike Volpone]

Try intermediate marks and make sure you're loading the media straight

I will try this but how do I get FineCut Pro to recognize intermediate marks???

 

[Mike Volpone]

regarding reflective registration marks: the scanner has issues reading reflective media, as it was designed to scan the black line against a white background. reflective media, by nature, catches/reflects light in a prismatic fashion.

I have always just framed the print with 1" white/yellowish masking tape and use a black solvent pen/finesharpie to redraw the alignment marks over the top and it scans perfectly.

I tried that and even tried taping on reggies printed onto white vinyl... I tried darkening the reggies with a sharpie but that didnt work. I'll try taping some new ones printed on paper this time... Thank you.

 

[MikePro]

tracking will be a different issue, which i usually account for by bleeding my print so if cutlines shift ~1/8" then its no biggie.
friction from the blade cutting, laminate hanging over edge of media dragging on plotter, and long runs causing heavy pull of the page and it feeds back/forth, are usually the cause of shifting cuts. running the plotter on a slower velocity, keeping page lengths under 8ft and not tugging against a rolled-up core, and even prepping your plotter with some teflon tape where you might usually have some overhanging laminate are good places to start to reduce shifting.

but marking registration marks this way is just to overcome the initial ability to scan the page on non-plainwhite media.

 

[ewded]

Make sure you don't have exposed laminate on the side of the print, slow cutting and travel down. The length of the usb makes no difference, if the data is there it's there, if it's not there your cutter won't even start cutting.

 

[Philip Crane]

Running Win 10, CorelDraw 2019, FineCut Pro 9, Mutoh XPJ 1641SR. Trying to contour cut decals. I run the first job of round decals 30-up. The lines and registration marks are perfect. The cut lines come out perfect. Now I go to cut some odd shaped decals 70-up. Again, the reggies and cut lines are perfect. The plotter cuts 1/3rd of them acceptable and the rest too high. On the next run, some are acceptable and the rest are too far left. On the next run, some are acceptable and the rest are too low. I checked the alignment of the cut lines vs. the print file and it is perfect. Nothing in the file has changed. I am running through a 50' USB cable. Don't know if that could cause issues?

I also have a HUGE problem contour cutting decals on 3M reflective vinyl. I cannot get the plotter to recognize the reggies even though I print them at 100% CMYK to darken them up. I have tried using a Sharpie to darken them up more post printing to no avail...

Has anybody else had problems with Mimaki plotters and Finecut Pro doing this??

Any suggestions??

Please advise.

Thank you in advance,

Mike

Had a similar problem with the cut path travelling. Try to run less down the roll on a repeat block. I found that if I decreased the number of repeats, the travel of the path would be fall to acceptable levels. Also, check to make sure that the "offset" on your plotter is set to zero.

 

[Outlawsignz]

Running Win 10, CorelDraw 2019, FineCut Pro 9, Mutoh XPJ 1641SR. Trying to contour cut decals. I run the first job of round decals 30-up. The lines and registration marks are perfect. The cut lines come out perfect. Now I go to cut some odd shaped decals 70-up. Again, the reggies and cut lines are perfect. The plotter cuts 1/3rd of them acceptable and the rest too high. On the next run, some are acceptable and the rest are too far left. On the next run, some are acceptable and the rest are too low. I checked the alignment of the cut lines vs. the print file and it is perfect. Nothing in the file has changed. I am running through a 50' USB cable. Don't know if that could cause issues?

I also have a HUGE problem contour cutting decals on 3M reflective vinyl. I cannot get the plotter to recognize the reggies even though I print them at 100% CMYK to darken them up. I have tried using a Sharpie to darken them up more post printing to no avail...

Has anybody else had problems with Mimaki plotters and Finecut Pro doing this??

Any suggestions??

Please advise.

Thank you in advance,

Mike

Hey Mike,
Yeah contour cutting reflective is fun...oyvey...lol
Best thing that works for me takes a couple minutes longer, but works every time - premask or transfer tape.
I've attached a pic of what I mean. It is the reflective part of the material that bounces back the beam to the plotter and it wont pick it up - if you cover the material around the regy marks it works. |Only takes like 45 seconds to do this - a bit of a pain, but soooo much nicer than screaming at your plotter and f*cking up your projects...

Dave

 

[Mike Volpone]

I have tried taping reggies printed on paper over the printed ones but my plotter WILL NOT even recognize the first one!!!!!!!!! WHat size and width do you use?? I tried 1" with a .020 stroke and 1.5" with a .040 stroke and neither works! Do you have to tell the plotter the stroke size and width??????? If so, how?? I thought the eye was supposed to read the inside corners of each reggie....

 

[MikePro]

I have tried taping reggies printed on paper over the printed ones but my plotter WILL NOT even recognize the first one!

no need to print the reggies, just use some clean cut masking/transfer tape & a straight edge to trace the line that you should still be able to see thru.
If that's impossible, then just stab the vinyl with a pen tip to dent the 3 points of the line, overlay with tape and connect the dots. ballpoint black or fine point sharpie works the best. also noted, that it also helps to have the width of the "white point" (aka your taped piece) extended past the target so that it will notice the contrast in its scan path. Frame the whole thing with your "white point" to connect the registration marks along the scan path, if it still gives you trouble.

....and if this is a cry for help, because you somehow have never gotten your registration marks to work on normal vinyl in the first-place, then its most likely due to your plotter not paired with the same target setting as your print/cut setup in the rip.