How should I do this?

[iPrintStuff]

I have a summa S2 160T.

So I have a 22’ long bit vinyl for a vehicle and I’m still relatively new to the summa for large scale cuts such as this - looking for input as to what the best method is vs how I would do it.

It’s a fairly simple shape, not quite a straight line but a slight curve all the way along. In an ideal world with no problems whatsoever this would probably cut it in about 20 seconds. (There is two parts, one for either side of the bus). So essentially, up and down across the whole of the artwork twice.

I have tried;

Naturally, the summa pulling the entirety of this vinyl through the machine and back four times isn’t ideal so I set it to scan 2 marks (marks every 500mm) then cut. It scanned the first two marks. Cut, went to scan the next two, but then instead it pulled the artwork all the way back through the summa and essentially unloaded itself on the loading side. I plan to try cut this again but with different settings?

for speed I set it all the way down to 50. When it failed the summa had a blank screen, is there any way it went to sleep? It does freeze relatively frequently but the firmware is up to date and I haven’t had it do this during a cut.

Any help appreciated/let me know what settings you’d use for speed/reading/cutting.

 

[myront]

I take it there isn't a "natural break" in the body line so you could make a two piece cut instead of one long continuous?
It has me quite intrigued so I'm going to look into this further. We've simply told clients there would be a seam at some point as plotting anything over 12' is nearly impossible.

 

[iPrintStuff]

There is on the passenger side but driver side is the full 22’. I take it you’ve tried to get it to scan 2 marks and cut, scan 2 then cut etc? No joy? Funny watching it slowed all the way down for a change!

 

[GAC05]

Graphtec has a setting within the set-up menus to break down a long cut into panels. You set the length and it will cut everything within that section before going on to the next. The panels are cut continuously with no gaps. I've used it a few times and it does work. Maybe Summa has a similar option.

 

[iPrintStuff]

That’s what I referred to in my original post. You can set how often it prints it’s continuous marks (I’ve chosen every 500mm). Then you get an option of having it read all the marks then cut the entire thing, read 2 marks then cut (panneling) or read 4 marks.

It cut the first two then just threw it back out. Almost like the summa fell asleep. PC was still running and I can’t see any sleep settings on the actual summa. Hence why I’m here for advice lol

 

[myront]

There is on the passenger side but driver side is the full 22’. I take it you’ve tried to get it to scan 2 marks and cut, scan 2 then cut etc? No joy? Funny watching it slowed all the way down for a change!

No, I've never tried that. We have a Mimaki plotter with FineCut pro. Not even sure it's possible to do a two piece plot. I came up with my own "little plan" if I were to even attempt something like this. haven't tried ti but seems "logical".

 

[Gino]

Try sending one at a time. If that works, then reset the base point for a second run.

In all honesty, sometimes it's better to actually do it the old fashioned way. Make a single pen run with it. put it on the vinyl, trace it and hand cut it. It's a very easy thing to do by hand with a simplistic shape like that.​

 

[iPrintStuff]

Worth a shot! Mimaki can do the continuous reg marks can it not? I remember seeing it in rl5 and rl6 but it’s always been greyed out for some reason

 

[Snydo]

You can accurately cut that length without issue, just make sure your dead straight(obviously) and then just make sure you have no kinking as it feeds back and forth and it will stay true. For premium or thick materials, I'll feed the entire length of the job then cancel back to origin to create "tracks" if you will for the pinch rollers to groove into, it can help. I've had similar issues with paneling and have assumed Flexi is sending some bad info within the cut file....not sure.

 

[iPrintStuff]

Ok, so I’ve tried pretty much every option now but the main problem is the summa keeps freezing every time I try get it to panel. It reads the first two marks, cuts, then freezes when it’s meant to read the next set. Any ideas?

Firmware is up to date and I’m sending jobs via onyx 18.5

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

It's most likely like ours...panels over around 9ft, give or take, have memory issues with the summas especially complicated designs.

 

[particleman]

I do this all the time on my Summa. 15-20ft wraps on first try with perfect cuts. I use the "OPOS paneling" option on the cutter. Keep in mind this is not the same as the software paneling. The feature has to be enabled on the cutter or the cutter control software. You send the job exactly the same as you would normally however the plotter will read and cut in 4ft sections or so front to back.

From the manual... "With this option, the job can be divided into panels in order to avoid moving the media unnecessarily back and forth. When OPOS panelling is activated, all cut data will be cut in panels. The size of the panel will be the distance between the OPOS marks in the X-axis."

 

[iPrintStuff]

I do this all the time on my Summa. 15-20ft wraps on first try with perfect cuts. I use the "OPOS paneling" option on the cutter. Keep in mind this is not the same as the software paneling. The feature has to be enabled on the cutter or the cutter control software. You send the job exactly the same as you would normally however the plotter will read and cut in 4ft sections or so front to back.

From the manual... "With this option, the job can be divided into panels in order to avoid moving the media unnecessarily back and forth. When OPOS panelling is activated, all cut data will be cut in panels. The size of the panel will be the distance between the OPOS marks in the X-axis."

this is what I’ve been doing, after getting to around panel 6 it freezes/crashes and one time earlier it threw the head all the way to its housing quite aggressively.

It's most likely like ours...panels over around 9ft, give or take, have memory issues with the summas especially complicated designs.

I believe this is our issue. It’s not been consistent at all at where it ends. Just seems to sporadically give up. So a 22’ panel probably isn’t going to work tremendously lol.

Ended up just giving up and going over this by hand with a knife. Not overly fun!

 

[particleman]

It should handle that size no problem, I've cut very complicated wraps at 25' before. Sounds like either a software bug or possibly a cut path with something odd in it. Sometimes I can simplify a path in Illustrator if there is a cutting issue with it.

 

[iPrintStuff]

Fully agree. Going to try get a tech out and see what they think. I’m also using the USB instead of network if that’s any help - what about you two?

 

[particleman]

USB

 

[iPrintStuff]

Just a quick update, after explaining to the tech our problems (and it’s inconsistent nature) he’s coming out to replace the main board. Will keep you updated as to if that works or not!