Is Vista my problem?

[ARConcepts]

Here's what I got:
Graphtec ce5000 24", Signlab OE Expert, CS3 suite.
Here's the problem:
When it finishes cutting, lets say the letter O, it makes a little curl outward and does not connect. Then I have to manually finish the cut on each letter. But it doesn't do it all the time. It does it most on text. I've done a test by typing the same word in Illy and Signlab, then cutting, both did the same mistakes.
I mostly do car graphics so it hasn't bothered me to much lately. But I'm starting to do some detailed work and it's a time and detail killer.
I've played with all the settings on the graphtec and no fix yet.
Should I switch over to a XP box?

 

[iSign]

look up "offset" in your manual. Adjust that.

 

[Pro Image]

Yep its your offset like Isign said......

 

[jimdes]

Some other things to check

1. Start with your offset something as simple as that would be a nice fix.

2. Check your speed, believe it or not, your cutter can cut TOO fast and when it is, these little openings are a tell-tale sign.

3. If it doesn't happen all the time, check the fonts you're using and make sure they are quality fonts. There are many "free" fonts that have open vectors.

4. Make sure your blade moves freely in it's holder. Drag knives need to rotate freely and build-up or debris in the holder can make it do weird things.

5. Got a sharp blade? As the blade ages, it's tip gets rounded and dull. If the tip is too dull, it will leave a gap as the knife lifts at the very end of the cut.

Once upon a time, I had an 18' cable on my plotter and the signal was getting messed up. Needless to say it was way too long, positioned the plotter, put a shorter cable on it and voila . . . problem solved.

 

[Bill Modzel]

Sorry guys but I think it's the plotter. I've had Graphtecs since 1989 and am on my third one right now. A FC7000-100. I know all about offsets and any other hardware tweaks but mine does the same thing, INTERMITTENTLY. I cut a lot of amberlith for my screen positives and it is very obvious when this happens, especially on smaller type.
Let's say I have a political disclaimer in 36 point helvetica. Before you begin to weed it you can see the "open" cuts. Usually on one or two letters in a whole line of type. Instead of the blade closing it's cut it will come in from the side and leave that little "curl" that AR mentions. It usually happens on "compounded" letters like an O or R.

My guess is that the cut actually starts going the wrong direction so instead of an overlap via the offset, it's actually leaving a gap because the blade point is left facing the other direction from the previous cut.

It's not Vista. As much as I'd love to blame it on windoz, I'm running Graphtec's own Cutting Master plug in in Illy on my Mac's.

 

[ARConcepts]

Bill,
That's exactly what happens. What sucks is that I want to do some small font stuff and it makes weeding very difficult. I have to manually close all the gaps otherwise it pulls the letter off the backer.

I have played with the speed, blade height, tangenital, quality setting, and down force. I'll try the offset and see what happens.

Thanks guys

 

[P Wagner]

Enabling Tangent Emulation for very small letters (or thick media) can be very effective. This function is available on the FC series machines and newer CE series machines.

Bob

 

[OldPaint]

my old ROLAND PNC-1000 did this sometimes....try clearing your plotter que/memory. unplug it for a couple hours or overnite....

 

[Techman]

does your software have a setting to make it cut in the same direction for every thing. some softwares have a feature that makes cuts with efficiency by moving the blade the shortest distance to the next cut. Fro example. cutting an "O" the outside will cut one way, and the inside will cut the opposite direction.
Find the setting that enables/disables stack cutting feature, or sort before cutting feature or even cut with feed. Not sure what this is called in other softwares. Once you find them test to se which one works best..