issues with print, cut, and laminate

[divers2deep]

I'm having issues with the print, Laminate, and cut features.

Round # 1 - My lamination job was bubbly! When i placed it back into the printer to cut it, it had a hard time finding the crop marks. Once it did the cut , they were shifted off of my print and cut into the print and unprinted area. making my print worthless!!!

Round # 2 - i wanted to make sure my drawing was on par and my contour cuts were setup properly, I did a print and cut. Came out beautiful, exactly what i needed. All of the cuts were to the T.

Round # 3 - I laminated another print. This time the laminate is beautiful. it read my crop marks right away and shifted the exact same way as round one!

Im getting a little aggravated as Im wasting material trying to figure this out! Any ideas.

I dont think my alignment is off since the print/cut feature is right on par.


Printer/cutter - vs540
Oracal - 3651 GRA
3 mil gloss laminate

 

[Wiggum PI]

Put a bit of masking tape on the platen where the edge of your material is and advance it all the way to the end of the job(or at least halfway) before you start the cut, and I think you will find it may just not be fed in straight initially.

 

[WestcoastSigns]

If you are using the clips/clamps during the cutting after you've laminated, remove them. Every once in a while this would happen to us and read this recommendation somewhere. Have done it ever since and we haven't had any issues again.

 

[Scott Reynolds]

When I was cutting my teeth with print and cut 12 or 13 years ago (good old laser pointer, not), I would raise the blade in the cutter so it was about a 2mm above the print. Then I would slow the cutter down to just a couple of inches a sec and watch VERY closely to see what the heck the cutter was doing. Then keep making changes till I had it all figured out.

 

[sfr table hockey]

Do you think there is any chance that the heat is off when you did the cut?

If the media exspands with the heat and then contracts a bit as it dries, and then laminate and put back into the printer cold, this may make a bit of difference in the cuts.

Do a test where you print a small job with crop marks, remove and put back in a cut while things are still warm.

 

[Dave L.]

Calibration

I would recommend doing the Crop/Cut Calibration. This will zero in the printed mark to the blade. You can also print your graphic/ put post it note over the four reg marks, laminate, then cut out the laminate and post it note so the printer is reading the mark directly from the material.

****The Crop/Cut Calibration is a must though. Refer to your manual

 

[J Hill Designs]

if I had that machine I could help more, but I've heard not to 'center on media' when doing print / lam / cut

jm2¢

 

[ucmj22]

when you did your print cut that worked perfectly, did you do it with crop marks? if not, then it would appear that your print with cropmark alignment is off. there are actually 2 different alignments for printing and cutting, one with crops and one without, so it could be possible to have it perfect on a print&cut w/o cropmarks and off on print&cut w/cropmarks. there should be alignment instructions for both in your manual.

 

[Wheeler]

When I am having a hard time finding crop marks I figured out it was easier just to do it manually. It is on page 83 of the Versacamm user manual (sp-540v). You set your base point , then 2,3,4- go to versaworks and hit send.
It will start looking for the marks in auto but just hit pause and then enter on the versacamm and it will cut. The user manual doesn't tell you to hit pause and enter, I just figured that out on my own. I think it cuts better that using the optical eye if you get it dialed in right. Good luck