Major Cutting Problems Decals - SolJet 3

[quikseps]

Recently bought an XC-540 primarily to do small decals with, mostly 2" and 4". Prints just fine until I get to the cutting part where its either high, to the side, low, or all three and just totally screwed up! Happens with all materials but sometimes worse with reflective which I use mostly. Using 48" wide reflective and 54" wide white vinyl.

I was told that I should only need the end pinch rollers. Actually, if I started using all of 7 of them, I get deep tracks in the printed decals where the rollers make contact with the vinyl. No way to avoid all the printed areas. Well, needless to say, I can NEVER get acceptable results using only the two end pinch rollers.

So, yesterday after probably throwing out maybe $500 of material and a week of time I send a decal job through with ALL 7 rollers engaged and the cut actually lined up. BUT, I now have track marks in the decals.

I will say this much, the machine handles and cuts 30" material better. I was GUARANTEED when I spent $30,000 on this that the machine would print and cut small decals flawlessly and quickly which it is not doing. In my opinion, Roland should take it back in exchange for 2 new 30" Versacamms and throw in a few grand worth of material and ink.

Does anyone have a solution to this or experiencing a similar problem?

 

[LightHouse]

with the rollers, track marks usually fade away if not yu can usually adjust the tension on the rollers to not put so much weight on them. might be something to look into

 

[mediaman]

Lighthouse,

How do you change the roller tension?

 

[LightHouse]

on my plotter, a POS, the main bolt that runs through it is also used for tension, take a look at your rollers and you will find a way. dont do it too lose or you might start to get tracking issues. i dont mind "tank tracks" becasue they release after a bit anyway

 

[quikseps]

I don't think there's any way to adjust the roller tension with this machine. Wish there was. This cut-align problem I'm having is driving me frigin crazy.....for example: If I do a cut-align test, the results are fine. Also, yesterday I printed some basic shapes without any ink fill, just a 3-4 point stroke of black ink in circles, ovals, squares and some odd shapes. I then added a cut-line about 1/8" outside these shapes and printed 5 rows deep across 54" vinyl. These cut okay???!!!

Then I printed an actual job, full color decals 3x5 ovals, 9 across and 7 rows deep. Printing was fine but then the horror of cutting began. These cut high and then low. Totally unacceptable.

Running heat at about 95, 95 with the dryer at 122, within Roland guidelines for basic vinyl and these were printed on Oracal 3164.

I can almost guarantee that if using 30" vinyl, these would have cut just fine. This printer has a problem with wide material which is just wonderful....drop $30,000 on this thing and it can't print and cut accurately beyond a couple feet wide.

 

[Kenny]

Cutting with heat on or off?

 

[quikseps]

Tried both, hot and cold. Anyhow...when print/cutting, without taking the media out of the machine that heat stays on.

 

[Kenny]

Tried both, hot and cold. Anyhow...when print/cutting, without taking the media out of the machine that heat stays on.

That answered my next question...I posted a PDF awhile back that Roland published to troubleshoot print/cut issues...let me see if I can find it.

 

[Kenny]

Here's the bulletin from Roland...hope this helps.

 

[customsticker]

For the print and cut with crop marks, you really have to get into service mode and adjust the feed and scan adjustment. Even the little adjustments that roland has you go through, don't seem to do it.

There is also a sensor you can adjust on the cutting carriage, that changes the sensitivity of the crop mark sensor. I laminate everything, so I can't speak for just the print/cut setup (no crop marks).

I have mine almost tuned in, but it has taken a lot of trial and error to get it right!

 

[quikseps]

Thanks Kenny...I already received this from my dealer. Their tech went over everything with with me on the phone and did the entire calibration thing and all seems okay.

Most likely there's nothing "probably" wrong with the machine since it seems to do okay with 30" material...its primarily the wide stuff. I sent a printed sheet to my dealer today that's going to make their eyes roll back in their heads!

I'd LOVE to speak with someone who prints small decals on a regular basis with an XC-540. If there's anyone out there, please call me toll free 866-377-4345. I'm in New Jersey and am usually here between 11:00 and 7:00.

Steve

 

[customsticker]

The reality of it, you will probably never get it 100%. Even the seasoned roland techs know this.

Roland "allows" their machines to be off by a 5% margin, or so the service manual says.

 

[quikseps]

customsticker: Are you using more than the 2 end pinch rollers when running your jobs on both printing and cutting?

Also, when running print/cut, my machine "violently" sucks that material back into the machine then begins cutting. To me, it seems too quick and could be shifting the material. Is this normal?

 

[mystysue]

Quik.. I always use all of the pinch rollers.. if you dont.. the vinyl can bunch up and case you to have a head strike..

Also it could be why you are getting misallignment issues to some extent.

 

[customsticker]

You need to use all of the pinch rollers. I laminate everything, so they don't show the rollers causing any damage. You need to use all of them to keep everything secure and not bearing on one area too much.

The machine can be quick, it's using lasers to bring it where it needs to be - this is normal.

 

[quikseps]

customsticker: I had a feeling you were using all 7 rollers since you're laminating everything and that does hide the tracks. I might do that down the road on other jobs not so price sensitive. When I ran a test with all rollers engaged, the machine did hit the cut lines.

What I'm going to do is find a strategic location for the 48" reflective material so I can get at least 5 rollers down and avoid the graphics. This should be possible to do.

Most likely I wouldn't be going through this if I wasn't told that only 2 pinch rollers were needed.

Well, I'm new to this with plenty to learn plus I'm kind of a hyper guy to begin with and when something isn't working as advertised and I begin to waste loads of time...I start to freak and overdosing on blood pressure pills and Xanax to calm me down!

Thanks to everyone for the advice!