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Master Cutter and then......

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dixonsigncompany

New Member
So I have a master cutter and yes I agree that it is a giant piece of crap. I can’t cut jack when the wind blows and everyone at Desay is telling me this is because of static electricity. Part of me is saying that the reason they are telling me its static is because how am I to tell them that its not static? So I drove a 10 foot long copper rod into the ground and ran a wire from that to the side of my machine. Same thing happens, display goes blank half way into a cut and panel is unresponsive and then it starts cutting all the way down past the paper and wipes everything out. Machine worked fine yesterday but not today when I need it.

So my question is does anyone know how I could either measure or eliminate static electricity in my office? I now have the workload and would love to buy a better cutter but I am afraid that if I have a problem because of static electricity that if I were to get a better cutter I might still have issues.

Has anyone ever had a static related issue with a Roland or Graphtec cutter?
 
B Snyder

B Snyder

New Member
I have not had this problem with a Roland or Graphtec plotter.
I have lost data through the cable that connects my Gerber Edge to the computer and static electricity was the problem.

Can you get a reading of the room's humidity? Just by keeping the room less dry in the winter I've eliminated all problems.
 
totalimage

totalimage

New Member
Kinda wierd..We accually have a Master plotter and even though it is cheap it has paid for itself over 10 times....I wouldnt mind buying another one if the price is right...
 
signmeup

signmeup

New Member
I've had mine 3 years. Works fine....paid for itself on the very first job it did. I think they're blowing smoke up your ***. Something else is causing the problem. Try reloading the driver. Make sure you have the correct type of printer cable. You need the proper one is all I can remember. Do a search on this forum ...it's been mentioned. Tell Dave a Desay you need to know if you have the right cable. You should receive a helpful comment from Techman shortly.:rolleyes:

Adrian
 
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dixonsigncompany

New Member
I am using the serial cable and I will try to reload the driver BUT I didn’t think that the down force could be controlled buy anything that the computer could tell it? It’s like the machine just decides to use MAXIMUM down force in the middle of the cut. Also I am using Sign Go.<----Which is also crap! IMO

signmeup - Thanks for your help I am planning on calling desay in the AM and researching the cable and the driver.
 
Replicator

Replicator

New Member
We owned our master cutter for a grand total of two days . . .

Sent it back immediately . . .
Took it in the shorts with restocking fees . . .
Static had nothing to do with it . . .

The machine just $uck$ . . . !
 
signmeup

signmeup

New Member
Did you seriously mean this thing acts up on windy days? The other thing that seems off is "then it starts cutting all the way down past the paper". The blade should be set in the holder so that it cannot possibly cut through the paper no matter what the downforce is. Or did I missunderstand?
 
Techman

Techman

New Member
shielded data cables are not subject to static problems..
Well designed machines are not subject to static problems.
 
Samm

Samm

New Member
dixonsigncompany said:
So I drove a 10 foot long copper rod into the ground and ran a wire from that to the side of my machine.
Click to expand...

USB cable? Where exactly did you run the wire?

I've heard to run a wire correctly, wrap it around the cable (the one from the puter to the plotter) not the machine itself.

Also give the cutter its own power point, not back or double or triple backed onto other electrical goods...

Also try and elminate anything else that may assist the static, like humidity etc.
 
Robie

Robie

New Member
From a hardware techie point of view, I would make sure that it isn't overheating first. Believe it or not, most hardware issues are due to overheating from a clogged fan vent or even a dead fan in the unit. You might try just cooling the room down. The only reason I say this is because the job starts and then goes wacky half way through the job--as if it started to get too hot.


To help remove static electricity, you could always just wipe the machine down with a Bounce or Downey dryer sheet and see if that makes a difference.

If you really want to measure static electricity:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Monroe-230B-Sta...eZWD1VQQtrksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem
 
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dixonsigncompany

New Member
signmeup - Yes north wind. Seems like the north wind in this area carries allot of static and it seems like that is when it acts up the most and yes it pushes the blade and holder down so hard it rips the vinyl and paper. Do you have a master cutter? If so how much down pressure do you normally use to cut performance vinyl?

I have wiped down the machine with Bounce dryer sheets and sprayed fabric softener all over the floor where the machine sits.

I ran the Serial cable directly from the computer to the machine. The grounding rod is around 15 feet from the cutter outside the building driven 8 feet into the ground with a copper wire wrapped around it then ran into my office (20 foot of cable max) and bolted directly to the bottom of the cutter. Every electrician tells me that the machine should be grounded properly from static.

Robie - my office is very cold and total cut time on each sign is 3min. and it acts up at different spots, Sometimes in the beginning and sometimes in the end , but I will check the fans.

We also bought a good humidifier today so I will report if that solves anything.

Personally I don't think that the reason it is acting up is because of static BUT that is all that DESAY is telling me and not giving me an alternative.
 
signguy27

signguy27

New Member
what part of nor cal are u from? I have a Vinyl Express Panther cutter with VE pro software, that I might be selling here soon.
 
Techman

Techman

New Member
time to find a real cutter.. Your problems are nothing new to the Decay cutters.

First of all.
The ground in your wall plug goes to a ground somewhere already. A new ground rod is not goona help if you have static problems. If the house power is properly grounded and the machine is using the right power cord it will be grounded for static already.

Then wiping bounce on a friggin machine is not the answer. If you have to use bounce then you got a junk machine.

Then, those fans in your machine are not for cooling. They are for VACUM. Those cutters do not get hot inside. If there is a heat problem then you got a junk cutter. Every thing inside is 5 volts DC for servo motor control and the break out boards,,, or up to 40 volts @ about 3 watts or so.. for motor drive. That is not enuf to make heat problems. Especially after 3 mins of running. Nothing is on until you tell the cutter to cut. Thats when all the electronics kick in.

The North wind is not bringing in gremlins wreaking havoc..

If you use the correct data cable it is not subject to static. IT is shielded and grounded.
The power supply is not a heat making entity either. Its a big ol transformer with some solid state chips and thats about it. No heat there.


The display goes blank. Now there is a hint. However, since the power supply should have a huge ol' capacitor that is a hedge against power blips on the DC side,, that tells me there is something wrong on the board itself. I would examine it for a bad power transistor. Those are designed to blank out if they get a bad power load or get HOT.

Loose wire, bad connection, or a bad design. If static is getting into the logic and causing a blank out then that machine is junk. Why? because modern chips are designed to handle static by channeling it away. Its almost impossible to destroy a modern day IC anymore from low level static.
 
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justgraphics

justgraphics

New Member
What type of floor is the cutter on concrete, carpet, ??? Do you get zapped when you touch the cutter?

If carpet that could be the source of static.
 
Techman

Techman

New Member
What type of floor is the cutter on concrete, carpet, ??? Do you get zapped when you touch the cutter?
Click to expand...

The ZAP people get when they touch a machine does not get to the electronics boards. Static goes right to ground. The boards are isolated from that via the power supply and all kinds of other shielding. At least a good machine is.

Like I posted above. DEcay machines are notorious for problems.
 
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