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Master cutter getting flaky

invizzible

New Member
I've read a few forum topics about Master cutters and I understand that not a lot of people hold this cutter in high regard. I can live with that. I'm not in love with my Master XY-380P most days but it has cut a thousand miles of vinyl and Thermo-Flex over the last three years so I'm not going to complain much. Seriously, we work the poor thing hard.

Overall, this has been a fine cutter for an entry level sign maker. I buy new pinch rollers when they blow out, I keep a sharp blad in the holder and I replace the cut protection strip as needed. So, for the most part, my cutter stays in 'like-new' condition.

Here is my problem. Over the last few weeks my cutter has been cutting rather poorly. I first noticed the problem on a Thermo-Flex logo I was cutting for one of my bigger customers. My normally stellar logo looked horrible, the straight lines of letters were curvy, cuts were incomplete and the weeding was an excercise in futility. I checked things over and all seemed to be okay to the eye. I checked my settings in SignGo, and lo and behold, I had the setting for 'plot instead of cutting' was checked. Well, duh, I said to myself, you DREW something last nite and forgot to uncheck the tab. I corrected that and recut my logo but it only looked a little better...something was still going on. Further checking and I discovered that the XY-380P driver had been replaced with a 'generic driver'. Ah, I said, that must be it, although I don't know how that happened. Installed the correct driver again but that hasn't seemed to restore my clean cuts. Now I'm left scratching my head because I don't know what other settings to check and, no surprise, the Master website has practically nothing for support. (I suppose I could call them but I have a feeling how that will go..."Hello, my name is Peggy", anybody feeling me on that one? LOL)

Just for the record, my processes have not changed for cutting. I design my work in CorelDraw X4, export my line art to an AI 4.0 file, open SignGo, import the AI file and cut. That's the way I've always done it and I've always gotten good results, whether I'm cutting small chest logos with Thermo-Flex or cutting an 8' logo for the side of a van. The only thing that's really changed is that lately my cutter seems to just be getting less precise.

If there is anybody out there who knows a little something about Master cutters or SignGo settings I'd love to hear from you. I'm fully prepared to hear things like, "You should have bought a Roland." or "You get what you pay for." or any number of other comments but I'd love it if I got some helpful answers, too! I'm very close to being able to upgrade to a nicer cutter, it's not like I'm blind to the fact that my Chinese cutter isn't top-notch. It HAS, however, been quite the performer up til now and I need help getting it back to it's glory days until I take delivery of something more professional.

Thanks for any help, I'll see you around.
 

Bigdawg

Just Me
Hi... and welcome.

I had a Masters too. What you are describing sounds like what ours did when the board was going. Luckily for us, it happened almost immediately after receiving and we got it fixed for free. (Husband had to install, but they sent it to use w/instructions for no charge)

If we would have had to replace it after three years... we would have just gotten a new cutter. Don't know a thing about SignGo though.. I used EasySign to cut so it's not inconceivable that there is a setting there in SignGo you need to change... and it's not the board.
 

signmeup

New Member
Call them. They speak engrish but they are pretty good about looking after their customers. They were helpful when I called anyway.
 

invizzible

New Member
Thanks for a good start to some answers, guys. I appreciate it.

@BigDawg - I hear ya. I've already looked into the reality of paying as much to get it fixed as buying a new one. I don't quite have enough in my 'money sock' yet to get a new cutter so hopefully it's just a setting.

@signmeup - Engrish...yeah, I'm afraid of that. I guess if I HAVE to talk to 'Peggy', I will...
 

invizzible

New Member
Here is a photo showing the faulty cuts I was trying to describe. The actual letters, although they appear large, are actually 3" letters. This is Thermo-Flex material cut with a 45 degree blade at a speed of 700.

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CL Graphics

New Member
ok i saw a post about a master cutter and i saw OldP posted. How did I know what he would say before I read his post. Didnt his momma ever tell him if you dont have anything nice to say dont say anything at all.
 

invizzible

New Member
Signmeup - mine was set at .03 ... I'll run it in the morning and see if dropping it to .02 makes a difference. BTW, the pic is so fuzzy cuz I was holding my phone at .04 while taking the pic! Ha!
 

signmeup

New Member
Signmeup - mine was set at .03 ... I'll run it in the morning and see if dropping it to .02 makes a difference. BTW, the pic is so fuzzy cuz I was holding my phone at .04 while taking the pic! Ha!
Off set is a bit fuzzy to me but as I understand it, it is the distance from the tip of the blade to the blade shaft. If I have it right it is possible that your blade was ground wrong somehow too. Did you change blades around the same time you started having trouble?
 

invizzible

New Member
I change my blades pretty frequently. Depending on the amount of vinyl we've been cutting, I'd say on average we change the blade once a month and change the cut protection strip as necessary, maybe every 3 or 4 months.

When I started getting the flaky cuts, the first thing I did was change the blade. That didn't make any difference.
 

invizzible

New Member
Signmeup, when your Master cutter is OFF, are you able to move your media roller, or cause it to roll? I don't know if I called it the right name, the gritty aluminum bar that the pinch rollers squeeze against. (Man, am I having a moron moment...)
 

signmeup

New Member
Signmeup, when your Master cutter is OFF, are you able to move your media roller, or cause it to roll? I don't know if I called it the right name, the gritty aluminum bar that the pinch rollers squeeze against. (Man, am I having a moron moment...)
Yeah. I can move the cutter head back and forth too. Is the problem funky corners? A decent pic would be a big help.
 

OldPaint

New Member
Signmeup, when your Master cutter is OFF, are you able to move your media roller, or cause it to roll? I don't know if I called it the right name, the gritty aluminum bar that the pinch rollers squeeze against. (Man, am I having a moron moment...)
1st off, dont go off on me for bein a wizenhimmer ok? but i have to say(in a humorus way)for what you typed.
(Man, am I having a moron moment...)[/QUOTE]
ANSWER:
is this the 1st & only one?????
you got to admit thats funny))))))))))))))))))))))))
 
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