Discussion Onyx processing files for printing and contour cutting

Can‘t help with CorelDraw, but perhaps there are some export options where the export of spot colours is disabled?

Port Settings: If you want to cut on demand, what means printing, put the print into the cutter and cut one after each other, you should select „Summa USB“. In this case, you should not select „cutting new files automatically“, this is just an automatism to forward a job. You need to click the cutting button below the preview, as soon as the plotter receives the cut file it will ask to place the job on the first marker, do that and it will start reading the markers and doing the contour cut.

The barcode only represents a numeric code which is the file name of the plot file. All commands like number, size and distances of the OPOS-Markers, and the coordinates of the contours, are stored in the plot file (it is clear text, you can see it when loading the plot file into a text editor).

I have no idea why your plotter stops cutting after 3 shapes, perhaps a communication problem? How long is your USB-cable?

 

In Onyx thrive, you can go into cut settings and select what value/name a spot color is = what type of cut.

Crazy question, why not just call Onyx or summa? I see these types of questions on here a lot, and I always think “shouldn’t they just make a phone call?”

 

Thanks for the wink, but here’s there European contact information below. Now you can keep your arm and leg not be a bother again.

Europe-Middle East-Africa
Hours: 9:00 – 18:00 Central European Time
Phone: +31-10-4510300
Email: emeasupport@onyxgfx.com

 

I use Illustrator, but I have called my dealer, Summa, and Onyx and none of them were able to get the barcode system working correctly. I gave up and just use the Summa plugin for OPOS XY Registration Marks and send my files through Summa Winplot. Just sucks that they advertise automation when it doesn't work as expected. If you get yours working let us know! Good luck!

 

What error do you get? Is what being cut laminated?
We had this issue and finally got it resolved with onsite tech.

 

Depending on the Onyx-Version you have, if on your plotter OPOS-Panelling is activated, switch that off. This could lead to that a job is cancelled inbetween if the software don't write a correct EOF-command.

 

I don't remember the exact errors, it's been about a year since I gave up on it. We tried several materials, laminated and not laminated, and troubleshooted for weeks. The automation never worked at all. If we did get the barcode to read (1 out of every ~5 attempts) it wouldn't move to the next job on its own. Also if it did read, the cuts were usually way off and didn't line up.

I had a tech on site multiple times and he said he didn't know why it wasn't working either and told me to watch for an update. Summa's customer service is a joke, long story and irrelevant. Since going through Winplot works every time I had no desire to waste any more energy on it until they update and fix their bugs that they claim they don't have... What ended up being the issue with yours?

 

For the pdf export, change output colors to "Native". Do not check the box to export colors as CMYK.

 

The automated barcode setup is a little tricky but not that bad...

1.Set up your spot colors in your design software making sure they are named properly.
2.Set the "CutContour" setting when configuring your printer in ONYX (I can explain this in more detail if needed, but without this setting it won't work). You do not need to add anything for CutContour_kiss or CutContour_flex in the printer configuration. Those are added in the cut server.
3. Set the ONYX cut server to "automatically cut new files" and have it "cut to folder" create a folder that will house all cut files, if using FlexCut then there are some additional settings needed but if only using kiss cut you can leave the defaults alone. (I can walk anybody through this if necessary)
4. Print your job, selecting your cutter during preflight. This will automatically add the registration marks and barcode to the print.
5. Open Summa Cutter control and click the "Barcode Server" tab...in that tab there is a folder selection on the left side....set that to look at the same folder that you created when you set up "cut to folder" in ONYX cut server.
6. Load your material into the plotter, and in Summa Cutter Control under the bar code tab click "Start Barcode Server".
7. On the Summa itself click "actions" and then click the barcode symbol in the upper left of the display, it will then prompt you to place the tool under the barcode. Do that and click OK or start (I forget the exact terminology it uses).
8. It will then read the barcode, automatically search for the file in the folder selected, upon finding the file it will automatically cut the job. After that it will automatically look to read the next barcode, and it will find it in the folder, cut it and move on. Don't worry about rotation, it takes care of that on it's own by creating a unique barcode on each end of the job, whichever code it reads lets it know how it should be rotated.

There are a couple of quirks to be aware of. So since your barcodes will be of varying widths you need to read the first one by placing the tool towards the center of the roll....so that when it attempts to read the next barcode it will look for the barcode in the same position and if your next job isn't as wide of a barcode it will still find it.

Another quirk I've found is that if there are any marks or dark/light spots OUTSIDE of the barcode and registration marks then it could cause the machine to be unable to read the barcode. For example if you have a glossy vinyl and a matte laminate, and the laminate ran off resulting in a strip down the side of the roll that is glossy then the barcode reader will think that's where the barcode begins and attempt to read it in the wrong location. Typically the error for this is something like "unable to read barcode. Incorrect number of lines than expected" or something along those lines. The same issue happens if you had a head strike or ink get on the edge of the roll, this will confuse the barcode reader into the same error. Essentially the barcode reader is looking for a high contrast area and interprets that as the beginning of the code, so if it finds high contrast that isn't actually a barcode then it will error.

I regularly run 150' rolls fully automated, using the optional take up reel and almost never have any issues. Full rolls, cut, scored, and rolled onto the take up, it's beautiful. Once in awhile it will cut inaccurately on the first and last jobs, this is because of user error not leaving enough of a leader/trailer on the material or loading it wildly crooked. And that's easily avoidable, yes wastes a foot or two of material but completely worth it at that scale. I've used a bunch of different plotters and after using a Summa will never go back! Hope it helps

 

This happens when you check the box in the pdf export to convert spot colors to CMYK. You need to have the colors correctly defined as spot colors in your layout, and then choose the dropdown box to export colors as "Native". Otherwise, even Pantone colors will get converted to CMYK.

 

So after finally getting it to work, it all of a sudden just stopped....turned out we needed to darken the barcode in onyx settings so the shitty camera could read it. Why all of sudden it needed that after running fine, I'll never know. But to your point, I'm not a big fan of summa.....exactly why I skipped there flatbed and bought a colex.