Q100 (Graphtec) Flexi and going past reg marks??

[Slack11]

I have a Q100 which is a graphtec disguised under another name, and am running Flexi 7.6 (I know I need to do the upgrade...). Everything was great with the contour cuts with reg marks until yesterday. For some reason the cutter (Q100) will find the first reg mark from the flexi program, then travel to find the second, but every time the ARMS sensor will travel just past the mark, search for the reg mark, then give me a "mark scan error".

I am a little confused as to why this is happening all of a sudden. Like I said it was all working fine last week. Flexi is putting reg marks on the prints, the plotter is searching in the general area for the second mark, but always just travels by it then searches. Is there some adjustment that will bring it back into alignment?

Thanks for any help in advance, I've got some important prints to do in the next couple of days, and this couldn't of happened at a worse time....


Nate

 

[Case]

did you accidentally change the plotter to front set when you load the print instead of rear set? if so, that is what will happen what you are describing....just hit the up or down arrows when loading a sheet, if it says front set you accidentally changed it more than likely.... when you see it, hit the up or down arrow and it will go back to rear set....

case

 

[PressPrintGraphics]

Also, not sure how much this will help or if this is the scenario but, are you sending the print with a bleed? If so, be sure to contur the actual cut lines only and send the other portion as clear (or color, doesn't matter from my experience), but don't delete them, it will throw it off.

I have screen shots of my complete registration mark setup via the computer settings, etc., I could upload for that matter if needed.

Not sure if this is the case, but i've been caught doing this a couple times, then had a moment of realization.

Let me know if I can help anymore.

 

[Slack11]

I'll try the rear/ front set tonite. It really seems like it has to be some setting that I accidentially changed. Thanks for the offer with the reg marks printout, if this doesn't work I may take you up on your offer.

Nate

 

[bob]

This is quite common. What fix level is your Flexi 7.6? You want V2. I assume the patch level in your plotter's firmware is current. At the time of Flexi 7.6V2 there was a fix that enlarged the registration mark scan area. The problem still exists but was mitigated by this fix. Actually there were simultaneous fixes from Scanvec and Graphtec and neither would ever own up to the problem they just pointed fingers at each other.

The problem usually is that your print isn't loaded squarely in the plotter and/or its physical size differs from its logical size.

Here's what happens if the print isn't loaded sufficiently square and/or isn't the right physical size. The plotter reads the first mark and then the software advances to where it thinks the second mark should be. It scans a small rectangle in this region looking for the mark. If the print is loaded crooked or its length isn't where the software thinks it is, then there will be no mark to find in the search rectangle.

How long is your print and how long is it supposed to be? Unless you have your media feed correction in Production Manager set precisely, most likely the print is a bit shorter than it's supposed to be.

The longer the print the more critical the size compensation and the squareness of the media in the plotter. That's square to the marks, not necessarily square to the media. There can be a difference. You can check the squareness of the media by locating the blade over the first mark and then advancing the media to he second mark. The blade should be roughly in the same position over the second mark as it was on the first mark.

I seldom use the auto registration on prints much longer than 30". I either use 4 manual marks or set up my own registration marks and use the plotter's auto registration feature, which is not the same as using Flexi's system. I prefer the latter, setting my own marks as it's far more accurate than using the manual bomb sight marks. Especially with my eyes. The downside is that there's a bit of a learning curve in order to become comfortable doing it this way.

 

[Slack11]

I'm a little lost as to what is causing the problem with the marks. I was unable to tell if the sheet was loaded as a rear or front set, my plotter simply asks for a roll or a sheet. My prints are a sheet, so they are loaded without asking front or rear?

I believe my prints from flexi are a bit smaller than they actually are suppose to be. I printed a 5' long logo to be put on top of a drop shadow. The reg marks weren't picked up, so I cut this by hand and installed. The actual printed logo was smaller than the drop shadow that was designed with it. So I'm now not sure if the prints from flexi are too small, or if the plotter needs to be adjusted. Would adjusting the media feed adjustment in the production manager fix this (I'm not sure what this is???)

Are there adjustments for the plotter to fix where it is looking? For me, when I send a contour cut, I hit send in the production manager, Flexi asks me to align to the firt reg mark, then it takes off looking for the other three. How do I manually set the reg marks?

Sorry about the long post, but I'm pretty close to out of ideas, and really need some help.

Thanks,
Nate

 

[bob]

I'm a little lost as to what is causing the problem with the marks. I was unable to tell if the sheet was loaded as a rear or front set, my plotter simply asks for a roll or a sheet. My prints are a sheet, so they are loaded without asking front or rear?

Sheets are sheets, front and rear do not apply.

I believe my prints from flexi are a bit smaller than they actually are suppose to be. I printed a 5' long logo to be put on top of a drop shadow. The reg marks weren't picked up, so I cut this by hand and installed. The actual printed logo was smaller than the drop shadow that was designed with it. So I'm now not sure if the prints from flexi are too small, or if the plotter needs to be adjusted. Would adjusting the media feed adjustment in the production manager fix this (I'm not sure what this is???)

How much smaller? In both X and Y or just X? [X being the media feed direction] If the difference is large and/or the same in both directions I would suspect that some scale setting somewhere has been diddled. It's not clear where.

On the other hand, have you checked your Output Size Compensation in Production Manager? Select your printer, do Settings->Output Size Compensation...

Here you can do a test print and input the results to adjust the actual output size. Note that this setting can vary from media to media so one size seldom fits all.

Are there adjustments for the plotter to fix where it is looking? For me, when I send a contour cut, I hit send in the production manager, Flexi asks me to align to the firt reg mark, then it takes off looking for the other three. How do I manually set the reg marks?

It's not the plotter that needs adjustment, it's the printer.

As far as using manual marks, it's lengthy to explain but fairly simple to do. Basically you don't use Flexi's contour feature. What you do is create your own set of type 1 or type 2 marks, preferably type 2, and position them at the corners of a known rectangle of known size that bounds your print. Create the rectangle as a wire frame in white.Then you create your contour path in Flexi. You can do this using Flexi's Contour feature then separate the contour so that it's just an ordinary path or you can draw it by hand. Your choice. Either way, make the path white or whatever color is not going to show up on your image. For example, if your contour cutting a full bleed in, say, black, then make the contour path black. Print the image, your contour path, the bounding rectangl, and your registration marks.

Set up your plotter to use type 1 or 2 marks, whatever you chose to use, set the size of the mark to be the same or slightly smaller than the manual marks you created. Load the print into the plotter and use the Auto Register feature of the plotter. The plotter will make a lot od diagonal moves until it finds the first mark. The it will slowly, very slowly, find the other three marks. When it finds the last mark it will pause and disply the X and Y sizes it detected and prompt you to correct these sizes. Correct the sizes so that they are the same size as the bounding rectangle that you used to set the marks in Flexi.

Send just the contour path and the registration marks from Flexi to the Cut/plot dialog. You can also send the bounding rectangle, I do. Make sure that there's 0" margins and you're set to start at the lower left.

The plotter should accurately cut the contour. It will also cut the registration marks and, if you sent it, the bounding rectangle.

The nice thing about this method is if somehow the automatic sensing fails you can select 'Manual' instead of 'Automatic' on the plotter and manually move the carriage to each mark in turn. You'll still get the correction menu after reading the last mark.

This sounds complicated but once you get the hang of it, it's very simple.

Or you can use Flexi's Contour feature and specify manual marks in the Rip and Print. This will print four little bomb sights at each corner. Then you load the print into the plotter and Flexi will prompt you to find each mark in turn. I assume you plotter has the built in light pointer. If so Flexi will enable this pointer for you to locate the marks. If not, you need good eyes and use the blade to locate the center of each bomb sight.

 

[Slack11]

Thank you for the help.... Without it I'm not sure where I'd turn for help here..... I'm gonna try all of this tonite and I'll let you know how or what it does.




Nate