Random Cutting Depth

[PrinceL101]

Hello Everyone!

I used to be on here a lot a long time ago. My business started as signs and then somehow I ended up doing 90% apparel. Well I will now be doing 90% signs and decals. I have been using a plotter for years every day. It was a Vinyl Express cutter and I am telling you that cutter was a beast. I have just purchased an HP Latex 64 inch and you would think I have never used a plotter in my life. I feel stupid!

I am cutting mostly laminated vinyl. I will feed a sheet through and it will cut perfectly but then there will be random parts where it just cuts straight through the backing. So much so that I can pop out the decals. I have tried everything....changing the blade, changing the force, changing the position of the pinch rollers. I am using a 60 blade because I am also cutting very small laminated letters.

If anybody has any help they could give me I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[ikarasu]

I believe the hp is a summa. How is your cutting strip? The part below where it cuts, are there any big Knicks or chunks out of it?

 

[PrinceL101]

You would be correct. It is a Summa. I have only had it about a month and the cutting strip looks fine. I actually thought about that but the deep deep cuts are never in the same spot. Again they are just random. Could be on the left side, could be on the right or in the middle. I think if it was the strip it would be more consistent wouldn't you?

 

[Black Star]

You would be correct. It is a Summa. I have only had it about a month and the cutting strip looks fine. I actually thought about that but the deep deep cuts are never in the same spot. Again they are just random. Could be on the left side, could be on the right or in the middle. I think if it was the strip it would be more consistent wouldn't you?

I had this problem with my Mimaki plotter. I replaced my blade holder and it seemed to fix the issue.

 

[PrinceL101]

How would I check that to see if I need a new one? Was yours new when you replaced it?

 

[greysquirrel]

Possible blade not installed correctly in carriage. There is a calibration you can do as well.

 

[bob]

The sovereign remedy for plotters that cut erratically is to remove any dust cover from the tool carriage, use compressed air, from a can or from an air hose, to blow all of the dust and crud out of the tool carriage paying special attention to the up/down mechanism, and then replace any dust cover. When the tool carriage gets contaminated it can screw up the timing and general operation of the various tool positioning mechanisms. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Joseph44708]

These are samples of worn out blade holders.
The last thing I checked on my Graftecs.

 

[PrinceL101]

If I can help only one person with my solution I will be fulfilled. It was the FILES!! I inherited a lot of the graphic files from the previous owners. Apparently even though they were converted to curves our programs didn't speak the same language. For instance:
A simple string of text cut directly from the file they gave me produced the uneven cutting. If I manually typed the exact same text and sent it.... cut perfect.
Sometimes you just have to examine things from the very beginning to the very end and check every step.
On another note I realized that you can flip the cutter strip if you strip the adhesive from it and you have a brand new strip.
Thanks everybody for your help. You guys are the best.

 

[ikarasu]

What program do you use?

Watch the cutting and see if it goes over it twice.

A lot of files our old designer did has double cut lines... You can check by ungrouping the text as many times as it'll allow and deleting one layer, see if there's a hidden one under.

Or a fill with a stroke can cause the same issue.. at least on our graphtec.

Same with the stroke not being 0 points or .1 or whatever the smallest you can make it. Having a thick stroke will tell it to cut twice.

Glad you found out it'd the files... Now you'll have fun going through them all and fixing them!

 

[PrinceL101]

That's exactly what it was. The sad thing is we both use Flexi. However mine is the HP version. I was about to send the cutter back as I thought it was defective... lol