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Need Help Rectangles are bowed when cut.

Gary1

New Member
I have a Summa S2T160 and Signlab 10. I printed a few rectangles 2" x 48" with a 1/4" black border. The rectangles are lengthwise going across the cutter, parallel to the cutter. All crops marks are read fine. When cutting the long lines of the rectangle, it cuts a slight arch on both top and bottom cut lines. Arc is in the same direction, both pulled upwards. I drew same rectangles in Adobe Ill and printed in Rasterlink then cut using WinPlot. Same thing happened. But not as evident. The drive Gold roller is actually turning slightly to cause the lines to cut in an arc so it's doing what is sent to the cutter and not dirty rubber rollers. This will happen every once in awhile.. May be good for 3-4 months then it acts up. I am using a repeater usb cable as cutter is in next room 25 ft away. But like I said it'll be good for a few months then bam, issues. Material Orafol 5650 reflective and Avery gloss laminate. Any ideas as to what to look for to diagnose is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
 

Joseph44708

I Drink And I Know Things
I have a Summa S2T160 and Signlab 10. I printed a few rectangles 2" x 48" with a 1/4" black border. The rectangles are lengthwise going across the cutter, parallel to the cutter. All crops marks are read fine. When cutting the long lines of the rectangle, it cuts a slight arch on both top and bottom cut lines. Arc is in the same direction, both pulled upwards. I drew same rectangles in Adobe Ill and printed in Rasterlink then cut using WinPlot. Same thing happened. But not as evident. The drive Gold roller is actually turning slightly to cause the lines to cut in an arc so it's doing what is sent to the cutter and not dirty rubber rollers. This will happen every once in awhile.. May be good for 3-4 months then it acts up. I am using a repeater usb cable as cutter is in next room 25 ft away. But like I said it'll be good for a few months then bam, issues. Material Orafol 5650 reflective and Avery gloss laminate. Any ideas as to what to look for to diagnose is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Sounds like your pinch rollers are not applying equal pressure or they are slipping. Try cleaning them with alcohol first then refer to the manual for adjusting. Same thing happened on both my Graphtec cutters
 

Gary1

New Member
No. As I said in the post, the main Gold knurled drive roller is rotating meaning that an arc is being cut when it should be a straight line. Rubber pinch wheels are clean and this is not the problem. Basically the Summa is interpreting an arc for a straight horizontal line.
Thanks for your reply.
 

Dan360

New Member
What printer are you using? I can see this happening if it's detecting a slight curve in the barcode across the front of the print and then compensating. Latex printers can have issues with straightness across the print.

Could also be the reflective material. Our Summa has issues with marks on 5600 and I have to cover them with clear office tape for it to read the marks properly.

But it's something to do with what it's reading in the marks.
 

eahicks

Magna Cum Laude - School of Hard Knocks
Using OPOS and it is reading the length of the bar before it cuts? It should be doing so to adjust for any bowing in the print. It's caused by too high heat when printing.
 

Gary1

New Member
What printer are you using? I can see this happening if it's detecting a slight curve in the barcode across the front of the print and then compensating. Latex printers can have issues with straightness across the print.

Could also be the reflective material. Our Summa has issues with marks on 5600 and I have to cover them with clear office tape for it to read the marks properly.

But it's something to do with what it's reading in the marks.
I am using Mimaki JV150-160 Eco solvent inks. Orafol 5650RA media with gloss lam. The thing here is that I drew a perfect rectangle in both SignLab and Adobe Illy. But the rectangle is being cut with a slight arc. The cutter is actually moving the vinyl to cut an arc. I know reflective media and especially gloss lam causes issues with the Summa. I've tried the clear Scotch tape, scuffing up with a Scotch Brite pad to dull the gloss. But it's reading ALL the crop marks fine and reads the OPUS line in the front. The is no Barcode. But on another day it'll work fine. Maybe I should close shop on Tuesdays. lol I was just wondering if repeater cables can cause unexpected issues like this. But it appears to be a unique issue. A frustrating one too. Already wasted 54" x 8ft of printed/lam reflective. But for some reason, the cutter is cutting an arc when a line is sent to it. Across the platen.
 

Gary1

New Member
If that could be the case then I should try a roll of semi-gloss lam and see if that stops any issues. I mean if the crops marks are being read wrong and the OPOS line is glared then this may be an issue. Or turning down the sensitivity of the OPOS reader. I sure hate testing!
 

balstestrat

Problem Solver
So you have the line in the front that its reading?

Then that is 99% likely the reason. Check that line with a ruler that its not bowed.
If it's straight then try to cut OPOS only. Not OPOS XY.

That line will tell the cutter to fix bowing or in your case making a arc.
 

Gary1

New Member
So you have the line in the front that its reading?

Then that is 99% likely the reason. Check that line with a ruler that its not bowed.
If it's straight then try to cut OPOS only. Not OPOS XY.

That line will tell the cutter to fix bowing or in your case making a arc.
I think you got this thing nailed! I just got off the phone from Jeff at ND Graphics and that is what he told me too. The OPOS line was made to help compensate for the bowing in HP Latex printers. He suggested to remove that and go standard OPOS X. It kinda seems I have this ongoing issue with reflective media and gloss lam. We also both agreed turning down the sensitivity could help too. As a deflection may arise when reading the crop marks. Wow! But I do think that's the culprit.
 

Gary1

New Member
What printer are you using? I can see this happening if it's detecting a slight curve in the barcode across the front of the print and then compensating. Latex printers can have issues with straightness across the print.

Could also be the reflective material. Our Summa has issues with marks on 5600 and I have to cover them with clear office tape for it to read the marks properly.

But it's something to do with what it's reading in the marks.
Just saying, if you are having issues reading the marks, instead of putting tape, which can be a long task, just do a OPOS Media Calibrate. The cutter will recommend the proper setting. That's what I'm doing now.
 

Gary1

New Member
Well here's an update: I did the media and OPOS calibration. And set it to OPOS X. I cut the media and it cut perfectly!!! The drive roller did rotate abit but very slightly and I'm sure that was to compensate for any skewing going on. So the OPOS XY_Align was the culprit ALL this time and possibly the media calibration being off for the reflective vinyl I was using. Thanks again everyone! And thank you balstestrat for that good tip that pointed me in the right direction.
 
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