roland print and cutting errors

[eyekandy graphics]

hello!, i am having one HELL of a time trying to get my cuts to line up with my prints.
my machine is only about 15 hours old sp 540v
i am printing a 8 inch by 4 inch set of decals for a model airplane, and doing 6 sets in my 52 inch cutting area.
when i start to print it prints fine then the cutting start, the first 3 decals are cut dead on, and then the 4th is off in feed, and then the 5th of off in feed and scan and the 6th is off about 1/8th of a inch in feed and scan comined.
however the first 3 are dead on.
i have done my feed and scan calibration and test print/cut and adjusted, and it seems to line up DEAD perfect at 0.00 feed and -0.01 scan, however. i changed the feed setting to see if i could fix this, i changed it to -0.01 and it changed the cut on image 4,5,6 even more off in the same direction, so i changed the setting to +0.01, and it changed the setting EVEN more, in the SAME direction. i dont understand,
i need 50 of these decal "kits" and i cant even get a good cut on them! its so frustrating.
i have read the roland manny and made adjustments, then brought them back to the setting it was set at when Roland came in to set it up. however it just never cuts dead on about 50% of the way across the machine.
my printing calibration was at 0.10, which i changed to 0.00 , made no difference to i put it back to 0.10 which is what roland had set it at.

 

[CS-SignSupply]

Check to make sure your blade holder is not dragging on the material. This can cause errors in both directions as the downforce of the holder contacting the media will influence the tracking.

 

[Bobby H]

It sounds to me like your printer may need a service call.

Just to cross out a couple possibilities make sure your have the latest version of VersaWorks running and have the latest firmware for your printer. New printers may not necessarily be bundled with the latest firmware and software.

 

[Northern Design]

carefully look at the pinch roller for cracks in the corners when the handle is lowered. I am on my second set of pinch roller assembles

 

[Sticky Signs]

Did you add bleed to your artwork? I think Roland recommends 1pt but that's bs. I usually put about 10 to 20 pts depending on the size I'm cutting.
Try and slow the cutting speed down. I set mine to 10 cut and 10 travel. Helps keep things accurate (ish).

 

[Gabriel]

Use crop marks. This should eliminate all your problems.
You can try to clean your encoder strip. Maybe there's some dirt there and this is where the problem comes up.

 

[guato]

How many pinch holders you use for print and cut on 54''?

 

[Gabriel]

For print/cut you better use only the 2 main pinch-rollers.

 

[guato]

For cutting 54'' wide, may not be enough pressure on pinch-rollers!
I think you should add some pinch-rollers and print register marks, dry out and than cut!
Or media not so wide.

 

[idsignsil]

I just watched a webinar last night from Roland that I think would fix your problem. It is the tips & tricks complex cut lines under the Versaworks series. You need to make sure your Versaworks is up to date. At the end of it they talked about using the layout tab and then in the media settings - size: choose "custom cut". It tells the printer to print a certain distance, then stop printing and cut. Then it starts printing again and then cuts the next section. If you are not taking the media off to laminate I think this should work. If you can not go watch the webinar let me know and I can go into more detail about the exact procedure.

 

[Kentucky Wraps]

Use crop marks. This should eliminate all your problems.
You can try to clean your encoder strip. Maybe there's some dirt there and this is where the problem comes up.

If he's not laminating it then putting it back through to cut...crop marks won't do anything. In fact even with crop marks...he will have the same problems, if his force, rollers, blade holder, are in the way etc.

 

[idsignsil]

Pat, thanks for putting the link to the webinar on there. I should have thought of that. :Oops:

 

[otctech]

15 hrs. old should be under warranty. Save yourself the headache and call Roland.

 

[eyekandy graphics]

hey everyone! thanks for you help,
i use 4 pinch rollers for the 54 inch media.
ill watch the video shortly.
there is no bleed on this art work simply because they are 1.8th scale model decals and are printed on 3651 matte clear, so a slight bit of off cutting is OK but not when it get worse and worse and worse.
i have emailed my Roland rep but have not heard back, nice huh!

I have used Custom cut, where it prints one decal and then cuts, however it still is off set.
even if dont print the whole page across and i print one decal on the very left side, and then cut it. It will be off
ill let you know more when my Roland rep gets back to me

 

[scuba_steve2699]

here is another video on the print and cut accuracy - http://youtu.be/TvYTTogtmQM

 

[cooltouch]

check your step settings. it maybe different for your machine but i have a hp l25500 and a graphtec fc8000. for die cut vinyl my ploter has to be set to 254 steps. to contour cut prints it has to be set to 1016 steps. and if i dont switch it over on contour cut prints it is off 1/8"

 

[guato]

Try to calibrate print and cut, it work for, now can print and cut perfect with no off set!