Summa D140 calibration

[Goatshaver]

I just received my Summa D140 and I'm in the middle of just setting it up and learning about it.
If anyone has some solid resources (not the manual, I've got that), tips and tricks on these I'd be very thankful.

Now I've got time as I was just laid-off from my job today. Might think about putting my epson s40600 together if I'm really getting bored.

Thanks!

 

[Goatshaver]

I've got it calibrated and can do regular contour cuts. I'm really having a hard time with FlexCut though. I do stickers cut to shape all the way through the media. The contour cut works fine, but when it does the FlexCut it jumps all around the design and I cannot figure out how to fix that. The winplot manual sucks and gives you just enough info to start but nothing in detail.

 

[jerry369]

To avoid too many movements that can cause media tracking problems with flexcut, use short segments.

 

[Goatshaver]

So after a bit of digging I found some insight into my question. I found that if I set the machine to FlexCut and not letting the software do it I can get the full die-cut pieces I was. However it's very tricky in the Flexcut spacing to get it so you don't have a perforated feeling sticker.
On my Roland I could do a kiss cut pass then do the perf cut as the second cut without having to resend it. I have not tried this on the Summa yet to see if the repeatability will work. I'm on the right track I just wish I had more info and experience with this machine right now.

 

[P Wagner]

Can your reseller help?

 

[Goatshaver]

Can your reseller help?

Because of all the virus stuff no one will be here for another few weeks and I think they're just dealing with my printer. I'll still pick their brain about it.

 

[Goatshaver]

So doing full cut (die cut) stickers is a bit more challenging. I did a full sheet of 4" circles that I wanted to die cut out and they were all uneven some were not very round (off by 1/16") I wasn't sure if it was the media or the calibration. I re-calibrated the OPOS and tested my flexcut settings, made sure I was using all the rollers, it cut much better this time around. Any advice on doing all cutting would be very helpful. My Sp-540v cuts more consistent circles than this is right now, which I know the Summa is much more capable, it's just my inexperience.

 

[Saturn]

I own the 30" tangential and have gotten excellent results with it doing fully die-cut stickers. However... I did need to fill ALL the available pinch roller slots, which isn't cheap at $350 ea, but worth every penny if you're serious about cutting all the way through. Without them the material would shift and buckle causing either jams or inaccurate cuts.

I don't know how closely the drag knife version can compare to the tangential, but between having the extra pinch rollers and setting the blade depth (initially) to only barely go through the backing paper has been what gets me in the ballpark.

I also don't use the flex-cut feature, as I get great (and very fast) cuts without it—The material I'm cutting seems to hang together just enough to offer the needed sheet stability, while only taking a little more handwork to pop them out on the table.

I know there are several threads on here that may have a few more tips and tricks, so keep searching too!

 

[Goatshaver]

Thanks! yeah I found out I need to have all the rollers down for any of that full cut stickers. Did some circles and well...some of them weren't circles.

I own the 30" tangential and have gotten excellent results with it doing fully die-cut stickers. However... I did need to fill ALL the available pinch roller slots, which isn't cheap at $350 ea, but worth every penny if you're serious about cutting all the way through. Without them the material would shift and buckle causing either jams or inaccurate cuts.

I don't know how closely the drag knife version can compare to the tangential, but between having the extra pinch rollers and setting the blade depth (initially) to only barely go through the backing paper has been what gets me in the ballpark.

I also don't use the flex-cut feature, as I get great (and very fast) cuts without it—The material I'm cutting seems to hang together just enough to offer the needed sheet stability, while only taking a little more handwork to pop them out on the table.

I know there are several threads on here that may have a few more tips and tricks, so keep searching too!

Thanks! yeah I found out I need to have all the rollers down for any of that full cut stickers. Did some circles and well...some of them weren't circles.

Maybe one more would be good for now. There's more of a learning curve on this than I thought! But I'm getting the hang of it.

 

[Goatshaver]

Can someone please tell me what "Media Alignment" does specifically, and is this necessary to do this for every job? The manual just says it's a alignment for contour cutting. Pretty vague explanation IMO.