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Summa f1612 We need help

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Voyage Print

New Member
Hi All,
We bought a Summa F1612 about a year ago, and sadly it has just sat in our shop. Our problems are automation. While I understand how to create cut lines for raster files and have used Flexi, illustrator, etc. The intuitiveness when production is factored in is insane from a set up stand point. Is there any software out there that can automate raster files so that the cut flow is simplified. Our main rip is Caldera. We have a copy of Corel Draw too but the image trace program literally turns the whole image into a vector. We have used a program called SignMaster v5 which does an incredible job tracing both vectors and images, but unfortunately it does not work with Summa f1612. While you can automate the images and then save a cut file into SVG, and then bring it back into Illustrator for layer naming I.E Thru-Cut etc, then sending it to Caldera, the process is tedious. It would be nice if there was a program that you can do layouts and then cut all in one that just works. Also lately all my cuts are off from the registration marks, now we moved the machine when we changed locations as such Im not sure how to recalibrate the camera as the manual is unclear and thought maybe it was the moving it that may have changed the camera. Is there anyone out there that can assist us in getting this machine to work. For now, we are just using our graphtec I would pay someone to come teach me! Alternatively if there is some better software for this machine it would be great
 
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greysquirrel

New Member
I don't believe the product you are looking for exists. There are a few vectorization programs on the market but they have limitations. Turning dots to lines is not as easy as you would think. However you can automate the simple stuff. Im using Onyx and it will automatically add my marks for cutting, trim box to pdf page sizes and add bleed just by opening a file. That for us covers about 80% of the load. Other then that you will need to create your custom shapes.
 
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Voyage Print

New Member
Thanks all, I sent a request to demo the Prime Center, not sure if it will do what I need but its certainly worth a try, I think for now Ill use the tedious method of using SignMaster to automate the raster images for drawing the contours. Its super strange that all these years no one has come up with an easy button for the Summa Flat beds. :)
 
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tulsagraphics

New Member
Prime Center is powerful, and very capable, but it does have a bit of learning curve. Definitely talk to the Caldera tech support to set up an appointment time (they'll happily remote in and configure things for your demo) -- BUT you'll want to prepare a task list for them in advance (e.g. a list of the main workflows you need to optimize -- details and all) because they're going to dive right into it once the call starts and they work/talk fast. Very fast. I also suggest recording the TeamViewer session (screengrab app) so you can go back and review how they set things up because it's difficult to absorb so much info in such little time -- especially in a proprietary application you haven't seen/used before. If memory serves, I think they allow about 1 hour for the demo so you want to make the most of it.
 
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