Summa Missed Cuts

[AGinVT]

Thank you in advance for your help with this issue.

Our Summa S2 T160 has had multiple problems throughout it's time with us and it is hard to determine whether it is an Onyx issue or a Summa issue or just a lack of knowledge on our end.

We have had countless re-prints because of tracking issues. I have attached some photos below of the most recent problem. It is difficult to photograph, so I took a dry erase marker to fill in and show the cut lines on the white areas. The skips are happening consistently at each alignment mark. By the end of these stripes the shapes are off by more than half an inch.

We try out best to schedule everything out with at least a 3 day buffer from proof approval to installation to allow for the 48hr print/lam/die-cut cycle, even for rush projects. Unfortunately, on those tight deadlines this really throws us off. Not to mention the extra time and material wasted.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[gabagoo]

Not a solution for your problem technically, but why not just print all the red or burgundy in large rectangles then put the cutlines within the box, so that if it skews the cut line is still in the colored box.

 

[AGinVT]

Not a solution for your problem technically, but why not just print all the red or burgundy in large rectangles then put the cutlines within the box, so that if it skews the cut line is still in the colored box.

Thank you. That is something we have been trying to do while we figure this out. We have definitely been loading up on bleed until the issue is resolved, but aside from the extra ink consumption, there are still issues on non-solid colors/patterns and colors that run too close to one another.

 

[gabagoo]

It is strange as I have the Summa T series 140 and it cuts incredibly well and for the most part accurate.... I might add that what speed are you cutting at and how far apart are your registration marks?

 

[jtiii]

That looks maddening. I'm not familiar with Onyx, but have you tried playing with the cut mark options, even just as troubleshooting (shown are some of the options in Flexi)? If you put alignment marks every three inches will it mess up every three inches?

 

[Saturn]

You might see if "Panelling" is on or off on the cutter. I usually have great success leaving it set to "Off." In theory it's supposed to make things more accurate between reg marks, but in this case, as you're spanning marks, it could be compounding errors instead.

The usual, slow it down a hair, and make sure it's not shifting/moving too much on the flat surface of the cutter. I find squatting down to get eye level with the material as it cuts allows you to see if it's getting shoved around. For accuracy, the material needs to stay as flat as possible (not always possible) on the cutter—sucked down and held down my wheels.

 

[AGinVT]

It is strange as I have the Summa T series 140 and it cuts incredibly well and for the most part accurate.... I might add that what speed are you cutting at and how far apart are your registration marks?

My tech says he cuts at a slow setting and the marks are usually 18"-20" apart.

 

[AGinVT]

That looks maddening. I'm not familiar with Onyx, but have you tried playing with the cut mark options, even just as troubleshooting (shown are some of the options in Flexi)? If you put alignment marks every three inches will it mess up every three inches?

Thank you. I will share this with my print techs.

 

[AGinVT]

You might see if "Panelling" is on or off on the cutter. I usually have great success leaving it set to "Off." In theory it's supposed to make things more accurate between reg marks, but in this case, as you're spanning marks, it could be compounding errors instead.

The usual, slow it down a hair, and make sure it's not shifting/moving too much on the flat surface of the cutter. I find squatting down to get eye level with the material as it cuts allows you to see if it's getting shoved around. For accuracy, the material needs to stay as flat as possible (not always possible) on the cutter—sucked down and held down my wheels.

It does sound like we usually use the paneling mode on most runs, with the idea that it helps with tracking, so we can try without. We're concerned with tracking issues, but it has to be better than this. Thank you for the advice.

 

[AGinVT]

On a side note, has anyone here come up with a good solution for vinyl bunching up on long runs? Sometimes when a run gets jammed up it can send the sheet askew, ruining the run. We have considered adding some pvc extensions to the cut bed to allow everything to slide more freely, but definitely looking for suggestions.

 

[TSC1985]

On a side note, has anyone here come up with a good solution for vinyl bunching up on long runs? Sometimes when a run gets jammed up it can send the sheet askew, ruining the run. We have considered adding some pvc extensions to the cut bed to allow everything to slide more freely, but definitely looking for suggestions.

What amount of length are you referring too? Doing less intricate cuts we can do about 20' without any issue. Key is pinch roller placement and great alignment.