summa refuses to cut this file correctly!!!

[gabagoo]

This is so typical...... What looks like an easy print cut job turns into an ongoing headache....

observe the file.... OK so this is what I am given.... I create a bleed cut to cut out all the shapes as I am applying it to a gemini routered white acrylic piece for mounting on a wall... only 19" round too. I print and let sit for a day or 2 then I use a 2ml cast laminate and cut... somehow the Summa mis registered the cut and some were good but most were cut wrong...
Crunch time... reprint yesterday and let sit for an hour and lam and cut again...this time I sit there and watch to make sure it hits all the reg marks correctly. Everything looks good but on weeding it has again missed the cut in about 7 shapes and i decide to hand trim them.

I decide to use clear application tape as it has to fit dead onto the plexi edge to edge. I align it and use soap and water , squeegee it and let it sit to dry for about an hour.

before I left last night I removed the mask ( usually very tacky) and because I was not watching to closely it must have pulled up some of the graphics....
This morning I meet the broker for breakfast then we come to my shop and I show him the piece and see water bubbles like never before seen in the history of mankind...
he is on a tight schedule and I insist on reprinting fast and applying...

This time I decide to just place 2 circles as the cut so basically an "O". Set it up looks good, print get some fans on it, laminate again and take it to the Summa.

All the summa has to do is cut 2 circles..... It does but they are both off and cut into the graphics. I throw my hands up in the air and tell him there is a curse on this job... I dont know what to do and he goes off to meet the installer without this piece and they will at least do everything else and just install this Monday....

I feel awful and I have no idea why the Summa is having so much trouble with what seems like a pretty straight forward job.


Could the original pdf file I was given have something in it that confuses the cutter? That makes no sense as I set the cut lines up in Flexi...


I might send the file as a tif to Flexi and then print and cut...can't see that making any difference, but these days anything goes.
Uggggg

 

[rjssigns]

I think you nailed it with something being "off" in the file. We have had similar things happen so we go through the file with a fine tooth comb. One time it was a tiny 1 or 2 pixel "blip" out in no mans land that caused havoc with the cut and not the print. Have no idea where it came from.

Odd thing was it would not show up when doing a Select All command. It would show up when I started dragging selection boxes outside of the document area.

We had another cut issue with an Ai file that wouldn't cut right. When I looked in the Layers I noticed one element had the Gray Dot which means a special effect/selection. Re-did that portion and it was fine.

 

[gabagoo]

I think you nailed it with something being "off" in the file. We have had similar things happen so we go through the file with a fine tooth comb. One time it was a tiny 1 or 2 pixel "blip" out in no mans land that caused havoc with the cut and not the print. Have no idea where it came from.

Odd thing was it would not show up when doing a Select All command. It would show up when I started dragging selection boxes outside of the document area.

We had another cut issue with an Ai file that wouldn't cut right. When I looked in the Layers I noticed one element had the Gray Dot which means a special effect/selection. Re-did that portion and it was fine.

'


These things happen so infrequently you never think that it could be a problem. For the most part I have no idea where that graphic was created so that becomes suspect...90% of everything I cut is created here....

Going to try it one more time before I go home and have a weekend!!! sigh

 

[Border]

resave the file or open it in another program and dumb it down if you can, re-save in another format, open again and give it a go. Maybe you can "clean" the file. Maybe you can rasterize it and add the cut line? just a few thoughts.

 

[gabagoo]

well the first time I opened it in Signlab and sent from there so i think the file is fine...it's my cutter I think. Needs a woman!!!

 

[gabagoo]

OK... this last attempt I shut down the comp and rebooted and rebooted the plotter.... I sat there and watched to make sure it was not misreading any of the reg marks and everything was good.... It cut and it looks good.

I wonder if having this plotter hooked up with a usb wire makes trouble for me.... It does stuff like this once in a while and usually a reboot gets things worked out although I have no idea what rebooting does.... I have win updates off and the computer has no virus programs running. I miss the serial connection ports that never gave me trouble

 

[FrankW]

Have you done an OPOS-Calibration onbetween?

 

[ThinkRight]

OK... this last attempt I shut down the comp and rebooted and rebooted the plotter.... I sat there and watched to make sure it was not misreading any of the reg marks and everything was good.... It cut and it looks good.

I wonder if having this plotter hooked up with a usb wire makes trouble for me.... It does stuff like this once in a while and usually a reboot gets things worked out although I have no idea what rebooting does.... I have win updates off and the computer has no virus programs running. I miss the serial connection ports that never gave me trouble

Same thing happens with my Summa DC4s
Every so often it prints and cuts way off.
Reset printer in menu then shut down, restart and all is good with the same file...
Maybe buffer memory is the problem ?
Let us know if you find out.