I have been using the substance holographic vinyl for awhile and not had to do any adjustments with our cutter to read the registration marks and I can even do reflective and clear with no problems. I have a roll of the substance chrome vinyl I have been trying to get it to read the marks for a few days and had no luck at all. I have tried putting white vinyl around the edges of the marks, tried matte vinyl overtop and even bought the yellow opos filter. When I did that I tried calibrating the media and it is saying the mark will not be readable and the values it gives me are too high to be entered. Does anyone else have this problem and done anything to solve it? I have about 6 prints on chrome I need to cut so I am hoping I can get something to work.
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Summa S2 cutting reading marks on chrome
- Thread starter yamaha581
- Start date
signheremd
New Member
We put masking tape flush against the marks...
I tried white vinyl and that didn't work for me but I will give that a try to see if it does work instead.
signheremd
New Member
You can also print another set of marks on white this time and place them over the old ones - you have to get your alignment just right, but have done that to save a printed piece
Saturn
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It's not extreme case like holo/chrome, but I use the new Substance glitter laminate for some jobs, and my Summa usually will not read every 10th barcode or so. I have a cheap lamp that I use for ambient lighting just above the cutter, and 100% of the time if I tilt it either towards or away from the read area the sheet will read on another attempt. I suppose it's just a quick way to artificially toggle the OPOS Calibrate Media settings between a normal and high value without actually changing them on the cutter.
The same could be done by holding a bright flashlight an inch or two away from where the sensor and media touch—I've had good results with this when I could think of no other way that the sensor could be having issues reading a mark. Since it's just a matter of light reflection, like using matte tape for diffusion, you can definitely be rewarded by just trying different things.
The same could be done by holding a bright flashlight an inch or two away from where the sensor and media touch—I've had good results with this when I could think of no other way that the sensor could be having issues reading a mark. Since it's just a matter of light reflection, like using matte tape for diffusion, you can definitely be rewarded by just trying different things.
We cut a strip of matte laminate and apply it over the marks around the job. Then we apply white vinyl around each crop mark. These are pre cut white circles with a square hole in the middle that is the same size as the crop mark. Just peel and stick.
Edit - sorry I just realised you tried this.
Edit - sorry I just realised you tried this.
Ginger Murray
New Member
Can you please tell me what finally worked for you? Having a horrible time with my S2 T160 correctly reading marks on holographic and chrome. The thing is - I have an Epson S80600 set up with white now and have finally figured out how to get it to print white around the registration marks so they can be read on holographic and chrome material. Previously, we'd tried white tape and vinyl around the marks with ZERO success, just would not read them. Been doing wrap kits in Substance for about 4 years, and zero issues with the flake laminate, but even cutting holographic stickers is proving to be a pain. I can cut one row correctly & accurately all day, but more than one, and it seems to get "lost" on the marks, and even when it attempts again and finds them all, it cuts off if there is more than one row. Need to get it figured out ASAP, as we have customers in line for the Chrome and Holographic wrap kits. If it can't cut more than 10 stickers at a time successfully, how am i supposed to cut sheets of wrap pieces?
Smoke_Jaguar
Man who touches printers inappropriately.
A bit of thread necromancy here, but found a surprisingly good workaround. Printing with UV inks and one roll didn't work and another slightly thinner roll worked great. Kapton tape, just slap it over the square mark and go. Tried the little yellow filter thing, but didn't feel like removing the toolhead to get the stupid thing to fit, so I figured, why not just put some yellow/orange on the media itself. Worked well and lots of people who do heat press work have rolls on hand. Might be worth trying with matte tapes like Scotch tape, etc.
What I do is start printing, and after the first two passes I pause the printing. You can see slightly where the marks are coming. I than stick a white piece of vinyl over the mark and resume the print. It prints the marks on the white patches. You just have to remember to keep an eye on the printjob because you do not want to miss any marks. It's a pain in the ass way, but in the end it is faster (for me) than trying of align new marks over existing marks. If you have kids laying around: place them next to the machine and promise them (minor) money for each mark they detect. Mine always detect every mark on the first pass and hit pause.
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This is what I do. Printing and cutting on large engine turned gold (imitation) does not work. First I print all the marks. Take a square 1.5" x 1.5" cut from White vinyl and cut a crop mark sized square hole in the middle.
I knock out the center cut square, place this over the crop mark, then I partially peel back the whole 1.5" x 1.5" vinyl tab and place a small .5" x .5" matt black right over the printed crop mark then take the whole 1.5" x 1.5" vinyl tab and place it over the crop mark. Once I line up the initial white vinyl tab, I only peel it back just enough to clear the printed crop mark. Since the white vinyl tab is still stuck on the gold vinyl, I never lose the registration. Accuracy is probably .003" to .005" which is plenty good. I also calibrate the sensor to the matt black and it reads it 100% of the time. I did try using a sharpie to make the crop marks darker because the gold reflects light thru the printed crop marks. But once you ruin the crop marks you're screwed. You have nothing to fall back on. I've tried the scotch tape on the gold but it doesn't work. You need to use Black crop marks and White backing. I do this now, and it works flawlessly! Good luck!
I knock out the center cut square, place this over the crop mark, then I partially peel back the whole 1.5" x 1.5" vinyl tab and place a small .5" x .5" matt black right over the printed crop mark then take the whole 1.5" x 1.5" vinyl tab and place it over the crop mark. Once I line up the initial white vinyl tab, I only peel it back just enough to clear the printed crop mark. Since the white vinyl tab is still stuck on the gold vinyl, I never lose the registration. Accuracy is probably .003" to .005" which is plenty good. I also calibrate the sensor to the matt black and it reads it 100% of the time. I did try using a sharpie to make the crop marks darker because the gold reflects light thru the printed crop marks. But once you ruin the crop marks you're screwed. You have nothing to fall back on. I've tried the scotch tape on the gold but it doesn't work. You need to use Black crop marks and White backing. I do this now, and it works flawlessly! Good luck!
Smoke_Jaguar
Man who touches printers inappropriately.
I like this idea, seems a bit more bulletproof. Kapton is working for now, but UV ink is THICK and I think the Kapton tape might not work with some solvent or aqueous inks. The cutout method works, but it is a massive pain in the butt for me, since the squares are 0.125" and finicky to align. I tend to print with less than .2mm of bleed (less about saving ink, more about general quality), so the more accuracy, the better.
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