the dreaded double cut

[gabagoo]

Every once in a while on my old Flexi I could get a double cut and I always found it strange how it happens. With the new Flexi 19 within 1 week I have had 3 or 4 jobs with a double cut. I chose what I want as a contour cut and I only do it once. I wonder if there could be a slight keyline in the file the same colour as the graphic...that is the only way I can see that happening.

 

[Z SIGNS]

I've seen this problem in many cutting programs.Usually happens when trying to cut an object that has an outline on it.Try an experiment. Send one to the cutter with an outline and the same without an outline and see what happens.I think flexi converts outlines to objects.In the old version I used to have there was an option to turn this off.

 

[rjssigns]

Are you designing in Illustrator? My experience is usually anything beyond a quarter point stroke cut line would trigger a double cut. Not all the time, but enough that it makes me double check.

 

[gabagoo]

designing in Signlab exported as an eps to flexi for the past 12 years.

 

[James Burke]

designing in Signlab exported as an eps to flexi for the past 12 years.

We do cutting only for sandblast stencils and vinyl (no printing). This may seem a bit drastic, but I switched to Gerber Omega and the double-line cutting does not happen anymore. Omega handles imported cut files extremely well, and perhaps a software engineer could enlighten as to why.

I import a lot of stuff from Illy, Corel and AutoCad. For some reason, SignLab just doesn't seem to have the mojo that Omega does. I still use SL for all my quick and easy stuff, but for more complicated work, I use Omega.

As crazy as it sounds copy/paste (for cut lines only) works well in some cases also.

I know this might seem like a commercial for Gerber, but it's not. I'm just one happy customer who is able to get work done right...the first time. No more cussing and swearing....and no more wasted material.


JB

 

[stxrmxn]

We do cutting only for sandblast stencils and vinyl (no printing). This may seem a bit drastic, but I switched to Gerber Omega and the double-line cutting does not happen anymore. Omega handles imported cut files extremely well, and perhaps a software engineer could enlighten as to why.

I import a lot of stuff from Illy, Corel and AutoCad. For some reason, SignLab just doesn't seem to have the mojo that Omega does. I still use SL for all my quick and easy stuff, but for more complicated work, I use Omega.

As crazy as it sounds copy/paste (for cut lines only) works well in some cases also.

I know this might seem like a commercial for Gerber, but it's not. I'm just one happy customer who is able to get work done right...the first time. No more cussing and swearing....and no more wasted material.


JB

It is transparancies flatten them all uncheck the 2 boxes about strokes go to 100% you are good to go.

 

[Krissy Louderback]

I have the same problem in Illustrator. It will do it on some files and not others, even when I design them exactly the same way. I use a contour stroke of .2
It doesn't seem like there's any rhyme or reason although I'm sure there is.

 

[gabagoo]

Even today I found something strange in Flexi. In the default colour swatch at the bottom of the screen there are 3 or 4 greys. I was looking for a silver colour and when I clicked on them each one's name was not the colour but it said cut contour...there was even one that said perf contour.... I chose one out of curiosity, then went to view tab and shut everything except the contour cuts and it did not show up as a contour cut...whats with that?

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

There are two types of contour cuts you can make in flexi. one where flexi makes it itself around your object. This the program sees as a changeable contour cut. Or you can select a vector and change it to a contour cut color. In the workspace all this does is make a color change. It's not until you send to production manager that flexi takes that out of the artwork and makes it a cut layer.

 

[RustyNZ]

There are two types of contour cuts you can make in flexi. one where flexi makes it itself around your object. This the program sees as a changeable contour cut. Or you can select a vector and change it to a contour cut color. In the workspace all this does is make a color change. It's not until you send to production manager that flexi takes that out of the artwork and makes it a cut layer.

As long as you have a spot colour named CutContour (exactly, with caps) it should treat it as a cut contour line which is what those spot colours in Flexi are for. I think Gabagoo is saying that it doesn't seem to be working as it should which is also something I have noticed. I can auto create the cut contour with the menu option and it will work but if I manually draw a square with no fill, a stroke width of 0 and the spot colour CutContour (and all other settings in the fill/stroke window copied from an auto generated one) it doesn't seem to see it as a cut line, I don't get the extra cut tab when I go to Rip and Print and also in the Production Manager it's only a Print job not a Print and Cut job. I'm sure I used to be able to do it, I just tried in Flexi 12 as well as 19 and it's not working, I feel like I'm missing a simple step.

I'll post back if I find the solution.

Edit: Selecting an object then going to Arrange->Contour Cut->Make Contour will turn the shape in to a contour cut.

I still don't understand why making a shape with the colour CutContour isn't working in Flexi though, if I create an Illustrator doc with a square that has the spot colour CutContour then take it in to Production Manager it works fine. I won't look further in to it as it's not really necessary for me and the Make Contour works as a workaround.

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

In Correction. You do have to select the spot contourcut color. Then go to Arrange> ContourCut > Make Contour This turns your vector into a contour cut path.

 

[Joel golden]

Just switched from graphtec to summa... first days run was fine... first project that went from graphtec studio pro - export as eps- open in winplot on day two... double cut the whole dang thing! Didn’t notice until about