Using 2 Identical Plotters on one computer | Production Manager

[fuzzy_cam]

I know (think) there has to be a way to do this and that I must be missing something.

We have recently changed our internal process for print production and have one person/computer handling all of the files going to our 2 Mutoh 1624's & 2 Vinyl Express Q64's. The printers are added to PM via IP so there is no issue there. The two plotters are connected to the same PC using USB over Cat5 extenders (we've been using these for years with both plotters, just had the plotters connected to different PC's).

The problem is when I add the second Q64 to PM it wants to use the same port/driver as the Vinyl Express and I can only get jobs to output to a single plotter. I have gone through and tried selecting different ports to no avail.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

[bannertime]

One needs to be over usb and the other over COM. So you'll need a computer with a serial port or a serial to usb converter.

 

[SameDay Signs]

One needs to be over usb and the other over COM. So you'll need a computer with a serial port or a serial to usb converter.

Cant you assign which usb as well? I could be wrong but as you said it can def be done

 

[bannertime]

Cant you assign which usb as well? I could be wrong but as you said it can def be done

Yes, I don't know specifics off the top of my head, but we just setup the first machine as the USB and the next machine as the COM. I'm not sure if you can change it after the setup, but probably.

 

[netsol]

yes it is possible. advisable? maybe not so much
every service on the pc communicates over a port. there are 64,000 or soports, but running the same program or process twice, it wanrts to use the same port. a call to tech support will find out if your program will allow a 2nd stream over a different port that you configure. think of it like calling home when your daughter was on the phone in the old days.

a print job goes on port 9100. i don't do this often enough to know ports for sending a plot job without looking it up.
vinyl express should be able to setup for 2 jobs at once, but it will take a call to tech support. although a com port will use a different port than a usb to serial adapter, i am not sure your program will feed 2 data streams at the same time

 

[netsol]

commonly used ports

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_TCP_and_UDP_port_numbers

every destination is a combination of an address and port number

example print job to a network printer on ip 192.168.1.116:9100

 

[FrankW]

With Summa, it is possible to connect up to 4 plotters with USB to one computer by setting it to USB1 to USB4 in the USB-CLASS Menu.

Perhaps there is such a possibility on your cutters too.

 

[netsol]

usb can support at least 64 devices,with a usb hub.
it has a wide rsnge of ports available
a com port must be set up manually, in the operating system, possibly in bios as well as in your program.

i just spent a couple hours changing a mettlar toledo shipping scale from usb to serial so a client could use a program without usb support

not easy even if you have done it many times

 

[FrankW]

usb can support at least 64 devices,with a usb hub.
it has a wide rsnge of ports available

It is not a hardware problem, it is a software problem. Both plotters needs to be recognized separately, but they will conflict if they are the same.

 

[Markus13126]

I am currently running 2 us cutter cutters via usb from the same pc. Windows 7 and older Flexi.
Really had and have no issue with either..ones "cutter 1" and ones "cutter2"..

You just have to tell production manager what ports to use...EX..mine are usb002 and usb006.

If you dont know the port, just assign it and try...you will find the right one after a few lol

But caution...now I sometimes send the wrong stuff to the wrong cutter hahaha

 

[Markus13126]

I am currently running 2 us cutter cutters via usb from the same pc. Windows 7 and older Flexi.
Really had and have no issue with either..ones "cutter 1" and ones "cutter2"..

You just have to tell production manager what ports to use...EX..mine are usb002 and usb006.

If you dont know the port, just assign it and try...you will find the right one after a few lol

But caution...now I sometimes send the wrong stuff to the wrong cutter hahaha

Thinking more..pretty sure you can look in device manager and see assignment...I did not use a hub, both are onboard usb

 

[fuzzy_cam]

Thank you all for your responses. I guess I'm having an issue finding out what port the 2nd plotter is assigned from the computer side, I can assign whatever port for the 2nd plotter in PM, but it starts freezing on me as I go through the options.

 

[netsol]

Set it up usb the port assignment should hopefully be transparent to you.
As much as I love my serial plotters, it is always going to be an engineering project

 

[bannertime]

The issue isn't about setting the USB port to a different number. VE's software installs Vinyl Express USB port driver and to my knowledge you can't have a second one running. There may be a way to install two VE USB ports, but it's way easier to spend $30 on a serial cable and usb/serial converter.