Versacamm-profiled cut speed and pressure

[Bill43mx]

Okay...This question is based on an assumption I have so let me get that out of the way first. The printer is an SP-300V and rip is Versaworks. In Versaworks when you select a media type and then go to "cut controls" you can see the cut passes, speed, pressure, and offset information but it is "greyed out". This information is part of the profile. By clicking the "Enable Advanced Settings" box you can make adjustments to those settings. Now my assumption is that if you do not check the "Enable Advanced Settings" box then the "greyed out" info is what is sent to the printer when you send a job with that profile, correct?
For the most part that seems to be the case with our printer however I have a profile that has a high cut pressure and a slow speed and, for some unknown reason it does not send, or the printer does not receive, the info. When we run this particular profile the cutting is done using the settings that are set in the machine. Now...with this profile if we do select "Enable Advanced Settings" then the printer does use the info from the profile. As far as I can tell other profiles send this cut info without have to turn on "Enable Advanced Settings", for those profiles you only need turn that on if you want to change from the default settings. Can anyone tell me what might be different about this profile that would cause this? Also...is there a way to see what speed and pressure setting the printer is actually using as it cuts a job? Thanks!

Bill

Edit: I've been playing with settings for a while now and it appears that my original assumption was wrong. None of the profile cutting settings seem to have any effect unless you turn on "Enable Advanced Settings". This doesn't make sense to me because I would think that profiled settings would be used automatically and the "Enable Advanced Settings" would be used to deviate from the profile settings. I'd still like to hear from anyone who understands this better than I do!

 

[chopper]

I have had this happen to me before, or I think it is the same as you state,
I use signlab, I am sure that flexi may do this also what happens is one of two things, you made a custom profile and it saves the settings you were currently using so you will need to change the profile, or what I think it is in signlab you can set it up to either send the info to the printer (the cut pressure and speed) or to use the panel settings on the machine by disabling the software control and for some reason it reverts back to the software control and I cannot change it unless I remove it from the printing cue and resend it after I have changed the settings in the software, or I have disabled the send feature from the software, versaworks may also do this to you but I quit using it shortly after I started using the signlab rip so I am not famliar with the controls for it, //chopper

 

[Bill43mx]

Something seems weird about this but maybe it's supposed to work this way.
I have the printer set to receive the settings from the computer and it does as long as I check the "Enable Advanced Settings" box. I think it should work without checking that box since the cutting settings are part of the profile.

 

[TresL]

It will use the defaults on the printer if you don't check that box.

Defaults are changed from the front panel of the printer, is the way I understood it.??

 

[chopper]

your problem and mine are the same different software but the same problem, what you need to do is set it up one way or the other, use the software to do it ...or use the front panel to control it, I like to use the front panel but that is just me, it works the same just depends on what you like! as for the cutting pressure I do not think that it is part of the profile, but what I have found is if I use the front panel to control the cutting and speed before I contour cut the print I can run a test cut and check my cutting depth and adjust it if needed if I use the software settings I cannot change the cut pressure with out removing the print from the cut cue and change the settings in the software and resend it to the cue, but the chances of it cutting in the right spot after that are close to zero with out reprinting //chopper

 

[Bill43mx]

TresL,
Yes, that does seem to be what's happening...with the box checked it runs the profile settings and with it unchecked it runs whatever is in the printer. And you are correct that you chage the printer settings from the front panel (using the cut config button)

Chopper,
Good point about potential problems using the profile settings and needing to change them. So far we haven't needed to do that but I could see it happening. I figure if we use the settings from the profile it's one less thing to remember (or forget:Sleeping to change. We're running a lot of different material combos and the speed and pressure are different for most of them so the potential for mistakes is greater if we enter the info in the printer manually.

Thanks guys!

Bill

 

[mediaman]

Cut pressure is not part of the profile. In VersaWorks, any settings that are grayed out means you have chosen to control those settings elsewhere, usually the front panel of the printer. I like to set my own heats, which ARE part of some profiles, as I think they seem to be on the low side. I set heats high unless the material cockles and could potentially result in a head strike. If you click on "Enable Advanced Settings" then you have chosen to control settings in the software. As mentioned above, it's just a personal preference. For certain settings, such as Overprint, the only way to access them is by activating the grayed out default in Versaworks.

 

[Bill43mx]

Mediaman,
Thanks for the reply but there are 2 points which confuse me. First, "cut pressure is not part of the profile". If I go into Versaworks media explorer and select a profile and then click the "media settings" button it opens up the settings for that profile. If I then click on "cut controls" it shows the settings for Cut passes, speed, pressure, and offset. That, to me, indicates that the cut pressure is part of that profile...otherwise why would it be there?

The second thing is your comment that any settings that are greyed out means you are controlling them elsewhere. I have a couple of profiles where I have added drying time to them. When I am setting up a job and select that profile and then go to the "printer controls" section under "other controls" I have "use default media settings" selected and the info under that....vacumm power, dry time, and head height.....are all greyed out yet the printer will pause after printing and actually count down the drying time on the printer display before cutting the job. So it appears that some greyed out settings are in effect while others apparently are not. And that sums up why I'm confused!:

Bill