Question Will this work?

[Boudica]

So, I'm doing a print cut of some stickers on reflective vinyl. I gambled - and lost - on how much vinyl I had left, and ran out before it finished printing - including the registrations marks on the end.
Printing on the epson, there is this odd feature where if you run out of media, it prompts you to load more and keep printing. This has always seemed pointless to me, so I have never tried it. but, I still felt like gambling, so I loaded some more material and kept printing. It picked up right where it left off.

My plan is, to splice the two prints together, and try to cut it anyway. Will it work?
The plotter I'm using is a Roland GR

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Nope, its dumb.

 

[ewded]

I don't see why it wouldn't. Sometimes I draw the cut lines "manually" if they happen to be too small and it works. In the future try setting up shorter sets and duplicate them in the rip, you should have a repeating cut option on your cutter

 

[Gino]

Sounds like a neat feature if it does work.

 

[GAC05]

Not sure it would work well on reflective but I have come up short (insert joke here) on a few prints and was able to change the registration marks from 4 down to the 2 that did print and run it that way, using Graphtech's cutting master.
Was able to save everything except the last row more than once.

 

[Vinyl slayer]

I'm using onyx, and cut server.

 

[Vinyl slayer]

How big are we talking? I'll be happy to start a pool.

7 ft. I know, I should have made it shorter. There is a list of things I would have done differently. Hind sight. I will let you know how it works tomorrow. Gonna try it. My boss thinks I'm nuts, but I want to see if it will work.

 

[Vinyl slayer]

I got $20 on plotting the 4 corners well! But if you're running a graphtec 8600, count me out. I ran 5 identical prints yesterday, and the one in the middle wouldn't plot until I loaded it backwards. All bets are off with that beast.

So, if it works, you will buy Bouduca lunch?

 

[GAC05]

I wish Mutoh had a "continue printing" prompt. Once in a while, I'll get a false "end of roll" error that cancels a job that could have made it to the end or allowed me to add a little trailing material to keep it under the pinch rollers long enough to finish. The Graphtec does it.

 

[Vinyl slayer]

I'm realizing that the continue printing feature could work... Tape the new media to the media still there. Loose a row or two, but it could/might save a job overall. Obviously if this happened in the middle of long panel it wouldn't work.

 

[Chrxs]

What is the purpose of the stickers? Remember that the stickers shrink after a while, depending on the material. There will be a gap where you put the two stickers together. Unfortunately, protective laminate doesn't change that either.

Kind regards

 

[White Haus]

How does the cutter read the marks, does it read all of them then start cutting? (Assuming yes)

Just thinking out loud, our flatbed cutter luckily only reads a few marks then starts cutting, which is great for longer runs that messed up and didn't print the last row of marks.

 

[SightLine]

We have done it dozens of times..... Because there is often some slight defects or banding when it runs out we always just reopen the print job on the RIP, crop it to give about an inch of overlap (ideally there is some aspect of the design in the area that will allow you to splice it back exactly) and do some final trimming, fold some of the backing back and hand splice it with about an inch overlap on the tables adding a strip of packing tape across the back overlap of the backing paper to prevent feed issues in the cutter, then laminate as usual and cut. Of course we try to avoid ever having to do this but once in a long while it happens.

 

[Boudica]

Ok, So I've spliced the print together. It cut off right in the middle of a row - so those will be trashed. butt seem the print together. the vinyl actually overlaps, but there is no overlap in the print. Used packing tape to seal the pieces together in the back. That flap would be a problem in this plotter (not a flat bed). I think I've lined it up well enough for the sensor to read all four marks accurately. It needs to find all four. This could fail in two ways... either it can't read the registration marks well enough - or my piecemeal Frankenstein print will get jammed going back and forth - a very common issue for this plotter.
Here goes nothing....

 

[rjssigns]

I wish Mutoh had a "continue printing" prompt. Once in a while, I'll get a false "end of roll" error that cancels a job that could have made it to the end or allowed me to add a little trailing material to keep it under the pinch rollers long enough to finish. The Graphtec does it.

My Mutoh would "end of roll" error too until I stuck a scrap of vinyl over the sensor.

 

[Boudica]

Ok, So I've spliced the print together. It cut off right in the middle of a row - so those will be trashed. butt seem the print together. the vinyl actually overlaps, but there is no overlap in the print. Used packing tape to seal the pieces together in the back. That flap would be a problem in this plotter (not a flat bed). I think I've lined it up well enough for the sensor to read all four marks accurately. It needs to find all four. This could fail in two ways... either it can't read the registration marks well enough - or my piecemeal Frankenstein print will get jammed going back and forth - a very common issue for this plotter.
Here goes nothing....

IT WORKED! It cut the whole job perfectly - no jamming.

 

[signage]

Kwel!

 

[SightLine]

Congrats - as I said, it is definitely doable but you have to get it very exacting and some sort of thin tape across the backing paper overlap to prevent that from catching.

 

[Joseph44708]

This happens to me at least three times per week. Im running two seiko W-64 and a roland XR-640, I cut everything on Graftec 160 cutters.
I just measure out from the last good row of printed images, add a mm for the thickness of my pen, then apply crop marks over my pen marks from another sheet that has already been cut. Works every time.