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Wrong cuts wasting tons of money!!

ABPGraphics

ABPGraphics

New Member
Alright, I'm so fed up with my printer right now....

So, We have this fairly large company ordering decals cause they are doing their whole fleet. They order roughly 6 sets per week and we just keep a running total and bill them every 5 weeks or so but recently we've changed the way we do things and have been using our roland SP300v to first print the decals then we pull them out, laminate them and then put them back in for the cuts.

Here is the annoying problem though. About 50 percent of the time I put laminated prints back in for a cut the cut is anywhere from .10 to .25 of an inch off and its done it on about 150$ worth of prints!! (Not including my time)

I don't get why it does this cause it does it dead on the other 50 percent of the time or if we're just printing something w/out laminate it cuts perfect. I've spent a lot of time getting it dialed in so I don't get why it's so far off. I'm using Roland Versaworks to print the targets and then I use special cut settings to turn the GF to 210 (Thick Laminate) offset 0 passes 1 speed 30 cm/second.

Sorry for bad structure/rambling but I'm very annoyed right now.
 
J

javila

New Member
Have you calibrated the print/lam/cut settings?

They are different from the print/cut settings.
 
cptcorn

cptcorn

adad
The laminator could be stretching and skewing the prints a tiny bit. That adds up over distance. Trying running less pressure when laminating.
 
B Snyder

B Snyder

New Member
When you go back into VersaWorks to cut the laminated prints are you pressing the Get Media Width button (or whatever its called) again? You shouldn't.
 
Ponto

Ponto

New Member
B Snyder said:
When you go back into VersaWorks to cut the laminated prints are you pressing the Get Media Width button (or whatever its called) again? You shouldn't.
Click to expand...

hmmmmm... What you have alluded to has not caused me any problems in the past and am puzzled as to why one should not call for the media scan after reloading.... can you elaborate...?

JP
 
B Snyder

B Snyder

New Member
Wish I could. I don't know why but when I'd ask VersaWorks to get the media width my cuts would be off. My cuts haven't been off at all in the past 1+ years. Why would VW need to know how wide the media is if it is going to scan for the registration marks?
 
Ponto

Ponto

New Member
After reloading and engaging the media clamps the device will immediately measure the media when setup has been activated... I see no other recourse or am I missing something...?

JP
 
bob

bob

It's better to have two hands than one glove.
cptcorn said:
The laminator could be stretching and skewing the prints a tiny bit. That adds up over distance. Trying running less pressure when laminating.
Click to expand...

If the marks are being read properly for the contour cut pass, it shouldn't matter how the print might be distorted. As long as that distortion is linear. The purpose of the registration marks is not merely to find a starting point. The larger purpose for the marks, and why you should always use four of them, is to allow the software to map its logical region onto the actual physical region on the media.

If the error is progressive as the job proceeds away from the origin you have some sort of slippage/traction problem. If the error is constant over the entire cut, then the distance from the sensor to the cutter is not properly set.
 
B Snyder

B Snyder

New Member
Ponto said:
After reloading and engaging the media clamps the device will immediately measure the media when setup has been activated... I see no other recourse or am I missing something...?

JP
Click to expand...

Yes, the printer scans the media automatically but the software doesn't know what that measurement is until you click "get media width."
Maybe its some other reason but when I stopped getting the media width in VW my cuts stopped being off.
 
B Snyder

B Snyder

New Member
bob said:
If the marks are being read properly for the contour cut pass, it shouldn't matter how the print might be distorted. As long as that distortion is linear. The purpose of the registration marks is not merely to find a starting point. The larger purpose for the marks, and why you should always use four of them, is to allow the software to map its logical region onto the actual physical region on the media.

If the error is progressive as the job proceeds away from the origin you have some sort of slippage/traction problem. If the error is constant over the entire cut, then the distance from the sensor to the cutter is not properly set.
Click to expand...


If the stretching isn't linear, like if the stretching only occurs between foot 2 and foot 3 in a 4 foot print, then the cuts might be dead on where they should be but the images may be in the wrong spot.
 
Sticky Signs

Sticky Signs

New Member
Try slowing the cut speeds down and using all the pinch rollers. Don't forget to put lots of bleed on stuff and like Mosh said, no longer than 8' to 10'.
 
threeputt

threeputt

New Member
APB, I don't think anyone's mentioned running "environmental match". It's in the menu setting on the machine itself.

Works like this: If it's cold or damp or hot or humid or whatever, the day you print the graphic, those conditions may be different the day you finally try cutting the laminated print.

The Environmental Match takes care of all of that for you. Use it before printing...Use it before cutting. (if done on a different day)

That's my two cents. Hope it works for you?
 
animenick65

animenick65

New Member
B Snyder said:
Yes, the printer scans the media automatically but the software doesn't know what that measurement is until you click "get media width."
Maybe its some other reason but when I stopped getting the media width in VW my cuts stopped being off.
Click to expand...

So long as the entire job dimensions are within the pinch rollers, then in my experience it doesn't matter if you hit "Get Media Width". The width of the media is irrelevant as the printer searches for its start point. Hence why you can unload media, load it up again in and straight position and it will find the marks. This is of course, my experience.
 
S

Skye

New Member
env match

threeputt's env. match is what we do.
there is test print/cut you can perform and manually adjust.

if after you try the env. match and your manually adjust the print/cut,
and still not working.
it is a tech job to adjust the feed or scan.

we have had the same problem.

Skye
 
gabagoo

gabagoo

New Member
I am not a Roland person but with my Mimaki and Summa set up I have found that if I laminate and then cut and there is silvering, then the optical reader has trouble reading the registration marks and I have caught it actually calibrating itself over simply a white area, hence cuts are off.

I now insist on waiting for the silvering to settle down a bit before cutting.
 
Mosh

Mosh

New Member
As long at it reads all four mark areas it does not matter if the pinch rollers are moved, or if you hit the get width.
 
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