Flexi 8.6 / Roland 300SP and Contour Cutting

[Morph1]

Hey guys,

I just spent some time contour cutting to sort of have a feel for it running it on the hybrid roland sp 300,
again my past background was mimaki with summa plotter for contour cutting which worked amazing...

I have a small problem understanding how Roland reads and associates the registration marks..., I noticed when I run a print with contour cut set in place,
roland prints the image printing also the 4 circles and that small bar as registration marks, now right after printing I ran the contour cut sequence and the printer finds all the
registration marks cuts the image perfectly, great , very happy with that ... now next step was to print the same image sheetcut it and laminate it... all went good
image is laminated , now I load that vinyl back in to the printer I run the contour cut sequence the head starts moving finding all the registration marks however it does not cut
exactly as the path indicates missing the image perimeter by a quoter inch over... , I don't quite understand it how it can miss the position of the cut path when it finds all the registration marks...
Example: in summa opus it does not matter where the material sits in the plotter or where the file is placed on the rip print area, over to x,y 0,0 or x 2" over it does not matter
once summa finds all the registration marks it cuts the image path perfectly.... what is happening with the roland ?
Do I have to load the vinyl in exactly the same spot in the printer and then have the artwork positioned in the exactly same spot in the rip window??
This is a bit strange as I thought once the registration is found the printer would determine the exact position of the graphics between the registration marks and contour cut the graphics
exactly as set up in the file, instead it finds the registration perfectly and cuts the graphics incorrectly...

any help would be appreciated

thanks.

 

[CS-SignSupply]

What media and Laminate is being used?

Is the contour cut offset by 1/4" in one direction, or is the cut skewed slightly in both directions?

 

[Morph1]

Yes it is offset by a distance but not consistent...,
lets say 28" width I got 3 logos in a row the first logo from right cuts by 0.75" off the target, the next one to the left cuts 0.5" off the target the 3rd one from the left cuts right on target at left side but off to the right on right side...
the only way I can get them cut consistent is if I will place my vinyl back in the printer in the exact same spot and set the group of logos exactly in the rip window at x,y 0,0 right bottom corner...
I thought that it should not matter where I place them in the rip window as the size and the distance between the logos remains the same so the printed registration marks would always print at the same thus once the printer detects the displacement of the registration marks it should cut the path in the exact spot regardless graphics position in the rip window...
Using summa in pair with mimaki , it does not matter where I place my graphics in the rip window to cut the graphics as the path is defined by the registration marks only, not by the position of mygraphics in the rip window...
Materials I am using are Arlon DPF 6000 xrp and Laminate DPF 3200

any other thoughts?

 

[LittleSnakey]

In the cutting tab in Product Manager do you have it set to hybrid job or separate jobs. I usually use the separate job setting. Also try to avoid centering on the media instead use x and y position of 1". This way you can put those values into the position and resend the cut if you have to.

Yes it is offset by a distance but not consistent...,
lets say 28" width I got 3 logos in a row the first logo from right cuts by 0.75" off the target, the next one to the left cuts 0.5" off the target the 3rd one from the left cuts right on target at left side but off to the right on right side...
the only way I can get them cut consistent is if I will place my vinyl back in the printer in the exact same spot and set the group of logos exactly in the rip window at x,y 0,0 right bottom corner...
I thought that it should not matter where I place them in the rip window as the size and the distance between the logos remains the same so the printed registration marks would always print at the same thus once the printer detects the displacement of the registration marks it should cut the path in the exact spot regardless graphics position in the rip window...
Using summa in pair with mimaki , it does not matter where I place my graphics in the rip window to cut the graphics as the path is defined by the registration marks only, not by the position of mygraphics in the rip window...
Materials I am using are Arlon DPF 6000 xrp and Laminate DPF 3200

any other thoughts?

 

[LittleSnakey]

Also do not poll the printer for the media size after removing and laminating the vinyl and replacing back into the printer.

In the cutting tab in Product Manager do you have it set to hybrid job or separate jobs. I usually use the separate job setting. Also try to avoid centering on the media instead use x and y position of 1". This way you can put those values into the position and resend the cut if you have to.

 

[Morph1]

In the cutting tab in Product Manager do you have it set to hybrid job or separate jobs. I usually use the separate job setting. Also try to avoid centering on the media instead use x and y position of 1". This way you can put those values into the position and resend the cut if you have to.

thanks for the reply,

no I send my print job and cut job as separate jobs, I see what you're saying with the 1" x,y offset,
as I mentioned it works fine when I print at 0,0 and cut at 0,0 ...
I will try the 1" offset see if that works... it's just odd that the position of the graphics has to be in exact same spot in the production manager ... using summa cutter / summa opus , it does not matter as the cutter validates cut path only based on the displacement of the registration marks no the position of the graphics within media... I guess roland works differently...
Good lesson learned,

thanks.

 

[LittleSnakey]

Yes you are correct in the way the summa functions compared to the roland. On the summa you are telling the machine where the first mark is. On the roland the Product manager tells the printer where the first mark is.

thanks for the reply,

no I send my print job and cut job as separate jobs, I see what you're saying with the 1" x,y offset,
as I mentioned it works fine when I print at 0,0 and cut at 0,0 ...
I will try the 1" offset see if that works... it's just odd that the position of the graphics has to be in exact same spot in the production manager ... using summa cutter / summa opus , it does not matter as the cutter validates cut path only based on the displacement of the registration marks no the position of the graphics within media... I guess roland works differently...
Good lesson learned,

thanks.

 

[Morph1]

you are right , thanks for clarifying this for me..., I thought either myself or the printer were going crazy...
This forum is great and the willingness of other users to help is simply amazing.


thanks all !