Gerber Newbie has a few questions

[arcman]

Hello all,

I recently purchased a complete Gerber Edge 2 package that included everything I need to start a sign shop business (minus any experience, talent and a shop to do it from). I bought it extremely cheap thinking of reselling it but now I want to play with it a bit and maybe try to find a way to make a few dollars from it. I'm up for the adventure. The first hurdle will be getting it and the cutter set up via the network (I have a printer adapter) and getting the Omega 2.6 to work with both. I'll get it figured out but if anyone knows of a setup video, please let me know.

Hardware wise, the printer seems to work ok (via the built in test print). It has 33,000 minutes on it and no dead pixels. It and the Envision were filthy and I tore them apart and cleaned everything up.

The Envision has an issue. The cutter head travel motor must have some kind of a position sensor that is dirty or needs adjusting. When you push and release the right/left buttons and the head comes to a stop, the motor makes a bunch of noise vibrating the head back and forth. You can't see it move but you can feel the head vibrating. Some times (especially if the head is far to the left) the carriage stops and makes no noise. Most often, it just sits there buzzing away until you hit a button and move it to a spot that it's happy with. I see in other posts, owners have complained about this thing being noisy (the fan's bad enough) but this is definitely something that looks to be fixable. Is there something in a hidden setup that compensates for position sensitivity?

One other little problem is the wingnut that clamps the cutter holder. When I did the first test cut, the holder flew right out of the machine. Not good. You can tighten the wingnut as hard as you can twist it, and it takes nothing to pop it back open. Is the wingnut replaceable? Geez, Gerber's not too helpful.

Enough for now. Lot's more later.

Thanks.
Lee Hagen

 

[arcman]

Ten days,180 views and no replies... I'm not off to a good start.

I managed to fix a couple of the problems with the Envision. I found a source for the wingscrew and took care of that one. A call to Gerber resulted in a tip to oil the crap out of the slides on the cutter head, which loosened it up enough to stop the vibrating in the Z axis. I had already oiled it plenty but the tech gal said it needed lots of oil to wash any crud buildup in the bronze bearings. Sure enough, it allowed the head to retract all the way up when you let go of it at the bottom of it's stroke (power off). No more Z axis noise. Still haven't figured out how to fix the same issue in the Y axis. I think that one will be much tougher.

Now for a different issue. I can only get Omega to print to the Edge 2 via a saved 'spool' file. Admittedly, I don't have doodly in time with the program but I figure if I create a new file, type some words, assign them a foil color, click on 'output all' (or all of the output options for that matter) it should allow me to pick the printer in GSPplot. But, it keeps asking me to install a plotter. The printer shows up in GQmanager but the plot program won't use it. I stumbled across one saved spool file and I managed to get the Edge to print the file, so I know everything's communicating, it printed just fine, but man... I'm not finding the right buttons for this one.

Any help?
Thanks.


'

 

[Fred Weiss]

I think the lack of answers is that there are so many possibilities and you have little or no understanding of the steps needed to setup the system or how to run it.

1. Install the Gerber Omega software.

2. Install the Edge and the Envision using the installer available through the GSP Tray or in GSPPlot or from Composer. Be sure that the cables you are using along with any USB adapters are either supplied by Gerber or are known to be correct for a Gerber Edge system. Well known brands of cables and adapters often do not work.

3. Setup the Sentinel Driver Config so that all ports are checked as "No" except the port where your dongle for Omega is plugged in.

4. Read the user guide and/or the help files for a full understanding. Many members here will be willing to offer help once you have developed a basic understanding of your software and hardware.

5. Spool files can be used but lack the additional controls and user friendliness of GSPPlot. I recommend that you setup and output your jobs from Composer to GSPPlot. From there you can send jobs to a properly connected Edge or Envision plotter by just using the F10 key for the Edge and the F8 key for the plotter.

 

[arcman]

Fred,

My original post had nothing to do with setting the system up.

As to your talking points...

We'll skip 1.

2. Followed the instructions, installed plotter and printer through GSPTray and both look like they are installed properly. I can't be positive the USB/Parallel cable that came with this stuff is actually a Gerber, 'cause it does not have Gerber's name on it. But, when plugged in, it comes up in device manager as "Gerber Edge USB to Parallel" and there's a Omega CD specifically for the USB/Parallel cable installation. The driver is Gerber's. In one of the dialog boxes inside GQManager, it can see when the Edge is online or not. Using a straight parallel cable results in the same exact situation. I'm confident th

3. Already did that.

4. Somehow, without a 'full understanding' of the program, I've managed to get the Envision to cut just fine. For some reason, GSPPlot does not recognize the printer. This package came with the previous owners entire stash of jobs. I've dug through many to find the simplest file to print and none will. I assume if you want to just print something with the Edge, you would 'Output all', and then GSPPlot would start, showing your options. Is this not the case?

 

[Fred Weiss]

Now for a different issue. I can only get Omega to print to the Edge 2 via a saved 'spool' file. Admittedly, I don't have doodly in time with the program but I figure if I create a new file, type some words, assign them a foil color, click on 'output all' (or all of the output options for that matter) it should allow me to pick the printer in GSPplot. But, it keeps asking me to install a plotter. The printer shows up in GQmanager but the plot program won't use it. I stumbled across one saved spool file and I managed to get the Edge to print the file, so I know everything's communicating, it printed just fine, but man... I'm not finding the right buttons for this one.

Any help?
Thanks.

If you are being asked to install a plotter, that would indicate that you do not have the Envision properly installed. Yet you contradict that below when you say that you got the Envision to cut just fine. Perhaps you are confused as to what each is named ... Edge = Printer and Envision = Plotter. The Envision plotter will not run from the USB to Parallel connection. That is for the Edge printer. The Envision plotter requires either a serial COM port with a Gerber supplied serial cable or a USB to Serial adapter and a Gerber supplied serial cable.

Fred,

My original post had nothing to do with setting the system up.

I was replying to parts of your second post. And your post is shouting out to me that you have not setup your system correctly.

2. Followed the instructions, installed plotter and printer through GSPTray and both look like they are installed properly. I can't be positive the USB/Parallel cable that came with this stuff is actually a Gerber, 'cause it does not have Gerber's name on it. But, when plugged in, it comes up in device manager as "Gerber Edge USB to Parallel" and there's a Omega CD specifically for the USB/Parallel cable installation. The driver is Gerber's. In one of the dialog boxes inside GQManager, it can see when the Edge is online or not. Using a straight parallel cable results in the same exact situation. I'm confident th

Your reply stops mid sentence so I am unsure what you intended to say. Having the Edge set to Online is required for GQManager to be able to send the job to the Edge, otherwise it will sit in GQManager until you press the Online button on the Edge. It does not give any indication of the state of the Edge in GQManager.

4. Somehow, without a 'full understanding' of the program, I've managed to get the Envision to cut just fine. For some reason, GSPPlot does not recognize the printer. This package came with the previous owners entire stash of jobs. I've dug through many to find the simplest file to print and none will. I assume if you want to just print something with the Edge, you would 'Output all', and then GSPPlot would start, showing your options. Is this not the case?

Which is it? You say that GSPPlot wants you to install a plotter but you say you got the Envision to cut just fine. This would only be correctly installed if you have a serial connection between your computer and the Envision plotter. Do you understand that there are two separate connections needed to drive the Edge with a parallel connection and the Envision with a serial one? A full workflow on your system is:

1. Send the job from Composer to GSPPlot.

2. Load vinyl and first foil color in your Edge and send the print portion to it from GSpplot (F10 function key). Press the Online button until printing starts. Repeat for each additional color foil.

3. When printing is done, move the vinyl to the Envision plotter and line up the target using the bomb site. Remove the bomb site and insert the blade holder tool. Send the cut portion from GSpplot to the Envision plotter (F8 function key) and press the F1 button on the Envision plotter to start the job cutting. You can, alternatively, press F1 to put the Envision plotter online and it will then start running as soon as you send the job from GSPPlot.

 

[Fred Weiss]

Once you get past your current issues, here's a couple of tips for Composer that will save you some time:

1. Set your view to show Cut Print colors in wireframe. This will cause vectors to be displayed as black if cut only, red if print only and green if both print and cut attributes are assigned.

2. Use the 1234 Print Order dialog to double check the vinyls and foils you are using. Keyboard shortcut is Control +D. Lots of setup errors will be found with this method.

 

[Kathi Hauser]

Are you hooked up via com port or usb?
if USB - Which adapter ?
and...what version of windows?

I get these calls all day long, we can get your running.