Graphtec CE6000-60 cutter and my first test cuts look horrible?

[phototec]

I just purchased a slightly used Graphtec CE6000-60 cutter and my first test cuts look horrible.

Can anyone tell me what would cause this and how to fix it?

 

[phototec]

I just purchased a slightly used Graphtec CE6000-60 cutter and my first test cuts look horrible.

Can anyone tell me what would cause this and how to fix it?

Here are some close up views.

 

[GAC05]

I'd start with the condition of the blade - are you sure there is even one in there? Pull it out and check the tip under magnification. If the tip is chipped or rounded off a new blade might fix it.
If the blade good (or new) next check the cutting strip for grooves & cuts. If it is not smooth you need a new one.
If that checks out check the blade holder - should allow the blade to turn easily - look for dirt or bits of vinyl that may have wedged up into the hole the blade pokes out of.
The blade should also not be loose in the holder, look for the hole at the tip to be out of round. They do wear out so that could be the issue.
If everything seems ok maybe you just need to adjust the blade.
If you haven't already, download the users guide
Graphtec America: Supports/Downloads - Cutting Plotters - CE6000 Series
and go through setting up and testing the blade.
If you get past all that and it's still a no-go check the knife carriage to make sure there is no slop, play or binding on the bearing rails when you slide it back & forth. Pull and push on it, in & out should be little or no play. Clean the rails while you're at it.

If it is still not working find the guy who sold it to you and place his hands on the platen and run the carriage back and forth over them until he tells you what was wrong with it when he sold it to you.

good luck

wayne k
guam usa

 

[phototec]

I'd start with the condition of the blade - are you sure there is even one in there? Pull it out and check the tip under magnification. If the tip is chipped or rounded off a new blade might fix it.
If the blade good (or new) next check the cutting strip for grooves & cuts. If it is not smooth you need a new one.
If that checks out check the blade holder - should allow the blade to turn easily - look for dirt or bits of vinyl that may have wedged up into the hole the blade pokes out of.
The blade should also not be loose in the holder, look for the hole at the tip to be out of round. They do wear out so that could be the issue.
If everything seems ok maybe you just need to adjust the blade.
If you haven't already, download the users guide
Graphtec America: Supports/Downloads - Cutting Plotters - CE6000 Series
and go through setting up and testing the blade.
If you get past all that and it's still a no-go check the knife carriage to make sure there is no slop, play or binding on the bearing rails when you slide it back & forth. Pull and push on it, in & out should be little or no play. Clean the rails while you're at it.

If it is still not working find the guy who sold it to you and place his hands on the platen and run the carriage back and forth over them until he tells you what was wrong with it when he sold it to you.

good luck

wayne k
guam usa

Thanks Wayne, the seller claims the cutter is only 4 months old and had only light use. I checked the blade and it looks good, I went thru the setting adjustments per the manual and see a very slight improvement however the cuts are still off. Actually worse than my 15 year old CE3000-60 with a used blade.

I take it you have a CE6000, can you give me the blade settings you are using for calendared film (Oracal 651) so I can try them and see if it will make any difference.

Please review my setting and see how they compare with yours?

Here are the current settings from this CE6000-60:

 

[GAC05]

I don't see anything unusual in your settings. My Offset Force is set 4 instead of 3.
The rest are the same - think they are factory defaults.
I'm using a CleanCut 45deg blade - driving it with the Cutting Master plug-in for Illy & Corel
Cutting 2 mil cast (no lam) I have the down force set to 7 bump it up to 14 with cast lam on top.
Cutting intermediate IJ35c (no lam) 14 with intermediate lam up to 22 or 23.
I plot mostly contour cuts so I keep the speed pretty low - around 20 depending on what I'm running.

What are you using to drive the cutter? Cutting Master or one of the big guys like Flexi?
With CM you choose the blade type in the advanced settings & it sets the needed options without having to know what they are, you can tweak them to dial it in from there.
Your cuts are more than a little off so something has to be way out of whack to be that bad.
Not sure what to try next.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[phototec]

I don't see anything unusual in your settings. My Offset Force is set 4 instead of 3.
The rest are the same - think they are factory defaults.
I'm using a CleanCut 45deg blade - driving it with the Cutting Master plug-in for Illy & Corel
Cutting 2 mil cast (no lam) I have the down force set to 7 bump it up to 14 with cast lam on top.
Cutting intermediate IJ35c (no lam) 14 with intermediate lam up to 22 or 23.
I plot mostly contour cuts so I keep the speed pretty low - around 20 depending on what I'm running.

What are you using to drive the cutter? Cutting Master or one of the big guys like Flexi?
With CM you choose the blade type in the advanced settings & it sets the needed options without having to know what they are, you can tweak them to dial it in from there.
Your cuts are more than a little off so something has to be way out of whack to be that bad.
Not sure what to try next.

wayne k
guam usa

I also use CuttingMasterfrom Illustrator, it's been working fine for 15 years, for both my CE3000-60 and FC7000-75.


I just purchase this CE6000-60 from a guy who builds Ultralight aircraft, he used it to make decals for his product and said it was only 4 months old, he purchased an larger Summa cutter. But he only makes small decals and t-Shirts so the CE6000-6- would work fine for that?


Anyway he says it's 4 months old so it should work great, when we did a test cut in his office I noticed the corners of square text were ROUNDED, he told me they set the cutter to do that on purpose, so I figured because they were just getting into cutting and printing maybe they had some setting wrong and I could get the cutter home and get the cutter adjusted back to factory and it would cut fine.



I have been working on this all day today, and although it is now cutting a little better then the the first cuts I made, there are still cutting issues (see attached photo) and as you noted, the setting match yours so it has to something else.


[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Graphtec has a 2 year warranty so hopefully he will provide a copy of the receipt so I can get it repaired by Graphtec.[/FONT]

 

[Pippin Decals]

Not sure about a graphtec ,because i have a different brand but should still work the same as the rest,and i always see it was the offset settings that were off and or using the wrong blade for the cut.

I also use CuttingMasterfrom Illustrator, it's been working fine for 15 years, for both my CE3000-60 and FC7000-75.


I just purchase this CE6000-60 from a guy who builds Ultralight aircraft, he used it to make decals for his product and said it was only 4 months old, he purchased an larger Summa cutter. But he only makes small decals and t-Shirts so the CE6000-6- would work fine for that?


Anyway he says it's 4 months old so it should work great, when we did a test cut in his office I noticed the corners of square text were ROUNDED, he told me they set the cutter to do that on purpose, so I figured because they were just getting into cutting and printing maybe they had some setting wrong and I could get the cutter home and get the cutter adjusted back to factory and it would cut fine.



I have been working on this all day today, and although it is now cutting a little better then the the first cuts I made, there are still cutting issues (see attached photo) and as you noted, the setting match yours so it has to something else.


[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Graphtec has a 2 year warranty so hopefully he will provide a copy of the receipt so I can get it repaired by Graphtec.[/FONT]

 

[iam808]

I don't think this is a setting issue, I think it's the carriage - something is loose. Did the machine take a hit during transport?

Take a look at this thread maybe it'll help.
FC8000-160 bad corners

 

[Pippin Decals]

After me posting that i remembered about seeing a carriage issue etc... Good call..

I don't think this is a setting issue, I think it's the carriage - something is loose. Did the machine take a hit during transport?

Take a look at this thread maybe it'll help.
FC8000-160 bad corners