How to setup my workflow? SAI Flexi HP Latex 365, Summa S1D160

[Sensations Exhibits]

I recently had absorb the responsibility of producing all of our companys vinyl. I have muddle my way through so far and can print the files i'm provided, OR cut the contours i'm provided.

what i have not been able to figure out is how do I setup a print/cut job. I occasionally am sent a company logo that is not solid color, and thus would need to be printed first and then contour cut on the plotter. I know how to trace the image, and assign it to be a contour cut, but for some reason i cant wrap my head around how i am able to load the printed vinyl into the plotter, and the plotter then can accurately process the file?

I understand this is probably the Nooby-est question of all time, but i've got a whole fabrication shop to manage and its hard to find time to sit and hash this out!

 

[IsItFasst]

I don't have your exact set up but I'll try an help the best I can. In Flexi when you go to print it will pull up the Rip and Print window. Go to the far right tab which should be the cut dialog (assuming you have set up your cut line properly). You should a drop town right below those tabs that allows you to select your Summa as your cutting machine. You will then go to the next column over and in the Registration Mark area pull down, select the Summa registration mark. Since I don't have a Summa I'm not sure what it will say here but just select the other thing that is NOT "None". Then right above that in "Send:", change from "as a hybrid job" to "as separate jobs". Now the print should print registration marks before and after the print that your Summa can read. So when you stick it into the Summa and then send the cut job to it, it will look for those marks and calibrate the cut.

Things to note:
- Make sure you leave a little extra at the end of the print. The machine probably has back sensors so you need to have enough waste material at the end so the machine knows there is still material on it when it is reading the last marks. For my machine it is about 10 inches or so.
-For the cut job, in production manager/workflow tab, I always change the "After output:" from Delete to Hold. I do this because there is always a chance the machine doesn't read the crop marks correctly which will give you an error. If you hold the job, you can reinsert the material and try again. If you have that set to delete, it is just gone and you have no way of trying to try again. This is extremely critical starting off as you will be trying to learn where the material needs to be positioned in the machine in order to get it to read the marks correctly.
-All of this take some practice to figure it out so I suggest playing around and just printing a small print and cut job to waste as little as possible during testing.

Since I don't have your machines I'm not 100% sure how accurate this is but it should be close since I have been using Flexi for over 20 years and the process is pretty straightforward once you get it figured out. Hope this helps and hopefully I didn't leave anything critical out in the steps listed.

 

[Jeppe.Nielsen]

Flexi should (it can’t) have the option to «cut jobs automatically» in Production Manager: For a Summa cutter you can use barcodes and automate the job recognition process, but making the necessary cut files ends up being a manual process with SAi Flexi. This can be automated completely in Caldera, Onyx, Ergosoft, ColorGate and more RIPs.

I have set up at least 150 customers with the Summa barcode workflow and it is fantastic, but it requires that you understand the options and know how to handle both the cutter and the software.

I respect that our clients don’t know all of this, so I recommend that you find a Summa dealer in your area who really knows how to set ut up.

If you are based in Norway I can help you…

 

[Sensations Exhibits]

I don't have your exact set up but I'll try an help the best I can. In Flexi when you go to print it will pull up the Rip and Print window. Go to the far right tab which should be the cut dialog (assuming you have set up your cut line properly). You should a drop town right below those tabs that allows you to select your Summa as your cutting machine. You will then go to the next column over and in the Registration Mark area pull down, select the Summa registration mark. Since I don't have a Summa I'm not sure what it will say here but just select the other thing that is NOT "None". Then right above that in "Send:", change from "as a hybrid job" to "as separate jobs". Now the print should print registration marks before and after the print that your Summa can read. So when you stick it into the Summa and then send the cut job to it, it will look for those marks and calibrate the cut.

Things to note:
- Make sure you leave a little extra at the end of the print. The machine probably has back sensors so you need to have enough waste material at the end so the machine knows there is still material on it when it is reading the last marks. For my machine it is about 10 inches or so.
-For the cut job, in production manager/workflow tab, I always change the "After output:" from Delete to Hold. I do this because there is always a chance the machine doesn't read the crop marks correctly which will give you an error. If you hold the job, you can reinsert the material and try again. If you have that set to delete, it is just gone and you have no way of trying to try again. This is extremely critical starting off as you will be trying to learn where the material needs to be positioned in the machine in order to get it to read the marks correctly.
-All of this take some practice to figure it out so I suggest playing around and just printing a small print and cut job to waste as little as possible during testing.

Since I don't have your machines I'm not 100% sure how accurate this is but it should be close since I have been using Flexi for over 20 years and the process is pretty straightforward once you get it figured out. Hope this helps and hopefully I didn't leave anything critical out in the steps listed.

I'll take a look at this sometime this afternoon, This confirms what I had suspected. That is, an indexing mark is read by the Summa which provides the origin for the cut job. I've got a long background in CNC and 3D printing so I knew there had to be some way the machines could work from the same origin.

 

[Sensations Exhibits]

Flexi should (it can’t) have the option to «cut jobs automatically» in Production Manager: For a Summa cutter you can use barcodes and automate the job recognition process, but making the necessary cut files ends up being a manual process with SAi Flexi. This can be automated completely in Caldera, Onyx, Ergosoft, ColorGate and more RIPs.

I have set up at least 150 customers with the Summa barcode workflow and it is fantastic, but it requires that you understand the options and know how to handle both the cutter and the software.

I respect that our clients don’t know all of this, so I recommend that you find a Summa dealer in your area who really knows how to set ut up.

If you are based in Norway I can help you…

Understood. At least I'm now pointed in the correct direction. I really appreciate the input. This is a fantastic community, and one that I hope to eventually be able to contribute to myself!

 

[geNe36]

Summa Barcode Plugin for Illustrator (without RIP):