Software Help Mimaki CG-61pro series *a fossil has found*

[Vasilios Flets]

Hello guys!
Bill here from Greece.. 2 days ago i got a mimaki cg61 cutting plotter <<Dinosaur>> . unfortunately the working pc has been toss to garbage by the wife of the owner who died .
i have the plotter and its cables plus a CADlink adapter on the serial port side (to pc ) , i went at a local sign shop where i co-operate where the owner has a cg-50 <<dinosaur>> workhorse too since 2000s.
we tested the cg-61 and works perfectly except its rollers which need replacement and already purchased by aliexpress . the reason i am opening this topic is about its drivers and software stuff .
i m looking to make it work through an HP laptop 2019 model but seems impossible, i bought a usb to parallel cable and i m not sure if it may be a major problem for the connection . i am trying through virtual box / machine
running windows 7 to test different drivers i ve found on mimaki website but still i cant make it work. however after all these i have to find software to work with too. i ve tried trial version of SignGo and Easy Cut Studio just to see if it works but it doesn't even respond (plotter is ON, filled with roll , pressed < ROLL, it does its measurements , press remote etc) .
I do custom paint jobs and work mostly with airbrush motorcycle parts and helmets.
. i am using adobe illustrator to make my vector files . my buddy where i tested the plotter using corel draw but im not sure which plug in hes working with. FIneCut or else;
I believe trying by this laptop is a total failure but i still have to give it one more try tomorrow because a friend mentioned to me that i have to create a serial port through the virtual machine.
after christmass i ll have a desktop pc running with windows 7 with serial port on it , fingers crossed and hope i ll have better results.
i know its mess but since i find it and it works i would appreciate any help such as for drivers and software.

you can find me on instagram too as _flets .

thanks everyone in advance ,even for spending your time reading this.

 

[Ronny Axelsson]

As you probably already know, Mimaki has an Illustrator version of the FineCut plugin too, but I'm not sure you can get a copy "just like that", they seem to guard their software like it was the gold reserve.
Give it a try though, it is quite good.
Drivers is on their site too but it sounds like you've already found them.

You also mention "CADlink adapter"?
Does it mean that you have a dongle for a CADlink program, like SignLab? In that case, did you get a copy or was it buried together with the former owner's computer?
If it works and you have SignLab, then you may have a nice way to send stuff to the plotter, if you cannot get FineCut that is.
But even if you get a copy of SignLab, you need a complicated serial number as well (30 figures or so if memory serves me), so it may be useless if you don't.

Then you have the cable issue, and then the virtual machine, and I suspect both of them could cause some trouble as well.
I have an old Graphtec that I use now and then and it is connected from a Windows 10 computer via an USB to Serial adapter, but you mention both serial and parallell connection here so I'm not sure which one you intend to use.
Both should work but it can be tricky to get the settings right, at least with the serial port (long time since I did it).

In short, many variables that can cause troubles, and I would start by eliminating them one by one.
You managed to get it to work at your friends place, right? Ask him if you can bring your laptop and the plotter and do some tests, try to see where it goes wrong.
If he uses FineCut but you can not get a working copy, you should at least be allowed to download and install a trial.
The connection should be fairly easy to test by comparing settings, also check the drivers.
Would it be possible to skip the virtual machine? I assume you have another Windows version installed since it is an HP?

Out of time and ideas, hope you found something useful among my notes.
Good Luck!

 

[Vasilios Flets]

As you probably already know, Mimaki has an Illustrator version of the FineCut plugin too, but I'm not sure you can get a copy "just like that", they seem to guard their software like it was the gold reserve.
Give it a try though, it is quite good.
Drivers is on their site too but it sounds like you've already found them.

You also mention "CADlink adapter"?
Does it mean that you have a dongle for a CADlink program, like SignLab? In that case, did you get a copy or was it buried together with the former owner's computer?
If it works and you have SignLab, then you may have a nice way to send stuff to the plotter, if you cannot get FineCut that is.
But even if you get a copy of SignLab, you need a complicated serial number as well (30 figures or so if memory serves me), so it may be useless if you don't.

Then you have the cable issue, and then the virtual machine, and I suspect both of them could cause some trouble as well.
I have an old Graphtec that I use now and then and it is connected from a Windows 10 computer via an USB to Serial adapter, but you mention both serial and parallell connection here so I'm not sure which one you intend to use.
Both should work but it can be tricky to get the settings right, at least with the serial port (long time since I did it).

In short, many variables that can cause troubles, and I would start by eliminating them one by one.
You managed to get it to work at your friends place, right? Ask him if you can bring your laptop and the plotter and do some tests, try to see where it goes wrong.
If he uses FineCut but you can not get a working copy, you should at least be allowed to download and install a trial.
The connection should be fairly easy to test by comparing settings, also check the drivers.
Would it be possible to skip the virtual machine? I assume you have another Windows version installed since it is an HP?

Out of time and ideas, hope you found something useful among my notes.
Good Luck!

Thank you for your time replying to my problem. a pc nerd friend came by to give it a try yesterday and hopefully he made it work via my laptop with windows 11. i think he installed the mimaki cg60sr drivers because of being able for most windows OS, now the device is seen like this. we tried open source software, inkscape, it also has extension add on the InkCut.. but we couldnt make it work..

As result i use the regular usb to parallel cable i found on a local computer store. the device is seen as MIMAKI CG-60SR and i only can use it by the "PRINT" option.. it works like a charm! i also have a roll of an old burnt oramask 810 vinylmask and i use this for the settings because it was a bit tricky to find out whether it see the object in landscape or portrait..
it works better with portrait style and i give it a 1000mm x 1000mm width and height in print options while my document is set in 500mm W and 1000mm H.
because when i set it on 500 width if the object was bigger than this
plotter was cutting until 500.. and didn't work when i tried 1000 length.

also after many tries i found how to do it via illustrator using print option again.. i set the media paper to B0 / B1 to look big and my document is 500mm width to 1000mm in portrait mode and i have to place the object top and left.

everything works great. and i am so happy... now one more thing i have to learn how to do is pouncing because i see it in plotter options but i don't now if it ll work with print option.

 

[Ronny Axelsson]

Glad to hear you got it to work.
A few things to get used to perhaps but I'm sure you'll find it useful.
Not sure you can do pouncing via "print", unless you do it manually in the file, somehow.

By the way, my production machine is a Mimaki CG/FX-II 160 (not a dinosaur perhaps but at least medieval ) that has been working perfectly for almost fifteen years by now.
I've changed the pinch rollers, and knifes of course (always use original blades), that's all.
Windows 10 > CorelDRAW 2021 > FineCut plugin > USB cable.

 

[DL Signs]

One of ours is a CG130FX, it's been in service here for over 17 years and still works like a charm. Mimaki made some incredibly good machines back in the day, keep them maintained and they'll last. We added an SR-III to the mix, and it seems like a toy compared to the old CG.