Mimaki CJV30-160 Won't cut correct

[JayVal]

I've been having an off and on issue with the contour cutting vinyl on our Mimaki cutter. I would send artwork through and release the job to be cut. The machine will feed the correct amount of material and then start cutting horizontal lines in a condensed area and sometimes overlapping the lines and cutting through the wax paper. This doesn't happen all the time, but enough to make me sweat...

Sometimes all I have to do to get it to cut properly is reload the vinyl into the machine and re-release the job. The worst part is the wasted material, because it will start cutting at the end of the artwork after feeding all the paper. When that doesn't work, I'll print registration marks and contour cut using those marks. I'm just getting worried now because i'm going to be getting material where I wont be able to print registration marks, and I wont be able to waste much material since the artwork are going to be approximately 100"+ in length.

I'll check to see if the correct width of the vinyl roll has been recognized, and yes, the machine did scan the correct width of the roll, and the preview looks correct as well. Has anyone seen this issue or know how to correct it?

Software used
Rasterlink Pro 5
Finecut 8.7.4
Illustrator CC

 

[Solventinkjet]

I have found throughout the years that using FineCut to cut a print that was printed in Rasterlink doesn't always work the best. I have had much more success setting the file up with a CutContour spot color and opening the file directly in Rasterlink. Then print and cut using Rasterlink only and that should help out. Also, I would upgrade to Rasterlink 6 as it is far less glitchy. It should be a free upgrade.

 

[clarizeyale]

Unfortunately don't know how to use FineCut or Rasterlink but if you're able to change the cut order like you can do in Flexi, that may help with starting your job at the front end rather than it going all the way to the back end.

 

[myront]

Has the font been converted to outlines? If not do so and try that.

 

[JayVal]

I have found throughout the years that using FineCut to cut a print that was printed in Rasterlink doesn't always work the best. I have had much more success setting the file up with a CutContour spot color and opening the file directly in Rasterlink. Then print and cut using Rasterlink only and that should help out. Also, I would upgrade to Rasterlink 6 as it is far less glitchy. It should be a free upgrade.

I'll try upgrading to Rasterlink 6 if it's free. Everytime I print something with registration marks, I've had practically perfect cuts, it's usually when I just contour cut non printed vinyl is where I run into this issue. I will try setting up my file with a CutContour spot colour and put that in the hot folder and hopefully it won't give me any issues. Going to be cutting special ordered frosted vinyl this week... and I dont want to have to worry about this issue.

 

[Solventinkjet]

I'll try upgrading to Rasterlink 6 if it's free. Everytime I print something with registration marks, I've had practically perfect cuts, it's usually when I just contour cut non printed vinyl is where I run into this issue. I will try setting up my file with a CutContour spot colour and put that in the hot folder and hopefully it won't give me any issues. Going to be cutting special ordered frosted vinyl this week... and I dont want to have to worry about this issue.

A ha! Yes, cutting and not printing in Rasterlink 5 does not work for some reason. You can also try just cutting out of FineCut as well.

 

[myront]

...You can also try just cutting out of FineCut as well.

That's exactly what we do.

Only use Rasterlink for RIPPING prints.

 

[ZXNutt]

I have found throughout the years that using FineCut to cut a print that was printed in Rasterlink doesn't always work the best. I have had much more success setting the file up with a CutContour spot color and opening the file directly in Rasterlink. Then print and cut using Rasterlink only and that should help out. Also, I would upgrade to Rasterlink 6 as it is far less glitchy. It should be a free upgrade.

Were you able to upgrade to rasterlink 6 from Rasterlink Pro 5 SG? Rasterlink 6 (6.15) keeps saying that my activation code (from Rasterlink Pro 5 SG) is for another product. I have already run the license deactivation tool and it keeps saying the same thing. Help?

 

[ZXNutt]

sorry, double post.

 

[myront]

Just a note about the FineCut plugin for Corel. It really just uses a series of macros for the tools. I was able to add a bit of code that would throw an error message, once you hit cut, if shapes overlap. Saved me a few times when cutting text that had overlapping characters (forgot to weld first).

 

[JayVal]

So I haven't been able to fix this issue yet, but I have a work-around that has been working so far.

Since I can't cut directly from Finecut (Mimaki is attached to a computer that we copy/output to a hot folder), I can't try that recommendation from you fine folk.

Work-Around
I'll create my contour cut artwork layer in Illustrator, and then I'll also create a random artwork (a 1/4" circle is what I've been using) in a corner or somewhere out of the way on another layer and send it to Rasterlink as a PRINT & CUT job from FineCut. In Rasterlink, I will then RENDER and then CUT skipping the PRINT phase. Work-around seems to work so far. Without the data to be printed, the cutting will just fail as described in the original thread post.

Thought of this idea because the contour cutting has never failed on me when I do any type of print and cut.

I hope nobody has this issue like I do, but if you do, I hope this work-around works for you! I will continue to cut jobs in this fashion until something happens. I will post if things change. I appreciate all the help. Thanks everyone!