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My print guy is on vacation. Summa T plotter registration marks

steve@nodinx

New Member
Have the Summa T plotter with Adobe . I send to printer with macsigns tab . But i can not find where to create registration marks. I feel like this is a very simple answer, but for the life of me i cant figure it out. I used the graphtec with cutting master 4 and it was very simple, but since buying the summa i have been slammed with intalls and havent played with the Summa Plotter yet. Would appreciate if someone could explain ..

thank you.
 

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Bill Heishman

New Member
I use Signlab, so I really don't know much about your interface, sorry. I'll try to make this as generic as I can.

It is pretty easy to make an "array" of square marks for the summa to optically pick them up. You have to draw them yourself. No automatics here to help.

With the summa plotter, you make your own. First, work in metric. I use primarily 3mm squares and make sure to place them at least 5 to 10 mm outside the "cut" zone. For 30" material, I typically go as wide as 700 mm, but 725 is no problem. For wider cuts (54" material) 1300 mm is MAX. you can stack multiple marks in the X axis (length wise) but only 2 marks in the Y axis, left and right looking at the plotter. If the marks are arrayed correctly, a 700mm Y axis will measure 703 mm. The marks are arrayed, left edge to left edge, so that the total distance between the marks (simple squares) is the gap + 3mm. Your summa i/f in cutting master should allow you to set up cut with opus options.

Just remember:
Y axis is left and right looking at the plotter. X axis is the vinyl roll. I've cut items up to 1300mm (about 51.2 inches) x 150 inches long with good success with my summa plotters.
Keep the marks square. Although you have the option to define rectangles, use squares to avoid confusion.
I have used marks as small as 1.5 mm for cutting small sheets (11 x 17) of tee shirt transfer and up to 4mm for perf material, but 3mm is best all round for me and that is what I use 90% of the time.
Your X marks can be up to 1300 mm apart, but I try not to put them more than 1000 mm apart. If your vinyl is skewing, it can put the second mark a little out of range and make it difficult for the opus to find it.
Keep the cut lines inside the inner boundaries of the marks. Keep the marks at least 10 mm away from any printing that may interfere with the opus.

Of course when you send it to the plotter, you need to be using a driver with the opus feature enabled and define the mark size and distance as well as how many X axis marks you have. FYI- 2 gaps of 1000 mm will have 3 marks, 5 gaps, 6. One gap is defined as 2 marks.

Hope I helped a little.

Bill Heishman
Decals Plus, Inc.
 
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