Plotter woes

[Geneva Olson]

Can anyone tell me why it shifted? It started plotting ok and then got worse.

 

[Boudica]

I hate when that happens. When it happens to me, it's because the media is skewed. Or, if I do it with our print/cut - If I change the media width in the rip between printing and cutting it will sometimes do that.

 

[Geneva Olson]

I hate when that happens. When it happens to me, it's because the media is skewed. Or, if I do it with our print/cut - If I change the media width in the rip between printing and cutting it will sometimes do that.

thanks. I got through the run but it was rough. I guess it walked some.

 

[Gino]

The really weird thing is..... if you moved the cut to the right, it doesn't look like it'll fit anyway. It's off by a small amount on one side of the letter and a different amount on the other side of the same letter. It's not consistent. It looks like the wrong file was used for cutting.

 

[Geneva Olson]

The really weird thing is..... if you moved the cut to the right, it doesn't look like it'll fit anyway. It's off by a small amount on one side of the letter and a different amount on the other side of the same letter. It's not consistent. It looks like the wrong file was used for cutting.

So, I loaded the graphics in flexi and put a cut file on it. Then I printed, laminated and loaded it in the plotter to cut. I did it the first time and it was off. I made smaller print runs and did it and it was off again. I haven't messed with any settings so I don't know what happened. Unless, what Boudica said, it was loaded just off enough that it shifted?

Im going to work on it today and see what happens. I changed the blade thinking that MAYBE there was debris in the blade holder that caused it to plot "off" but other than that, I don't know.

 

[Gino]

Here's what I mean........................ top/bottom - side to side, it'll never fit.

 

[Gino]

Oh, now I understand. Nevermind.

 

[Modern Ink Signs]

Few things…..

How long is the piece you are cutting. Longer the piece you might have to slow your cutter down.

Check for skew before you send to cut.

Is your cutter clean? Clean the “grit” wheels from build up. As you run your machine those wheels build up paper, dust and even adhesive. If these are not clean you media will slip.

I’ll guess a good cleaning might be the solution. We clean ours on a regular maintenance schedule. Every 2 months, sooner if needed.

 

[Geneva Olson]

Few things…..

How long is the piece you are cutting. Longer the piece you might have to slow your cutter down.

Check for skew before you send to cut.

Is your cutter clean? Clean the “grit” wheels from build up. As you run your machine those wheels build up paper, dust and even adhesive. If these are not clean you media will slip.

I’ll guess a good cleaning might be the solution. We clean ours on a regular maintenance schedule. Every 2 months, sooner if needed.

I started out with 132 inches. and that was off. So I printed half the fun and plotted. same results. I changed the blade and still haven't had time to do anything else after working with customers all morning..I'm about to do another run so I will try again. my only issue with "cleaning" is that the plotter is only 3 months old.

 

[Geneva Olson]

\

If it's a +10' run, I'd add intermediate marks. If you're using the corel registration marks, the drop down has other options including 'segmented' marks. That's what you're after.
View attachment 163430

so why did it to it on my shorter runs too?

(btw: I changed the blade yesterday before I left. I blew out everything in the holder. I plotted a big graphic today and it appeared correct. HOWEVER, it had a white outline all the way around the graphic with no holes)
So I'm thinking about doing a test run on monday. (It's too late for me today. LOL)

 

[Boudica]

That cut looks really rough. why is it so jaggy?

 

[myront]

I don't see any reference to what plotter you're using. Are the "pinch rollers" adjustable pressure wise? If so, make sure they are all the same pressure. 132" is kind of long. Is the media reflective (i.e. heavy)? You do have a bleed, right? Interesting too that your plotter "rounds" the corners. What blade offset and what angle?

 

[Geneva Olson]

That cut looks really rough. why is it so jaggy?

so that photo is really blown up. those letters were small (about 4 inches was the largest letter). the blade needed to be changed for sure.

 

[Geneva Olson]

I don't see any reference to what plotter you're using. Are the "pinch rollers" adjustable pressure wise? If so, make sure they are all the same pressure. 132" is kind of long. Is the media reflective (i.e. heavy)? You do have a bleed, right? Interesting too that your plotter "rounds" the corners. What blade offset and what angle?

it's a graphtec fc9000. got it in july. the plade is 60degree. i did a new run at a 70inch at a time..with similar results. i did replace the blade because it was a little older and had cut some reflective. I had a bleed of -.02
i will doublecheck offset for the rounding corners.

 

[White Haus]

That's a mighty narrow bleed.

Yep, no way a pinch-roller driven plotter is going to hit registration that tight.

As a rule thumb, we never apply a bleed any smaller than 0.1" (Mostly because that was always our Gerber/composer default bleed)

If you're running 4" letters at that length I'd say you could easily have a 1/4" to 1/2" bleed just to be safe. Assuming it's all shape cut there is no harm in having extra bleed to make up for registration on long runs.

 

[myront]

... and had cut some reflective...

We use separate blades for reflective. That stuff wreaks havoc on normal blades.
3 different blades
1. reflective 60° with .75 offset
2. vinyls 60° with .30 offset
3. resist (don't remember)

 

[Geneva Olson]

these were small letters. that a was an inch tall. my cut was -.02

So, today I was plotting and i had a bunch of lettering I was cutting for a truck. it had a white contour around the letters. on 2 of the graphics, they had "shifted" and there was more white at the top than the bottom. Just 2 graphics in the run. I looked at where they were placed in the pallet. They were in the middle of the run. I looked at my plotter (after the fact of course). and I found that one of the pinch rollers was on a "lighter setting" than the other ones. Is that the culprit?

 

[Geneva Olson]

Middle as in across the platen (width across the machine), or across the length of the run? Also, you say they shifted toward the top, would this be running left to right across the platen, or along the length of the run? Specificity was the number 1 name my wife shot down for our third kiddo.
Plenty of folks run the outside two on high pressure and the middle two on lighter pressure, I send it all through clamped on high myself.

Actually it was the middle of the length and width. the 2 graphics that cut "off" happened to be next to the pinch roller that wasn't clamped high.
Yea, I'm usually the "clamped on high" person too..

 

[Geneva Olson]

UPDATE! I did another print run that was 6 ft long. pinch rollers all pinched tight. (I so want to make a joke here but I will refrain!) The graphics all plotted correctly. Thanks for all the feedback and helping me troubleshoot!

 

[ikarasu]

Outer ones should be tight and inner ones medium, we do intermediate marks on everything - not sure if you have them on... But it does increase accuracy a lot, especially on longer runs and in the middle of the print. Onyx can set them up automatically if that's what you're using - we can do 50 ft prints and it's never more than a mm off with intermediate marks.