Q54 Cutting Problem

[eahicks]

I have had this issue for a few months now, where all my cuts are not square/straight, as in clean crisp text.....the most noticable is on smaller text, 1" or less. I do notice it on bigger text, but it seems worse on smaller text. Any ideas what is going on? I have changed blades, blade holders, adjusted offset, etc... I can adjust and never get any solution to this. ALSO this plotter has a brand new cutting strip, so not that.
Attached is a sample of how it turns out. Any help appreciated. I feel there is a mechanical failure somewhere but don't know where.

Note: my diagram is 'slightly' exaggerated, but not by much really.

 

[P Wagner]

I can't speak specifically about the Signwarehouse Q-series, but with a Graphtec branded machine (I assume that the Q has similar functionality), here is what I would do to help isolate the variables:

Put a drawing pen in the plotter along with some paper, and run a firmware-based test print. Graphtec machines have several firmware-based test plots that can be used to help with troubleshooting issues like this. The 'Cutting Pro' test is accessed from the plotter's control panel > Menu (it requires at least 24 inch wide media). Make sure to use settings for force that are appropriate for a pen, versus a knife.

If the defects are visible in this test print output, there are a number of things that have been eliminated: knife, holder, protection strip, anything related to software. It isolates the machine itself (carriage, boards, etc). If the defects are gone in this test, the reverse is true.