"Real Gold" Printing and Cutting Issue

[athennes]

Here is a little bit of what I am doing.

My printer is a VJ-1324 Mutoh printer.

My Cutter is a Graphtec FC8600-130

I can print on the "Real Gold" material with no problems. The registration marks are printed in black for the cutter to read.

When I go to cut the printed "Real Gold", the cutter goes through its normal alignment check and reads all the registration marks. That's what should happen. But, since the "Real Gold" material is so shiny, the optical eye that reads the registration marks gets blinded by the reflection coming of the material.

Does anyone have any idea's to help eliminate this issue.

I tried a manual registration line up using the bomb sight but that doesn't get close either.

Your help is needed.

Thanks,

Allen

 

[papabud]

there are a few tricks to getting your cutter to read shiny materials.
like putting scotch tape over the reg marks to dull the shine. covering them with regular vinyl with reg marks printed on it.
using a matte lam.
basically you want to dull the area and make sure your printing your reg marks very dark

 

[Joe House]

You're also fighting the contrast level. The ARM sensor is designed and calibrated to read marks of black on white, not black on gold. You can try to re-calibrate it to the gold, but I doubt you'll be able to get the necessary contrast. You might have to put a piece of white vinyl over the reg marks and copy them to the top of the vinyl with a sharpie and a ruler.

 

[Kumo]

You can also change the speed of the registration mark scan from 'Normal" to "ISM" ( Intelligent Scan Mode )

 

[letterman7]

I don't have a Graphtec, but my Summa works in a similar fashion. I've never been able to print on the gold directly and have the eye read the registration mark. So, I print a bunch of marks on white, trim them reasonably close (allowing enough movement for the sensor to find the mark, and basically eyeball the printed marks over the printed ones on the gold. It's tedious, especially with large prints, but the only way I've found that works.

 

[athennes]

You can also change the speed of the registration mark scan from 'Normal" to "ISM" ( Intelligent Scan Mode )

Hey Kumo, if this new ISM setting works, can I leave in that mode for "all" other normal cut jobs too?

Let me know.

Thanks,

Allen

 

[yukon]

We solved this issue by not printing on gold at all. Instead, we print onto the clear laminate with a double pass (to make sure the colors are more opaque), then lam the laminate, cut it on the cutter and overlay it on top of the gold. It works very well and allows for creative gradients and shading...

 

[athennes]

We solved this issue by not printing on gold at all. Instead, we print onto the clear laminate with a double pass (to make sure the colors are more opaque), then lam the laminate, cut it on the cutter and overlay it on top of the gold. It works very well and allows for creative gradients and shading...

Thanks Yukon, I will definitely give this a try too.

Allen

 

[Kumo]

Hey Kumo, if this new ISM setting works, can I leave in that mode for "all" other normal cut jobs too?

Let me know.

Thanks,

Allen

Hi Allen

The ISM works on most shiny media.
Like what others said previously, you can also put scotch tape or laminate on the registration marks.

 

[AKwrapguy]

Here is a little bit of what I am doing.

My printer is a VJ-1324 Mutoh printer.

My Cutter is a Graphtec FC8600-130

I can print on the "Real Gold" material with no problems. The registration marks are printed in black for the cutter to read.

When I go to cut the printed "Real Gold", the cutter goes through its normal alignment check and reads all the registration marks. That's what should happen. But, since the "Real Gold" material is so shiny, the optical eye that reads the registration marks gets blinded by the reflection coming of the material.

Does anyone have any idea's to help eliminate this issue.

I tried a manual registration line up using the bomb sight but that doesn't get close either.

Your help is needed.

Thanks,

Allen

You can also try a bomb site mark where you line of the registration marks by hand we do it all the time with reflective.

 

[Frontline Graphix]

I use the 4 point registration when I use Real Gold on my Graphtec. This way you are physically aligning the laser dot on the crosshair mark at each corner. It takes a touch more time, but I have had great success with it. It beats the frustration of a bad cut on expensive material!!

 

[Jackpine]

With my Graphtec I trim mask into strips and put them on the outside of the marks. Square off the ends and use that for the inside of the marks. Low lighting is a help too reduces reflection.