Summa Barcode Server + Onyx 12

[Bly]

I've had the Summacut D160R for years now and it's been a workhorse.
Since I recently ordered an additional T series cutter I've been looking at productivity improvements for both cutters.
Until now I've been setting up print/cut jobs in Illustrator and cutting through Winplot.
This works great but can be tedious when you have a half roll of jobs to cut, so want to get the barcode workflow running.
The D160R supports this AFAIK so I went through all the docs but have hit a wall.
Onyx prints fine with rego marks and I can cut jobs from Cutserver.
But when I try to use the barcode server it gets as far as reading the code and gives me a "Unable to sense OPOS barcode" error.
In Summa barcode server there's a bit more info - something about the number of bars in the barcode being wrong.
When setting up the print job in Onyx I have SummaCut Series selected as the cutter.
In Cutserver there are no other real options to select re the barcode.
Anyone else running the same setup with success? If so what's your secret?
I'll just ask the tech when he comes to set up the new plotter but I'd like to have the existing one going in the meantime.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Split76]

I've had the Summacut D160R for years now and it's been a workhorse.
Since I recently ordered an additional T series cutter I've been looking at productivity improvements for both cutters.
Until now I've been setting up print/cut jobs in Illustrator and cutting through Winplot.
This works great but can be tedious when you have a half roll of jobs to cut, so want to get the barcode workflow running.
The D160R supports this AFAIK so I went through all the docs but have hit a wall.
Onyx prints fine with rego marks and I can cut jobs from Cutserver.
But when I try to use the barcode server it gets as far as reading the code and gives me a "Unable to sense OPOS barcode" error.
In Summa barcode server there's a bit more info - something about the number of bars in the barcode being wrong.
When setting up the print job in Onyx I have SummaCut Series selected as the cutter.
In Cutserver there are no other real options to select re the barcode.
Anyone else running the same setup with success? If so what's your secret?
I'll just ask the tech when he comes to set up the new plotter but I'd like to have the existing one going in the meantime.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Hmmm.. I'm using the same setup with 360/s2 s140t.. Sometimes, i get the same message about bars being wrong, but usually laminate needs to be pushed with finger and the opos reads it better after that.
Your cut server automatically now sends cutting lines to folder (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-OILH83a6Y at 2:46) ? and summa bardcode server is running and the same folder is selected?

 

[Bly]

Yep the files show in Barcode Server.
I start the barcode reader from Summa cutter control and it looks for the barcode but just errors out.
I'm sure it's just something simple, like these things usually are.

 

[FrankW]

1. When doing regular contour cutting with OPOS, you are asked to place the knife tip above the first marker. It is different when using OPOS Barcode, in this case you need to place the knife tip below/in front of the barcode. It is shown on the cutter display. Have you pay attention to it? It is different to cutting contours through Winplot. Be shure to set the knifetipp around 2-3cm (1 inch) in front of the reference line.

You can see how it works during the first seconds of this video:

[video=youtube;qXZge4hCH8o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXZge4hCH8o[/video]

2. With OPOS Barcode it is the same as with regular OPOS-cutting: the sensor could have problems to read the marker/barcode because of weak contrast issues. In this case you should do a media calibration in the OPOS Menu (or, just for testing, increase the value from 30 to 60 or 80 for example, helps most of the time).

3. Be shure - as for the regular OPOS Cutting too - to have Markers and Barcode between the outer pinch rollers, or do extended loading to expand the cutting area over the positions of the pinch rollers.

4. In RIP-Queue of Onyx, you have a menu item "Managing Cutters" in the "File"-Menu. Be shure that in the properties of the summa cutters the barcode is set to Summa, not to Onyx. But: Summa is the default. Onyx should print a Postnet-Barcode. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POSTNET .

I have done a lot of this installations for customers, and it really works well. I have written some documentation for setting up OPOS Barcode with different RIP-Softwares, but unfortunately they are all in german language. If you could confirm that you could read german, I could send you a PDF .

 

[Bly]

Thanks for the reply and offer of PDF Frank but Ich verstehe nicht Deutsch, sorry.

The cutter scans the barcode but returns the error I mentioned so I don't think position of the head is the problem.
I'll change the media calibration to see if that changes things.

 

[FrankW]

Even if the position of the head is a problem the plotter starts scanning the barcode. But, because of the issue, he will not scan the whole barcode (begins on the edge of the cutting area and could miss a part).

Good luck.

 

[AF]

Thanks for the reply and offer of PDF Frank but Ich verstehe nicht Deutsch, sorry.

The cutter scans the barcode but returns the error I mentioned so I don't think position of the head is the problem.
I'll change the media calibration to see if that changes things.

It is possible that the opos is not able to scan the entire bar code. If the bar code is too close to the edge of the media, the opos sensor will not be able to see the very beginning of the barcode and generate a front panel error. The starting position when you initiate the barcode scan is important also. On the S2, it is important to have the opos sensor about 1/4" before the barcode in the feed direction and about 1 1/2" inside the barcode from the edge of the barcode in the scan direction to ensure 100% success. The position from the edge of the media where you initiate the first barcode becomes the default position for all subsequent barcode reads in that production cycle so it is important to align all the barcode jobs correctly. On the S2, the knife holder is the sensor position when aligning the head and so the opos sensor is moved where the knife is when start the scan (i.e. position the knife 1/4" before the barcode and 1.5" from the edge of the barcode).

When the machine reads the barcode it will send the number to the barcode server to pull up the correct file. Barcode server needs to be pointed to the correct folder with your cut files. Your cut files end in .plt.

 

[Bly]

Thanks for the advice. I'll try again tomorrow.
Maybe I started too far in from the edge.

 

[kanini]

One thing we sometimes stuble upon is if you print gutters/color bars on the side from where the barcode reads it will error out. I guess it thinks the black line is the beginning of the barcode and therefore errors. You don't happen to print gutter/color bars, do you?
When you get the hang of the barcode workflow it works great, so good luck!

 

[Bly]

One thing we sometimes stuble upon is if you print gutters/color bars on the side from where the barcode reads it will error out. I guess it thinks the black line is the beginning of the barcode and therefore errors. You don't happen to print gutter/color bars, do you?
When you get the hang of the barcode workflow it works great, so good luck!

Yes that's it! Thanks so much.
We nearly always print colour bars.
I covered them over on my test print and it read and cut the job right away.
I owe you a beer or two.

 

[AF]

Yes that's it! Thanks so much.
We nearly always print colour bars.
I covered them over on my test print and it read and cut the job right away.
I owe you a beer or two.

Glad you got it worked out. I am curious if you have any options in Onyx to increase the margin around the color strip to still use it with the barcode server.

 

[XtremeXccessories]

I've been trying to get this going for a while myself and there's lots of good information in this thread, but the problem I'm having is I can't find the cut files in the Onyx folder anywhere. Even searching my entire hard drive for .plt files turns up nothing. Any ideas?

Also, since we've upgraded to Onyx 12 it prints a barcode at the beginning and end of the job, so if you load it upside down it will cut backwards. Is this normal?

 

[kanini]

Yes that's it! Thanks so much.
We nearly always print colour bars.
I covered them over on my test print and it read and cut the job right away.
I owe you a beer or two.

Great to hear you sorted it out!

 

[Hotspur]

I've been trying to get this going for a while myself and there's lots of good information in this thread, but the problem I'm having is I can't find the cut files in the Onyx folder anywhere. Even searching my entire hard drive for .plt files turns up nothing. Any ideas?

Also, since we've upgraded to Onyx 12 it prints a barcode at the beginning and end of the job, so if you load it upside down it will cut backwards. Is this normal?

The cut files arrive in the Onyx folder as .XML files. They only become .PLT files after you hit the "cut" button in Cutserver (assuming you have it set to "cut to folder" - wherever you have setup your "cut to folder" you will find the PLT files...but they won't appear there until you hit "Cut".

v12 does not just print the barcode at each end - they are different barcodes (check the numbers) Onyx now generates two files - one reversed 180 degrees. This means that when you put your sheet into the cutter if you have turned it around by accident (or design!) it will read the barcode for that particular orientation and select the correct cut file to use.

Think of it as automatically handling the possibility that the job may be placed into the cutter either way round.

I have re-hashed and updated an Onyx document so that it covers these aspects of cutting with Summa and Onyx - hopefully it will help (attached)

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

v12 does not just print the barcode at each end - they are different barcodes (check the numbers) Onyx now generates two files - one reversed 180 degrees. This means that when you put your sheet into the cutter if you have turned it around by accident (or design!) it will read the barcode for that particular orientation and select the correct cut file to use.

Think of it as automatically handling the possibility that the job may be placed into the cutter either way round.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I never noticed this either. I thought the barcodes at each end were identical but never looked hard enough at them. I always wonderered why there was a second one in the bottom corner.
For the last two years of using x10, we've always re-wound each printed roll so we could feed it through the cutter in the same direction of print.
Knowing this feature exists now negates the need for that, and is one of the most interesting things I've learned on this forum.

 

[XtremeXccessories]

The cut files arrive in the Onyx folder as .XML files. They only become .PLT files after you hit the "cut" button in Cutserver (assuming you have it set to "cut to folder" - wherever you have setup your "cut to folder" you will find the PLT files...but they won't appear there until you hit "Cut".

v12 does not just print the barcode at each end - they are different barcodes (check the numbers) Onyx now generates two files - one reversed 180 degrees. This means that when you put your sheet into the cutter if you have turned it around by accident (or design!) it will read the barcode for that particular orientation and select the correct cut file to use.

Think of it as automatically handling the possibility that the job may be placed into the cutter either way round.

I have re-hashed and updated an Onyx document so that it covers these aspects of cutting with Summa and Onyx - hopefully it will help (attached)

Thank you for that write-up, I got it up and running thanks to that. I always have trouble finding what I need in their online help..

 

[lennybennett]

One thing we sometimes stuble upon is if you print gutters/color bars on the side from where the barcode reads it will error out. I guess it thinks the black line is the beginning of the barcode and therefore errors. You don't happen to print gutter/color bars, do you?
When you get the hang of the barcode workflow it works great, so good luck!

Thanks! you just fixed my issue! Covered the gutter and went through first time..... CHEERS