Summa D60SE / Opus / Onyx Cutserver

[RobGF]

Hello, everybody:

I do mostly large format digital for POP displays and there is minimul cutting in my shop. That being said, we have a little Summa D60SE which we use for tiny vinyl jobs and as luck would have it, this plotter has the OPUS optical alightment system.

Just for giggles, last night I decided I wanted to try the whole digital print and contour workflow... There was nothing on TV...

The effective problem I have is that the cutter does not seem to see my OPUS marks. These marks were produced via Onyk Production House 7 which was able to recognize my CutContour spot colour. The file printed just fine and the cut definitions were sent to CutServer where I could see that accurately visually represented. CutServer had already been setup to know that it had a D60 installed with OPUS on USB. Onyx RIP Queue also knew it had an SE plotter installed and it generated the correct 3mm marks.

Now, as I understand it, I am to load my media in the plotter and lower the OPUS sensor so that it sits on the media immediately above the first OPUS marks. I have also been led to believe that the sensor will do a little circular search (advancing/retracting media, moving cut head left/right) until it finds the first mark. What happens is that I am told that the plotter cannot find the OPUS mark. This is the end of the story.

I have the most current (v14) firmware installed. I have downloaded the Summa OPUS 2 manual and it has suggested that there could be problems with glossy vinyl and that I should do some OPUS calibrations. I'm fine with that but the options it asks me to look for and steps which should be taken are not available within the menu tree anywhere leading me to believe that this manual was written for a much older firmware.

Anybody have any ideas? I like the idea of running CutServer to handle this proceedure as it's certainly more convenient than having to enter in dimensions through the other Summa aps.

Yes, the machine really does have OPUS and I have cleaned the sensor. As a curiousity the screw to lower the OPUS sensor doesn't actually do that. It simply releases the sensor so that I can pull it down by hand. The scew will raise and lock the sensor out of the way.

I have called tech support but obviously they've not called me back.

Thanks in advance.

Rob

 

[bigbly]

hello Rob
I just bought a D120SE a couple of weeks ago to use with CutServer, the Roland I got didn't work at all.
It all was pretty straightforward, the only hitch was when it was looking for the marks I had the sensor raised so it couldnt see them. Here's how it works for me.
- Print the job with marks for Summa SE model.
- Load the job in the cutter, start up Cutserver and select the correct file.
- Click on 'cut job'
- Go over to the cutter, on the panel it should say ' align sensor with first mark' or something, so with the sensor raised position it over the first square, then lower the sensor and hit enter.
- It then should go to each of the marks and start cutting.
Works very well, even on glossy vinyl.
From reading the manual seems you can calibrate the opus if you're having problems as you describe, I didn't need to.

 

[RobGF]

hello Rob
I just bought a D120SE a couple of weeks ago to use with CutServer, the Roland I got didn't work at all.
It all was pretty straightforward, the only hitch was when it was looking for the marks I had the sensor raised so it couldnt see them. Here's how it works for me.
- Print the job with marks for Summa SE model.
- Load the job in the cutter, start up Cutserver and select the correct file.
- Click on 'cut job'
- Go over to the cutter, on the panel it should say ' align sensor with first mark' or something, so with the sensor raised position it over the first square, then lower the sensor and hit enter.
- It then should go to each of the marks and start cutting.
Works very well, even on glossy vinyl.
From reading the manual seems you can calibrate the opus if you're having problems as you describe, I didn't need to.

Thanks. It's nice to know that it is working for you. I am getting an error when I am on top of the mark with the sensor lowered.

Summa has called back and they would like me to measure the sensor value of my white versus black to determine if there is enough of a difference. Unfortunately, the exact menu steps they have given me must have come out of their special Summa manuals as the options are not available. No doubt they are called something else but I can't find them. Summa has also suggested that I just might not have much luck based on the type of sensor used in this device. Right now I am increasing the density of my opus marks in hopes that it will help the sensor.

Thanks for your input. Glad you're having success.

Rob

 

[bigbly]

bummer
hope you get it sorted

 

[Replicator]

RobGF - If you would, please be sure to post your results
so the kids in the back of the classroom
here at :signs101: can see the answers as well - Thanks !

 

[RobGF]

RobGF - If you would, please be sure to post your results
so the kids in the back of the classroom
here at :signs101: can see the answers as well - Thanks !

I'll see how it goes. I have the dude that sold me the plotter coming in today. Hopefully he'll be able to give me some insights. I will post any results here.

Thanks

 

[RobGF]

OPUS now working

Just to update, the OPUS sensor is now working.

I had the rep from the company that sold the plotter in today. He spent a lot of time examining the machine and futzing about with it. The conclusion to all of this was that the OPUS firmware somehow was not installed in the plotter. This seems rather strange as the machine did have the latest firmware installed. His guess was that the latest firmware did not include the OPUS drivers and he downloaded those directly.

So the long and the short of it is that the plotter is now working as well as it should and it's doing some wonderful contour cuts through CutServer.

Thanks to those that posted suggestions or who were interested.

Rob

 

[bigbly]

great to hear Rob
I'm very happy with my Summa, it's making me money already.
so easy to use with Onyx too.

Just had one of my print clients, a design company, doing a signage package for a nationwide chain of stores. Of course they want everythingl pantone and cmyk colours, and cutout self adhesive logos.

Instead of trying to talk them thru vinyl colour charts and the like, and multi layered logos etc I can just say yes we can do that easily.
This job includes multiple coloured text strips 2.5 metres long. The Summa cut these perfectly. Well with bleed that is.

 

[Ron Helliar]

Hey Rob,
Good to hear it's working ok now. Interesting on your load process though. Our S160 asks us to place the knive holder over the first mark. (easier to see & hit as our opus sensor is somewhat hidden) Plotter then moves the opus sensor head over to the opus mark, reads and moves onward. Could be a plotter series difference or just an updated easier method by Summa?

 

[RobGF]

Regarding the process now that everything works:

1. Assuming the media is loaded I send the cut file from CutServer.
2. After CutServer connects with the plotter I am asked to put the OPUS sensor on the first mark.
3. Assuming the sensor is down I reposition the sensor so that it is on the mark or very close.
4. I hit ENTER on the plotter ... or rather I hold ENTER for a moment. For some reason a quick tap on the ENTER button takes longer to register than an actual holding the key for a moment.
5. At this point the plotter does it's OPUS mark search and will start the process of finding all four marks.
6. Cutting begins

All in all it is a painless process and seems to work quite well. I'm quite surprised that the plotter didn't have the OPUS firmware installed and I'm sure you can imagine the frustration I was having as everything I was doing was essentially correct when I started the process.

The long and the short of it is that I cut a bunch of digital graphics to be incorporated into a reqular cut job and everything is workable.

Rob

 

[WB]

How many registration squares does ONYX use?. right now the program that I run uses about 1 square every 6-8" making for alot of dots in the larger prints, making for longer cut time and a larger chance of error..

I might start looking at the cut server when time permits

 

[RobGF]

How many registration squares does ONYX use?. right now the program that I run uses about 1 square every 6-8" making for alot of dots in the larger prints, making for longer cut time and a larger chance of error..

I might start looking at the cut server when time permits

CutServer produces four 3mm squares. I don't know if that's specific to setting it up for Summa Opus systems or if it is the same for other systems that have optical registration. Anyway, it produces the four marks and after you've loaded your media in the cutter and found the first mark it will search out the three others.

Prior to trying the CutServer I had read the documentation on doing it with other methods (for instance WinPlot) and it seemed like a real drag. The Onyx workflow basically is to define a quickset that recognizes the spot colour which normally is called CutContour. Before printing you must change your print setup to print about a 6" lead edge and tell it what type of plotter you are using. If you have done this the CutContour spot colour will not print and the cutting paths will be sent to CutServer. In CutServer all jobs with CutContour colours will be listed. Selecting the job you want will display a preview of the cutting paths. If that's what you want, you send the job. That's the end of the story. After this you'll just have to find the first mark and the cutting accurately begins.

I have not played with CutServer too much so I don't know if there is a refresh file list or not. if the program is already running it may not see your new cutting path and you have the option to find it on your HDD. If you open CutServer after running a job it will actually find your cut job for you and present it in a list.

It's worth checking out. It was all very easy once the plotter was fixed.

Rob

 

[WB]

One thing I just realized, my Cutter is about 30' from the computer with ONYX on it, and it's hooked via a serial cable.

how long of a Serial cable can you run?

 

[RobGF]

One thing I just realized, my Cutter is about 30' from the computer with ONYX on it, and it's hooked via a serial cable.

how long of a Serial cable can you run?

I'm running USB but if I recall correctly, shielded serial cables can have some pretty impressive lengths.

 

[JR Digital]

Anyone have a Summa S-class cutter ??? I am thinking about buying one very soon, but dont know where i can demo it.

 

[Ron Helliar]

Jr,
Very pleased with our S class. Now almost exclusively used with digital contour cutting. No problems in about a year and going strong. All digital keypad is great.

 

[JR Digital]

what is the difference between the S-class and the SE ??