Need Help Vinyl Express Qe60+ Cutting Issue

[chrisbigsplashpromos]

I am having trouble getting a Vinyl Express Qe60+ to cut correctly.

A little background, we got this plotter for free from a business that no longer has a use for it. It sat in a back room unused for a couple years. I've cleaned all the dust and grime off and it looks good as new. However when doing test cuts, they are terrible.

The test cuts are a square with a triangle in the center. Both the square and triangle are pretty "janky" looking. Normally this is an offset or a cut pressure problem. But adjusting these things doesn't seem to affect the test cuts. The only thing that I've found that actually affects the test cuts is turning on "tangential" mode. The square cuts more accurately but doesn't connect in the top right corner.

I've adjusted every setting I can think of (cut speed, cut pressure, quality) and nothing changes. I've replaced the blade and blade holder. No difference. On once occasion the further left the cut head was, the more accurately it cut. But right after, it went back to a uniform ugly test cut.

Normally I can fix an issue like this with offset and cut pressure changes, but this is unknown territory for me. I've attached some photos to show what the test cuts look like. Any ideas of what is going on? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[bannertime]

I haven't seen anything like that. Some things I'd check for troubleshooting.

-Is it making any weird noises?
-Are the grip rollers (top and bottom) set properly. i.e. are they misshaped? Move freely?
-Load some material. Can you pull material through by hand with the rollers down? You shouldn't be able to. Don't force it.
-Is the head able to be moved when ready to cut? Any play on the belt sided to side?
-What is actually moving to make the wavy lines when it's cutting?
-What happens if you send a job to it?

I don't believe it to be an issue with any of the main board settings. It looks mechanically off to me. But they also look nearly identical so, I don't know. Those are just things I'd check. If it's none of those, then it's like an issue with the main board.

 

[Sticker Dude]

What are your settings? I can take a look at mine when I get back

 

[Jburns]

What does the cutting strip look like? Gouges?

 

[chrisbigsplashpromos]

Sorry for the late reply. I'll answer in order of posting.

No weird noises.
Grip rollers set properly as far as I can tell. Nothing out of the ordinary with them. They move fine when not engaged, and hold everything down without slipping when set in the down position.
No play when head is ready to cut.
When it does the cutting it appears normal. I slowed the cut speed to a crawl and everything appears normal minus the accuracy.
When I send jobs, it cuts but with terrible accuracy. I cut something around 12" wide and it distorted the image because of the inaccurate cutting. Shapes that went from one side of the vinyl to the other didn't end up connecting when the head came back around.

The settings I had set were 0 offset, 14 force, 20 speed, and 2 quality. But I have tried a crazy amount of combinations but none of the settings seem to do anything to the look of the test cut.

The cutting strip looks brand new.

I'm going to take off some of the plastic paneling and take a look inside to see if anything is stuck in a mechanical part or something. If I find something I'll be sure to post. Thanks for all of the responses.