I am having a bit of a problem with my plotter not quite "finishing" cuts. It leaves just a very small bit of vinyl left together, not devastating by any means, but sure makes it hard to weed.
I was going to e-mail Roland and ask for their suggestions, but I thought I might try here first. Any ideas on what I could oil/adjust/change?
P.S. the plotter is a Roland PNC-960, and I'm using Flexi 6.0
As always thanks a million!
Posted by William DeBekker (Member # 3848) on :
If it is a very minute amount check you blade tightness and or your blade tip.. I use a summa and when that starts happening its usally one of the 2 things.. usally the blade is getting a flatspot and it doesnt complete the cut especially if I cut alot of reflective. Its like running the blade ove sandpaper. Hope this helps.
Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
I believe the "offset" adjustment is supposed to make allowences for the potential difference between the center of the spindle that above the blade & where the acutal point of contact occurs between the tapered blade & the varoius thickness's of materials. A different degree blade, or one cutting into a different depth of material whoul both change where the actual cutting starts & stops relative to the spindle or center of the blade holder. I would fing your offset adjustment & experiment with adjustments of this value.
Posted by timi NC (Member # 576) on :
I would in addition take the top traverse cover off(plate with two screws on very top of plotter) and check the screw that holds the horizontal cable to see if it is loose and or missing,.....
Posted by Patrick Whatley (Member # 2008) on :
I agree with Timi. Our cable is almost worn out and every few months the screw that holds the head in place will loosen enough to allow the head to slip slightly. Makes for some real interesting looking letters when all of the centers are cut in the wrong place and the rest of the letter is not cut right, either.
Posted by Curt Stenz (Member # 82) on :
David, I too had the same problem with my PNC-960. All of the mechanicals were ok. This plagued me on-and-off for several months. I finally assumed that the internal memory was bad and I bought a Graphtec. That immediately solved my problems.
Curt Stenz
Posted by Tony McDonald (Member # 1158) on :
I had to replace the blade holder in my pnc 1410. It wasn't holding the blade securely. Not sure if you can really check it without replacing though.
Posted by Bill Preston (Member # 1314) on :
I'm not familiar with Rolands, but on checking the control panel settings on my Ioline I saw something called "overcut." "Offset" is in there too as a separate setting. Just wondering if your plotter has this overcut thing too. It sounds as though it allows the cut lines to cross very slightly at intersections, and maybe this is what needs adjusting on your machine.
FWIW.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
coop, this will happen with some fonts. i dont know the reason, but info to plotter is not quite complete. i have this same problem sometimes with my rolands. its a tiny spot of vinyl uncut and its where the cut starts and ends. also change font from a ttf to a type 1 and see if that makes a diff.
[ July 22, 2003, 03:21 PM: Message edited by: old paint ]
Posted by Jim Doggett (Member # 1409) on :
Hi Coop,
If it is the offset, you can sleuth that pretty easily by putting in a new blade and setting the offset value to the blade-maker's spec. If the problem doesn't go away, then something else is afoot ... a call to Roland tech might be in order.
Bill P,
Offset is the distance between the blade's center-of-rotation and its cutting edge (unique to drag-knife cutters). That's adjustable in the cutter, because not all blade-makers manufacture their blades with the same offset value. As the blade wears down, the offset value also changes slightly. So adjusting the offset as your blade gets longer in the tooth is needed/worthwhile.
Overcut is an internal programming item. Overcutting on corners and at the start/finish of curves is needed because the blade is angled. The cutter must cut the vinyl a smidge beyond the end of the cut so as to be sure to also cut completely through the adhesive layer. Other tricks can be added in the overcut programming. (enhanced overcut) An example of enhanced overcut is what some plotter makers call tangential emulation.
William D,
Thanks for using as Summa! BTW, you might want to call our tech department (800-323-9766) to make sure you're running the newest firmware. We've added an OptiCut(tm) feature that, among other things, compensates for changes in offset due to the blade wearing down. The cutter/firmware default is with OptiCut turned off (I've asked, and asked, ...). So our tech folks can both confirm you're running the latest cutting programming, and tell you how to enable OptiCut. It sounds like you'd really benefit from using the feature.
Best Regards,
Jim
Posted by coop (Member # 504) on :
Hey Thanks Everybody!
I've got a sneaking suspicion (sp?) that the blade holder is the culprit. It seems looser than I remember. A new one is on the way.
I tried all of the suggestions above (that applied), and it is better but not RIGHT. Oh, and by the way the thing that seemed to make the most difference, is taking it out of "Pen" Mode
Thanks again! You guys Rock!
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
dumb ****.....heheheheheheheheh
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
David, I'm using a PNC 1000, and Flexi also- there are some good answers above, but I don't know how you adjust the offset with the Camm1. I've found that the problem is sometimes OLD vinyl, especially calendered stuff- just a bad batch. I can change to cast vinyl and it cuts fine, put a roll of cheap Real-Estate Red in and anything smaller that 4" needs hand cutting to finish the corners. Another roll of the same stuff is cuts OK. Sometimes Avery 800 series PF vinyl is the same, but 3M 7725 is fine. I put it down to vinyl oddities. Best wishes
Posted by Jim Doggett (Member # 1409) on :
Hey Coop!
You did it! Pen mode (ahhh! shoulda thought a that) would result in incomplete cuts. In pen mode there's no offset or overcut features enabled.
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