Cutter stops halfway.. why?

[Chris Wool]

may be the computer going to sleep

[Dave Hamilton]

What software are you using? I’m pretty sure it’s an issue with the handshake settings but can’t remember where you need to set this, either in the cutting program or the driver and it should be set to none.

[Angelique Muller]

Hiya, thanks for responses.. I use Signblazer.
Computer did not go to sleep: I was not cutting that many.. it took about 10 minutes or so to cut

[Dave Hamilton]

quote Dave Hamilton:

What software are you using? I’m pretty sure it’s an issue with the handshake settings but can’t remember where you need to set this, either in the cutting program or the driver and it should be set to none.

Sorry that was wrong the handshake/flow control should be hardware not none.

both the port, accessible from device manager, and the settings in signblazer should be

Bits Per Second: 9600
Parity: None
Stop Bits: 1
Flow Control: Hardware

Should have asked what operating system you are using, I’ve assumed XP.

[NeilRoss]

Does it have a security dongle. Is it slack?

[Angelique Muller]

quote NeilRoss:

Does it have a security dongle. Is it slack?

Yes… I have a dongle… What do you mean with slack: poor connection?
Looks okay and I certainly was not touching it whilst cutting….
I am running the cutter from my laptop that has Vista (because I can’t get the cutter to work from my old computer with XP…. But that’s a different problem for some other time) 😀

[NeilRoss]

When it stops and reports ‘waiting’ to me that would signify that the software has lost it’s data connection and is waiting for a response from the device. Then when you start a new job – ‘can’t initialise’ signifies the same current state – that the software can’t communicate with the device.

Turn both machines off – IMPORTANT! Remove the data cable to the device – both ends, Reconnect cable. Restart both machines as normal. If that doesn’t fix it (could still be a cable problem) but I’d suspect a problem at the device end.

Assuming it’s all worked flawlessly in the past that is? Otherwise it could be a configuration issue.

[NeilRoss]

BTW if you can upgrade from Vista to Wndows 7 I’d do that too.

[Angelique Muller]

Thanks for your help Neil. Yes. it has all been working fine in the past. But usually I cut only one at a time. This time I asked it to do 3 of the same (quite a complex design) so maybe it was struggling with the data? Twice it stopped, but at different places.
A reset did fix it (temporarily). Maybe I should just stick to cutting one at a time…….? 😮

and yes… would love to upgrade don’t know if it is possible). Or maybe just a new laptop?!?!? (wish hubby picked up on my frequent cursing as it keeps crashing on me, and got me a new one… Maybe I should just go out and buy one!)

[NeilRoss]

Larger volumes might point to the device working harder/longer and heating up. If it’s overheating that could be the cause but it’s a long shot.

[Angelique Muller]

quote NeilRoss:

Larger volumes might point to the device working harder/longer and heating up. If it’s overheating that could be the cause but it’s a long shot.

hmmm… possible I suppose… but I don’t think I was asking to much of it… I think in general that my cutter has a prett cushy life with the little bit of work that I do.. So for the first time in its life I actually put it to work properly and it starts protesting!
I will see how it will act tonight…. fingers crossed and hope for the best?!?

[laural]

we also have this with larger complex designs and the only answer is to cut one at a time, otherwise it will just crash, its just one of its little oddities, you may also find it will cut them but miss parts out, or just scratch a great big line across the work, if i am cutting say 2 across, i will cut 1, then again, and again, then move it across to where no2 would have started and cut my 2nd line there, as at least that way you are not resetting each time

[Martin Pearson]

Are you using something like a USB to serial connector by any chance?? If you are it could be a problem with the data being transferred between the computer & the plotter, have seen it before, works fine when cutting simple shapes & text but try something bigger & it starts missing bits & cutting lines that don’t exist in the design.

[diditte_l]

this is a memory problem with this machine. it happened to me before when sending a huge file for cutting. Seems the machine can only process limited amount of info. In order to get over this problem I had to resort to breaking down the file and cutting it one portion at a time.

[Angelique Muller]

Thanks all.. Sorry for the late reply…. been busy with other things…
It seems to be working well for me at the moment (although I try to limit the number I cut.) I did notice that the USB connection is a bit loose and I propped it up a bit… Either way, it is doing the job for me at the moment