eye lens!

[Robert Lambie]

not sure if this is the correct answer but ill give it a go. 😮

eye lens: maybe the same thing i think i saw for the edge. its a cross hair lens that drops into the blade holder for you to look thru and align with registration mark.

so.. lets say you print in one machine. take the print out, laminate and put in the other machine. once in the machine, drop the eye lens into the blade holder to align/find starting point and contour cut.
like i said this is just my guess of the process but did read about it few years ago i think.

the same now applies for digital prints on friction fed machines.
you print in one machine take it out laminate it and stick into a plotter. the plotter has a small lazer light that you align with 3 registration marks.
once aligned you start to cut and it contour cuts the image..

hope this helps some 😕 😀

[Rodney Gold]

Basically the printer prints 4 dots at all corners of the print.
You set your print and cut machine to print , but to process cutting paths but not actually cut them.
You then laminate.
Thereafter you reload the laminated media in the machine and press a button , the machine automatically reads the marks with a phot-optic cell and compensates for any skewness in loading , shrinkage etc and then cuts. (In the case of my machine , the accuracy is totally amazing)
You can use it for laminating and cutting but by far the most important is the fact that the machine can take ages to cut a zillion decals and minutes to print. So if you have a huge print load , one prints all day and when there is a quieter time , you reload for the cutting. (1 sq meter of 1″ diameter discs can take 5 minutes to print and 1/2 an hour to cut)
Apart from that , cutting solvent or semi solvent printing on a dark bleed line right after printing is problematic as the solvents in the inks tend to make the vinyl chewy till 100% dry , so if you do cut too soon , the die cut decal tends to curl or “shrink”. So often its politic to wait a while and then cut.
Other cutters also have this option , but the biggest problem is that there is no “standard” cropmark so most of these systems apply to specific machines/software etc.
I have modified my lasers to do the same thing , tho its not as automated as my print/cut machine – I print cropmarks and use my red beam pointer (a red beam that shows where the laser is going to cut , cos you cant actually see the laser beam) to manually enter the registration points.
So your sample might also have been cut with a laser , especially if you don’t see a score mark , cos generally if you use the cutter , it does leave a slight score mark around the decal on the backing paper (unless the cutter pressure was set up so well that it JUST cut enough)

[Robert Lambie]

quote :

a red beam that shows where the laser is going to cut , cos you cant actually see the laser beam) to manually enter the registration points.

‘if’ we are talking about the same thing rodney. we can see the little red laser dot when using our graphtec cutter. shows up excellent on the vinyl.
maybe im getting my wires crossed and you are talking about something completely different. just thought i would mention it.

quote :

Basically the printer prints 4 dots at all corners of the print.
You set your print and cut machine to print , but to process cutting paths but not actually cut them.
You then laminate.
Thereafter you reload the laminated media in the machine and press a button , the machine automatically reads the marks with a phot-optic cell and compensates for any skewness in loading , shrinkage etc and then cuts. (In the case of my machine , the accuracy is totally amazing)

do you mean you have to hover the marks or that the machine reads/finds them automaticaly? sorry if that sounds dimm, just interested as i didnt know this and sounds pretty cool 😎

[Rodney Gold]

Hiya Robert
We are talking an actual laser here , star wars type thing:) Where the bean can slice your arm off or cut 10mm thick acylic in a single pass- but it’s invisible , so what they do is use a red diode that is aligned with the actual beam so where you see the red dot is where the laser is actually going to work or cut from.

The crop marks printed via the Soljet are read automatically , all you do is position the cutter roughly over the first crop mark and press auto aligh m the macine reads that one and all 4 of the other automatically , goes back to the start point and then cuts in register , no fiddling about.
There are cases where it CANT read automatically (albeit I have never had one) and you can do a manual alignment if you HAVE to , your machine should have the same capability.

[Tim Shaw]

So how do you put laminated prints back into a Versacamm and register the cut lines to the print without a laser etc.

Does signlab have this facility. I know th Mutohs have a bomb site arrangement, similar to the Gerber 15+ cutters etc where you manually align the site to the registration mark, On a Versacamm it is impossible to get above the blade holder to look through a bomb site.

Not sure which software even has the ability to align to four marks even if you could line the print back up ready to cut

[Chris Wool]

the roland rip does it all follow the manual step by step and all will be ok
when you have done it a few times its a piece of cake and very accurate

chris

[Andy Gorman]

I used to use a Zund flatbed that had a camera system. It picked up targets in the print and would shift or distort the cut, if required, to match. Worked very well. I-cut I think it was called.

[Nicola McIntosh]

finally found out how the sticker was done!! 😮

it was printed on a gerber edge, then re-printed with a clear coating!! then cut!! 😀
(did not know they could do that) anyway thumbs up to colin from europoint!! he told me!! 😀 😀

Nik

[Bill Dewison]

I’d been wondering how this was done as well 😮 I take it the PC60 doesn’t have the capabilty to do this? 😥

Cheers, Dewi

[Nicola McIntosh]

not as far as i know!! 😛

maybe someone else have more info?

Nik

[Bill Dewison]

My bets are on Chris… he’s rapidally becoming my guru with regards to the PC60. I’ve lost count of the number of times he’s solved problems for me 😀

Cheers, Dewi

[Chris Wool]

DEWI YOU PUT IT SO NICE SO HERE YOU ARE

the ft edge sensor must be on dippy switch 6
load a roll of any material pulling tight against the fixed rear rollers so it is square in the machine the rt pinch roller must be hard against the right hand stop media clamp down let it settel down and find ft edge. feed a couple of feet out so you can see if its running dead straight.-
you may have to do this a few times.
useing a thick bit of tape but it up against the right hand edge of the roll vinyl one bit on the ft on on the rear. so that if you removed the vinyl and replaced it against the thick tape it will be square again and again.
printing for lamination best done on a sheet not of the roll.

place sheet in – rt hand roller hard right edgeof sheet against your tape lower clamp the machine will find the ft edge – print only – remove and laminate- do not move rt hand pinch roller do not cut or damage the ft edge or rt edge of the sheet – replace in to machine as you did before laminating and send cut path only preasure flat out slow down the cutting speed.
if you can follow that give it a try
chris

it normally works fine up to about 18inch print depth

[Nicola McIntosh]

wow 😮 mr sticker!! 😀 😀

as dewi quite rightly said, you are… the master of the pc60!! 😛 😛

it will take me a wee while to divulge what you have posted 🙄 🙄

great stuff !!! 😀 😀

Nik

[Bill Dewison]

:praise1: :praise1: :praise1: :praise1: :praise1:

*best Wayne’s World voice* We’re not worthy, We’re not worthy! :lol1:

Blimey Chris! 😀 😀 Its like having a PC60 personal tutor! 😀 😀

I’ve just kitted out my new print room, so now the PC60 has its own dedicated area, complete with little shelves for all the carts 😀 I’ll get stuck in to it this next week as I really would like to start laminating some of my work.

Bizarrely, I’ve quoted for more work with the PC60 recently than with cut vinyl! 😮 And even weirder, the thing is really due another head, but it just keeps printing… I know I’m stuck in the twilight zone in my head, maybe its rubbed off on the PC60 😕 🙄 😉

Thank you again though Chris, I shall mount your picture above the PC60 with the words ‘Guru’ underneath asap 😉

Cheers, Dewi