Graphtec CE2000-120 / Signlab – HELP !!!

[Martin Pearson]

what sort of problems are you having??

[James McHugh]

We have a Graphtec CE5000-60 Plotter and have recently bought a Graphtec CE2000-120 Plotter second hand.

Having difficulty getting it to cut in Signlab 8 though.

It is connected with a serial cable as there is no usb connection on cutter.

When I hit cut this message appears:
"Error setting com state COM1:9600,N,8,1. on line 2544."

[James McHugh]

Also tried using a serial to UDB Connector but no joy.
May be something simple. The cutters commands on display panel are different to what I am used to on my 610 Graphtec plotter.
That is why if anyone knew of someone who could come out and have a look / show me how to work it, it would be ideal.

[NeilRoss]

Do you have more than one serial port on the PC? If so, either change the output to COM2 or swap the serial cable to the other port and try – you may need to restart the PC.

[James McHugh]

Have tried all this Neil but no joy.

[Alan Drury]

Have you checked with Graphtec that the serial cable pins are connected correctly.
Alan d

[James McHugh]

Serial Pins are ok.
I now seem to no longer be getting the error messages ?
However when I hit cut it says Signlab is sending info to machine and plotter changes from ready to online but nothing cuts ?
During this time the red prompt light remains on. Not sure if what this means either ?

[Denise Goodfellow]

to be honest we just ring cadlink, they have always been very helpful, oftern taking over the computer and looking at all the settings etc, downloading new drivers etc.

[Frank Droog]

graphtecs understand 2 languages, hpgl and gpgl.
do you know which one the plotter is set or?
Does your plotter have an LCD display?
When you power it on, it briefly displays either HL or GL in the top right corner.

In Signlab, we have Graphtec HPGL and GPGL drivers
Install one of each and try both.

If you can navigate the plotters menu, make sure it is set for 9600 baud rate. 8 data bits, 1 stop bit and no parity.
Make sure you have the same setting in Signlab under Plotter Setup/Port

The cable needs to be a NULL modem cable.
Is the other plotter connected via serial? Try using its cable.

I can possibly help you with the menus on the cutter . I have a ce1000 and i think they are the same menus.

FYI, i work for cadlink writing the cutter drivers.

Do you have a printer cable?
My CE1000 has a Parralel port also.
If you have one, try plotting to LPT1:

[James McHugh]

Since my earlier post I managed to download a better user guide than the one I had.
I changed it to HPGL, I am now managing to get the cutter to cut.
It is however now not cutting the letters from the vinyl properly. The needle is jumping up so the lines in the letters have gaps so won’t weed. Then at the end of cut it just keeps cutting a line over and over again on the same spot.
Once it has done this "PAPER CUT ERROR" appears on cutter panel. I have searched for this error message in user manual and no joy.

Also when I hit the test cut button it should cut a small square with a triangle in the middle. However it is just cutting a random shape.

This suggests to me something isn’t quite right but I am not sure what ?

[Frank Droog]

might try lowering the velocity.
If you cut a 10 inch square, are there many gaps , or just one at the start/endpoint of the square?

Signlab has Overcut in Cut/Plotting Defaults/Tool Opions, to close small gaps at start/end points. Put in a value like 5

If there are many randomly spaced gaps, i have no idea excepts velocity/pressure settings.

Make sure that in Windows/Control panel and maybe in Signlab/Plotter Setup/Ports , that the Flow Control for the comport is not set to NONE.
Make it Xon/Xoff. This might be the cause of the line througth the job at the end

Are you using the FC8000 cutter driver? It has a Sheet Cut command that may be getting sent. In Signlabs Move Controll, see if there is a Sheet Cut checkbox and uncheck it. Maybe disable cut sheet on the plotter itself if it has that option.