Is anyone else driving a gerber gs15+ from signlab 7?

[Kevin.Beck]

although mines driven by e6, I had a similar problem

I had to turn down or up ( can`t remember) how much info can pass through the port at a time.

[Colin Crow]

Thanks Becky,

I thought it was just me. Can you remember who told you what to change? Was it Cadlink, Spandex or someone else.

I had a feeling that it would be something like this as it always falls over at the same point indicating some sort of buffer overflow but Gerber don’t want to know because I am not using Omega (even though Spandex supplied the Signlab).

I have tried it using e6 and get the same result. Have you fully cured the problem now?

Cheers

Colin

[Kevin.Beck]

Ray Winterbottom from coxes soulved the problem Its fine now.

[Colin Crow]

I have spoken to Cadlink, who in turn have spoken to Tony Winterbottom and I have now adjusted the ports transmit rate to the lowest setting.

Running the first trial now and so far so good – fingers crossed.

[Colin Crow]

Gave up after about an hour of cutting which is twice as much as normal. This may be enough to cut the job in smaller parts but not the unattended all night jobs promised.

Becky, do you have Omega as well as signlab? If so do you get similar problems?

Thanks

[Kevin.Beck]

yes I have omega as well, but I have only dabbled in it so can`t coment on jobs using it..

Are you saying because you have lowered the port setting, the cutting is alot slower.

Can`t really say that mine cuts slow, slower than the summa I`ve got, but not that slow…

1 thing about the gs15, its a bit of a dinosor..not what you`d call upto date stuff.

[David Evans]

Hello,

I am not aware of this issue, but have asked the question of several people more knowledgeable in Canada on cutting than me.

If I get any info I willpass it on.

Best regards

-David Evans
Printing products manager
Cadlink.

[David Evans]

And the answer is,

Lower or disable the FIFO buffers of the com port. The problem occurs becaus ethe GS15 doesnt respond to buffer full quick enough.

Slowing down the data rate will help, but then can slow down cutting. Its recommended to lower or disable the FIFO buffers instead.

Best regards

-David Evans
Cadlink.

[Colin Crow]

Becky,

No, no noticeable difference in cutting speed but since the GS15 is so slow anyway (even compared to my 7 year old mutoh) its hard to tell. This particular file used to cause the GS15 to stop around 35 mins into the plot, around 40% complete.

I didn’t consider the speed a problem if it could be left overnight cutting the edge output printed during the day, but now that isn’t possible. On the other hand, registration over this sort of length looks like it will also be a problem so I am having to reconsider this product.

Turning the speed of the transmit from the port down from maximum of 16 to lowest setting of 1 has doubled the time before the alarm sounds, but still not enough to complete a cut on a “reliable” length of printed vinyl. say 2-3 metres of 2 colour work with lots of detail cutting.

David,

Once again thanks for researching this. Could you clarify what you mean by FIFO buffers. Using XP, Paul in support has advised to lower the com port transmit rate – is this the same thing? If not help would be appreciated. If you need to give more detailed explanation please email on colin@becc.co.uk

Many thanks

[Colin Crow]

David,

Found the FIFO disable button now so will give it a try and report back. Thanks again

Colin

[Colin Crow]

Yippee! it worked, the only question is why didn’t I try here first?

Thanks again David and Becky

[signwork303]

Ive the same problem, after loads of calls to spandex (unwilling to help at all, but willing to sell me vinyl and foils though!!!) and cadlink, the cutter still misses off half of the lettering but thinks it’s finished. (it doesn’t crash halfway through like it was doing)
Iv’e tried the ‘fifo’ on and off but still the same result.
I’m using the gs15plus driver from signlab e6.1
can anyone help please?

signlab e6.1, edge1, gs15plus cutter

Regards
Dave

[Colin Crow]

Hi Dave,

Do you mean that it used to crash and sound the alarm but that has stopped now, albeit some of the plot hasn’t been cut?

Is this just on complicated files? I presume you have checked that all of the cut outlines are shown in the preview?

How old is your system? Spandex kindly loaned me an old envision to try to see if this had the same the problem (which it didn’t).

Colin

[Frank Droog]

there should be 2 drivers you can use
Gerber GS15 (GSPGL) and Gerber GS15 (HPGL)

The Gerber GS15 (HPGL) sends plain jane Hpgl data.
You want to disable FiFo buffers in Windows/ Control Panel/Device Manager/ Hardware/ ports etc for the comport you are using.
The plotter has i believe a very small buffer that fills very fast and handshakes get missed if FiFo buffers are enabled.

Gerber GS15 (GSPGL) driver send gerbers proprietary language which involves bidirectional communication. FIFO buffers should Not be a factor with this driver as only small chunks of data are sent when the plotter is ready for them.

Have you tried both drivers?
The HPGL driver was supposed to be a cureall guarenteed to work driver but for the small buffer.
The GSPGL driver gives more controll and the small buffer should be No problem.

If you have 2 com ports, have you tried both.
Some comports have shared IRQS, so try both if you have 2

Is your flow control set to Xon/Xoff in windows control panel if you are using the HPGL driver.

franlk at cadlink

[Kevin.Beck]

just as an add on to this thread.

i`ve never been happy with the registration of the cutting via the gs15. its ok on short runs but anything over 500 long (total run of the decals) the cut was way off. often cutting into the printed area.

no advise from spandex only to say its because you`re not using edge ready material. even happen when i bought a roll…….

so know i`m using the summa with opus to contour cut the edge printed decal. spot on 100% better than the gs15 & alot quicker.

[signwork303]

I have been using the gs15 plus driver(hpgl)
this is the only one iv’e used with fifo on/off and recieve/transmit buffers reduced

Iv’e tried every gs/hs/x 15 combination but only on the original settings

the gs15plus is on com1, a summa cutter is on com2 (absolutely fine)

the flow control is also set xon/xoff

I will try the (gspgl) port as you describe again and check the settings once more

Are you saying don’t use the specific gs15plus driver?

Would upgrading to version7 help? (not sure what’s more expensive, the upgrade or the aspirin!)

Thanks
Dave

[signwork303]

Hi Colin,

It used to crash and sound the alarm on some of the other drivers, Iv’e now got it to finish taking the data and end the job, but one third of the job will be missing(this is on standard block text, 3 lines of text, 2 metres long, when contour cutting Iv’e reduced it to 1 metre at at time for small labels)

All of the text is definately highlighted, Iv’e re typed it, welded it etc.

The cutter I bought second hand with edge, meant to be 5 yrs approx

What driver/set up are you using?

Thanks
Dave

[Colin Crow]

Dave

I am now using signlab 7 and the GS15 plus (HPGL) driver. I have tried all of the relevant drivers including the GSPGL, which didn’t solve the long job problem. E6 also gave me the same fault on all drivers.

If you cut the same offending job, is it always the same part that doesn’t cut? This would point to consistent problem ie buffers or software rather than a flaky com port.

Becky,

I am very interested to hear that someone has got this combo working. When I had all the problems with the GS15+ at the start I asked both Spandex and Cadlink if they had any record of any user using the edge with a Opus type cutter but got nowhere.

I may have to add another plotter in the future and gather you are impressed with the Summa. Which model do you use? Do you have any trouble tracking the sprocketed material and whats the longest “safe” run?

I know Mutoh do a similarly equipped model (I already have a 650 without the alignment hardware) does anyone know if this works as well?

Colin

[Frank Droog]

I am saying that we have 2 drivers.
Gerber never supported HPGL until plus series plotters came out.
So we wrote a HPGL based driver according to thier HPGL spec.
If the plotter had a 1 meg buffer ther would be no problems but i think the small buffer may fill too quickly for the computer catch the handshake.
Thats why you disable FIFO to try to catch the handshake.

The GSPGL driver is based on the driver used to talk to gerber plotters sinse day 1. Its a bit tricky as bidirectional communcation is involved.
Small data packets are sent only when the plotter is ready to recieve them. Its a very good but tricky language.

Anyway, we have allways had gerber native language drivers.
We have only recently added HPGL drivers when Gerber started supporting HPGL.
In theory , either driver should work.
But the small buffer on the GS15 may mean you would get better results with the GSPGL driver.

frank at cadlink

[Kevin.Beck]

got the summa d60 ( i think) with opus. Bought it originally for printing on tee shirt paper on the epsom 1290 and then contour cutting around the object.

Tried an edge job, cut it no problem at all. Only tried 2 metres, but couldn`t even do that on the gs15. So in my book I`m in front…

Just had to cover the reg marks on some of the coloured vinyl, as the laser wasn`t picking up the marks. ( silver printed on orange and red vinyl) covered the reg marks witha more contrasting colour and it found them and cut no problem.

The summa comes with a couple of ends you put in the vinyl tube, that then sit in tracks on the roller at the back of the machine. So longer tracking should be no problem.

its far to say I`m as happpy as a dog with 2 tails.

[Colin Crow]

Thanks for the feedback on the Summa, Becky. I will have to put this on my Christmas List!

Colin

[Dale Horn]

quote becky:

just as an add on to this thread.

i`ve never been happy with the registration of the cutting via the gs15. its ok on short runs but anything over 500 long (total run of the decals) the cut was way off. often cutting into the printed area.

We had the same problem – was told it was due to the humidity/type of film.
However after trying several brands of vinyl the sloppiness is still there and the the cuts will shift left or right. As the decals get smaller the shifting gets larger and more noticable.

[Frank Droog]

Had a report from a dealer on site that a GS15 plus was allways beeping when sending from Signlab 7 via the GS15 HPGL driver.
He discovered that if he lowered the velocity by 25% in the driver under Move Control, that the plotter started cutting very smoothly with NO beeping.

I will see if i can find out what the best default velocity should be.
Frank at Cadlink