Is my summa D60 nearing the end?

[Phill Fenton]

Make sure the grub screw that hold the pulley wheel to the motor shaft isn’t loose as this can cause a small amount of free play.

The other thing to check is the knife – perhaps a new knife holder is needed?

My machine’s 15 years old (Summagraphics D610) and still going strong

[Cheryl Smith]

Hi Phil…thanks for your answer…is this (the lack of screw) hole ‘grub’ screw you mention…looks as tho there has never been one if this is the one you mean…cant find it around the area either…looks like there has never been one…
I just cant see what could be wrong with it….ive just cut a load of small letters andharly any of them join up completely making weeding impossible…just had to chuck the lot.
would you know where I can get the parts mentioned??
thanks so much again…

---

Attachments:

[Martin Pearson]

Different machine I know but when my graphtec started playing up and not cutting letters properly it was down to a worn cutting strip. The smaller the letters the worse it seemed to be.

[Cheryl Smith]

aw….I use smart knives…it shouldnt happen, but ill turn the strip round Martin…thanks for the input

[Martin Pearson]

I use smart knives as well Cheryl, always have done. Didn’t know they were suppose to reduce wear on the cutting strip though.
The strip is just PTFE so over time there is bound to be some wear in it no matter what blades you use.

Same as Phill suggested as well, I would also look for any free play in the blade holder and make sure it moves up and down freely.

[Cheryl Smith]

turned the cutting strip around and fingers crossed….its looking more promising on the test …..

[Cheryl Smith]

quote Martin:

I use smart knives as well Cheryl, always have done. Didn’t know they were suppose to reduce wear on the cutting strip though.
The strip is just PTFE so over time there is bound to be some wear in it no matter what blades you use.

Same as Phill suggested as well, I would also look for any free play in the blade holder and make sure it moves up and down freely.

All what you says makes sense….hope it is as simple as the cutting strip and the D60 lasts me another 10 years or more!

[Phill Fenton]

Your machine looks a bit different from mine Cheryl – but I would say the grub screw is missing.

You should be able to detect if there is any free play by turning the pulley wheel and seeing if it moves at all without turning the motors shaft. (There should be no free play at all).

Many years ago I had a similar problem and tightening the grub screw fixed it.

[David Rowland]

shaft could be slightly flat, might not need the screw .. who knows

on another machine, i found the head just slightly unscrewed, causing the bit holding the knife to wobble freely. see if there is any play in the head part of it

[Tim Painter]

It might be a roll pin not a grub screw.

Can you see anything in the hole Cheryl like threads?

A roll pin is like a tube with a slit along it, it is pushed into the hole under pressure. Usually when a roll pin is used there will be a hole through the pulley on both sides.

[Cheryl Smith]

I think I have gotten to the bottom of the problem, the plastic holder ‘grip’ which holds the blade, broke. You cant get just the plastic piece as it is part of the head, which i am looking at about £250 plus vat plus an engineer to fit…around £200 plus vat…so a right old amount…..especially since I smashed two alloy wheels on a pot hole yesterday….groan.
Seem to have temporary fix on it with a bit of card, and alot of help from Harry at Edward Mathias & Co…
may well have to invest in a new cutter soon….

---

Attachments:

[Chris Wool]

Ops! see the problem unfortunately that’s normally the result from a overtightened thumb nut. so when you get your new one don’t tighten it so much.

just a nip will do.

sorry can’t find a parts list so can’t advise further.

[Kevin Flowers]

Cheryl
at £450 to repair and 10 years old i would look to invest in a new cutter, Harry normally does some good deals on the Summas

Kev

[Hugh Potter]

Is it difficult to replace the part? I wouldn’t imagine too hard if someone knows their way around basic mechanics. I was a hydro-electro-mechanical service engineer (café / vending machines!) so don’t usually worry about pulling something apart, as it’s only a non moving part (the carriage does that) I can’t see it being much more than dis- and re- assembling, the coil that puts pressure down on the blade would – I imagine- be unaffected by this process as it works on magnetism to force it down (the opposite of a coil operate water valve !)

I doubt you could put the belt back in the wrong place either, somewhere inside I expect there to be little trip switches which are triggered as the carriage moves along, thus telling it where to stop etc,

imho – despite having not lifted the lid on mine, I don’t think it would be a hard job to do.

fwiw,all the while i’d used original blade holders I’d never noticed the clamp mechanism being close to touching when the blade was clamped in, I only really noticed it once I started to use the smart blades.

it is, of course, most likely that Harry was being very helpful when he suggested not to over tighten the holder, i’m sure he was, and there’s always the possibility of a mechanical part wearing over time, fatigue etc, but the cynic did wonder if the blade carriers were identicle. without a digital micrometer I don’t know but, there does look to be ever such a small difference when comparing blades in the holders,

anyways, to avoid over-tightening them and pulling the back part round too far, i’ve been putting a single wrap of vinyl around where the blade is held, its enough to give it a bigger diameter, hopefully moving the stress points on the clamp. even so, I’ve only ever nipped the clamp up.

I guess it’s just a part which wears and it’s demise is one day inevitable.