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Signlab/gerber edge help….please
I`m still having problems with the contour cut on the edge.
Printing the decals is fine, trouble comes when contour cutting around them.
The contour cut is spot on, for the first foot, but after that it goes way out, often cutting into the printed decal. I`m not running huge lengths, only 2 metres.
I`m running signlab, using orical 751series vinyl.
Is there anything in Signlab that I can adjust???
Sprockets are cleanned regular.
GS15+ plotter used.
any help greatly accepted.
Thinking of upgrading to SL7, how much would I benifit by doing this, (talking just for the edge)
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11 Replies
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Is it worth checking that your plotter is running accurately before investigating other causes? Perhaps you could cut say, a 1 metre box and then measure it for accuracy. It may be worth doing the same with the printer also. There could be a mechanical problem with either machine. I have experienced inaccuracies with sprocketed vinyl due to the tension being too tight, or too loose, when the material was sprocketed. But this was never really a problem because the printer and plotter would replicate the same distortion. I did once though, have to call an engineer when our GS15 was running short at the bottom edge of the material. It turned out a screw had come loose on some kind of roller mechanism.
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Have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about here, just thought I’d warn you prior to reading the following drivel 😛
Could it be some to do with the sign blank length or something similar? If it’s cutting fine for the first couple of decals or so, maybe its sort of spacing then continuing to cut, like when you set up a plotter and give its maximum length and all that. 🙄 I’m not making much sense here, but I did warn you I have absolutely no idea! Just that when I started printing/cutting from CorelDRAW, I setup the page incorrectly and it left a huge gap between my label prints. The cut was fine, but I wasted about 150mm of vinyl, just because I hadn’t setup the page properties correctly.
Then again, I may just be the only guy in the world to start a 150 label run without checking my page properties first 😕 🙁 😳 😳
Cheers, Dewi
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Well usually Dew, what you send to the printer is the same as what you send to the plotter. Any repeats, page sizes etc would be the same. Of course, I’m only talking from experience of using Graphix Advantage software, and therefore don’t know diddly about the intricacies of running an Edge from Signlab. Sometimes though, thinking out loud with drivel can reap great problem solving rewards, so please carry on. 😉
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Had a drink Andy, so the drivel goes down hill from here 😉
Thats all I was thinking though, maybe by some freak chance, I might hit upon a possibly link to an answer…. I love me wishful finking sometimes 😀 😀
Cheers, Dewi
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I have used the cutter on its own, and there is a differance in the size it cuts and the size on the screen/file.
Called an engineer out to it, he checked everything, did a calabration test, via Omega ( I`ve got that as well) and pronanced everything to be ok.
He then showed me the vinyl, the sprocket holes where not in perfect line.
I bought some image perfect from Spandex, and still the same problem…..
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Signlab has a jog function which I think is supposed to compensate for vinyl skewing and stretch, I’m not an expert but this may be a direction to look.
Alan -
Just a thought but if the sprocket holes were out of line would it not pass through the edge the same way as through the plotter and therefore you would not notice a diference. I am no expert but it sounds mechanical!. I would expect a registration problem over a couple of metres but not a plotting problem.
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Look at the way the cut shifts , if it shifts in either ONLY the X or the Y it’s most likely a shaft encoder gone bad or something slipping in that direction. If you run stepper motors , its most likely the plotter is missing steps somewhere , a motor problem.
If its both directions it’s most likely a softwear or XY calibration issue.
If your RIP permits ,have you tried just outputting one decal in multiple copies or are you stepping and repeating the multiple labels prior to printing? Often just doing the one output multiple times might “cure” it -
the cut is out on the x movement.
i use the decal mode, which multiply the decal to give you 4 on the y and 20 on the x. or what ever.
I`ll have to try and use the array option to see if that solves anything.
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When I was working for Fineline (who were an approved sprocketer of Gerber pattern) the tolerance was something like 5mm over 2metres, which is pretty poor really. However, as mentioned before, the material should feed consistently through the printer and the plotter. This could be why the cut is not the same as what’s on screen. Does the print match the size on screen? If it does, but the cut doesn’t, this suggests a problem with the plotter.
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As you already have Omega can you run the same job in Omega and get the same bad results? That would narrow things down abit to software or plotter.
You say its all clean…sometimes if there is glue on the plotter sprockets and not on the Edge sprockets that can cause registration problems.
Another small thing that can alter plotting on a Gerber plotter is if the chaff, small centres from the holes fall into the ends of the plotter and get stuck in the cogs from the motors. Using Gerber vinyls you don’t get this problem but can with other people converting rolls, its easy to check by just removing the cover.
I use Omega for my Edge and plotters and Signlab for my router, when installing Signlab I had to make sure I had it changed from inch calibration to mm to avoid getting wrong sizes, I guess this is all obvious but it could be a small click in a box or window, setting etc that is causing it to.
You could mail the file and I could try it here, through Omega??
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