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Summacut D120 offset problem ?? Help please !
Hi – We have a Summacut D120 which has been giving us a little grief for a while now – and has been getting worse. To the stage where its unacceptable. Actually we have 2 problems and are as follows.
1) when cutting out letters these are badly misshapen/misaligned (I’ll try and upload a photo, it would be easier to show). If you can picture an ‘O’ this has flat spots, is misshapen and with jagged bits.
2) when cutting straight lines its almost as if the cut pressure increases and shreds the vinyl.
The cutting strip looks fine with no groove. Using Winplot for the cut software
Not sure if its an offset problem (we don’t have a manual for the machine) or what the offset should be really.
Begrudge paying Art Systems Ltd £220 to come and have a look at it if its just a simple problem to resolve !
Any help very much appreciated
Thanks in advance -
12 Replies
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i have a d60, same difference.
is it on one particular vinyl, or all?
i recall having problems with an lg vinyl always cutting wrong,
i had a similar problem to shredding through a while back,
i thnk it was caused when vinyl was cold, it kept some of it’s shape, raising up slightly as it came over the rollers, lifting it in the middle, and causing the knife to cut too deep,i recently changed the cutting strip too, was only worn in certain area’s but enough to mess up the offsets.
what blades are you using? i seem to recall an offset of around .2mm on a std blade, i’m currently using a smartknife which uses .48 offset!
cut pressure? shouldn’t need to be more than 90-100g on standard vinyl like 651, a little less on 751, that’s on a ‘run in’ blade, not a new one.
the other thing to check, is there any movement on the cutting head? drive belt loose?
HUgh
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I wouldnt go to art systems for anything lol. I dealt with them before and they were very unhelpful in pretty much every department. And when i got my cutter back in smashed up pieces That really finished it off
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quote Matt Hards:I wouldnt go to art systems for anything lol. I dealt with them before and they were very unhelpful in pretty much every department. And when i got my cutter back in smashed up pieces That really finished it off
is it still in pieces or did ya manage to put it together again?
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it was quite a while ago now, i wanted a replacement cutter as the original fault and the after smashing up of the machine i thought warranted a new cutter, but they wouldnt budge at all and i had no choice but to accept my cutter being repaired. Or they said i could have their old demo unit instead. didnt see why i should settle for a second hand cutter when i had paid good money for a new one, oh well, water under the bridge and all that lol.
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ah right, not good then!
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Start with simple things, have you changed the blade, is blade holder allowing blade to turn freely (dust or muck in there will cause blade not to swivel proper).
Have you tried two or more different types of vinyl?
Does cutting pressure increase left to right or back to front?
Ian :lol1:
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I have the same model & experienced the same problems intermittently ended up having the complete machine rebuilt by Art Systems on site. However what was discovered was if the problem is back to front etc then the catchment baskets or space around the machine can cause problems some vinyls will just not fold or roll correctly which causes the vinyl to buckle up under the blade. I don’t use my catchment baskets on either of my summas
One extra point don’t know how old your machine is but Summas have a 2 year warranty normallyKev
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Not being funny – but is the centre media roller down?
Mishapen letters etc. are caused in my experience by broken blades, ruined holder or ‘somebody’ leaving the roller up.
I’ve got the same machine (D120) and it’s been virtually trouble free for that last 4 1/2 years bar a blade holder dropping all of it’s bearings.
The only time it throws a wobbly is text under 3mm…more from a material point of view than plotter fault…or whatever apprentice I’ve got at the time does something (grips not on rollers / centre grip mysteriously up / not setting grips to the full width…and sending a 1200mm file)
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I agree Dave since mine was sorted its been blinding its just in the middle of cutting 200 x 1.5mtr logos & as been running full speed to do it since yesterday afternoon. When i first got it it was useless, the beauty was i had my other Summa sitting next to it so when i got the "its how they are" i just run the job in the old machine to prove that wasn’t the case. I think mine was a Friday afternoon build but once Howard from Art Systems rebuilt it, it as been blinding.
Kev
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Hi – many thanks for all the quick responses – wow ! much appreciated. it now seems to happen on all vinyls. we’re using Renown cutter blades 60 degree and using an offset of .43. the drive belt does seem a little slack having taken a peek at it but its difficult to gage since i never looked before to see how taut it was when we first got it. we’ve had it a very long time now. i think when they first came out and i suppose it could do with a proper service. Art Systems are a bit unhelpful and won’t even speak to you unless you give them a credit card first !
everything else appears fine, rollers are all down etc. it did cross my mind that if the rollers had gone a bit shiny they might slip on the vinyl as it was going back and forth ? still doesn’t explain the pressure increase on long straight edges though !
we have found that you do definitely need space around the machine to allow the vinyl to go in and out freely. if it backs up against a wall then it causes all sorts of grief !
many thanks for all your replies so far – most helpful
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Robert
have you tried an original blade in it, standard blade offset is .48.Kev
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quote Kevin Flowers:Robert
have you tried an original blade in it, standard blade offset is .48.Kev
hi Kevin
Unfortunately at present we don’t have an original blade here so can’t try. we’ve never had a problem with the Renown blades other than the fact they seem to blunt a bit sooner than the originals and the cost difference was incredible – actually…. i could give our supplier a call and ask them what offset they would recommend for this particular type of blade.Cheers
Rob
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