Vinyl scewing when loaded into plotter.

[Phill Fenton]

Have you checked that any adjustable roller wheels are in their correct position? I don’t have a Graphtec but my Summasign does this if I have accidently positioned the left hand roller slightly out of position.

[Paul Goodwin]

My Camm 1 did this a lot but not all the time, i found my marks where slightly out and the rollers were clogged up in some places making it slightly slip.

what i did was thoroughly clean the rollers ect. then i put down on each end 2 strips of tape, spent an age getting getting the material to run true, then mark with a fine pen on both ends where the material was on a true run.

Problem solved, i can now quite quickly load up and get accurate runs of about 3m without any slew.

Dunno if that will help you, but worth a try?

[Jayne Marsh]

I have a Graphtec and can usually run about 4 to 5m without too much slew. When I load the vinyl I pull it through about half a metre and drop it down behind the bar at the front of the plotter, then double it back against itself and line up the edges of the vinyl so that it is totally in line with itself. You need to make sure that the roll at the back of the machine is taut with no excess vinyl hanging off. Im not much good at explaining techniques so if you want any extra help with loading vinyl, ring Jeff in the service dept and he will help you out. He is forever telling me off for not loading vinyl properly! 😀

[Martin Pearson]

It sounds like I load my vinyl the same way that Jem does which is how graphtec tell you to load it.

Peter where do you buy your vinyl from? The reason I ask is because I use europoint and normally only buy part rolls. Quite often the vinyl arrives wound very badly around the cardboard tube and I have to re-roll it onto the tube as this causes the vinyl to slew all over the place if left.

[magpie]

Rightsigns/Mort, thanks for that. I think I’ve tried doing as you both suggest
a couple of times now. Then each time I think I’ve cracked it I end up at
square one again. That said 3/5M seems to be a limit I wasn’t aware of so
again something learnt there.

Jem, I’ll try that, thankyou.

Martin, I do use Europoints vinyl and will try rerolling as well as the above.

Thanks everyone.

[Marekdlux]

I “should” load mine the same as Jem because that is how the tech. showed me, but I just feed it through and then hold on to the edge and then roll the roll back so it is taught then clamp down. I just finished cutting over 150yds over the weekend and it only started to feed wrong once and I only reloaded the vinyl a couple of times. Like Jem I probably didn’t explain it right. I think the main thing to do is keep the vinyl roll taught.
-Marek

[Jill Marie Welsh]

I have a sprocket fed plotter but mine still gets screwy.
Especially when cutting Calon II.
I re-roll onto an empty cardboard tube and sometimes this seems to help.
Love….Jill

[jeffus – Graphtec]

Hi Peter

Which model Graphtec do you have, maybe we can try a few adjustments, to stop your slewing,

If you have an Fc41 or 51 try using the bar on the front, as Jem said earlier.

if you have a CE2000 or 3000 , feed the vinyl hold the roll at the back and take up the slack by pulling in the centre of the front of the roll, then pop the rollers down. some times the CE2/3000 can struggle with full rolls 25m , for this once loaded just roll of some slack at the rear, and this will help.

Another thing to try is auto pre feed if you have a long run, and keep the speed to about 30, also if your software supports it try sequential plot, that way the media is not going in and out so often.

hope this helps

Jeff

ps let me know which model you have thanks

[magpie]

Hi Jeffus,
I operate the CE3000 plotter, I do try and load as suggested however droping the lever
while maintaining the tension can be tricky. It would be handy if the fans came on while loading
to hold the vinyl flat until the rollers can take over. As for the slack, again tried this but as
you say with full rolls when the slack disappears, sometimes the load media error occurs.
Another problem while plotting is that if the media doesn’t skew it sometimes bunches up
between the rollers, but I think this may be due to the operating conditions.

Haven’t tried the pre feed yet as the slewing is mainly on the initial loading, speed wise
I’ll have to check but I think I run slower than that at the moment. All my cutting is done
through Illustrator with the drivers supplied and the sequential setting is on.

Recently I’ve taken to pre-cutting the vinyl and have found it a lot easier to load this way,
so it must be the the vinyl roll that is distorting the feed.

[Gordon Forbes]

I like the way the Summa D60 has the two inserts that go into the end of the tube of yinyl and you just screw them tight and it sits on the two rollers on the back of the machine. So much so in fact I use them on the PC600 as it can be a real pain to align but with the Summa end caps makes it a breeze aligning the Roland.

Goop.

[Andy Gorman]

I have a bit of a problem with the media holders on the CE3000. I’m not quite sure whether the bar ends are supposed to sit on those little wheels or not, if you know what I mean. In any case, I have cut 5 metres before but it can be a bit hit and miss. I wonder if Graphtec are at the sign show next week? If they are I will be bugging them about this subject.

[magpie]

Goop, I envy you, now stop gloating :wink

Big G, they were there last year, so I’ll probably see you there 😉
I’d love to know if the stand at £100+ ish is worth the investment? Although I believe these
are now being given away with new plotters.[/center]

[Jayne Marsh]

Graphtec are at the show this year, its the time of year that I don’t see Jeff for a week as hes busy on the stand all week. I’ll tell him you’re looking for him :lol1:

[jeffus – Graphtec]

Hi

Yes we are at the show come and see me and we’ll have a chat,

see what we can do,

cheers

Jeff

[magpie]

Great, see you there then.

Cheers, Peter

[Bill Dewison]

I’ve had similar problems with the vinyl buggering off in directions it really shouldn’t, but I’ve resolved this via the cowards route… I cut a maximum of 2.5 metres and I only do sheet feed, never from the roll. 😳

I say 😳 but it works really well for me. I plan out the vinyls I need, so I can cut the sheets whilst the first is cutting. The first sheet finishes cutting, I load the second, then weed the first. So on and so on. The benefit of the sheet feed is if the rollers/vinyl is misaligned I see it before I cut, the downside is I loose 50mm of vinyl per job. I think this is what Jeff calls pre-feeding, checking the vinyl before the cut, but from the roll its a pain in the bum as you have to reroll the vinyl before you start cutting.

If you try the sheet method, one thing to watch out for, have a clean floor 😮 During the recent alterations here I didn’t and I paid for it with extra cleaning time. Add that to the fact the PC60 had to be wrapped up to prevent it getting caked in dust… am I glad thats over! 🙄

I personally don’t like the plotter stands, not because they’re not a useful piece of kit, but with the PC60 being on a stand, I move it around alot and bump it more often than not. I prefer my plotter to have a fixed home, plus I’ve made a custom shelf thats a good 3ft off the floor, making the whole sheet feed thing easier.

Cheers, Dewi

[Martin Pearson]

Peter I forgot to mention the pre feeding, as Jem I use the bar at the front to pull the vinyl tight and line up but if I am doing a run over 3 mtr I prefeed it through first, just an added precauction but it does seem to work. I think because your not trying to pull the vinyl off the roll as it cuts. Ive had a couple of media end messages but only with full rolls when I have forgot to move the bar at the back which allows for the thicker roll. The other think I have found is that the plotter is much more likely to slew off if I try and position the rubber rollers right at the very edge of the fixed rollers on the plotter if you know what I mean.