where can i get drivers and software for a PNC1000?

[Mike Brown]

…Carl, I don’t have one of these – or a Roland – so I can’t help directly….but…

Give Roland a call on 01792 515045 or call John De Laroche at their northern sales office on 01270 585001 and ask them for assistance – they’re a great bunch! 😀

more soon

mikethesign

[storeinet]

what parallel cable are you using? if using a std cable this will not work. you will need to obtain one from roland, if they don’t have one they will point you in the right direction.

Dan

[Graham.Scanlan]

you can use either serial or parallel cables with your roland,

i would start by using a standard printer cable that uses LPT1 to test your software with.

if that fails do a self test on the plotter.

if that works look at buying software maybe something like vinyl master pro, as this is inexspensive to buy.

there are also demo discs knocking around, of the said program

so you can test it 1st.

[Alan]

Hi Carl,

The first thing you have to do is prove that this thing works?
You don’t have to have it connected to a computer for this it is capable of doing a self-test all on it’s own. These are the instructions for performing the self-test, it’s from a pnc 1100 manual but should be similar.

.

If this is your first time at a plotter I have to say that you’re going to struggle without a manual. 😥
As Graham (the brat) has said a standard Parallel (printer cable) plugged into your computer’s LPT1 port will work just fine with no problems, if you decide to use a serial cable though things can get a little complicated.

Alan

[Mark Candlin]

Ive got a windows 95 driver for it if you want. That should get you started
I could e-mail it to you if you wish.

Regards

Mark
Surrey Signs

[ccmotorsport]

Cheers for the help so far – great response :o)

I have managed to get it running the test/demo. Needed to open it up and give it a good clean as it kept saying ‘illegal pinchroll position’

Now when I turn it on it just sits there in ‘set configuration’ mode.
When I try and send stuff to it, the PC reports a ‘time-out error’

What do you think I need to do next ?

Do I have to take it out of this mode, and if so how ?

Cheers,
Carl – http://www.ccmotorsport.co.uk

[Alan]

quote ccmotorsport:

Now when I turn it on it just sits there in ‘set configuration’ mode.

Do you mean by this that it will not scroll through the menus when you press the [MENU] button!!
If this is the case you may simply have a bad connection between the operation panel and the main board. (or something seriously wrong)
If it is scrolling through the menus it’s probably OK.

When you say you get a time out error from the PC when you try sending something to the plotter, you have loaded vinyl or paper (for pen plotting) into the plotter and lowered the pinch rollers haven’t you? On lowering the rollers the display should change allowing you to select [ROLL] [EDGE] or [PIECE].
You also need to set your software program/driver and the plotter for the type of connection you have between PC and plotter.

You really do need that user manual.

You could try downloading one of the PNC manuals from here. http://www.allgraphicsupplies.com/manuals.shtml
These are not for the PNC1000 but may give you some clues.

There are also some test files here http://www.rolanddga.com/support/default.asp that may help test your connection between computer and plotter.

Alan

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Hi, I have a PNC 1000 here- but no manual- and it works fine 98% of the time!
1. Drivers can be downloaded, but this one won’t work with a PNC 1000 driver- it needs a PNC1000A driver.
2. Don’t bother with the messages on the plotter LCD screen, except the one that says “Press function key” when you turn it on, or change vinyl, lift the pinch rollers etc. You must press the blue Function key then.
3.Software- Corel 7 was the cheapest I could get that would work & run it, but for some reason now, I can’t get corel to run it! To do it though, you have to put an outline of 0.001mm around your items/text and then go to Print preview & select the plotter driver, & then position the image on the plotter vinyl sheet onscreen, then click print. (That’s from memory)
Dave Grundy, from Letterville.com is the corel & Camm-1 expert there.
4. Sometimes you have to set the plot speed at 10cm/sec, rather than the fastest 15cm/sec.

Feel free to email me if I can help.

P.S. #5. Guaranteed- it WILL stuff up if you are browsing online/emailing while plotting. Leave it in peace, offline, and it’ll behave!

6. A message on the plotter screen about “error illegal parameters” is sometimes harmless, & sometimes it’s plotted a circle in the middle of another letter or misplotted some letter centre. Never know why…

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

PS, I’ve just tried Dahedi, and it works here- even plots from an eps file, though it said it will only plot from the enclosed sample. I couldn’t get it to distort text in an arc, not to weld script, but I’m new to Dahedi, and only have the free version.

You have to set Dahedi up with the plotter as a PNC 1000A also, and I forgot a mention in tyhe above post- by fiddling with the plotter buttons, you can get it to display “mode 1” or mode 2. From memory, if the plotter won’t work, then alter the mode setting to the other one & try again, then don’t alter it. Mode 2 works for us. It’s something to do with the language the PC uses to control the plotter I think.

Also try the PNC 1100 demo cutting test mentioned above.
good luck!

[ccmotorsport]

OK, getting to grips with the menu now.

I go to the ‘replot mode’ menu and then the ‘load’ command. But then when I send the data from the PC the cutter states ‘replot data error, stop sending data’. Am I doing something wrong ?

I am running windows ME, does anyone have the driver for this and the PNC1000 ? If yes, can you email it to sales@ccmotorsport.co.uk

Still trying to find a manual.

Cheers,
Carl

[Mike Antrum]

Hi Carl,

First of all there may be a number of reasons why you machine may be causing you problems.

It is easier to get the plotter running with a parallel (LPT) cable.

When you first turn on the machine, make sure the loading lever is in the upright position. You will then get a display which has CMD and I/O on it.

Using the arrow keys, move the flashing cursor to the I/O and press enter. You need to make sure the plotter is set to Parallel, (which you can do by moving the flashing cursor to Parallel and then pressing enter).

Then you need to check the CMD setting, which works in the same way. Set it to mode 2.(HPGL)

Load the plotter with media. The left pinch wheel is fixed in position. The right pinch wheel must be set over the silver grit roller on the right hand side, otherwise you will get the invalid pinch roller position error. Lower the loading lever, and the machine will then scan the width of the vinyl.

When the machine comes back to the right hand side and stops, you then need to press the FUNC key, before the machine will operate. When you press the FUNC key the head will move a couple of inches, and the display will come up with X & Y display co-ordinates. The machine will then be ready to plot.

You should find that the Roland Windows driver will work, but you must send hairlne vector data to it. (from programs like Illustrator, CorelDraw & Freehand).

The PNC 1000 is an ‘oldie but goodie’ and will probably be still working away well after I haven dropped to bits.

Best Regards,

Mike.

[ccmotorsport]

Cheers Mike, got it to as far as the XY point. Awaiting my corel software, am trying the free vistool (basic vinyl cutting) program but still getting error command not recognised.

I read on a roland forum that their was a similar problem and that the windows ME was the culprit, can anyone here verify this ?

I am going to try it on my other PC, win95.

Carl – CCMotorsport.COM

[Alan]

Hi Carl

Mike seems to have covered the plotter settings and got you to the XY point that means the plotter is ready to cut. If you now try running the LPT1 test from the link I gave above you’ll be able to test the connection between PC and plotter.

You simple extract the two files (Test.bat & Test.plt) into a folder somewhere and double click the Test.bat file. This sends the .plt file directly to the plotter via the LPT1 port. It should plot out the word TEST. This doesn’t require any software or drivers it simply tests the physical connection between PC and plotter directly. Once you’ve proven this link you can work on the software and driver knowing the connection is not the cause of any problem you may have.

I doubt if ME is a problem, people have called ME everything from a pig to a dog but I had no problems with it.
One other thing you could try is to check the parallel port mode in the bios. Set it to Normal (SPP Standard Parallel Port) if it isn’t already, and see if that makes a difference.

Alan

[ccmotorsport]

Back again guys.

Got a copy of corel11, keeps coming up with error command not known, what file types do I need to be using ?

Just donw the test file recommended above, comes up with error command not recognised. HOWEVER, my PNC1000 is not listed so have used one from abother plotter, any advice ?

Regards,
Carl – CCMotorsport.COM

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Hi, try and see if you can alter the MODE setting from mode 1 to mode 2. Press the function key on the plotter till you find it, then press the enter key and/or the arrow keys.
Roland on their website say you can use almost any of the camm1 drivers if you can’t find the right one. My pnc 1000 won’t run on the PNC 1000 driver, but will on a PNC 1000A driver. Can’t work that out, but have to remember that everytime I want to load it onto another computer.
Best wishes

[ccmotorsport]

Have tried changing from mode 1 / 2 and is still doing the samething.

Have changed the parallel port setting in the BIOS to ‘EPP’,

Any other suggestions ?

[Alan]

I’m not sure what file your downloading and trying to run but there is a file at the above location for the PNC1000, it is the following:

http://www.rolanddga.com/support/files/ … t_test.exe

Extract both files from the ‘CAMM1_LPT_port_test.exe’ file into a folder (or onto your desktop). Run the ‘test.bat’ file from a dos prompt (command window), this will send the ‘test.plt’ file to your LPT1 port.

Alan

[ccmotorsport]

Tried that file, the cutter displays error command not recognised.

[Alan]

The test file is obviously being sent to the plotter in order for the plotter to kick up an error, so the data must be either getting corrupted on route or the plotter settings are still incorrect.

Set the parallel port to SPP not EPP. Some hardware/software may not support Extended Parallel Port.
Are you running the Parallel cable direct from the computer to the plotter!!
Linking through a printer or other peripheral may sometimes cause problems.
Have you tried a different parallel cable! All parallel centronics cables are wired the same but you may have a faulty one.

If you’re confident that you’ve tried all the things in this and previous posts you may have to face the fact that there could be something wrong with the plotter unless you have concrete evidence of it’s working order prior to you acquiring it.

Alan

[ccmotorsport]

There is no option for SPP in my BIOS (hewlett packard), so thought that EPP would be the closest (other options for the port were output only, bi-sirectional, EPP and ECP). Can this SPP setting be altered elsewhere ?

I will try a different parallel cable and see how that goes, will also check the internals (joints etc).

Everything else on the cutter works fine, self-test OK, can even enter text into the cutter directly and it plots great.

So dont want to give up on it jist yet as it is probably something I have done or not done.

Is there anyone reading this that has the PNC1000 and can send me the driver they are using ? sales@ccmotorsport.co.uk

Cheers,
carl – http://www.ccmotorsport.co.uk

[ccmotorsport]

Still getting ‘err1 command not recognised’.

Does anyone have a list of settings for corel 11 using a PNC1000 with the PNC1000a driver.

I have downloaded a PDF file showing some changes required when using corel but these only go up to corel 10.

ALSO, would anyone recommend trying the serial port and if yes, where can I get the specific cable from ?

Cheers again,
Carl.