Why can’t my Roland read crop marks?

[Simon Worrall]

Is it obviously looking for them Damian? It will track slowly right to left across the work, and come back again if it misses the marks. If that’s the case you have set it up right.

Have you put the crop marks where it can find them? I find the best way is to press the left arrow so the head comes out to the zero position, and line up the first mark with the cutter holder, so on its first pass it passes directly and centrally over it.

If it misses it the first time over, it is quicker to stop, line it all up again, and start again, than to let it continue searching. For this you have to turn off the primary switch and set up again – as far as I am aware there is no other way to abort this process.

Make sure the first crop mark is not to the right of the first pinch roller, even slightly, or the machine will ignore it.

[Damian Blackburn]

It just doesn’t seen to find any of the marks. I have tried everything. That’s why I wonder if the sensor has gone. Anybody bought one before? Any idea on cost? Thanks

[Chris Wool]

to test it i would
print a 50mm square with cut path with the marks on.
do not remove vinyl move the vinyl back with the arrow key until the first dot is over the cutting strip press base point.
send cut information.

taking versaworks out of the equation in the printer menu is the cut to print alignment tests and adjustments which will print marks then read and cut lines for calibrations.

[Damian Blackburn]

I have one all the all the tests. I just thought how do I know for sure the sensor is even working? I will try the 50mm square later. Is the crop sensor something that needs changing from time to time?

[Chris Wool]

you say you have done the calibration tests i presume they all failed to complete.
i am sure they can fail but not heard of it. its reasonably involved to remove the sensor to clean it may be worth a look though, i have had a bit of vinyl stuck to the lens cover before now.

[Damian Blackburn]

The tests seem to work fine but every time I try to search for crop marks it searches left to right about 4 times then comes up with the crop mark error. Something isn’t right somewhere.

[Damian Blackburn]

I took the sensor off to check it and there is a thin cover over the sensor, should this be clear because mine has a slight matte finish?

[Jason Bagladi]

It sounds like the sensor needs adjusting.
There is a small potentiometer on the circuit board for the cutter head. Through the service menu (not sure if you can access it without the correct code) you can get to a screen to set the sensor to the correct setting.
I had this problem regularly when I had an SP300-V. Adjusted the sensor and away it went.

[Chris Wool]

if the cut to print calibrations worked then there is nothing wrong with the sensor else how would it do it.

on mine it is most important that the first dot is over the cutting strip and at least 15mm further in than the roller with base point set else it wont find them.

[Nick Monir]

What material are you using? I can’t remember what it was but a while back we were using a gloss media with gloss laminate and had trouble getting the machine to detect the crop marks.

We stuck small patches of matt laminate over the marks and it picked them up first time.

Might be a long shot but it solved a head scratcher for us!

[Damian Blackburn]

Well got the sensor working:) I had to adjust the volts on the crop sensor. Now for the new problem, it now finds the marks and cuts but the cut is out to the left. Is there a setting to adjust this? I have done the print cut one with scan and feed on it.

[Chris Wool]

did you note the voltage before you altered it seam to remember that the quoted voltage in my manual was about a volt higher and gave a over sensitive reading.

there are 2 print and cut calibrations.
1/ print then cut.
2/ print read reg marks then cut

on some of the older machines the cut to reg marks print calibration is in the service menu, the best one is the one that prints a L shape scale then a cut line dial the values in as you see them.

[Damian Blackburn]

What is it under in the menu? The print read reg marks then cut?

[Chris Wool]

sorry think its called crop cut adjustment

[Damian Blackburn]

Thanks you to all! My printer now cuts using the crop sensors and it isn’t over 1 mm out. I though the print cut test was the same thing as the crop test ( they look the same apart from the black square) and I was only adjusting by 0.01 and not 0.1. It’s all good now though :lol1: :lol1: :lol1:

[Chris Wool]

pleased for you

1mm out on cutting is a mile, over around 600 mm. sq you can’t get it to cut down a printed hairline.
any bigger and you run in to material expansion problems

[Damian Blackburn]

Lol what I mean is, it was 1 mm out and now it’s not it’s spot on! :lol1:

[Chris Wool]

good man 😀