# Craft Robo Pro misalignment in cutting.



## talos72 (Nov 4, 2006)

I have noticed that after I send a job to my Craft Robo Pro, the contour cuts are off by few mm...as a test I print the drawn contour from Illustrator on an image (along with registration marks) and send the print for cutting. The cut is mis-aligned and does not fall on the drawn contour.

Anyone know how to calibrate the cutter?

thanks


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## designconcepts (Jul 30, 2009)

I've had the exact problem two times now, both happened right after I installed the Plot/cut driver. However I'm using Corel Draw X4, although I have plotted from AI. Honestly, I'm not sure what actually fixed it!! I'm not at that computer right now, so I'll try to best explain from memory...... In the output box (cut/plot) I set the "offset" (y-axis, again, I believe offset is the right term) to the exact amount it was off. Can't remember what the first time was, believe the second was slightly under an inch. Took several tries to get it on. And what I don't get..... not sure if I resent it from CD (restarted the cut/plot box) or what, but the next time it plotted it exactly off the same amount _the opposite way_! I set the offset back to 0 and worked fine ever since. oh well...

FWIW, I had several versions of Cutting Master I was playing with, I'm now using the latest, 1.6. If you don't have this, you may want to try it. http://graphtecamerica.com/support/ Cutting plotters-->CraftRoboPRO-->Drivers and Downloads-->Cutting Master 2.

Hope that helps some!


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## talos72 (Nov 4, 2006)

hey thanks for the reply Derrick. ya, i ended up having to play around with the blade force and speed too which helped a bit...but still was trying to figure out how to adjust blade alignment (the cuts seem to be to the left by a mm) and i thought it has to do with offset but unfortunately the manuals do not explain these parameters well. i installed the CD version of the driver and don't know if it is 1.6 version. i was thinking of calling Graphtec also for some direct input.


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## Lnfortun (Feb 18, 2006)

MY cutter has been off the same direction as what you are getting. I tried adjusting the registration marks offset but it tdi not help. Maybe it will work for you. Unfortunately in my case there is no way to enter a negative offset number for registration mark offset. So I cheat and fool the cutter. After the image and the registration marks are printed I move the image towards the error before I send the data to the cutter. Do a test cut on a plain paper and keep adjusting until the cut is acceptable. Keep track of how much the image was moved and use value in the future.


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## talos72 (Nov 4, 2006)

so, just to get this right. you print image with reg marks, then place the printed image into the cutter and then slide the print around? but doesn't the cutter cut where it wants when it reads off the reg marks?

i am not clear what the step by step of your process is...appreciate it if you could give us a step by step.  also, isn't is tough to adjust manually when you are talking about few millimeters?

thanks

ps. how come you can't enter a negative value in the field...just curious.


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## Lnfortun (Feb 18, 2006)

talos72 said:


> so, just to get this right. you print image with reg marks, then place the printed image into the cutter and then slide the print around? but doesn't the cutter cut where it wants when it reads off the reg marks?


I am sorry what I meant was the contour cut line and not the image itself. The cut line in the computer is what I meant that I move. Not the actual paper. What happens is regardless of where you place the paper on a carrier sheet the cutter will always look for the locations of the registration marks. It does not really know exactly where the cut line is in the paper. It will cut the area based on the data being sent from the computer that tells the cutter where the cut line is relative to the registration marks. So to fool the cutter the data that will be sent is the new position of the cut line after it has been moved.


> i am not clear what the step by step of your process is...appreciate it if you could give us a step by step.  also, isn't is tough to adjust manually when you are talking about few millimeters?


In Corel Draw there is a fine nudging and super nudging movement by using the arrow keys. I select the cut line then press the appropriate key to move it in a very fine increment. I set the nudging value to .001. Usually it takes about 2 to 3 key strokes. You should be able to manually set the X and Y value in AI in small increments.


> ps. how come you can't enter a negative value in the field...just curious.


The cutter will only take postive number. I asked the tech support if there is a way to enter a negative value and I was told that it can't be done. I was told that the machine was factory calibrated that negative value is not necessary.


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## talos72 (Nov 4, 2006)

I think I got it. You create the reg marks, you trace the cut line where you want it to be then nudge it a bit to compensate. then you print and cut as usual. So it may look a bit off on screen but when cut it will look right.


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## Lnfortun (Feb 18, 2006)

talos72 said:


> I think I got it. You create the reg marks, you trace the cut line where you want it to be then nudge it a bit to compensate. then you print and cut as usual. So it may look a bit off on screen but when cut it will look right.


Well you got the idea. However, I move the cut line that way it does not affect the relative position of the image to the registration marks. I don't print the cut line with the image with the registration marks unless it is part of an outline of the image. As a matter of fact I put the cut line with its own registrations marks in a separate file that are exactly the same registration marks positions that are on the image file. That way I can adjust the position of the cut line as much as necessary. The position of the registration marks of the two files has to be precisely the same. Moving the cut line will trick the Cutting Master into thinking where the image is located relative to the registration marks.

The way I make the registration marks the same is I save a copy of the original file with a different file name. Delete the cutline, if it is not part of the outline of the image, in the original file then save it. Open the copy file. Delete the image then save it. The original will then have just the image and the registration marks which I use for printing. I Use the copy file for cutting after I tweaked and made the fine adjustment.


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## ashamutt (Feb 22, 2008)

Lnfortun said:


> MY cutter has been off the same direction as what you are getting. I tried adjusting the registration marks offset but it tdi not help. Maybe it will work for you. Unfortunately in my case there is no way to enter a negative offset number for registration mark offset. So I cheat and fool the cutter. After the image and the registration marks are printed I move the image towards the error before I send the data to the cutter. Do a test cut on a plain paper and keep adjusting until the cut is acceptable. Keep track of how much the image was moved and use value in the future.


Hey Luis! 

Which version of cuttingmaster 2 do you have.... 1.3 or the new updated 1.6 ??


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## Lnfortun (Feb 18, 2006)

I use version 1.6. I have not updated the firmware though. It is suppose to have improved registration software routine. I worried that something else might creep up on me.


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## mpctc (Jun 6, 2009)

There is an alignment routine that graphtec can email you. If you want it I have it send me a me mail to [email protected] and I'll send it to you


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## Lnfortun (Feb 18, 2006)

I got that too. Done it but did not do antyhing to help the offset.


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## mpctc (Jun 6, 2009)

Lnfortun said:


> I got that too. Done it but did not do antyhing to help the offset.


Did they send you the alignment sheet etc and the instruction for setting the offset? Because it worked for me and the machine is now perfectly accurate


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## Lnfortun (Feb 18, 2006)

I got it in the email from the support tech. Did on form the user manual and the the from the email which is basically the same thing. I am glad it worked for you. Maybe you can scan it and post the sheet as a bitmap or pdf format. Maybe it is different from what I got.


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