# I need help with my cutter



## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

I have just spent the last four hours trying to cut some vinyl for my first paid job with vinyl. I am beyond frustrated and really hope someone here can help.

I made a pretty basic design for a few shirts I sold. Two words placed above each other both arched. Then a football (from clip art) just below them. I just can't get them to cut, and I have tried what feels like everything. The crazy part is I can get the words to cut by themselves, or the football by itself, just not together. When I try cutting the entire design together it only does a portion then the cutter either quits and the error light stays on or goes a little crazy acting.

I am using Corel, and the Cutter 3000 with Great Cut software. The cutter does seem a little temperamental because even when I get something to cut correctly the error light does blink while cutting. But when it messes up the light stays on, so there seems to be a difference.

I just can't understand why I can cut the lettering or football separately but not together. I am sure it is something I am overlooking because I have no experience using a cutter.

I have tried cutting them just as they are, grouping them, welding them, converting to curves, outlining them and every possible combination of all these things and no luck whatsoever.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I need to get this done for my customer, and I hate to waste any more vinyl and time trying to get this to work. I have run out of ideas to try on my own.

Thanks in advance for your help.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Is the graphic and the text the same colour in Corel?....I use illustrator and sometimes get 2 different blacks....

When you import the complete design into Great Cut do all parts of the design have the same colour for the cuts lines?...If they all look the same click the File > Output buttons in GreatCut...This brings up a new window..On the bottom right there is a window named Objects....Use the drop down menu....How many colours show up here?...If more than 1 you have different coloured objects....


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

royster13 said:


> Is the graphic and the text the same colour in Corel?....I use illustrator and sometimes get 2 different blacks....
> 
> When you import the complete design into Great Cut do all parts of the design have the same colour for the cuts lines?...If they all look the same click the File > Output buttons in GreatCut...This brings up a new window..On the bottom right there is a window named Objects....Use the drop down menu....How many colours show up here?...If more than 1 you have different coloured objects....


 
I did make sure they were all one color. I didn't know how to double check it in Great Cut though, thanks. I double check it in GC.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

As far as the error light....What lights are on at the end of the cut?...Then look at the sticker on top of your machine to see what they mean....


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

Should you normally just group them and send to Great Cut or is there something else I should be doing first?


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

royster13 said:


> As far as the error light....What lights are on at the end of the cut?...Then look at the sticker on top of your machine to see what they mean....


I don't have a sticker on top of my machine. What does it look like?


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

I use Illustrator so the steps are different I think.....

I select the complete design and FILE > GREATCUT > AUTOEXPORT.....

This brings my design into GreatCut...Not sure of the exact steps in Corel.....But when you get to Great Cut is the complete design there?....


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Here is the sticker


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## ppts160 (Jan 16, 2011)

Is the default size on the cutter for the area smaller than the area in corel. I have a graphtec CE5000-60 and had a problem like this once and I found the area setting on the cutter was smaller than the area I was trying to send it. Don't know if it is the same problem.


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

Well I just went and tried again making 100% sure it was one color and still same problem.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

does your complete design show up when you preview the design in greatcut?


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

ppts160 said:


> Is the default size on the cutter for the area smaller than the area in corel. I have a graphtec CE5000-60 and had a problem like this once and I found the area setting on the cutter was smaller than the area I was trying to send it. Don't know if it is the same problem.


I really have no idea, the cutter didn't really come with much instructions, just a DVD telling you how to unpack, set up and basic use.

The design is not very big, only 6.5" x 13.75". I can't imagine the cutter would not be set up to handle that, but I wonder how you check. I'll have to see if I can see anything about the default setting.


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

royster13 said:


> does your complete design show up when you preview the design in greatcut?


Yes it does. 

It is just so aggravating because it has to be something simple for the fact that they do cut separately. Something in the process of trying to combine them is screwing something up.


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

Louie2010 said:


> I really have no idea, the cutter didn't really come with much instructions, just a DVD telling you how to unpack, set up and basic use.
> 
> The design is not very big, only 6.5" x 13.75". I can't imagine the cutter would not be set up to handle that, but I wonder how you check. I'll have to see if I can see anything about the default setting.


Plus I have been testing it at smaller sizes because I was wasting too much vinyl trying to get it to work, so I doubt that is the problem.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

So lets take a look at how it cuts.....

Go to DESIGN > Sort with Simulation
Click view complete path in bottom left and the hit play button at top of design window....


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

royster13 said:


> Here is the sticker


Does your 3000's error light blink while cutting? Mine does each time while cutting even if it cuts OK. I don't know if that is just a normal glitch or something is wrong with the thing.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

No error light on mine....


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

royster13 said:


> So lets take a look at how it cuts.....
> 
> Go to DESIGN > Sort with Simulation
> Click view complete path in bottom left and the hit play button at top of design window....


 
I'll try that. Is that a preview of the cutting?


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Should be....You can slow it down by using the slider next to play button...


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

OK I am back. I tried the preview and it showed it cutting the entire amount, letters and football. So I tried again to cut and same thing cut some letters then went a little wacky and quit.

Now come the real strange part. I decided to put in some window type decal vinyl to try again because it cost so much less and I am wasting way too much expensive vinyl so far. Well it cuts with that vinyl no problems. So I put back in the Eco-film and it screws up again.  This is unreal.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Well some progress.....But has me puzzled.....

Is your workspace set to the size of material uyou are using?... 
FILE > OUTPUT will bring up a settings page.....Pressure, Speed, Material Width, Length....
I use 50 g(g) and 50 (cm/s) and Ecofilm is 14.75 wide...

Are your pinch rollers as wide as the material less 1/4" on each siide?
And are they over the grip rollers?...

Any red light when you cut sign vinyl?


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

I'll go check that, thanks.


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

Well, I checked and the width was different, so I changed it to 14.75. Tried again and it worked! However since I needed three in black and then three more in another color, I figured I would cut two more in the black. Well of course it screwed up again on the next two tries, more wasted vinyl. I am starting to think it might be the cutter. Because even when it did cut the error light was blinking and then when it finished the light stayed on. So I have to turn the cutter off and on again and let it go through the back and forth resting before I could even cut again. Somewhere in that process it caused it to screw up again when cutting.

Thanks for all your help. I have to take a break because I promised my son we would do a project together today and I have wasted 7 1/2 hours of the day already on this.

If you have any other suggestions I will try them again later later tonight or tomorrow and see if I can't figure this out.

Thanks again, you really have been amazingly helpful, I appreciate it more than you can know.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Thank you for taking me away from yard work.....My wife will be cranky when she gets home but I can share the story of how I helped someone today.....lol.....She is usually the helper person in our house.....


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## JBuchanan (Jan 26, 2010)

Normally when you get an error light while cutting either your design falls outside of the material width or you are loosing the back material sensor. Are you cutting sheets or roll material.


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

Well, I think I finally am getting there. I believe some of my problems was actually a combination of many of all of the above mentioned in this thread. It wasn't as simple as just trying one thing to fix, but instead trying to fix a few of them in combination.

I have been able to cut three in a row now with very little problems. On one of them the machine still did end up showing error at the end so I had to turn it off and on again to reboot before I was able to do the next cut.

Then feeling more confident , I tried a different design entirely, did everything the same and I ended up with a pop up box in GC saying something to the effect about a problem with pen-thickness. Not sure what that means, but I guess I don't have it entirely figured out yet.

I want to thank everyone that has taken the time to offer me suggestions and help. Especially royster13, who really went the extra mile for me.


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## freebird1963 (Jan 21, 2007)

If you not doing any more cut control in Greatcut why even bother to export it ? To me thats just adding a extra step and the possibility of more problems or errors.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

I am still a little confused by "pen-thickness" as well.....But I think it usually means you have a stroke weight assigned to a path in your art work....If you remove the stroke weight of the path the message goes away....So I create paths that are fills only....No stroke weight...

When I tried to add extra cut lines (for weeding) to my design I typically placed a line with some stroke weight....But I have discovered that if you "convert pen thickness" it gives you an object that is thicker than just a cut...So you can either remove the weight of the stroke or untick the "convert pen thickness" box....Because this is universal it will apply to all instances....So best to make all your adjustments in your graphics program....This way you should get what you want for sure....

PS...I am talking Illustrator here...Might not be the same if I talk in a foreign language (Corel)....


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Freebird how do you cut without going through GreatCut?.....I am not understanding what you are doing because I can not get any thing to do anything unless I export to Great Cut.....


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## freebird1963 (Jan 21, 2007)

Royster
I cut directly from Corel x4.

I go to printer setup and pick the cutter 3000.
Then on the main menu bar I got to LAYOUT and pick Page Setup and choose GET FROM PRINTER. It changes the page to the vinyl size of 47" x 23". (sometimes tho I don't do this till I am ready to cut)

I make the design or import one
Group it or select the whole design and I hit f12 add a .001mm outline.
Move the design to the bottom left of the page layout 
Go to print
Pick the cutter 3000 and using properties set my cut force.
Hit print and it cuts.

I attempted to record the screen as I did one. Attached the zip file. Its a AVI file inside the zip. First time I did one so hopefully not to fast or herky jerky. Hope it helps

Mark


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Well I have not been able to print for 1 reason or another.....Thanks for the explanation...

But there a couple things I like to do when go through Great Cut....

The most recent thing I discovered was the SORT function.....On complex designs it really cleans up the path that the blade takes....No more running all over "hells half acre"....

And weed lines....If I am doing multiple lines of text I will place a weed line right through each line of text....To me it makes weeding easier....

Can you do either of this when you do not go through Great Cut?...


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

royster13 said:


> The most recent thing I discovered was the SORT function.....On complex designs it really cleans up the path that the blade takes....No more running all over "hells half acre"....


How do you do this?



> And weed lines....If I am doing multiple lines of text I will place a weed line right through each line of text....To me it makes weeding easier....


How do you do this?

Do you have to worry about cutting through your letters or part of the design?


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

I have another question regarding the 3000 and Eco-film.

The vinyl is 14.75 wide. But you also lose some width on the side where the cutter starts out, and also the pinchers. What is the widest design that can actually be cut with the 3000, using Eco-film?


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Sort Order.......When you have the Great Cut window open, you go to DESIGN > Sort with Simulation...There is a play button on the top of window.....If you hit it, it will show you the cut path...In the lower left there is a check box "view complete path"....If you tick this, it also draws a line.....If you have not done any kind of sort, the path is really "messed up"....

No check on of the sort options...Left to Right or up and down....And each can go 2 direction...Seems logical for me to go from left to right so that is that is what I do...do the play button again and you can see the difference......And the weed lines do not cut into your design....

As far as weed lines.....Once you have done the sort and mirrored your image in need be, you go FILE > OUTPUT which brings up a new window.....You need to have a weed border set...Then hit preview.....Your design should now have a weed border.....If you right click you can set horizontal or vertical weed lines....Or you can drag them from the outside weed border....


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

Can the weed lines pass right through the design, or do you have to place them around it in some way?

Curious, how did you learn so much about Great Cut? Just experimenting, or is there someplace to read this material?


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

You can place a weed line right over and object and it does not cut through the object....As far as I can tell so far....

And my learning has mostly been experimenting and what I read on here....The factory manual is very poor.....I have also Googled a few things and sometimes a reference to Co-Cut would come up....GreatCut is re-branded Co-Cut as far as I can tell...


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

royster13 said:


> You can place a weed line right over and object and it does not cut through the object....As far as I can tell so far....


Thanks, I might have to try that.




> And my learning has mostly been experimenting and what I read on here....The factory manual is very poor.....I have also Googled a few things and sometimes a reference to Co-Cut would come up....GreatCut is re-branded Co-Cut as far as I can tell...


You sure have done well at picking this up on your own. Much better than I have  Where did you find the manual, I haven't even seen that, even if it is poor.


Any idea about the question I asked earlier about width?


Again, thanks again for all the help you have offered me. I think I am finally feeling a little more comfortable with it.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

The manual came on the CD...

I think I have cut just a sliver under 14"....But I usually try to max out at width -1.5"....

And as far as width, I have gone all the way up to 23.6"....Took me a while to figure out you needed more material than 24" to do this...

I do street signs where I wanted a 5 1/2" x 23 1/2" cut....So I cut a 25" length of material into 3 8" x 25" pieces...Now I can cut a 5.6" x 23.6" piece including a 0.05 weed border....


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

When you do pieces like that instead of cutting off the roll, do you change anything in the settings? I tried cutting a piece this evening and it quit in the middle because when it pulled it through it must have detected the end even though there was plenty of vinyl for the design. Of course this piece was not near the size you cut, but relative to the design it probably was equal.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Well I am partly talking about the Cut-3000 and partly an Expert 24....I will have to see if what worked on the Expert 24 will still still work on the Cut-3000....That damn sensor does make things a little different.....


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

I wonder if you could just put masking tape of the sensors when cutting pieces?


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## freebird1963 (Jan 21, 2007)

I just draw a line in corel if I want a weed line. Covnert to object and set the outline width. No biggie. Tho to be honest I forget alot of times but since the cutter cuts pretty damn good I haven't really missed the weed lines. I just look at GREATCUT and seems just to many options and stuff. Guess more lazy than anything in going in and learning it since cutting right from Corel has been pretty easy. Tho I wish there was more docs on some of the options and things that could be done. 

When I cut I have watched the head and doesn't seem to run all over the place. Seems to cut in some type of order I guess. 

There is a video or discussio were one lady says she puts tape over the back sensor. And Josh Ellsworth had a video were he mentions it too if I recall correctly. MIght be on the Stahls site were they have all the cutters listed in the how to videos. Pretty sure thats it.
Don't think she did the front but I can't truly recall.

VLCD has a option for sheet or roll. GCC support said to us you needed to use it to tell it when cutting just a sheet.


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## freebird1963 (Jan 21, 2007)

Louie2010 said:


> I don't have a sticker on top of my machine. What does it look like?


The sticker shows the lights and what the error means.

A flashing error light and a CUT TEST light means a width sensor error.

A flashing error light and and ON/OFF LINE light means no media or the levers are up.

A flashing error light and a ON/OFF LINE and the REPEAT light means your graphics was clipped. Otherwords the mage was bigger than the vinyl or the way orientated will not fit on the vinyl. Got this a couple of times.

The rest more than likely require a call to support for them.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

When I do weed lines in my graphics program they cut through my letters....bottom of image.....When I do cut lines in Great Cut, even though on screen it shows as going right through, it cuts like top of image...


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## scuba_steve2699 (Nov 15, 2006)

Louie - is it only giving you the error when you are cutting black film? The black film can sometimes give the optical eye on the back of the cutter issues. It will see the media as not being there and stop the job. Try putting a piece of tape over the back eye and run the job. WATCH your cutter because it will not stop if you run out of media. I have had this happen with many different cutters. It has something to do witht he way the light reflects into the optical eye and it sees the media as gone.


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