Help!!! Decal Cutting Prints

[rivern_k]

Hi, Ive printed a logo on my Mimaki Jv3 160sp and i want to be able to decal cut the logo with my summa d120 vinyl cutter (with Opos Eye). Ive downloaded the summa software but can't seem to get the pc to talk to the cutter. when i send the artwork to opos cut, the computer tells me the cutter is busy. Ive checked all connections, and set the port to 'com 1' etc but still no joy. Any tips or any other methods would be great as im really pulling my hair out over this and want to decal cut my prints

Thanks Kristian.

[zipper]

It took us a long time to figure out how to make our Summa T1400 with OPOS do the contour cutting. The main problem was our RIP program. We used the Version 2 of Onyx Cut Server (their latest & greatest). Even though Onyx tech support kept telling us there was no problem with their program we decided to switch to older version 1. This solved the communication problem between Summa and the Onyx Cut Server. You should call Summa Tech Support and get all the right parameters (e.g. parity, baud rate, etc.) to enter in your RIP program. Our second problem was that the OPOS could not recognize the registration marks. Apparently my two year old OPOS was not sensitive enough to identify these marks. Summa's new OPOS is supposed to be more sensitive and it'll definitely recognize digitally printed registration marks. The problem here is that Summa tells me my older cutter cannot be retrofitted with the new OPOS. I would have to buy a brand new Summa and replace my perfectly good cutter. We found a way to get around this problem. We can now make perfectly good contour cut everytime.

[Neil]

Interesting about the Summa cutters. I'm looking for a new cutter specifically for contour cutting. My old Summa won't co-operate well with manually searching out reg marks.

Strange that you couldn't get the old opos to work properly though.
How did you solve it?
Are you controlling the reg mark sensing through the rip, through the sign software, or via the cutter?

[zipper]

If you have the same problem as I did, this is what happens:
1. When Summa receives the signal to contour cut, it tells you to place the OPOS on top of your first registration mark. Then when you push the enter button to initiate the Summa, the OPOS will start its widening circle to look for the registration mark. Even though OPOS is sitting on top of the first mark, it cannot see the contrast between the black mark and the white background.
2. This may sound tedious, but here's what we have to do to make the OPOS work. In your sign making program, draw a one-inch diameter circles and place a .125"x.125" square in the middle of each one. Then first cut .125"x.125" squares out of high performance black vinyl and place them right over the digitally printed registration marks. Next cut the circles with the square in the middle
out of high performance white vinyl. Reverse weed out the square piece and place the white circles over each black square. OPOS will now recognize the marks and it will proceed to the other registration marks.