Cutter FAQ's The following information contains common cutting questions and answers. Question: How long do the PC-60 Ribbons last?

Transcription

1 Cutter FAQ's The following information contains common cutting questions and answers. Question: How long do the PC-60 Ribbons last? Answer: Resin ribbons will print an area of 8 sq. ft. Special color (Gold, Silver, White) resin ribbons will print 5.5 sq. ft. Wax ribbons will print 12.3 sq. ft. Question: Which ribbons do I use and on what material? Answer: Use Resin ribbons to print on vinyl, Mac-Tac, Thermo-Film II, and Advantage materials. Use Wax ribbons on Wax Transfer Paper. This will make a thermal transfer that will work well on garments. The main reason to use wax transfers is that the finished transfer costs about 1/2 the cost of items done with Resin ribbons. However these transfers can only be a applied to white or light colors. Question: I m trying to use a white ribbon on my PC-60 to print on clear sign vinyl. The white ends up looking flaky, or smearing. Sometimes it comes off on my hands. What s wrong? Answer: The white ribbon is tricky to work with. The clear vinyl you will print on must be cleaner than you ever thought possible. Clean it with alcohol, and when you re are sure it is really clean, clean it again. Question: Why does my PC-60 use so much ribbon? Answer: Set the page size to be a little larger than the size of the design. The information below gives an explanation of how to set up the design on the page. (Drawmate 10 and 9 has to settings that will do this for you. Select the design, Drawmate, CC Tools and Optimize Page Size.) In a thermal printer, such as the PC -60, the ribbon is laid down on the substrate (paper, or whatever you are printing on), then the thermal print head moves to the area where the printing is to occur and tiny heating elements melt the waxy base on the ribbon so that the dye is deposited on the substrate. The amount of ribbon used is equal to the total size of the page that the printer is dealing with. (Imagine a page of carbon paper laid over a letter size page. The whole sheet of carbon paper is used, even though only a small amount of the ink is actually used in copying the design.) For the purposes of this exercise, let's use a graphic that is 3" in diameter. This is a poor layout, since the 3" design is placed on a letter -sized page (8.5 x 11). The design is only 9 sq. in, but the PC -60 will use 93.5 (8.5X11) sq. in. of ribbon to print the design. In this illustration, the page size has been set to about 3.3 x 3.3. Now the cutter will only use about 10.9 sq. in. If multiple articles are on the page, they should be spaced as closely together as possible, and the page size should be just slightly larger than the graphics. The graphics on this one take up 9.5 in, so the page size was set to 10". The PC -60 will use 10 x 3.3 in. of ribbon (33.3 sq. in.) Look at all the waste space between the graphics. This one will waste about 10 sq. in. of ribbon. After you have sized the page properly, write down the size, since you will need to specify the "User Size" when you set up the instructions to the PC -60.

2 Question: I am having trouble with my CAD-COLOR PC-60 getting the black outline of my design to line up with the rest of the colors. What can I do? Answer: In some cases the colors do not seem to line up correctly causing a white line between colors. If this happens you can try turning on the trapping feature in the Roland driver under the output options tab. What this does is disguises the white gaps by making a composite black under the black you are printing with Spot Color. This does take a little longer to print but the results are worth it. Question: I am having trouble getting my colors to match what I see on the screen with my CAD-COLOR PC-60. What should I do? Answer: The only way to get true colors is to use RGB color values and print out a color chart for matching colors. Corel provides two color pallets for this. One is called "Custom Colors", this pallet is a good pallet to start with and to learn from. It has about 100 colors. The other is called "Uniform Colors". This pallet has over 260 different colors. You will need to create a color chart with a sample of the color and the color name on it. Then print it out and heat apply it if necessary. If you own a computer system from Stahls it already has these charts created for you to use. You will find them in the "Cchart" directory on your hard drive. They are called RGBSimple.CDR and RGBExtended.CDR. You simply open them in Corel and send them to the Roland Color CAMM then heat apply them. If you own just the Roland Color CAMM from Stahls it includes a Color Chart disk. On the disk you will find files called RGBSimple.CDR and RGBExtended.CDR. You simply open them in Corel and send them to the Roland Color CAMM then heat apply them. If you are using CorelDRAW! 10 you can use Corel to create a color chart for you. In Corel you need to have a new page on screen. Select Tools from the top of the screen. Go all the way to the bottom of the pull down menu and select Visual Basic and Play. The CorelDRAW! 10 Visual Basic for Application Macros menu will be displayed. In the Macros box select the down arrow and select Global Macros (CorelDRAW 10.gms) Under Macro names select the Corel Macros Create Color Swatches. Set the spacing around 10, the larger the number the more pages it will create. Select Run. Select the palette you want the program to make the color chart from. Select OK! The program will then create the pages for the colors in the color palette you selected. Each color sample will be labeled with the color mix for recreating the color. Once the chart is complete you will want to save it and print it to the color device so you know how that device prints the selected colors. Question: How can I tell what ribbons are what once they are out of the box? Answer: There are two types of ribbons for the Roland Color CAMM. Resin and Wax. The Wax ribbons are used with the fabric (wax) transfer paper. The Resin ribbons are used for all the other types (CAD -COLOR Thermo Film, CAD-COLOR Advantage, Sign vinyl, etc) of materials. On the backside of the ribbons there is a number. If the number reads 0 to 7 the ribbons are wax ribbons. If the number is an 8 or above then the ribbon is a Resin ribbon. Out of Box In the box (Code is printed on the outside of the box) Wax Ribbons 0 = Black (Wax) CR MW - BK 1 = Yellow (Wax) CR MW - YE 2 = Magenta (Wax) CR MW - MG 3 = Cyan (Wax) CR MW - CY Resin Ribbons 8 = Gold (Resin) CR MR - GL 10 = White (Resin) CR MR - W 11= Silver (Resin) CR MR - SL 12 = Black (Resin) CR MR - BK 13 =Yellow (Resin) CR MR - YE 14 = Magenta (Resin) CR MR - MG 15 = Cyan (Resin) CR MR - CY 21 = Red (Resin) CR MR - RD 22 = Blue (Resin) CR MR BL Question: My ribbons keep breaking what can I do? Answer: You will need to start by checking the Firmware version of your PC -60. To do this you will need to place a black ribbon in the machine and load a material that can be printed on. Turn the power off to the machine. Press and hold the down arrow on the machine and then turn the unit on. Remove your finger from the down arrow and the machine will print out a systems report.

3 When the unit has finished printing, find the line on the printed piece that reads Version : Firmware= A3.1(example). Please check Roland's web site to make sure you are ussin the most current version of the Firmware. If needed download the Firmware upgrade from Roland s web site at You will want to go into the support section and down load the most recent version of the Firmware upgrade. Please make sure you read and understand the readme.txt that comes with the file. This will walk you through installing the upgrade on the PC-60. Question: Can I rewind my ribbons? Answer: No! You can not reuse the ribbons. Rewinding the ribbons can cause them to break. Question: Why am I getting white streaks in the prints? Answer: First, have you cleaned the print head? If not you will need to clean the print head using the Head Cleaning Pen. Extend the end of the cleaning pen and clean the bottom of the print head. If you have cleaned the print head, did you clean the material before you printed? The material should be cleaned before printing. Load the material into the unit, once it is aligned clean the material with alcohol in the area to be printed. When was the last time you changed the Cleaning Pad? The Cleaning Pad should be changed after printing approximately 160' of material. If you have cleaned the print head and material properly, and is still experiencing poor printing, it may be necessary to send us a sample of the bad output. Print out two files: The Roland test print. To generate this, turn off the PC -60 (at the secondary power switch). Then press the "UP" arrow on the keyboard and hold it down while switching the machine back on. The Roland logo will print. You received a disk with the cutter that contains color charts. This disk also contains a test cutting file. Open this file in your program. Print the file called "Test File". Scan the sample print back into your computer. Send it to tech@stahls.com as an attachment. Please include your name, company name and phone number and a tech will contact you about the problem. Question: Can I print a test file to make sure the PC -60 is working correctly? Answer: You can print a test file from the PC -60 or from the computer. The Roland test print. To generate this, turn off the PC -60 (at the secondary power switch). Then press the "UP" arrow on the keyboard and hold it down while switching the machine back on. The Roland logo will print. The computer test print You received a disk with the cutter that contains color charts. This disk also contains a test cutting file. Open this file in your program. Print the file called "Test File". Question: When I cut to my PC -60 it rotates the design, why? Answer: The PC-60 is both a printer and a cutter. When used in the print & cut mode, you output thru the Roland driver interface (Print / Properties / Size / Cutting / Output Size.) You can use Print Preview to see how the design will output. If you are only going to cut with the device, you can elect to output thru the (simpler) Drawmate cutter interface. (Drawmate / Cutter Output). For some reason known only to Roland, if you are not using the Roland driver, the device will automatically insert a "rotate". Thus, if you are using the Drawmate driver, you can expect the automatic rotate to kick in. So, if it looks normal on your screen, it will cut up & down the roll (90 degrees off). To compensate for the automatic rotate, you can click on "Rotate" in the Drawmate interface options, and you will add another 90 -degree rotation (to total 180). The output will end up upside down, but still cutting on a horizontal plane rather than a vertical one. If you elect to use the Roland driver, it doesn't insert the extra rotate, so it will cut the same as you see it on the monitor. Question: What are the lines that show up in some of my prints? Answer: Dirt! On the Print Head or Cleaning Pad. White lines and colored lines are caused by a dirty print head. Clean the print head whenever print quality seems to be deteriorating. You can keep the print head in first -

4 class condition if you make sure to clean the material with denatured alcohol prior to use. Wipe it with a lint free cloth and alcohol. It is also recommended to clean the print head at the end of the day before you turn it off. Cleaning the print head at the end of the day while the head is still hot will let you clean off any ink before it has harden on the print head. It is also important to change the Cleaning Pad on a regularly. It should be changed after printing approximately 160' of material. Dark lines are caused by an overlap of colors. The ribbon on the PC -60 is ½ inch wide. The printer lays down a ½" strip of color, then lays down another next to the first. A slight overlap is necessary to insure that there is no gap between the two strips. The overlap causes a darker line to appear. All colors are printed as a bunch of small dots. When the dots are printed, one on top of the other, the dark lines will appear. Although all colors are overlapped as they are printed, some colors show the dark lines more than others. If you take a look at the color charts you printed on your PC -60, you will see that some colors appear to be free of the lines, while others show lines that are quite visible. In general, the darker colors do not show the lines as prominently. As a rule of thumb, if you see the overlap line on the color chart, you will probably not see it on the finished product. The lines tend to be less visible after the design is heat - applied to a garment. The overlap lines tend to be more noticeable on larger output. They are generally not a problem on the small (hand size or smaller) logos the PC-60 was designed for. Question: I am having trouble setting the base point on the PC -60. What am I doing wrong? Answer: With the material loaded and the cover open. Move the head using the arrow keys on the control panel until the tip of the knife blade is where you want the design to start. Press the Base Pint button. Do not hold the button. It is a two function button and holding the button will cause the Base Point to clear. The Base Point light will turn green and stay lit. Close the cover on the PC -60. The print head will move to the left then back to the right, reading the ribbons then move to a parked position. This parked position may or may not be you Base Point position. The cutter will move to the Base Point position on receiving a design. You must set a Base Point before each print. The only exception to this is if you are making multiple prints. If you do not change anything on the PC -60 and Form Feed is on in the driver, the unit will automatically advance to the next printable area on the roll of material. In the PC-60 users guide there is a section called "Setting the Base Point". You will want to refer to that section of the manual for more detail. Question: What blade should I use a 45 or a 60 degree? Answer: This is more or less a personal preference but different blades seem to work better for different designs and different materials. If your design has a lot of detail you may want to use a 60 degree blade. If the design is 3 inch letters you may want to use a 45 degree blade. The major difference in the blades in the angle. The angle controls how much material is cutting and how deeply it is cutting. A 45 degree blade uses more of edge of the blade to cut the material. Because of this you will need to use more pressure on the blade when cutting. This blade tends to last longer than the 60 degree blade. A 60 degree blade uses a lesser amount of the blade to cut the material and will go down into the material farther. Because of this you will not need as much pressure on the blade to cut. Question: What can I do about the dirty prints I am getting? Answer: Dust is a major problem for the PC-60. You will want to do everything you can to avoid dust on the material and in the machine. Here are some suggestion that may help with this problem. Cover the machine at night or when it is not being used with a sheet or plastic cover. Cover the material with a plastic bag when not being used for a job. Put the ribbons back in the boxes at the end of the day. Rollout the amount of material you are going to use on a flat table. Then clean it with alcohol and a lint free cloth. This will clean off any dust or foreign material that may have accumulated in storage. Keep handling of the material to a minimum. Fingerprints will show up as nonprintable areas on the material because of the oils in the skin. Clean the material after loading it in the machine. Let the material loop down between the back of the machine and the roll. If the roll should unroll while cutting it is the backside of the material that will touch the

5 floor not the printing side. Clean the Print Head at the end of the day while it is still hot. Change the Cleaning Pad after printing approximately 160' of material. Question: How long do the prints last? Answer: Graphics produced on the PC-60 (with the resin ribbons and Stahls' Thermo Film II and Advantage materials) will generally last the life of the garment, providing they are cared for according to the instructions. (No bleach, no high heat, etc.) When graphics are applied to vinyl (resin ribbons) and used in an outdoor environment, the life span is generally thought to be about 3 years. This is dependent on a number of factors, the most important of which is exposure to the ultra -violet rays of the sun. It is quite possible that two identical copies of a design, applied at the same time, will have two different life spans. It all depends on exposure to the sun. In one example, a boat name on the rear of the boat looked faded after two years, while the identical artwork on a fiberglass dock-box near the boat looks great after four years. The most extreme exposure would result from a design that always faces the sun. If, for some reason, you felt inclined to put a decal on the roof of your car, it would fade quickly. The same decal, applied to an object facing east or west would last the same, but one facing north or south would outlast the other by a large factor. The fading effects of the ultra -violet rays of the sun can be delayed by suing a UV topcoat of some kind. One of the more popular coating used is called "Frog Juice". It comes in either a spray can or brush -on version. The company that makes it claims that the product can double the life of a graphic in an outdoor environment. Question: What causes the Color light and Ribbon lights to flash? Answer: The PC-60 has six indicator lights, one for each ribbon position. The device scans the ribbons for a bar -code that indicates the ribbon color. Any ribbon can be put in any position, since the device will fine the right color by looking for the bar -code. The ribbon indicator will flash for any of the following reasons. The ribbon cartridge is empty. The ribbon cartridge is in loaded the wrong way. The Color light will be on when the device is printing. When the device is unable to find a color needed the light will flash. This a frequent mistake when you are in a hurry, a red ribbon is placed in the unit rather than a magenta, or a blue ribbon rather than a cyan. A good rule to follow is to always make sure you are replacing a ribbon with the same number ribbon. The Color light will flash for the following reason. The ribbon the device needs is not installed (blue rather than cyan). Question: How often should I clean the Print Head? Answer: It is recommended you clean the Print Head after each printing secession. This means if you are done printing for the day clean the Print Head while it is still warm with the Head Cleaning Pen. The unit automatically cleans the print head whenever an ribbon cartridge is replaced and during the printing process. Ordinary grime is removed by this automatic cleaning, but at the end of the printing secession the head should be cleaned. This will help remove any ink from the print head before it has a change to harden. It is also very important to inspect the Cleaning Pad on a regular basis and replace it after printing 160' of material. If the Cleaning Pad looks discolored it should be replaced. Question: What parts of the PC -60 should I inspect on a regular basis? Answer: The Print Head, this should be cleaned on a regular basis at the end of each printing secession or at the end of the day. The Cleaning Pad, this should be changed at the first sign of any discoloration, of after printing 160' of material. The Print Roller, this is the small black roller to the right of the Print Head. This small black roller guides and controls the tension on the ribbon while printing. It must be in good shape and rotate freely on the spindle. If not in good condition, it will affect the print quality and will need to be replaced. Handle this roller carefully, since it is easily damaged. Always remember to clean the material before printing with alcohol and a lint-free cloth to remove any dust or contaminants.

6 The Cutting Strip, make sure the cutting strip is in good condition. If the cutting strip gets cuts or gouges in it's surface it needs to be replaced. That the Sensor Magnets are in place. On each grip roller is a small sensor magnet. Over time this magnet can become loose and even stick to each other. On the left grip roller the magnet is on the right side behind the roller. On the right roller the magnet is on the left side. Make sure these magnets are firmly attached. If they are loose use a small dot of glue to reattach them. Be careful not to get any glue on the print head or print platen. Question: I created a design for Advantage and now when I print it on Wax Transfer it will not cut, why? Answer: Are you using the mirror option in the print menu? As you know, to print on the Wax Transfer material the design must be mirrored. If you are using the mirror option in the print menu, the design is not going to cut. The color are changed when the mirror option is used in the print menu, just enough to stop the driver from seeing the white outline. You must mirror the design on screen before printing, and it will cut fine. When you are cutting Advantage or CAD -COLOR Thermo Film II you do not need to mirror the design, because it prints right reading. Question: How do I set up and use the Gold and Silver ribbons? Answer: The Roland driver is defaulted to specific RGB values for Gold and Silver. If you are going to use the defaults you will need to color your design Silver by using R=192, G=192, B=192. If you want to use Gold, the values are R=128, G=128, B=0. After coloring your design you will need to set up the driver to print these colors. In the properties of the driver select Output Options. Put a check mark next to Silver and/or Gold (in Win 98). If you are using Drawmate 9 or 10 these values can be set for you by activating the options under CAD-COLOR Tools with the shape selected. In Drawmate 10 you are also given the option of setting shapes to use the Red, Blue, Yellow, Black and White ribbons. Question: How do I stop the PC -60 from printing? Answer: The easiest thing to do is open the cover, however the ribbon will still be on the Print head. Press and hold the Base Point Clear button on the control panel and the unit will stop printing. Release, press and hold the button again to clear the design from the memory in the unit. If all else fails, open the cover then, turn the unit off by the main power switch on the side of the unit. Question: I just upgraded my programs and now my saved designs will not cut. Why? Answer: If you have upgraded your design program and are attempting to cut designs from the older versions it is necessary to check the color and size of the line on the cutting shape. Because of the many changes made in programs it may be necessary to check these options to get the older designs to cut. Once the problem has been corrected save the design in the new program format. Question: My PC-60 will print but not cut. How come? Answer: Make sure you have added a cut line to the cutting object. If the design is from an older version check both the color and line size. You can use Drawmate to reset the color and size of the cutting object. If it is a CAD-COLOR Wax Transfer you are trying to create, make sure you mirror the design on screen and not in the print menu. Make sure the cutting option is on in the driver defaults.