Blade moves off the page

[Msachs]

I print my art using another program and have my crops 1cm from each corner. I already calibrated and I was able to score, then cut out something very accurately. But this apparently was an anomaly.

Since then, when I finish setting my blade location to the lower right corner area of the page I go to Online.
I then go to Print and Cut. I click OK to go past the printing part since I already printed with crops using another software.

When I click on the next button to start lining up the laser with the crops, the blade moves all the way over toe the left and up until it is off the page. then the buttons don't work and I can't do anything. I end up canceling the PNC in the software and turn the SB off and then on again to clear everything.

I look at the calibration and it still has my numbers. I would like to figure this out because it would help with stuff that I need to do a couple or 3 things to. Any ideas anyone?

It is a nice cutter. I have attached a picture of some popcorn boxes I have made with it. Just need to get more accuracy when scoring and cutting multiples on a sheet.

[LisaH]

First thing I would suggest is to make sure you have the latest version of the software.
Make sure you have the orientation of the media on the physical mat in sync with the virtual mat.
Just checking, but do you have the saved svg file that you send to print open in the software when you are cutting, correct?
Double check and make sure you have no stray nodes over in that direction, it sounds like what you are trying to cut is outside of the actual cutting area of the machine, and a stray node can cause this as well as the media being placed too far to the left. When that happens, the machine will go into a pause mode and has to be turned off and then back on to clear it.

If none of these are the case, let me know and we will try again.

[Msachs]

Thanks for the reply Lisa. I am actually using illustrator files. I only bring in the die lines to SCAL.

I am printing the art from illustrator on another computer and am including the registration marks that the laser lines up with.

The media on the cutter is as it is shown in the software.

I do not think I have the absolute latest version of the software because I have heard that there are problems with it as well.

[supersizejm]

I had the same problem too, but what i discovered is that you need to put the image in so the top left mark (point 1) is the farthest away from the starting point. so the 1st point needs to be up and left of the cutting head. I kept putting the image upside down with the first point closest to the cutting head. I hope I explained this right. let me know if I can clear it up more.

[Elizabeth]

Love the boxes! SupersizeJM, that is a good description. I am just relearning print and cut, and that helps me. Welcome to the forum!

[supersizejm]

Thanks I just got my Silver Bullet last week too and am loving it. I keep looking for new things to try cutting. This forum has been a big help so far.

[Elizabeth]

Yes, this is an awesome group of helpful people!

[Msachs]

Thanks for the replies everyone! Thanks for the compliment on the boxes Elizabeth.

JM. I am putting the art in with the first registration point at the far upper left as you suggest. Seems that I am following everything as it should be but get different results every time.

If the software/die-cutter is not capable of the accuracy and consistency needed to do multiples on a sheet then I just do not see how it can be useful for anything other than complex one-offs that are too hard to cut out with an x-acto knife. We need it to cut out multiples consistently such as having to cut out 60 of those popcorn boxes.

I have been working in print for many years and am very familiar with setting up die lines for all kinds of print applications but am having a very hard time getting consistent results with SCAL. Is anyone out there using the Silver Bullet and SCAL for production purposes that can shed some light on how to make it cut consistently every time?

[Msachs]

OK. For what it is worth, I have figured out the issue. Or at least what needs to be done.

The registration marks relate to the die line, not the art. So if you have a die line for cutting and for scoring you need to make the set of 3 registration marks for each die line. I was trying to use one set of registration marks for both. Since I was scoring first, I was lining up to the one set that were 1cm from the trim die line. So inevitably, the machine would score in the wrong place.

Unfortunately, a second set of registration marks will more than likely fall in a place that you do not want them on the page. On the the art. So what I am doing now is using WYSIWYG to do the scoring and the registration marks to do the cutting.

While this is not entirely precise for the scoring, it is pretty close. If I really want to be exact, I skip scoring with the machine and do it by hand.

So in a nutshel, when using the laser, every process that you add to one piece that you are creating (score, emboss, cut) needs it's own set of registration marks.

Hopefully this helps some of you that are pushing the envelope with this machine's production capabilities. And of course, if someone knows a good trick to make it work with just one set of registration marks feel free to chime in.

[Thyme]

If you draw a rectangle and set all your design within that rectangle you can do it with the one lot of reg marks.
Set the rectangle to Print and Cut - Cut. Always keep that layer on as you then send the others in turn to cut, emboss, score etc.
The rectangle will also be cut, scored, embossed - but as it is outside your artwork it does not matter.