Uneven feed

[Trisha]

Hi, Everyone!

Please help! Now that I am back to using my Cougar (18", using Inkscape & Signcut as akways) after such a long absence, I have had to relearn a few things....but this one has me stumped!

No matter how I insert the mat or what design I am cutting, the mat goes in and out unevenly, causing a serious skewing of the cutting. The rollers look okay to me, but the far right one seems to be pulling the mat back and forth farther, or the left ones are pulling less, I don't know.

I have rebooted, & checked everything I know to check. I have made sure the rollers are either off the media or on it, all the same way. I have put the mat in both the wide way and the narrow way. I have tried cutting both portrait and landscape. The media is well adhered, so it is not moving at all. I have adjusted the blade depth and the pressure settings several times, and every which way. I can pause the cut, straighten the mat, and it goes right back out of kilter in seconds.

I am cutting 24 pt. (don't really know what that means), coated on one side, "Comic Book Board" to make small and large bobbin cards for various sized ribbons. The cutter seems handle it wonderfully! But the mat goes all over the place, ruining the cuts!

I have never had this problem before, so I am at a loss as to what else to do. Any suggestions would be very welcomed.

Trisha
In God We STILL Trust

[LisaH]

I know you are a seasoned user, so this may sound primary - LOL- but did you make sure your pinch wheel is directly over a grit shaft? And if so, did you try a different pinch wheel on the same grit shaft?

[Trisha]

I know you are a seasoned user, so this may sound primary - LOL- but did you make sure your pinch wheel is directly over a grit shaft? And if so, did you try a different pinch wheel on the same grit shaft?

Lisa,
Thanks for your idea. I did make sure the pinch wheels were over the grit shafts (under the orange indicators), and slid them around to different grit wheels. I haven't taken them off the machine and switch them around, if that is what you mean. I haven't ever done that, so I would have to figure out how to do it if that is something you would recommend I do?

Trisha
In God We STILL Trust

[LisaH]

No, I was just meaning moving/sliding them to see if one would work differently than another over the same grit shaft.

[Trisha]

No, I was just meaning moving/sliding them to see if one would work differently than another over the same grit shaft.

Lisa,
Okay, I did that. Please let me know if you think of something else.

Any other ideas, anybody? I am really stuck!

Trisha
In God We STILL Trust

[Thyme]

Switch the machine on and then see if you can move any of the grit shaft, check each one.
Then switch the machine off and by moving one area of grit shaft with your finger see if all the others move at the same rate.

[Trisha]

Thanks, Dawn. I'll go to my desktop computer and do that now.

Trisha
In God We STILL Trust

[Trisha]

Switch the machine on and then see if you can move any of the grit shaft, check each one.
Then switch the machine off and by moving one area of grit shaft with your finger see if all the others move at the same rate.

They all move at the same rate and with equal pressure needed to make them turn, as far as I can tell, whether on or off.

Trisha
In God We STILL Trust

[4children]

Are all the rollers (pinch wheels nice and clean)? That could cause a problem if one wasn't gripping as well.

[Thyme]

What force are you cutting with and what speed?
Are you using the two outermost pinchwheel positions?

[pigtailpat]

if you are cutting 24 point material, akin to chipboard, are you firmly adhering this media to the mat using painter's tape? What is the condition of the mat itself and how have you stored it over a long length of time? Has it warped?

Pat

[Gigi]

And with all of the other questions, which mat are you using? I have had trouble with "other" mats skewing if I am doing either detail work or heavier media...... in fact I don't use them at all anymore!

[Trisha]

Dawn,
I am cutting at v. 400 and slowly have increased force to f. 140. I've tried using only the two outermost pinch wheels as well as all three, and at various positions across the space. I have never used that much force before. It suddenly occurs to me as I write this, that could be part of the problem, at least. I will try cutting with two passes and less force and see if that makes a difference. But, it was doing this skewing thing with lots less pressure yesterday morning. I'll try it and see, though.

To answer the questions from Gigi, Pat, & others:
The pinch wheels are pretty clean. They've most surely been worse and functioned fine.
I am using a Black Cat mat, the newer kind, which is in good shape. It isn't warped or cut into at all. I have stored it flat in a huge plastic bag, right under my machine.
The media is stuck down very well, as I used Renu sheets to re-stickify it before I started this project. No tape has been needed, as it hasn't budged a bit.

Okay, off to decrease force and make two passes, to see if that matters. Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and bringing up things to consider. I truly appreciate it.

Trisha
In God We STILL Trust

[Trisha]

Well, buggers! Using less force did not cut through the media even using two passes! I ended up having to nudge it on up to f. 139 anyway, with the click holder set to 4 and using two passes. I used only the two outermost pinch wheels, and taped the corners of the media. While the skewing was a bit less, the mat still moved enough that the cuts went off the media about in the middle of the cutting area selected, so I stopped and moved the mat back into position. Then the second half of the file, same thing by the time it reached the last item to cut, an area about 5.5" long and 6.75 inches wide (half of the piece of board).

The right end of the mat seems to stay where it is supposed to, but the left end goes haywire whether I am using only the last pinch wheel or the next to last one on the left. Sometimes, it is not terribly bad, but other times it almost throws the mat around under there. I'm afraid to cut anything that really matters, and I don't want to ruin my mat or my machine.

This is hubby's day off, and he is itching to go to town for lunch and errands, so I will try again, perhaps with regular cardstock, this afternoon. Dawn, I know you are on UK time, so don't worry a bit if I should be unable to respond for several hours, and then it will be beddie-bye for you, I know. No sweat.

Trisha
In God We STILL Trust

[Thyme]

Try using all three pinch wheels, two at the outermost position and one in the middle.
Try a new blade, a 60plus, and bring your velocity down to approx 100

[kb25t17]

Maybe the problem is the mat instead of the machine. If you have a different mat around try it instead.

[pigtailpat]

let me ask this, is your image to be cut, it is TOTALLY inside the boundaries of the digital mat in the program? I know this is newbie thing trisha, and you are far from a newbie, but I felt compelled to ask.

Pat

[Trisha]

Thanks, Dawn. It did help. I used the three pinch wheels as you suggested, first and last plus one in the middle, all placed so as NOT to be on the media itself. Now the mat is only skewed about half a mm (less than a quarter inch). Not too bad, but not great either, since it still comes pretty near to cutting off the media. That wouldn't do at all for contour cuts.

Thanks, Pat. Elementary things, at this point, are not out of place at all! Particularly since I have been away from the machine for close to a year (eleven months). I am using a 12 X 12 virtual mat so as to have plenty of room for the design to be cut. Then I use the optimized area setting (in Signcut) for precision placement of the origin on the media. I do that a lot just to prevent having the design be too big for the cutting area. Works every time.

Trisha
In God We STILL Trust

[pigtailpat]

Hey Trisha -

I know my opinion is not popular, and so many hesitate to place the pinch rollers directly on media. I can understand this for very delicate sheer papers, etc. But for 24 point board, which is what you have, there should be no problem to have pinch rollers on the media. Additionally, consider a purchase of an extra pinch roller. I have 4 on my baby, and when the heavens open and money rolls in (hopefully soon) I'm going to get a 5th roller for my machine.

The addition of the extra pinch roller has performed incredibly for me. I am convinced beyond any doubt, that having stabilization from above (the pinch rollers) and below (i.e. the sitckyness of the mat on the underside of the media) is the way to plotter cut. In my opinion (and the exception would be very delicate media) the more stabilization via the pinch rollers - the better.

Pat

[Trisha]

Thanks for your suggestion, Pat. I have wondered about that from time to time, but never bothered to investigate the issue. I put the pinch wheels directly onto my media all the time, and rarely have any issue with damage to the various papers, with the exception of vellum. Unless the pinch wheels have sticky residue on them, it doesn't seem to ever damage anything (with the aforementioned caveat). I have more unwanted "damage" to papers that have glue bits on the back of the paper as it was lifted off the mat than I ever do with damage from the pinch wheels.

Something to consider for sure.

Trisha
In God We STILL Trust