Print and Cut of Large Graphics

[mapmeister]

Hello Folks; this is my first post on this forum. I hope someone can be of help.

About a month ago, I successfully performed a print and cut of a 17 1/2"-wide graphic on my 18" Silver Bullet.

Unfortunately, today I can't seem to replicate my earlier success. The problem lies in not obtaining the proper placement of the graphic in the cutter. I keep getting the dreaded "pause" message on this device, indicating I've gone out of bounds for cutting.

Anyone have a suggestion on where I should line up the right side of my graphic? Since the cutter is ruled, giving a suggestion using the nearest tenth of a centimeter would be great. Keep in mind that too far to the right causes a failure due to the laser pointer being further to the left than the cutting blade.

Thanks in advance. Mapmeister, maker of 3D maps.

[Gigi]

The laser is always going to be to the left of the blade - its how it sets. Since you have an 18" Silver Bullet and you are cutting a design that is 17 1/2" - that is what is making it so difficult. You only have a half inch playing room between your design and the cutting area of the 18" machine!

Several things I would suggest, when you are lining you print with the registration marks, set your paper so the bottom right hand corner has the laser light on the #3 registration mark (bottom right hand corner. Do not move the blade over to the left at all to maximize the space you have to cut.

You can also adjust your registration marks so they are closer to the image and that will give you some extra space since you are cutting it so close. In the SCAL software, go to Cutter>Cutter Settings (see photo below). You can change the offset of the registration marks so they are closer to the design. I highlighted the place in the software.

Those things should both help you. Again, you only have 1/2" wiggle room in your cutting area - that is not a lot. You can always change your design to 17" to give yourself more room.

Good luck.

[mapmeister]

Thanks for your advice. I tried the "laser to the right", but it did not work.

After a series of methodical trials, I finally got it work.

I aligned the right edge of the rectangle-shaped map graphic to 4.1 cm. Naturally I fed in the pad and its graphic so they were not crooked (at least not visually).

That's it!

A couple of additional notes: For my maps, I use three of the four corners of the map graphic as my registration marks, so the mark offset is set in the SCAL softwere to the lowest possible value of 0.03 cm. (It's too bad they can't be set to zero, but this small of a value works fine for my accuracy needs.)

[Gigi]

I am glad you figured it out. Maybe if I saw what you were doing it would make more sense. You say you are using the corners of your map as your registration marks, but then say you set the registration marks in SCAL so I am a bit confused No one has ever had a need to cut the registration marks literally on top of the image.
Perhaps a 24" machine would have given you a lot more flexibility and fewer issues, but I am glad you figured it out. Thanks for letting us know.

[mapmeister]

Actually, as an FYI, I do need to use registration marks on corners of the maps, because I don't want registration marks on the maps themselves. To get a notion of why, check out why I have a Silver Bullet cutter: http://www.mymaps.com/TopoMapArt/3DMapGallery.htm

[Gigi]

Your site looks fascinating - eager to see more as you build out your site. Thanks for sharing!