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Copyright © 1999, Ioline Corporation, All Rights Reserved

Printed in the United States of America

Text Revision 1, PN 106844

November 1999

All Trademarks Are The Property Of Their Respective Owners

USING YOUR

SmarTrac

TM

 I/S

Signcutter

Summary of Contents for SmarTrac I/S

Page 1: ... Ioline Corporation All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America Text Revision 1 PN 106844 November 1999 All Trademarks Are The Property Of Their Respective Owners USING YOUR SmarTracTM I S Signcutter ...

Page 2: ...line A Dust Cover B Carriage Rail C Drive Shaft Marker D Platen E Carriage F Idler Wheel G Pinchwheel H Drive Shaft Segment J Pinchwheel Lever K Keypad Figure 1 The Ioline I S Signcutter B K J G A D E H C F ...

Page 3: ...alling a Blade and the Blade Foot 12 Installing a Blade Holder or Pen 12 Adjusting Blade Exposure and Force 12 Sending a Cut Plot File to the Signcutter 13 Pausing Cutting 13 Canceling a Cut 13 Suggested Settings 14 Guidelines for Plotting Pens 15 Cutting Long Signs 15 Cutting Small Characters Under 1 4 in 16 How to Pounce 17 Stencil Cutting 17 COMMUNICATION TESTING 18 Communication Test 18 Testin...

Page 4: ...rve the following safety precautions Do not allow the material to become suddenly taut between the plotter and a roll of material during plotting A service loop of unrolled material is required for problem free operation Using the Autoloop function en abled in the Control Center will create the required service loop by gen tly pulling a set amount of material from the roll before cutting Ioline re...

Page 5: ...or 25 pin male receptacle If the computer has a 9 pin serial port a 9 to 25 pin adapter is necessary Adaptors are inexpensive and available at computer stores or can be ordered from Ioline The plotter will not function if a serial cable is connected to a parallel port Select the correct port in the design software or the Control Center after the cables are correctly connected to the computer and s...

Page 6: ... the speed Turn the knob clockwise to increase the speed or coun terclockwise to decrease the speed Set the speed according to the type of cutting and material being used See the Cutting a Sign section of this manual Force Adjust the force by using the Force knob on the front panel Turn the Force knob clockwise to increase the force exerted on the pen or blade See the section on Cutting a Sign for...

Page 7: ...ion with the Arrow keys before press ing the Repeat key Repeat will do the following 1 Individual files are repeatable until the Set Origin key is pressed and any new data is sent to the signcutter This includes updat ing settings with the Update Display function 2 If cut files are sent without setting an origin between them they will be stored in memory continuously as if they were one file This ...

Page 8: ...t signcutter port Help Contents Lists contents of help files About Provides Control Center version information Screen Menu Options Measurement Units English or Metric units are available when adjusting settings Panel Size The Panel Size is the maximum area the signcutter can use for cutting The factory set and maximum X axis panel length is 838 inches long 2129 cm The maximumY axis panel size depe...

Page 9: ...e acceleration setting determines how quickly the pen or blade will reach full speed when starting or ending a cut line Use the Control Center to change the setting within a range of 0 1 to 1 0 g For long or difficult cuts or when trying to achieve maximum accuracy use lower acceleration settings Up Down Delays The factory set up and down delays are both 0 milliseconds ms or 0 thou sandths of a se...

Page 10: ...Do not place a paper roll on two media rollers If using a cut sheet or scrap No special instructions are necessary Aligning the Material and Pinchwheels Ioline recommends using the Typewriter Method to align the material to the platen The drive shaft is optimized for most common material widths as well as scraps Use the drive shaft markers on the carriage rail to find the drive shaft segments when...

Page 11: ... lbs of force On units equipped with inner pinchwheels force can be set to 12 lbs vertical setting or 4 lbs horizontal setting The 12 lb inner pinchwheel setting is useful for heavier materials such as heavy sandblast or reflective sheet ing This option is not available on all signcutter models Low Force Position Cam Slot Horizontal High Force Position Cam Slot Vertical Figure 6 Adjusting Pinchwhe...

Page 12: ... Blade and the Blade Foot Note Using a hard surface to insert the blade may damage it A blade and a blade holder are included in the accessory kit The blades are sharp and brittle and the tips can chip or break Be very careful when handling the blades To install the blade and blade foot in to the blade holder 1 Remove the foot from the assembly by unscrewing it counterclockwise 2 Slide the blade i...

Page 13: ...al or consult software dealer or cancel the cut in the Control Center software by clicking on the Abort button in the Send File window Note If this step is skipped the cut will continue when a new origin is set 3 Press the Set Origin key to make the signcutter delete the cut data it has already received but has not yet plotted Figure 11 Turning the foot to add more blade exposure 5 Turn the foot 1...

Page 14: ...15o 30 0 min 1 15o 30 0 max 1 30o 10 0 min 1 30o 10 0 med 1 30o 10 0 min 0 1 30o 10 0 med max 1 30o 10 0 med max 1 30o 10 0 Material Thickness Blade Offset Force mils mils grams Amberlith Rubylith 1 45o 15 30 60 Flock 15 Cobra 47 100 200 Polyester Metalized 2 45o 15 100 140 Reflective Engineering Grade 5 45o 15 240 250 Sandblast Mask2 181 31 Cobra 47 220 260 36 Cobra 47 220 260 401 Stencil Lacquer...

Page 15: ...ty long signs 1 Use a stand or cradle The use of a stand or cradle takes advantage of the signcutter platen design When the material is draped over the platen it can benefit from its natural tendency to curl downward 2 Build a material slide Cut two cardboard pieces the width of the stand large enough to lean against the signcutter stand legs This prevents the material from going under the machine...

Page 16: ...t should be made 1 Lower Force The lowest blade force possible is the best for small de tailed cutting Start by making test cuts with one quarter force Gradually increase the force until the vinyl is completely cut 2 Slower Speed The speed knob should be set halfway or less 3 Foot Adjustment After setting the lowest cutting force adjust the foot downward until the cut is not complete then back it ...

Page 17: ...e cuts and blanks are adjustable with the Control Center Perform test cuts to determine the proper settings for these parameters See the section describing the Ioline Control Center for more details on adjusting the cut and blank settings Hint Try wider blank spacing for larger images Stencil Cutting Stencil material Tag Board is handled much the same as vinyl with the important exception of using...

Page 18: ...sts and to isolate where the problem is occurring A diagnostic module is required to run two of these tests It will work on both the computer and signcutter serial COM ports It is available from Ioline or an authorized dealer Communication Test This test will determine if communication is working between the computer and the plotter on the parallel LPT or serial COM ports Run this test from the Co...

Page 19: ... e h t t n e s e v a h u o Y 1 e g a u g n a l r e t t o l p g n o r w e h t g n i t t e s r e v i r d t c e r r o c e h t e r u s e k a M 1 d e t c e l e s s i g n i t t u c n e h w s p i k s r o l a i r e t a m e h t s r a e t e d a l b e h t f I e s u a C e l b i s s o P n o i t u l o S n e k o r b r o l l u d s i e d a l b e h T 1 w o l o o t s i e c r o f e d a l b e h T 2 y t r i d s i e d a...

Page 20: ...sult the computer manuals or contact the manufacturer for more information about entering BIOS setup 7 Find the parallel port setup options and set the port to be SPP not ECP or EPP Also make sure there is no DMA activity over with the port 8 Save the BIOS settings and exit setup 9 Restart the computer and allow Windows to start up Windows should find the port and install it using the new settings...

Page 21: ...s lines Better accuracy in mea surement equals better calibration 4 Measure both sides and the top and bottom of the box Figure 13 Cleaning the Drive Shaft ROUTINE MAINTENANCE Replacing the Blade Note The blade tip is sharp and fragile be careful when handling it If plot quality suddenly degrades the blade might be dull or broken The tip of the blade is very fragile and can chip or break if droppe...

Page 22: ...0 in 79 450 in The average is 39 725 in 79 450 in 2 39 725 in The X calibration value is the average 39 725 in Enter the Calibration Data 1 Enter the measured values in the boxes in the Calibration window Make sure the signcutter is in Start mode green LED Select the Set Calibra tion button 2 The signcutter will send the calibration values and the new Calibration Setting will be displayed in the b...

Page 23: ...st page of this User Guide Any warranty servicing of this product not specifically described in this manual must be authorized in writing by Ioline Customer Service You may obtain service by calling or faxing Ioline Customer Service The technicians will help you determine the nature of the problem If factory repair is necessary you will receive a RMA Return Material Authorization Please gather the...

Page 24: ...ollow all safety precautions and warnings that are described in this User Guide Ioline is not responsible for injuries that may occur as a result of unsafe operating procedures Ioline is not responsible for substandard operational performance as a result of failure to maintain the signcutter as described in this User Guide The FCC Wants You to Know This equipment generates and uses radio frequency...

Page 25: ...eet A single piece of material that is loaded into the signcutter but is not pulled from a roll D DM PL Programming instructions language used to connect a signcutter with a computer DM PL is used in the plotter drivers of some sign programs Drive Shaft The motor driven shaft that moves material through a friction feed signcutter The drive shaft has a rough surface that grips the material F File N...

Page 26: ...t the substrate and perforations patted with powder charcoal or colored chalk dust leaving an outline of the design R Resolution The smallest distance that a signcutter can move the material or the carriage Plotter resolution affects the accuracy that a plot file is repro duced on the material Roll Feed A method of pulling material from a roll for plotting and cutting Works in conjunction with pan...

Page 27: ...ndered 14 25 Calibrate 8 Calibrate Plotter 8 Calibration 21 Calibration Box 22 Calibration window 22 Cam 11 Canceling a Cut 13 Carriage 2 4 5 12 13 25 Carriage Jaw 12 Carriage Rail 2 5 10 Cast 14 25 CD ROM 5 Clamp 12 Clamp screw 12 Cleaning agents 21 Cleaning the Drive Shaft 21 Communication port conflicts 7 Communication Test 18 Computer 4 5 7 19 24 Computer Port Test 8 Contour ordering 16 Contro...

Page 28: ... Installing a Blade 12 Ioline Corporation 24 J Jaw 12 K Keypad 2 9 12 20 25 L LED Codes 20 Limit of Liability Statement 24 Line quality 7 locking feature 11 Loop Size 15 Lower Acceleration 16 LPT 18 20 M Main Menu 7 Material 10 13 14 16 Material Roll 26 Material slide 15 Measurement Units 8 Media Roller 5 10 15 17 Memory Buffer 8 Menu Bar 8 Metric 8 Mil 25 Min Angle 14 Minimum Angle 9 16 25 O Offs...

Page 29: ...on 26 Return Material Authorization 23 Roll Feed 26 ROM Version 8 Rubylith 14 S Sandblast 9 11 14 Save Settings As 8 Scale 8 Scale command 21 Scrap 10 Screen Menu 8 Send Cut Plot File 8 Send File 13 Send Settings to Cutter 9 Sending a Cut Plot File 13 Serial 5 Serial Cable 5 Serial Communication 26 Serial Port 18 Serial Test 8 Service Loop 4 17 26 Set Origin 6 7 13 Setup 7 8 Signcutter 19 24 Small...

Page 30: ...30 Ioline Typewriter Method 10 U Update Display 7 8 9 V Vector 26 Vinyl 10 11 14 17 25 26 W Weeding 16 26 Windows 3 1 5 Windows 95 5 20 X X Axis 10 26 Y Y Axis 26 ...

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