7
Ioline
Test Cut
This button will cut a test pattern to help determine the proper
force (for knives or pens) and blade exposure for cutting signs.
The test cut will also show the effect of the blade offset and overcut
settings in the Control Center. See the section on Cutting a Sign
for details on adjusting force and blade exposure. The Control
Center section has details about blade offset and overcut.
1. Make sure that material is loaded in the signcutter that the blade
holder is installed in the carriage. Position the blade over the
material near the right side of the signcutter.
2. Check for the red light. Press the Start/Stop key if it is not on.
3. Press the Test Cut key for one second. The plotter will cut a
small test pattern consisting of a circle within a square.
4. Adjust the force and blade exposure up or down with the Force
knob and the blade foot. Repeat the test cut until the desired
line quality is obtained. See the section on Cutting a Sign for
details on adjusting force and blade exposure.
5. Successive test cuts will be automatically aligned to the left of
the last test cut.
6. If the Test Cut key is pressed for three seconds the plotter will
cut a 1.9 in. x 7.1 in. pattern.
Repeat
Pressing the Repeat key will generate one copy of the most re-
cently created sign. The signcutter must be in Stop mode (red LED)
to use the Repeat key. To start the cut in a new location, move the
pen or blade to a new position 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 allows the user to repeat multiple files as a single group.
Pressing Repeat will cut all files sent since the last origin was
set (as long as the buffer size is not exceeded, see below).
3. If the file(s) sent exceed the capacity of the buffer (1 megabyte)
before an origin is set the repeat function is disabled. This fea-
ture allows the signcutter to handle files of limitless size. When
the buffer has overflowed it no longer holds a complete file so
repeat would produce unpredictable results.
Note: If an origin is not set between files, two possible unintended
results can occur: if the combined cuts do not exceed the buffer,
repeat will cause them all to be recut or, if the combined files ex-
ceed the buffer size, repeat will be disabled.
THE IOLINE CONTROL CENTER
The Ioline Control Center is a utility program that does three things:
• It allows adjustment of settings to tailor output from the computer.
• It allows a completed cut file to be sent to the signcutter.
• It includes several diagnostic tests for troubleshooting.
Note: To avoid communication port conflicts, do not simultaneously
run more than one application that is communicating with the plot-
ter.
Figure 5. Control Center Main Menu.
Figure 4. Control Center Setup Screen.