Hey everyone! Been too long....

My wife uses the Silhouette SD now WAAYY more than I do! At least it's getting used; right?

Anyway; it was working fine up until a month ago. Now sometimes it works fine and other times it cuts 5 to 10 mm inaccurately. I tried using some of the old test cut and calibration GSD files I used long before Silhouette Studio but those no longer work. Are there any new calibration & test files people use to help troubleshoot? Any other troubleshooting tips & tricks?

She wouldn't have manually installed any software but I don't know if Silhouette Studio automajikally updates.

We have birthdays coming up and set production has already begun... wifey is getting pretty worried and upset! We really rely on this thing now and need to get it fixed ASAP!

Thanks!

I've had this happen once or twice. For me it's been the result of needing to make my carrier sheets sticky again. At some point I had to replace the blade as well. (I used mine A LOT.)

The printed shit is not slipping on the carrier sheet. Last one I did was so sticky that I couldn't even pull the print off the carrier.

Last time my blade went dull the cuts were still accurate it just started making tears and rough cuts.

Printer is the same printer I've had for years and it's always been accurate so I really doubt that's the problem.

Oh; also.... the thing is pretty dusty. Maybe the optical sensor is dirty giving inconsistent results.

Any tricks or ideas to clean that thing?

That's a good idea, but no clue how to do it.

Have you run the calibration procedure? I have to run that after every 10 or times something jams.

Inaccurate in which direction(s)?

Is the cutout stretched or shifted?

Shifted; it's very accurate... just not on the lines! lol

So like the cuts are straight and corners are square. It's not all sloppy or progressively inaccurate. It's just shifted, say, 5mm vertically.

I did a test cut and it was off about 8m vertically but the horizontal cuts were accurate.
Then I did another test cut... came out fine.

Wifey ran through 5 or so cuts all perfect.... then it did another one and it was inaccurate... then she ran a few more that were just fine.

That sounds like what I've been experiencing. Usually when the cuts are off a little bit like this I curse a little to prevent myself from breaking the machine, then I turn it off and find something else to do, assuming it's just tired of doing my bidding. Later, it's back to cutting just fine.

I´ve had similar problems, sometimes it is because the cart that carries the blade jams with something (maybe a folded corner from the cut mat or the paper), but the machine "thinks" it has kept moving (don´t know if that makes sense). So it keeps cutting, but just a few milimiters off. Watch the machine while it cuts and check if there are any snags or anything.

So it's a perfect cutout of the shapes, just in the wrong place? If the entire cut pattern is shifted, then it sounds like a problem with the registration marks.

OK well it's been behaving well lately. Here's what I've figured out...

While reading the registration marks it scans the first ones, then scrolls the page all the way to the back, and tries to read the last mark right? Well when it does that sometimes I hear a 'clunk' and then it will do one of two things.

1) Usually it totally slips off and falls out the back. Have to pull out the page then hit OK on the cutter itself and start over.

2) If it doesn't slide out the back it's definitely shifted now. Will cut perfectly but not on the lines.

Basically if I hear that clunk... stop! Even if it didn't spit it out the back I don't want to run the cut job because it won't be accurate.

No idea what's causing this. It seems like some pages are just bad. Like I'll have one that slips off.... try to reload it ... keeps slipping out the back. I'll grab the same print, mounted the same way, and it will work fine. Sometimes I can reload these bad ones and it works but usually they just won't work and I pitch it.

I looked at the belt best I could and I don't see any missing teeth. I'd think if it was missing teeth on the belt or gear somewhere it would be consistent. This problem is not consistent and I can't reproduce it.

Seems like about 1 in 10 or 15 jobs dorks out like this. So like I did 30 b-day invites and a few of them were dorked up.

Anyway... it still works just a little more touchy now =P

Oh, I know that CLUNK.

I get this behavior when my pages don't print straight (so the registration marks are too tilted for the camera to find...)

Here's what I do - AFTER I load the page, I make sure that the registration marks at the top are even with the feeder bar. I make sure can see the same fragment of both registration marks. If I can't, I unload and then re-position either the sheet on the carrier or load the carrier a little askew.

After that, I go back to my printer and make sure the paper feed guides are correctly aligned (they tend to slip out of place over time, causing the paper to feed a bit crooked, causing the printout to be askew...)

Hope that helps.

You can also get the CLUNK when the paper is loaded too far to the right and the head hits the far end the rail.