So, it's probably just me. I had no problem creating the GSD file, and am all ready to cut out my first complex crenelation (well, I'm cutting out a blank sheet of paper with the reg marks as a test rather than a printed page, but it's using my crenelation outline).

I orient the page as shown in the software, hit enter for the load carrier, and it only loads it in a little bit, and certainly nowhere near the registration mark. I've tried manually positioning it, but it doesn't like that either. Am I missing something here?

Have you tried loading it in opposite end first?

The end you are inserting is numbered 12...11... . The opposite end (numbered starting "0...1...2...") has arrows on it that seem to say "Put this end in first" to me.

Hope that helps. I don't own one of these, so it's just a guess.

I have the original Standard version not the U.S. version but I do know this,

You need to have the side with registration marks in both corners and it needs to go through the top of the carrier sheet. It looks like you have them backwards. Assuming that the big arrow means that end goes in first.

Also on the Standard Version there is a mark inside which showes you how far to load the carrier sheet in. Looks like you also did not load it in far enough.

See on the first picture how the edge of the paper on the arrow side of the carrier sheet is closer to the top of the Carrier sheet than the other side. Flip the paper around so the double registration marks (the two right angle brackets) are on the arrow side and it should work fine.

Loyd,

I haven't succeeded in getting the automatic "Search Registration Mark" setting to work. I have the same problem you do where it doesn't even come close to looking in the right place. Make sure you uncheck that box. Then manually align it so the blade is over the dot in the registration mark -- it automatically slides a bit towards the corner before it starts search, so if you are too close to the mark then it will miss it. Click "Registration Mark Reading" when you are aligned. You should see it move the scanner slowly towards the corner, looking first for the vertical edge then (assuming it finds it) it will look for the horizontal edge.

If you position the blade too far in any direction it will fail to find the registration marks. This can be a little frustrating. I spent many hours yesterday building a mini forest (3 complex trees and a bunch of bushes) with nearly every page cut by the Robo Cutter. It usually takes me a couple of tries to get everything aligned correctly.

Just to double check the simple things... It looks like you are using Portrait. Have you selected the Portrait radio button in the Craft Robo Controller Dialogue?

In reference to everyone else's comments... I agree that you aren't loading the carrier sheet correctly (looks like you have it backwards), but I don't think that matters in the slightest. As long as the page is lined up straight and you manually position the blade so it can find the registration mark, you should be fine.

If you describe the movement of the scanner (which direction it's moving and how fast it's going), I can to help you trouble shoot what's going wrong.

I've tried it facing both ways on the carrier sheet, both with automatic detection and by manually positioning the blade over the registration mark, it does a full pass from right to left, then spits the carrier sheet back out and does a pass over the carrier sheet.

I just tried 20 different positions for the blade to start the manual registration search. Nothing.

Here's where I'm positioning the blade, and where the transport ends up after I've told it to scan for the reg mark.

Download this test package, which contains files known to work with the CC200-20, CC330-20, Silhouette-1, and Silhouette SD:

http://www.ebblesminiatures.com/downloa ... ackage.zip

1. Open the PDF, print it out.

2. Mount the printout to your carrier sheet, and feed it in bottom first.

3. Open the GSD in ROBO Master.

4. IMPORTANT: Do not change any settings--go directly to File>Craft ROBO. Click OK on the dialog that appears.

5. IMPORTANT: Make sure "Search Registration Mark" is enabled in the Craft ROBO Controller.

6. Click the "Cut" button. If you positioned the sheet correctly, the machine will find the regmarks and present a "Ready to cut" dialog.

If this test suite works flawlessly, then I have a pretty good idea of what went wrong. If it doesn't work flawlessly, then I'll also have a pretty good idea of what went wrong.

-Mel

Thanks for the help!

I notice that there is no 'dot' in the registration mark on the printed PDF, if that makes any difference.

I still get a 'Code 210', Auto registration mark reading fails.

I'm not going to resize these, so I'm not embedding them in the post

Pic 1 is the loaded carrier, before I hit 'Cut'. The next three were shot while it tried to find the registration mark.

http://www.blankenship.com/cardstock/robo/test1.jpg
http://www.blankenship.com/cardstock/robo/test2.jpg
http://www.blankenship.com/cardstock/robo/test3.jpg
http://www.blankenship.com/cardstock/robo/test4.jpg

Doesn't make a difference--that dot is a reference marker for human eyes only.



Doesn't look like the sheet is in far enough. Use the in/out buttons on the machine (below the little screen) or the arrow buttons in the Craft ROBO Controller to tractor the sheet in a little further--bring the bottom edge of the paper flush with the metal rail behind the blade head, then click Cut and tell me what happens.

-Mel

Same thing.

Stupid question time:

1. Re-mount the print on the carrier sheet so that the bottom edge and left edge of the print is as flush as possible with the edge of the carrier sheet that contains the corner with the little arrow, insert it as recommended, then let it auto-feed as normal. Does it still fail?

2. If #1 fails, ignore the guide mark on the machine and insert the carrier sheet so that the *paper* itself is centered between both rollers. Go ahead and cut. Does this still fail?

3. If #1-2 both failed, the optical eye might be defective. While it scans, do you see a bright red light reflecting off the sheet below the blade head? If you see the light, then it's probably not the optical sensor.

4. Have you tried #1 or #2 with the cover closed? (This is to eliminate glare from external illumination as a potential culprit for failing to scan regmarks)

If none of the above work, Dr. Ebbles might need to make a house call to rule out hardware failure. You're semi-local to Austin, right?

-Mel

Woot!

Center the sheet on the carrier, then center the sheet between the rollers, ignoring the alignment lines on the printer.

It's not *quite* cutting the whole way through in spots, however, time to start tweaking settings.

Thanks for the debug help Mel!

loyd

edit: This is maddening. It works fine with my complex crenelation layout, but can't find the registration marks on a wildwood grove headstone page I made. The marks are in identical spots on both printouts.

Ok, new lesson: Don't put anything near the registration marks. By deleting the two headstones that were near the registration marks, I got it to cut out my headstones.

Mel, is there any way to make it cut harder other than the 'Thickness' control and the cap color? I've got thickness set to maximum (33), using the red cap, and I'm still not getting 100% cut-through in spots.

Thanks,
Loyd

Glad to hear the regmark issue is sorted out--I never really had any problem with regmarks failing to scan for valid files, largely because the older Craft ROBO's carrier sheets are exactly 8.5" wide for the US model, so using the alignment guide worked just fine with and without carrier sheets. I also make my own carrier sheets from cheap Wausau Exact Index 90lb stock and Krylon Easy-Tack spray adhesive (more on why later). With those, I just center the mounted print between the rollers, and it just works.

Also, as you've discovered, you don't want anything too close to the regmarks. If you look at the cross-hatched areas in ROBO Master, those are the areas you really want to leave blank.

Now, on to the cutting problem you're having--there are a few reasons why it would happen:

1. Carrier sheet is not flat. If it's warped or wavy, blade depth will sometimes not be uniform across an entire cut. This is the main reason I use my own carrier sheets, as well as the fact that it's a lot cheaper to make my own than it is to buy new plastic carrier sheets.

2. Paper is too thick. I had the same problem with 80lb cover stock and 100lb cover stock. I see the same problem with 110lb cardstock when the blade has gotten a little dull. I generally only cut 67lb cardstock or 50lb photo paper on my machine--both cut very nicely, and are plenty strong enough for my needs. To rule this out, try cutting the same thing on a thinner stock. If it cuts fine, the paper's too thick.

3. Blade is dull. If you cut a lot of "hard" stuff like Bazzill cardstock, fibrous recycled stock, or anything similar, blades wear out a lot faster than if you just cut paper or light cardstock, and you start seeing lots of partial-depth cuts. To rule this out, cut the same thing with a fresh blade. If it cuts flawlessly, then your other blade is dull. If you see the same result with a new blade, then the stock is just too thick.

For heavier stocks, the easy solution is generally to just cut twice. If you copy/paste an element on top of itself, the machine treats that as a "Cut me twice" request. The best way to guarantee alignment is to turn on grid snapping in ROBO Master, draw a 8.5x11 rectangle around the image, then select all, copy and paste. It'll be offset a little bit, and you want to drag it off the canvas. Delete the bits you don't want to be cut twice, then select everything and drag it back onto the canvas. Delete the frame. You'll end up with bits that get cut twice in a single run.

If cutting twice doesn't solve the problem, then the stock is definitely too thick.

-Mel

Cut twice did the trick!

Last question, I think. What line settings are you using for your scoring lines? The default dotted line acts pretty much like a cut (I made sure not to double-up on the score lines).

Even if I have to score them manually, this is still amazing.

Thanks,
Loyd

That merits some explanation before I answer.

Line styles are cosmetic only, ROBO Master doesn't care if the lines are dashed, dotted, dash-dotted, solid, or whatever--it only cares what color the lines are.

These are the colors I use for the various lines:

Gray: Cut

Blue: Mountain fold

Red: Valley fold

The colors are the important bit--they each are their own cutting layer from ROBO Master's perspective. You can use whatever colors you want, but it helps to be consistent from document to document.

Click on File>Output Settings>Cutting Settings tab>Cutline Settings button. You'll see a little dialog that has the cutting layers listed by color--in the right column, you can choose Solid or Dashed.

Above that is the Dashed Line Pattern settings frame, which has 2 fields--one for cut segment, one for uncut segment. I generally use 0.04"/0.04" (1mm/1mm) for dashed lines.

The quickest and easiest scoring method is to have mountain and valley folds set to dashed lines--this perfs them for easy folding in a single pass.

-Mel

Oh, and if you'd rather have your fold lines properly scored, you go to the same Cutline Settings menu, then untick the box next to the colors you designated for cut lines and valley folds. You should only have the color you designated for mountain folds lines selected. Make sure you select Solid for the line style in that same window.

Click OK, then click the "Output to Craft ROBO" button. Click OK on the dialog that appears next. When the Craft ROBO Controller loads, use the BLUE blade cap and halve your normal cutting thickness. Save that as a new media type--give it a descriptive name like "110lb Cardstock-Score" or whatever, then click Cut.

What happens next is the machine will score the mountain folds halfway through the sheet. Once it finishes, go back to the Output Settings dialog and unselect the mountain fold color layer. Select the cut line and valley fold layers, make sure the valley folds are set to use the Dashed line style, then repeat the Output to Craft ROBO process, using your normal cutting media type/settings.

It sounds clunky, but here's how you speed it up...do it in batches. Take a stack of prints (same page), and simply enter the number of copies you want to cut in the dialog that appears after you click File>Craft ROBO or the Output to Craft ROBO button. Score the stack, then cut the stack--the machine will pause to allow you to feed in the next sheet. This is the second reason I make my own backing sheets--it saves a LOT of time not having to mount and remount sheets on that nasty plastic carrier sheet the machine comes with, and all you have to do is feed in your own backed prints and use the "Load w/o Carrier" media feed setting on the Silhouette SD. (You get there by clicking the left/right buttons on the machine, below its little screen.)

-Mel

Almost there. I'm going to have to go with your custom carrier I think, my cardstock is coming unstuck from the plastic carrier in places, causing it to crumple up and jam. I do have the scoring settings working correctly now...

I assume that the Krylon is sprayed onto the cheap cardstock then they're squared up together?

Thanks,
Loyd

Yeah--I take a roll of wax paper, some newspapers, a can of Krylon Easy Tack, and a stack of cheap cardstock outside. Newspapers down first, lay out several sheets of cardstock on top of the newspapers, then spray. A light coat will do. I unroll the wax paper and stick the sprayed cardstock to the wax paper, then fold it up like an accordion. Repeat as needed.

I do several sheets in a batch--you'd be surprised at how many sheets you can prep in an hour or less, especially if you can spray 6-8 sheets at a time.

Once I'm done, I bring the batch inside, then slice apart the waxed sheets so that I end up with a stack of separate backing sheets, each of which has a protective layer of wax paper to ensure the tack lasts a good while. When I need a sheet, I just pull one, peel off the wax liner, then square it up with the printout and give it a firm yet gentle rubdown. It's ready to cut then.

If you can't go outside to spray, but you have a window that you can crack open for a little while, you can use Sulky KK-2000 quilt basting spray instead of Krylon Easy-Tack. The Sulky spray costs twice as much, but is nontoxic, non-flammable, and much safer to use indoors. It also disappears completely within a few days, so it's better suited for doing backing sheets on the fly for immediate use.

-Mel

Mel, I cannot locate this file.
I have tried each Crotale page six times, and the alignment is still off by about 1/16". I do like having the bonus color schemes, but is there a patchwork squadron? I might have enough parts that aren't messed up to build one model.

Silhouette SD
Wausau item # 82319 white cardstock
Crotale

I am centering the sheet between the rollers


I'm feeding the bottom in first.


the regmark scan fails almost immediately.

If I continue anyway, the model and cut are about 1/16" misaligned.

Tried using various positions on the carrier sheet, as well as with a 110lb sheet used as a carrier.

I've posted a troubleshooting sequence in reply to your post on my forum. In the future, post all support requests for my models there, not here. (This is the Worldworks forum, after all. )

-Mel

Lol...Poor Mel.

Thanks for helping the guys out. You've gone way above and beyond what anyone would expect from you.

And yeah, guys, Mel does have his own business too, so lets all jump over there and buy a model or two for his help on our forums! K?

http://www.ebblesminiatures.com/shop/index.php

I don't even HAVE a Robo yet ( ) and I picked up the Shrike, Crotale and Sandmaster sets a couple of days ago - as with WWG, extremely nice stuff!

How could you go past the doomball, love that name and model

Sir Rob I have a Robo coming from the States as I type (well I hope the buggers have sent it).

Now to start reading up on it.



Lord Abaddon of Wormwood

Eh, it's something I consider part of my consulting job around here. I can't just get you hooked on machine-cutting and then run off--I gotta make sure folks here don't have trouble with their machines. Eventually, you'll have several folks here who earn their craft cutter merit badges, then I can retire to the Caribbean and sip umbrella drinks on the beach. Until then, I keep an eye on this place and chime in where needed.



You're too kind. Thanks for the plug.

-Mel

Having identical issues as Loyd here. Registration marks are not being found.

I'm SO done with that stupid stock carrier sheet but can't get my DIY carrier sheets to work either. However neither carrier sheet is working. I got it to work twice using the stock carrier sheet but after that I could never get registration marks to automatically register.

I've printed off something right from ROBO Master so it has all the correct registration marks; even gives me some fool-proof arrows and says 'load this direction'. I mount that to my DIY cardstock carrier sheet...

Q) Do I have to line up the edges of my print out to the DIY carrier sheet perfectly? What if they are off by... half a mm... or even a mm?




Q) What do I line up for the edges of my the DIY carrier sheets on the robo? Because the stock carrier sheet is considerably wider and has special marks right on the robo cutter to line up with. Now my DIY carrier sheet is 8.5" wide so what do I line up with before I hit Enter to automagicly load the carrier into the cutter?



Q) OK I've lined it up and the arrows are pointing toward the device... I'm feeding it in the direction it's telling me to. I hit Enter on the robo to automagicaly load the carrier in. I click on 'send to robo' in ROBO Master software and another window pops up. I set my speed and thickness. I check 'automagicaly register marks' and click 'cut'. The robo does a few things but always fails; it will move a little bit and fail, it will move around in the upper right corner then fail, or it will move around in the upper right then move to the left side to move around and finally fails. Only twice has it registered all of the reg marks top and bottom then cut for me. I guess this is more of a statement that leaves me questioning my sanity more than a question but I will end it with a question mark anyway? =)

I would check out the troubleshooting sequence Mel mentioned he put on his forum. I haven't had the problems you're mentioning with it not being able to pick up the reg marks. Then again, I've never used the clear plastic carrier sheet either. I'd chunk that thing ASAP, but that's just me.

Check out the issues OneMonk was having: http://www.ebblesminiatures.com/forum/v ... p?tid=1774
Some good troubleshooting stuff there. It looks like his issue with not picking up the reg marks was because of printer scaling (be sure you're not doing Fit to Page when you print!)

What I do for loading is center the sheet between the two white rollers, so the rollers are about the same distance from the edge of the paper on each side. Make sure you choose Load Media and NOT Load Media w/Carrier if you are using DIY carrier sheets.

And no, it doesn't matter if your DIY sheet is a little off from the carrier sheet. Just feed the top sheet (the one with the reg marks) in as straight as you can and don't worry if the bottom carrier sheet is off, it's just providing support anyway.

You have a significant margin of error - as long as both marks are within the "cut safe area" it should be able to pick them up and set the alignment properly.


I've got the Silhouette-1, so this may be slightly different. The edge of the paper should always be lined up with the left mark on the printer (ie: the left white roller should roll right along the left edge of the paper)


Again, I can't speak for the fully automagic loading with the SD, but for testing purposes I would recommend manually pressing the feed button (or whatever it's called) until the "leading edge" of the paper lines up with the far end of the black cutting mat (the black strip the cutter goes over).


It's days like these that I thank my lucky stars that I'm a cheapskate and went with the earlier model =)

This is my Silhouette SD and the mark I use to line up the edge of the paper.


If it's hunting around not finding the reg-marks you may have to uncheck the box in the cut dialog that says 'search registration marks' and click on the arrow keys to position the cutting head inside the lower left reg-mark area.

I've had to do that on a couple of models when the machine got confused.

The rule of thumb for this is pretty simple and consistent across the different models:

1. Center the printed sheet between the white rollers. Yes, the rollers. Paper size or carrier size is irrelevant, you want the printed sheet to be centered between the rollers.

2. The edge of an US Letter sheet should just about align with the innermost edge of the black cutting strip when you feed it in. For A4 paper, feed it in just enough that the regmarks almost disappear under the metal roller axle.

3. Feed printed sheets in bottom-first.

These three rules fix 95% of regmark scan failures. The other 5% can be dealt with in one of the following fashions:

1. Make sure you actually *see* a red light shining on the sheet as the head moves during the regmark scan. If you don't see it, your ARMS is defective.

2. Make sure your paper isn't too glossy, and there isn't too much direct light bouncing off the paper. Closing the cover usually takes care of this issue.

-Mel