Home

ITech Centra Manual

1. Using transform panel move top of vertical segment to x ale Hee DV 0 5 y 10 25 RERE Ser kcee er eee eer fll Move left of horizontal segment to x 0 5 y 4 10 25 Click on rounded rectangle from tool menu Z and then click on layout window Enter the 2 9 for width 4 9 for height and 0 166 for corner radius Using transform panel move object so the lower left as at 1 05 5 3 i Then click object gt transform gt move Enter distance of 3 25 angle 0 then click copy a Select both rounded rectangles Then click object gt transform gt move Enter z distance 5 25 angle 270 then click copy This completes die line layer Next create the print On layer menu select print layer To create the target click on rectangle tool dj click on layout window enter 0 25 0 25 for size 15 Using transform panel move lower left to 0 5 10 gt color On the color menu select fill and change color to black By I Change out line stroke to none The target color should look like this when you are done Note if not have a stroke on the edge of the printed target the print and cut will not line up To create the bleed background click on rectangle tool then click on layout window Width 3 height 5 Ch Move lower left corner x 1 y 5 25 On color window select cmyk fill to k 85 cmy 0 and no stroke on color menu Now paste in foreground of label I used fi
2. The front control panel is the primary user interface for the Centra It is used for input of speed and force as well as several other functions LOAD The load key is used to initialize the system and to load or automatically fill the supply accumulator Once the material is fed thru the media path and the nip rollers are engaged see section 5 7 Webbing the Centra DFS Cutter press the load key and the supply roller will start feeding media into the supply dancer bar and will automatically stop once the supply dancer bar reaches the bottom and the input accumulator is full The load SELECT light will then come on to indicate the system is ready to operate Be sure that the label frame you want to cut is at least 2 inches behind the blade before pressing load PAUSE The pause key will halt the operation of the system at any point It is used to pause the system for inspection media jams or to pause the machine for any other reason Press the pause key to resume the system The system can be jogged while paused and will remember where it was and resume from where it was stopped regardless of where it was jogged This is very helpful for inspecting the cut You can pause the system and joystick the media or cut head away from its position to inspect the cutting or registration After inspecting the media simply press the pause key again and the Centra will return to the point where it was paused and resume cutting The pause light will fl
3. The range of force is 1 to 100 when the system is in the normal force range For most applications the normal force range is adequate In the normal force range mode the force is adjustable between 10 and 550 grams of force in 100 steps The force is set by test cutting the media to be cut using the test cut function Using the joystick position the knife in an unused portion j of the media and press the TEST CUT key The system will cut a IL test cut pattern similar to the diagram to the right With a sharp knife or tweezers you should be able to individually remove each part of the test cut pattern working from the ring to the triangle without affecting the remaining parts A properly set force will leave a very slight scratch or mark on the liner The force may need to be adjusted due to blade wear during use if problems with weeding occur Simply increase the force setting by one until satisfactory weeding occurs Ifthe knife blade is changed revert back to the original setting or perform the test cut procedure again The blade may need to be replaced if the force is increased by more than 20 percent from when the blade was new F1 This key puts the pen up or down during digitizing mode F2 This key turns on off the supply nip roller F3 This key turns on off the take up nip roller RESET the Centra by pressing the F1 F2 and F3 keys in order JOYSTICK The joystick is used for positioning the knife and media in the die cut
4. Inkscape and PowerCAD It should also work with any program that sends vectors rather than bitmaps to the driver The DirectCut printer driver allows cutting directly from windows graphics programs without requiring additional software purchases Note DirectCut requires ownership of Allen Datagraph Equipment to use Requires Windows 7 Windows Vista or Windows XP Updated versions of the DirectCut printer driver is available on the tech support page at the Allen Datagraph web site at http www allendatagraph com During installation a test cut is performed Users Manual and sample jobs 7 A complete copy of the technical support section of the ADSI website at the time the machine was shipped To access this offline copy of the web site answer no to question as to whether you want software installed on this computer 4 3 5 Software Updates Software updates after the product ships will be available on the tech support section of the http allendatagraph com web site To update to a later version of software when recommended to do so by the tech support department go to the web site Click on tech support then online documents NN Select Centra or Cutter driver from list of selections Find the software update and click on it to download the setup program from the web site 5 Operation of the i TECH Centra Digital Label System 5 1 Setting up your label job LABEL MARK SIZE ha 11 The target should be a
5. cycle power Check fuse replace with one 5A for 115 vac or two 2 5A for 220 vac E Stop button pressed Cut through poor Is your knife blade sharp You can check condition of weeding blade by examining the blade tip under a 30x microscope The blade tip must be present For very thin less than 0 002 inch 0 05 mm or liner less than 20 lb media you might need to use the controlled depth adjustment on the end of the knife holder Partially unscrew the black cap until just enough knife blade is exposed to cut through the media but not the backer Test by drawing knife across media by hand You can then use a higher force with no cut through It is important that the groove filler be installed fully and evenly otherwise material cut through may occur in some sections across the cutter Insufficient backer weight Check mechanical adjustments Website Copy CD Copy Increase Decrease force Increase decrease knife offset Check cut strip condition Replace or reverse if damaged Decrease acceleration or speed Increase resolution in printer driver Using wrong angle of blade for material Not tracking Fix this first Images are incorrect If error is small lt 1 2 inch 12 mm make sure grit wheel size is clean Dirt build up in grit will change the size of the grit wheel making it cut the wrong size Run diagnostic 07 to calibrate the cutter to a ruler or printer as desired Contour cuts are wrong If you are using origin only or origin s
6. forward backward until the led pointer is within 1 8 inch 3 mm from the gear side take up corner of the target to be scanned The gear side of the machine is away from the operator The take up side is on the right as you look at the machine 5 9 4 Sending file with Illustrator Load the file you want to cut with Adobe Illustrator If the layer window is not visible you can make it visible by clicking on Window gt Layers Select the dielines layer on the layer menu Click on File gt Allen DirectCut to open the DirectCut for Illustrator 5 9 4 1 Sending file with CorelDraw Load the file you want to cut with CorelDraw If the object manager is not visible you can make it visible by clicking on Window gt Dockers gt Object Manger Select the 0 0 POINT LED POINTER ap s 824 GTD Allen DirectC 6 Ad dD A dielines layer on the object manager tab Ifthe Allen en DirectCut on 6 Advanced Document view Advanced E F 824 GTD Allen DirectCut on 6 Advanced Document Settings Al DirectCut tools does not appear near the view ja F rr it it I button select Tools gt Options gt WorkSpace Then fig D i od ocument Options check Allen Datagraph Click on the Allen iio Mea Allen DirectCut Driver Ver 2 08 DirectCut button to open the DirectCut for gt Find Origin a CorelDraw preview window Edge Offset 0 to 4 0 500 inch Space between jobs 4 to 4 0 125 inch 5 9 4 2 Or
7. groove filler be installed fully and evenly otherwise material cut through may occur in some sections across the cutter The groove filler should be installed for knives and pen plotting but must be removed for Pouncing Two different cut strips are available from the http allendatagraph com online store Normal life DF 310 and extended life DF 410 cut strips 6 2 3 Cleaning The regularity with which the cutter needs to be cleaned is dependent on the usage as well as the climate and contaminants in the cutter s environment It is recommended that the following cleaning steps be done at least as often as indicated for each procedure 37 e Biweekly Clean the three grit wheel surfaces with a stiff bristled e g tooth not wire brush to remove any media particles that may have built up during cutting Brush the surface of the grit wheel while turning the grit wheel by hand so the entire surface of the grit wheel is cleaned CAUTION Be sure to disconnect the cutter from the power source while cleaning the unit Keeping the grit wheel clean is important so the cutter will hold the media accurately e Biweekly Wipe media related dust from the set of polyurethane pinch wheels by using a soft cloth e Monthly The outer surfaces should also be kept clean If necessary a mild cleaning solution on a damp cloth can be used to gently wipe the surfaces clean It is suggested that a mild soap and water be used with a soft cloth This soluti
8. on the first copy or on subsequent copies Since the FO command is embedded in the beginning of the cut file the scan of the registration mark is performed at the beginning of each copy or frame of labels and on subsequent copies 5 3 Types of SmartMark Scanning None Edge Offs Space betwee There are five types of SmartMark scanning available They are shown in the image to the right The scan type is selected in the printer driver preferences L Origin Only Combine Pol F Origin Skew Loop Control A a Origin Skew Scale Origin Only and Edge are the only types Mirror No M Origin Scale normally used on the Centra Rotate Image Me Edge see Sort Method Distance Origin Only is used on printed media where you want to cut out preprinted labels Origin Only does a alignment with the visual sensor at the origin only Edge is used when you are cutting blank label stock Edge offset is used only when cutting blank labels on unprinted material By selecting EDGE in the driver s printing preferences menu the SmartMark sensor will detect the edge of the media instead of a registration mark then offset into the media by that amount and cut your blank labels Origin Skew is used if the media is not necessarily loaded straight This scans the origin and the skew mark and rotates the cut image to match the cut location at the two scanned locations Since the Centra keeps the media straight you do not normally need to scan the
9. skew mark No scaling of the cut image is performed with Origin Skew scanning Origin Skew Scale does alignment at the origin rotation and scaling in both x and y axes are preformed This scan type requires that the sensor size parameter be correct so that cut image is same size as printed image Normally the y axis does not have any scaling 13 errors on the printer so you do not need to correct the skew point and scaling at the scale point Origin Scale does alignment at the origin rotation and x axis only scaling at the scale point It assumes that the scaling in the y axis is correct Normally you do not need to scan the Scale location because if you have a scaling error in your printer it is normally in the x axis and it is very consistent Ifthe printer you are using has a x axis scaling error you can normally correct this either in the printer or you can use calibrate to printer to get the Centra to cut the same size as the printer 5 4 Designing Labels 5 4 1 Planning Label This tutorial will design a label for the Epson printer and Centra DFS with Illustrator and CorelDraw It will show how to create a bleed area to minimize visual errors on the completed label First we define our layout for a set of four 3x5 labels so we can create a set of locations in the artwork generation program workspace We lay out the frame with the x axis media movement going up and down on the screen and the y axis operator front to gear back
10. Assembly Instructions cccccccsssesssssssesssessssecess 58 1 Warranty ALLEN DATAGRAPH Digital Finishing Systems are warranted to be free of defects in both materials and workmanship Should any part of this equipment be defective it will be repaired or replaced at the option of the manufacturer at no charge for parts or factory labor for a period of one 1 year from the date of installation All warranty services are performed at the Allen Datagraph factory Replacement parts not installed at the factory will be billed to the customer at regular prices and credit will be issued when the defective parts are returned The customer is responsible for freight on warranty parts and repairs This warranty is void if The equipment has been damaged by negligence accident or mishandling or has not been operated in accordance with the procedures described in the operating instructions or The equipment has been altered or repaired by other than an approved service station or factory service center or adaptations or accessories have been attached to the equipment that shall have adversely affected the performance safety or reliability of the equipment NO OTHER WARRANTY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED APPLIES to the equipment Allen Datagraph does not assume any responsibility for consequential damages occasioned by the equipment or inconvenience or interruption in operation In case of unsatisfactory operation Allen Datagraph or
11. Gains 48 Reset x y z axis gains to default values A 4 4 3 Lift Lower Continuous 37 Exercises the z axis lift lower at different forces Continuously raises and lowers the knife A 4 4 4 Lift Lower Demand 38 Exercises the z axis lift lower at different forces Raises and lowers the knife on each select key press While knife is down at a force the cutter displays the current through the voice coil and the width of the pwm pulse to the z axis driver A 4 4 5 Line Sensor Test Used by engineering to tune the line sensor hardware A 4 4 6 Motor Position Plot Used by engineering to tune the servo system A 4 4 7 Read Calibration Constants Reads and displays the scaling constants for the x and y axes Safe to run X and Y encoder counter per inch are around 8000 A 4 4 8 Spare Out Used by engineering to test hardware 57 A 4 4 9 Tuning Engineering Used by engineering to tune the servo system A 4 4 10 Write Plot Data to Excel Writes the last tuning graph to file that can be imported into an Excel spreadsheet A 5 Label Interconnect A 5 1 Read All Sensors Continuously Read and display the service loop sensor statuses As they are triggered by moving the dancers in the accumulators the status changes from 0 to 1 Not used if analog sensors Use diagnostic 41 and 42 instead A 5 2 Reset Service Loop Sensor Each of the service loop accumulator sensors detects the presence of dancer in the accumulator travel They are latch
12. The target in this orientation appears in the upper left corner of the screen This allows for no rotation when the sending the job to the printer Then add the targ 0 2500 10 2500 et REANA U 3000 Then add 0 50 bleed on one label So we need horizontal locations at 0 5 5 25 5 3 10 10 2 and 10 25 and vertical locations at 0 5 0 25 0 0 05 2 95 3 3 25 6 25 Add one to vertical so they are all positive numbers 0 5 0 75 1 1 05 3 95 4 4 25 7 25 14 Now that we have work space planned choose program to design your artwork 5 4 2 Using Adobe Illustrator Open Illustrator and create a new document Change units to inches Click ok Click on view gt rulers if rulers missing Click on window gt layers if layer menu missing Click on window gt color if color menu missing Now create two layers One called dielines and one called print This is done from the layer window Click on new layer button Then rename the layers as dielines and print by double clicking on layer name changing name and clicking on ok Next create the die lines Click on the dielines layer on the layer window Create the die line for the target Click on line segment tool N and then click on layout area Enter length 0 125 and angle 0 Click on object gt transform gt rotate enter 90 and click on Lo gt f copy ggg Xt w 2 9 in Q r F y 5 3 in H 48in
13. Window Help Joy Stick Label Interconnect s i Main Menu simply fill in the desired settings H Options value s in the appropriate pyrame Feres i window including the ate SetupForm Setup Number click on Desedcton F nge the Save Setup button Setup umber W Cancel Draw Speed 1 60 cm Some features are raw opec mies Save Setup Move Speed 1 60 cm sec advanced and only appear P Load Setup if menus advances is Force 1 1000 a awit Restore Default selected in setup a Coordinate System 7 options Minimum Angle 1 35 degrees Long X C Lona Y Center Rotate 180 Hole Distance 1 100 001 inch 025 mm Tear Size 8 100 001 inch 025 mm Acceleration 1 16 Sfeet sec sec Load Speed 1 40 cm sec Load Length 1 100 inches Load Length 1 254 cm ilz L S nn oad etup button Dynamic Force Cad Override gt Service Loop C Draw To load the edit boxes with the current system parameters input the setup number in the Setup Number window and then click the Speed Resolution cm sec C mm sec TUUL Con Co C On o C On Of Pounce Setup Number sets the memory position Draw Speed is the velocity of the knife when cutting e g while the knife is down Move Speed is the velocity of the knife when in the up position not cutting Force controls the down force or pressure on the knife Knife Offset All drag knife cutters use a knife CUTTER PATH blade with the tip offset from the center
14. X coordinate system in all factory set COORDINATE SYSTEMS ups and is compatible with most cutter or ae lol p rinter drivers The choice of coordinate m Autocad OH Command m Joystick Knife Offset Model systems other than Long X is beyond the scope C On Of C exclude include zg of this document Auto Origin Offset i r Language Con Cor C DMPL HPGL 216 A 3 5 Setu gt O tions m Expand Mode M Media Heght Sensor C Other Con Off COo Gof Menus option offers the more advanced Aish Hesston Fao r Units features of the software It is recommended C On Off English C Metric Menus this be set to Normal until a more advance Pieced e oc f Cancel feature is understood or is required by your operation The menu items below are displayed when the menus is set to Advanced Autocad OH Command determines how the system will respond to the HPGL OH command Expand Mode allows the Centra to cut past the normal clip limits in the Y axis This function allows cutting and extra 1 2 inch 12 mm wide 48 High Resolution Force sets the force resolution to 1 to 1000 steps instead of 1 to 100 steps Itis useful when cutting very hard to cut medias It allow setting the force between two of the standard force settings A force of 112 is equivalent to 11 2 force also see the Setup Dynamic Force Joystick Knife Offset this option controls whether the
15. black rectangle on white media or a contrasting color to background See colors in Web Site Copy or CD Copy The recommended Mark Size is 0 25 inch 6 mm The sensor relies on reading the change in intensity of the reflection of the red LED pointer When printing process colors on white media the best color is usually black Certain spot colors are difficult For example silver spot on white while to the eye there is contrast the reflectivity of the two is sometimes nearly the same If there is trouble with certain materials detecting the target you can print the target in a yellow or white field The size of the yellow field should be double the scan length Note in order to get an accurate scan no other printed marks may appear in the yellow or other high contrast colors scan area The printer color alignment marks can appear on the inside edge of the target or the other side of the media The mark should be placed at least 0 25 inches 6 mm from the edge of the media and the spacing between frames should be at least 0 25 inch 6 mm Advanced usage You can place the target closer to the edge of the material if you use inside out scanning See Web Site Copy or CD Copy The number of rows and columns of labels between registration marks defines a set or frame of labels A frame of labels can be one row or several rows of labels There are several aspects to consider when deciding on how many rows of labels to print on one page The main
16. check the sensors and fail safe monitors for machine malfunctions If a malfunction is detected an error code is displayed on the control panel display motors are shutdown and the Centra ceases operation OFF LINE testing is used for manufacturing and field service testing and for making certain adjustments to the Centra such as calibration To Run Diagnostics if the Centra unit is displaying an error code on the front panel display press any key to enter the diagnostic mode A 4 1 How to run Diagnostics A 4 1 1 From Front Panel Turn unit on and allow initialization to complete If the Centra is displaying a flashing error code on the front panel display press any key to enter the diagnostic mode Press the select key to initiate the menu function Press the left or right arrow key to display diA Press the up or down key to scroll thru the diagnostic numbers 0002 0099 Press the select key to start the diagnostic TO STOP A DIAGNOSTIC Press the reset key sequence F1 F2 F3 TO EXIT THE DIAGNOSTIC MODE To return to normal operation run diagnostic 99 or cycle the Centra power off and on A 4 1 2 From Remote Panel To start diagnostic select diagnostic to run from diagnostic pull down menu in the Centra remote panel Follow on screen directions To stop a diagnostic press the CTRL C character on the keyboard or turn off and on the Centra A 4 2 Setup Diagnostics A 4 2 1 Setup Operation of Analog Accumulator Sensors A 4 2 2
17. consideration is the trade off between speed it takes a about second to perform the find origin FO command and scan the registration mark and registration accuracy The more often you scan the registration mark the closer the marks the more accurate the cut registration will be If the job allows for overprinting the cut line then registration may be less critical and eliminating some of the registration marks can speed the job Generally registration marks should be placed at least every 12 20 inches 305 508 mm on Centra Best practice is to print registration marks for each row then adjust the cut job to skip one or more marks if desired This procedure also insures equal spacing of the labels and gives complete flexibility for cutting The distance between jobs the last cut line of the previous frame and the target on the next frame must be between 4 and 4 inches 101 mm If the distance between frames is less than the scan length then the target must be outside of the area where the labels are printed Note every frame of a label run must be identical or you won t be able to use the copy command Maximum frame size is 34 inches 86 4 cm 5 2 Explanation of SmartMark The theory of operation relies on the SmartMark sensor sending an analog signal to the embedded computer during a scan The data is analyzed after the scan to automatically create a threshold find the edge of the target and eliminate noise The Centra scans the
18. cut Last Saved Error Message Clear Error Value Force displays and sets the cutting Bs ala lela E force The range of force is 1 to 100 e ae RA m represent 10 to 550 grams of force 0118 Knife Offset is the distance between unspesaLebelMode 1 100 the center of the knife blade and the Mex Speed Label Mode 1100 33 knife tip Allen Datagraph blades Allow Auto Speed Change Cancel have a 0 012 inch 030 cm offset If OK you have objects that do not close correctly you might have to adjust the knife offset to correct the problem Hole Distance and Tear Size are used when the Centra is in the Pounce Mode The hole distance setting is the distance between holes and the tear size is the distance the Centra moves with the pounce tool down to tear the media and enlarge the pounced hole Min Speed Label Mode and Max Speed Label Mode are used to set the limits for the automatic speed setting function of the Centra The cutting speed will automatically increase or decrease within the limits set here to keep pace with the in feed device Normally you set the Max to 100 and the min to 1 5 9 6 3 3 Rubber Tab This tab is not used on the Centra unless you are doing stencil cutting at high force values 25 Rubber Minimum Angle displays and sets the angle between consecutive vectors that when exceeded will invoke the tangential emulation mode At angles less than the value set in this parameter
19. cutting data point includes or excludes the knife offset The normal setting is exclude Include is used for CadLink s Signlab program when digitizing only You should use exclude for all cad systems except Signlab A 3 6 Setup ay Dynamic Force Adjust Setup Force vs Velocity Points Dynamic Force This feature is considered an advanced feature and does not appear on the Setup menu unless the menu is set to advanced on the option page Dynamic Foce Gram fie Force allows different em fa forces to be applied at aut ieee Material Selection different velocities Adjust kein 4 sets up the dynamic force M 2rwSreedf0 Send Fi Setup to Cutt parameters and database oe Soup tte To establish a new material database type in the name of the new material in the Material Selection box and click Add In the Force and Velocity Window type in the desired force vs velocity that you have established for the material The recommended method for establishing the various force vs velocity numbers is to run the test cut at various velocities and record the results for entry here Enter the Maximum cut speed for the media in the Max Draw Speed window Before using Dynamic Force Adjust it is necessary to send the force setup to the cutter memory by clicking the Send Force to Cutter button A 4 Diagnostics The Centra firmware contains a set of resident diagnostics When the Centra is powered up it automatically perf
20. must be used with the Centra It should supply a small amount of back pressure and not drift from side to side Printed media must be wound on core evenly Laminate same width or larger than printed stock Laminate with should be 1 16 to 1 8 smaller than printed stock Too much pressure on laminate roller blue rubber roller Only a light pressure is required on laminate roller Uneven pressure on laminate roller To set pressure loosen two nuts on each pressure control These are the hinged cam latches that supply the pressure on the blue roller To measure the pressure you need to create two sandwiches of 44 three pieces of the unlaminated printed media Place one sandwich under operator side latch and one under gear side latch Adjust the pressure the latch applies to the blue roller until both centerpieces of the sandwiched media can be pulled with the same amount of force Test tracking After laminate tracking works correctly tighten lock nuts Appendix A i TECH remote panel Advanced Options A 1 Enable Advanced Options To enable advanced options select setup gt options from remote panel Change advanced normal menu options to advanced A 2 Action Menu A 2 1 Send HPGL File Send HPGL File will send a HPGL plot file directly to the Centra Typical origins of HPGL files include the Allen Driver CorelDraw or some other design software To send a HPGL plot file from the remote panel program click the Sen
21. not be used as they will diminish cutting accuracy Knife Blades Knifes blades for the Allen Datagraph Centra Unit are made with tungsten carbide and are designed specifically for digital die cutting The tip is offset from the center of the shaft so that the blade has a caster action when pulled Blades are available in 30 45 and 60 degree tip angles The 60 degree is intended only for thick materials such as sandblast mask or thick over laminates For best cutting results protect the knife tip from damage when not in use Knife Blades Depth Guide Allen Datagraph s controlled depth knife holder has a depth guide that is adjustable to control the depth of cut the Centra makes Normal materials do not need to use the controlled depth adjustment and the black plastic cap can be screwed in completely to expose the blade Material with insufficient backing may require the use of the controlled depth cap Correct adjustments allow the blade to cut the material and lightly mark the backer carrier material Too much cut depth can cause cut through and premature blade wear Not enough cut depth will make Weeding of media difficult Use the cut test force and depth adjustment to establish good cutting see setting cut force cut depth section 6 2 2 Changing a cut strip Clean any debris from the groove before installing the groove filler The filler simply snaps into and out of place with no special tools required It is important that the
22. of rotation As the Centra moves the knife trails behind it just like a caster on an office chair In OUTLINE order to accurately cut the outlines the computer embedded in the Centra compensates for the offset of the knife This parameter sets the offset for those calculations The figure to the right shows the path the knife follows the radius move at the corner allows for the knife offset There are three blades available from our online store our online store at http www allendatagraph com H20 017 30 Allen Datagraph i TECH DFS Centra Axxis cutting blade Ideal for label stock Angle of blade at 30 degrees to have exact control on depth of cut This blade has a 0 012 inch 0 0305 cm offset It can be identified by its blue plastic cap H20 007 45 Allen Datagraph i TECH DFS Centra Axxis cutting blade Ideal for general purpose cutting of vinyl and other thin materials Angle of blade at 45 degrees to balance depth of cutting and pivot angle This blade has a 0 012 inch 0 0305 cm offset It can be identified by its red plastic cap 29 H20 008 60 Allen Datagraph i TECH DFS Centra Axxis cutting blade Ideal for cutting thick materials Angle of blade at 60 degrees to optimize cut angle This blade has a 0 012 inch 0 0305 cm offset It can be identified by its green plastic cap Minimum Angle The Centra must stop and then accelerate whenever it makes a sharp turn At shallow angles the Centra can continue at the cut ve
23. result in interference to radio amp television reception This device complies with part 15 of FCC Rules Operation is subject to the following two conditions 1 This device may not cause harmful interference and 2 this device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired operation Appendix C Installation and Assembly Instructions Web Site Copy CD Copy Appendix D Loading Diagram Web Site Copy CD Copy 59
24. the buttons on the front panel Buttons must be pressed as prompted by this display code in the following order Load Pause Copy Speed Up Speed Down Force Up Force Down Test Cut F3 F2 F1 Select Left Right Up Down If the wrong code is received the error code E036 is displayed otherwise the requested button is requested with a prompt A 4 3 4 Confidence Test 02 The confidence test is used to verify the operation of the cutting station of the Centra It fully tests the capability of the cutting CPU and Servo control system First Load A size paper 8 5 x 11 into the cut station Lower pinch wheels Do not press load Insert a Pen into the tool holder Start diagnostic A 4 3 5 Flag Monitor Adjust 34 This diagnostic is used to verify the correct flag position on the cutting head It displays the knife height on the display The flag is a small flat angled piece of metal which moves up and down between a pair of circuit board mounted sensors The flag is held on to the knife holder by 2 Allen screws which are loosened slightly if adjustment is necessary There are 3 locations the knife holder can be in They are Bottom remove the knife from the holder and press the holder down to the bottom The display should read between 000 and 006 Down press the knife down with a knife in the holder The display should read 018 to 040 pressing down with a knife in the holder no media present Adjust flag position if necessary T
25. the following power sources 100 132 VAC 47 63 Hz or 180 240 VAC 47 63 Hz e ALLEN DATAGRAPH products are normally factory preset for the power requirements of the destination country The machine s configuration is indicated on the power input module as either 115V or 230V To change the configuration a Disconnect the AC power cord from the fuse block on the power input end panel Lao E p wa b Open the fuse block cover with a small flat screwdriver 4 c Orient the fuse block so that the desired voltage appears in the fuse block cover FSE REGN d Close the fuse block cover and verify that the desired voltage is showing 4 1 1 Plug in the Equipment Plug in power strip to surge protector or ups POWER FNTRY MONUI F 4 1 2 Epson CD Rom The 4880 printer driver is installed at the factory Printer ink is installed and primed at the factory If there are any further questions on connections please consult the supplied Epson CD Rom or manual for the printer 4 1 3 Test Print It is recommended to perform a test print to ensure the connection to the printer is operational Click on the start menu of your Windows based PC and click on Printers and Faxes An icon specifying the Epson 4880 should appear in this window Right click on the icon and select Properties or printer properties a new menu will appear with a Print Test Page button If a test page does not print go back to your Epson CD ROM and chec
26. the pen to be picked up dragged along the surface to align the knife and plunged into the media at the beginning of the next vector Subsequent vectors that have angle between them less than this parameter will perform a drag rotation Max Motion Vector Length default 0 001 Named after the driver that outputs very small vectors Allen Centras very accurately replicates the vectors in the HPGL plot file Some design programs output vectors that are very short It is sometimes desirable to combine some of these vectors into a longer vector to eliminate jagged edges or slow cutting This parameter works like a curve smoothing algorithm and is used to improve poor HPGL files Anticipation Rubber default 0 001 and Anticipation Vinyl default 0 0004 is a parameter that adjusts the backlash compensation in the Centra The Anticipation Rubber is the parameter used when the Centra is in tangential emulation mode and the Anticipation Vinyl is the parameter used when not in tangential emulation mode Heavier materials require more backlash compensation These numbers are individually set at the factory and should not require adjustment except when cutting heavy materials If you are experiencing thick and thin lines or misshaped letters adjust the anticipation parameter to obtain satisfactory results A 3 2 Setup gt Line Sensor Skew tab Y Target Location This is the distance between the origin target and the skew target when the 2 parameter of
27. 2 of the length of the side of the target Verify the Scan Velocity is either 1 or 2 Verify the space between jobs in the line sensor menu is zero These errors indicate that the target scanner did not find the target If tarl on first frame Verify that you positioned red led pointer to right rear corner of target Verify red led is lit Check that distance led is from media is 3 4 to 4 6 mm Run line sensor diagnostic 21 to verify operation 41 No action when you send data to cutter of sensor If tarl on 2 or subsequent frame o Verify space between jobs in printer driver is set correctly If it is set correctly after cutting first frame the knife blade should be on the right rear corner of target of next frame Tar2 4 o Verify job you are sending matches job you printed o Verify rotation is correct in printer driver o Verify job is built correctly in that scale and skew target print is in same location is die lines for scale and skew target o Verify scale and skew targets are at extents of image Skew should be a minimum x and maximum y Scale target should be at maximum x and minimum y Allen Spooler If plot is sent from computer and cutter doesn t cut check for Allen spooler in the task bar Lower right of monitor green box with red arrow near time If it is not there go to start button programs all programs startup allen spooler and click on allen spooler If you get message s
28. 4 2 13 1 Sensor Offsets nd The SmartMark sensor is offset from the center of the o knife The red dot indicates the LED point and the blue o circle represent the knife This value is normally setup at the factory or during installation of the Centra The offset distance is preset at the factory but may need to be adjusted on occasion You may follow this procedure only if you own a digitizing site Allen p n PL 00 11 500 Otherwise you must follow the manual Q procedure described in the TSB Calibration Web Site _ Copy CD Copy X OFFSET coc oo a To automatically reprogram the SmartMark sensor offset and sensor size parameters Open the Centra Remote Panel Open the Diagnostics Menu and click on SmartMark E Calibrate to printer target locations Setup You can use the 6x6 square cdr file in directory c program files allen datagraph sample 1 Before running this procedure run the Calibrate to Printer diagnostic Scale Point Action Setup Diagnostics Window Help Joy 4 Setup Diagnostics Calibrate 07 Calibrate To Printer 07 Calibration Square Output Default Calibration 08 FO Output Smart Mark Setup Lower Right min x ram y igin Point 2 Print the 6x3 rectangle in py Mark Setup FER C Program Files Allen This diagnostics allows automatic determination of sensor size and sensor offset Follow the steps below to first determine the sensor size and then digitize the sensor offset Datag
29. Allen Datagraph Double click on the icon on the desktop to start the remote panel 5 9 6 2 Action Menu 5 9 6 2 1 Save Restore Calibration This command saves line sensor parameters that depend on the calibration and calibration of the Centra or allows loading the calibration parameters from a file This command allows calibration of the Centra to multiple printers It also allows backing up your settings to your hard drive in case of inadvertent operator changes to settings 5 9 6 2 2 Load Save Settings from Cutter to File These commands save the settings see setup settings menu and some line sensor parameters that are in the Centra to a disk file or loads settings saved by this command from a file and sends them to the Centra This allows you to have more than 6 setups for different materials It also allows backing up your settings to your hard drive in case of inadvertent operator changes to settings 23 5 9 6 3 Setup gt Main Menu i 15 x The Main menu opens the main Action Setup Diagnostics Window Help Joy Stick menu window The top window para shows the model number and Rn f x 5 H DFS Cutter Firmware Version firmware version build 23 in the ALLEN DATAGRAPH MODEL 216 GT PL 05 03 564 Ver 3 Build 23 sample The media height F Media Height Position PX Y window shows the maximum 1743 Inches joos 0 03 Inches dimension the y axis is set to cut Last Saved Error Message The Centra will send this di
30. Analog Sensor Operation Uses diagnostics 40 55 45 44 41 and 42 50 At load or beginning of frame Turn on takeup and supply motor for enough time to empty fill accumulators While idle and ready load led on If input output accumulators are lt gt half full turn on supply takeup motors to make accumulators 1 2 full While cutting If input accumulator lt 1 4 inches of media or output accumulator gt accumulator length 2 4 inches of media then pause cutter If stepper motors are off turn on stepper motors 2 inch of movement If paused by above and input accumulator has more than required amount of inches turn on steppers for 2 inch movement At end of job center accumulators At beginning of copy move to load position before starting copies A 4 2 3 Hall Effect Sensor Operation Uses diagnostics 55 and 45 At load fills input dancer until bottom sensor is hit At beginning of frame turns on both steppers to advance last frame size distance Uses state machine to decide what steppers to turn on and when A 4 2 4 Diagnostic 40 Set Accumulator Length Diagnostic 40 allows setting Analog rail length set to 2 times the distance between top and bottom of movement available We use 34 inches on Centra A 4 2 5 Diagnostic 55 Set Accumulator Type Diagnostic 55 allows setting sensor type for accumulator Default is fill Set to AnLg if analog sensors are installed or Fill for hall effect sensors A 4 2 6 Diagnostic 45 Set S
31. Digital Finishing System USER S ANCIAL Centra user manual for build 12 F or later software Copyright 2009 10 Allen Datagraph Systems Inc All Rights reserved Manual Date August 2010 Table of Contents COIS Ss ERROR ann E EE PR eee A E ir ree ere ser 8 4 2 2 Seling up the 4880 in Wasatch ooisirnsiraisniinaisrniiaiai nens 8 ADS Tesi Prini oora a aa aaraa kiaia 8 4 2 4 Installing Color Profiles and SelliNQS s s iesiseisssusissessouterssvisavenspeirisenstenrsnes 9 A TECH Cem oR ha acre ta erent addict bes r binder emer dant re 9 5 8 Media Mandrel Tension COmrOlS s sissssssustsb sisirisedsisksndsssiensdessbkonnisirikedelsbnehenishendet 19 SO ca mle mead SE 20 3 9 i Force g d RF tate rhe edd an omic eae 20 LAL PORE CI a sen sctvel tech ulceinad igi clwbtcibal sinc te useieeemssiaccdaubetetegh suai sosse 20 5 9 3 Liming up SmartMarkI M oirionn Cansei catenin dans iaia Alen ters Zi nstallation INStruCtiONS sssssessseesssseseeseeseeseeseeereennn se ennen 40 A 4 4 efault Gai ft Low A44 10 Write Plot Data to Excel mnsmetolsteesnsineesie bletiks vraka a eder 57 AS Label Veena Ch e T 57 AST Read All Sensors Continuously slats esta aiaa iaai 57 A 5 2 Reset Service Loop SCNSOM ccccccccccccccccceececcuueeseccuuueseesueesestuuuesessuuesetuessuesssesens 57 Appendix C Radio and Television Interference ssssssscsssssssssssssssessssssesssssees 58 Appendix C Installation and
32. L for most cad systems and the Allen Printer Driver If you are using Gerber Omega select Gerber If your cad system only outputs dmpl you can select this language Menus option offers the more advanced features of the software It is recommended this be set to Normal until a more advance feature is understood or is required by your operation The menu items below are displayed when the menus is set to Advanced Units sets the units of measure to English or Metric units Model sets the model number Password for model number change is 23 Do not change the model number unless you know what you are doing 5 9 6 7 Joystick JOYSTICK The joystick is used for positioning the I knife and media in the die cutting station SE Postion K Y The four ARROW KEYS are used to jog the gt npe material or Centra carriage that holds the knife blade ia and the SmartMark sensor With the Jog Slew v a in 1 255 100 box unchecked so that Jog Slew Slew the joystick joystick Slew Speed 1 36 0 125 inches second 24 speed will be the speed set in the Joystick Speed Window Left Click and hold the arrow button to move the material or carriage With the Jog Slew box checked so that Jog Slew Jog the arrow buttons will jog the Centra that fixed distance each time the button is clicked The setting in the Jog Distance Window also sets the jog distance for the Front Panel Joystick buttons 31 5 9 6 8 Front panel of i TECH Centra DFS
33. SmartMark sensor to the sense radius and may change based on sensor sensitivity or media reflectivity This parameter is best set using the procedure in the TSB above The Sensor Size parameter is only useful in origin scale and three target scanning If x o you are not using these methods you x 9 can set the size to 0 02 and the sensor z 4 oe LABEL iy 5 size is included in the sensor offset p 5 parameter MARK SIZE f j Scanning Parameters J a The Centra SmartMark system has adjustable scanning parameters to 26 allow for different size and style of registration marks The primary parameters are the scan offset and length The ideal X and Y offsets are one half the mark size and the ideal scan length is two times the scan offset To set the parameters type in the desired numbers in the X Scan Offset Y Scan Offset and Scan Length When you have entered the desired values click on OK see also Explanation of SmartMarkTM section The scan length should the mark size X y Scan Offsets This is the distance to move in x and y to perform the scan It should be 1 2 the scan length The signs of scan offset for origin target should be X Y Scan Velocity default 2 sets the speed of the scanning Depending on the media and registration mark contrast this parameter may need to be adjusted The better the contrast in reflectivity the faster the scan velocity can be set If you are experiencing missed registra
34. a will ignore some of the HPGL control commands sent from the cutting software With the function Off the software can control these HPGL functions These commands include AS set acceleration FS set force KA set minimum angle KN set knife offset IP input P1 P2 RO rotate SC set scale SP select pen ST select tool UV up velocity move speed VS down velocity cut speed Mode sets the operation mode Select the operation mode cutting pen plotting drawing or pouncing 30 To restore the factory default to all setups click the Restore Default button To load a setting enter setting number desired and click on Load Setup To save a setting enter setting number desired and click on Save Setup 5 9 6 6 Setup gt Options DFS Remote Panel Menu Action EETA Diagnostics Window Help Joy Stick Label Interconnect 05 g Main Menu The options menu displays and sets the following parameters Dynamic Force 4 Com Port a 6 3 Font Size Auto Origin Offset Auto Origin Offset determines Gon Cof whether moving the joystick Meda ties Sena nas automatically sets the origin to 0 0 COn Off Most CAD systems and the Allen Units DirectCut printer driver require this DIEN Jee option to be set On Set to Off when Peace cutting from a CAD system that ae does not use the SmartMark sensor such as the Gerber Omega software Language determines which language the Centra uses Select HPG
35. ash while the system is paused You can also use the pause button to enter the unload state press Pause followed by Load COPY The copy key is used to input the quantity of copies the Centra will digitally die cut It is used after the first copy of the job is cut Once the first copy is cut and you are happy with the results press the copy key The display will read 0001 The number represents the total number of copies including the first one run Increase the number of copies by pressing the up arrow key of the joystick or the force up button Hold the key down and the numbers will start moving slowing then more quickly Press the down arrow key to lower the number Alternatively the force keys will increment the single digits and the speed keys will increment the 10 s digits If you enter 0 the copy will stop at end of next job If you enter 001 then it will count up forever Remember the number 32 displayed includes the first copy run before the copy key was pressed Input the copy quantity and start the cutting by pressing the SELECT KEY SPEED The speed keys are used for controlling the cut speed the speed the knife travels around the periphery of the items being cut Increase the speed by pressing the up arrow key Decrease the speed by pressing the down arrow key Hold the key down and the numbers will start moving slowing then more quickly FORCE The force key is used in conjunction with the test cut key to set the depth of cut
36. axis motor belt located under the left control panel To determine which belt it is turn the machine on while holding out on the long belt that attaches to the cutting head What this does is put more tension on the belt If the head gets to the side and they don t hear the noise proceed to below Remove the control panel and locate the belt tensioner This is a wedge shaped device with a long Phillips head screw protruding toward the rear of the machine Loosen the 3 8 locking nut holding the tensioner screw in place Turn the phillips screw a couple turns clockwise then turn the cutter on before attaching the control panel If the cutter initializes there is no need to look further If this does not solve the problem proceed to the next step Remove rear cover turn cutter on and observe the belt attached to the motor If the motor pulley continues to turn then the short motor belt is most likely either loose or worn out Carefully inspect the teeth on the belt for wear with the machine off The pulley can be rotated to allow inspection of teeth If the teeth are not worn or stripped off the belt loosen the three mounting screws holding the motor bracket to the sideplate Apply tension to the motor bracket BY HAND and tighten the screws The belt should have less than 1 8 of free play when properly tightened Router keeps changing Some routers do not keep a table of mac addresses so that my ip address the same computer will be a
37. ayers One called dieline and one called print This is done from the object manager tab Click on new layer button Then rename the layers as dielines and print by right clicking on layer name First create the die lines Click on the dielines layer on the object manager Use freehand tool amp to draw a two sides of 111 0 the target i The use the object properties to verify the pen nib tab a has width of hairline color black On the paint bucket tab gt verify no fill x selected When you are done the die lines for the target should look as follows Next use the rectangle tool a to draw a rectangle on the inner guide lines 1 05 5 3 to 3 95 10 2 Select the rectangle m and using the object properties rectangle tab change the corner roundness to 15 The die line will then look like this Using copy paste and arrange gt transformations gt position move copies of rounded rectangle to each of the following relative positions from the first rectangle 3 25 0 0 5 25 3 25 5 25 X Pom s i i i a M joi MN Pagel ik 4 The dielines layer is now complete Now in the object manager right click on dielines layer and uncheck the visible so rest of label creation does not change the die lines Select the print layer so objects create reside on this layer 17 Draw a rectangle from outer guide lines 1 5 25 to 4 10 25 Then fill the rectangle with the obje
38. aying allen spooler starting with one job left in queue cancel it and send job again after checking to see that cutter is ready Click on red arrow in green field icon in service icon area If you are getting unable to open port displayed See if remote panel still has port open It should auto close the port after 5 seconds Reboot computer and cutter Verify port selected is correct You can find the correct port from the device manager Plug usb cable into same usb port as you normally do Different usb holes are normally configured as different com ports Rerun enable printer driver to find cutter Start gt All Programs gt Allen Datagraph gt Cutter Driver gt Enable printer driver Try different usb cable or different computer From spooler cancel all jobs turn cutter off on and resend job No usb driver installed for equipment Website Copy CD Cop 42 Po e Cutter in pause state Job does not complete e Verify minimum cutter driver level of 2 08g New software can be downloaded from Web Site Copy If you have less the firmware revision 12 as usb version in your cutter turn off polyline encoded output in printer properties device settings Web Site Copy CD Copy Try a different cable or computer When I turn my cutter Loose long Y belt on the head reaches the side plate and makes a loud noise if carriage is getting to the right side and making a ratcheting noise it s could be the long y axis belt or the y
39. ct properties paint bucket uniform fill bleed color and apply Next insert the artwork for the label and center it in the label I used file ICON Axxis Cutter bmp Select the label and the bleed using shift key to select 2nd item Group them with arrange gt group Using same procedure as above copy paste arrange gt transformations gt position move copies of printed label to each of the following relative positions from the first rectangle 3 25 0 0 5 25 3 25 5 25 10 gt Lastly draw a filled rectangle with no lines in the target position Using object properties pen nib tab select width none On the paint bucket tab select uniform black fill 10 gie Note The Centra will not align print to cut correctly if you have a pen width defined 10 18 1 10 1716 The completed label file is at this link Web Site Copy CD_ Copy Use File gt save to save the file on your hard drive Then use file export to export file as as EPS so it can be imported into Wasatch 5 5 Webbing the Cypher Printer Refer to the Epson s printer guide that was included with the 4880 roll printer before threading the web especially the Using roll paper section of the printer guide Printer The diagram above shows the media path Turn on the printer base station and press the lt Paper Source button The printer takes a rolls of media with a width between 8 3 to 17 inches Thread thru printer as describe
40. d HPGL File menu item to open the select file window Select the files desired and click the Open button This will send the file directly to the Centra A 2 2 Cancel Continue Pause These commands will cancel continue or pause a job being sent by the Send HPGL command For jobs sent by other programs you can use the Pause button on the Centra and the F1 F2 F3 combo to cancel the currently cutting job A 2 3 Open Com Port Opens a communication channel to the Centra and sets a long timeout for close A 2 4 Close Com Port Closes communication port to cutter Since only one program can talk to cutter at a time selecting this command allows other programs to talk to Axxix The remote panel will normally automatically close the com port after a period of inactivity A 2 5 Upload Firmware The firmware on this disk is provided for update purposes only and should not be installed on new machines In general you should not install a firmware update unless directed by a member of the technical support staff Firmware updates are available on the technical support page of the Allen Datagraph web site at http www allendatagraph com 45 This procedure details the firmware upgrade procedure Normally firmware is only sent to customers when a software problem is reported that has been fixed in a later version of the software From time to time Allen DFS Remote Panel Datagraph will recommend that oe ail you upgrade your f
41. d be within 1 8 inch of the very bottom on the supply side and within 1 8 inch of the very top of the takeup side The pinch wheels should be down Start diagnostic 44 The adc values for input and output accumulators oscillate One number should be between 1 and 50 and the other between 600 750 Press select run is displayed The grit will advance media 1 8 inch at a time recording adc value for each 1 8 inch position At the end of the diagnostic 44 good or bad is displayed If good press select and then run diag 64 to turn label mode on if you turned it off before then diagnostic 41 and 42 to verify top bottom and middle positions displayed Top should display 0 00 inches bottom should display number set in diagnostic 40 above Middle should display about 1 2 this number If bad is display the starting value is gt 255 or the bottom value top value is lt 100 adc counts Fix mechanical or electrical problem and try again Exit diagnostic by pressing any button on the front panel A 4 2 8 Calibrate 07 See calibration procedure at Website Copy CD Copy available on the technical support page of the Allen Datagraph web site at http www allendatagraph com A 4 2 9 Calibrate to Printer See calibration procedure at Web Site Copy CD Copy available on the technical support page of the Allen Datagraph web site at http www allendatagraph com gt tech support gt Centra gt SmartMark Sensor Page A 4 2 10 Calibration Squar
42. d in the Epson printer guide The output tray is not used The Infeed turns on when there is media interrupting the sensor Tape media to empty core on Infeed Turn on Infeed Block sensor path to insure media takeup is going correct direction 18 5 6 Printing your label 5 6 1 Loading File into Wasatch Refer to the Wasatch users manual for additional instructions on using Wasatch rip software Open Wasatch SoftRIP and go to FILE and OPEN Browse to the file saved from Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw and open it The file should appear in the job tab You should have 3 tabs at the top of the screen job layout and queues A template tab will be available if you have purchased Wasatch s variable data option The job tab allows you to prep the job before printing an entire roll of labels Using the cursor click on the image and draw a selection box around the area you wish to print This box can be adjusted by clicking on the edges and dragging them where needed Once selected the file must be rotated so that the labels are in the right orientation when they need to be finished Using the rotation arrows at the top of the screen rotate the labels 90 degrees so that the SmartMark is in the lower right hand corner of the print Making sure that the SmartMark is in this corner will ensure that the labels will not have to be re rolled after printing 5 6 2 Set paper width To set the media width go to PRINT then SETUP On the right si
43. de of the Image Configuration will be an EDIT button Click and a new menu will appear Click Properties and another menu will appear In this menu there are several features you can alter just as you would on any home or office deskjet printer Set the width of the media All units in Wasatch are in inches to change this option in Wasatch please consult your Wasatch manual Once the media width has been set press OK and then press OK again on the previous menu until the initial print setup window is in view Next to the paper width select Set Maximum Width and then check the Width Center box This will ensure that labels are printed in the center of the media 5 6 3 Test print Simply press the printer icon button and one copy of the image will begin to print 5 6 4 Load Label into Layout Tab If the test print is acceptable right click on the image in the job tab and select Add To Layout The image will appear in the layout tab Right click the image again and select ADD COPIES enter the number of copies you would like to print and press OK Wasatch will populate the layout tab with that many copies On the left of the screen is a tab called UNIT OPTIONS In this tab you can specify the gap between labels The default is 125 inches but can be changed to your specification 5 6 5 Print Simply press the printer icon button and the job will begin to print 19 5 7 Webbing the Centra DFS Cutter The Centra loading ins
44. e carriage to the lower right corner of the rectangle Use either the optional fiber optic bombsite so that the center of the bombsite is directly above the lower right hand corner of the printed rectangle 8 Click on OK to save new values or Cancel to restore original values You can review the numbers by opening the Setup Menu click on Line Sensor Menu See section describing the line sensor menu A 4 3 Customer Diagnostics A 4 3 1 Set Model Number 03 This diagnostic allows setting model number into cutter so it knows it is an Centra Cutter Start diagnostic Enter model 210 for 10 and 216 for 16 for Centra Finishing System then press the Select Key Model number can also be set from the Setup gt Options menu Model number should not be changed under normal circumstances Password to change model number is 23 A 4 3 2 Lan address IP assignments 04 Normally you do not need to run this diagnostic If you are using a cross over cable the default address is 192 168 4 10 and you have set your computers ip address to 192 168 4 2 If you are using a dhcp server most algorithms normally try to assign same ip address to mac address everytime the device requests an ip address If you have trouble with your dhcp server giving you a different ip address everytime you turn on your machine you can set a static ip address select gt right arrow to dia gt up arrow to 0004 gt select select ip or dhcp static dynamically assign
45. e Output This diagnostic prompts for a square size and sends an HPGL command to output the square This is useful when calibrating the Centra to a ruler rather than a printer and is normally not required Specifying 6 inches for the size will send the HPGL job to the Centra that will cut a 6 inch rectangle A 4 2 11 Default Calibration 08 This diagnostic sets the calibration constants back to the factory defaults prior to initial calibration After running this diagnostic you will have to either restore the calibration 52 constants or rerun the procedure described in TSB on Calibration Website Copy CD_ Copy or Smartmark calibration Web Site Copy CD Copy available on the technical support page of the Allen Datagraph web site at http www allendatagraph com As this is a rather involved procedure Diagnostic 08 should be avoided unless you have received an E37 error which automatically run this diagnostic A 4 2 12 FO Output This diagnostc sends the lt esc gt vfooutput command which displays software debug information about the last SmartMark scan The first line output indicates the location of the three targets and whether they were found The last two lines indicate the amount of scaling and rotation calculated that need to be applied to the HPGL commands to cut the image It normally is not useful for customers to run this diagnostic Information displayed is recorded in the serial log file A 4 2 13 Smart Mark Setup
46. e direction of the scanning operation The skew mark is normally scanned X Y This is an advanced menu option and must be enabled on the setup options page See also Web Site Copy CD Copy 5 9 6 4 3 Scale Tab TE X Y Scan Offset This is the distance imie lol x Line Sensor Skew Scale from the scale point to perform the Y and X scans to find the scale point aoe Bets be With the targets defined as above the y scan Offset Meah ors X Y are the correct signs of scan a Heiter DENE offset for the scale target Target Scan Direction sets the direction of the scanning operation The scale mark is normally scanned Cancel OK X Y There may be circumstances where it might be desirable to reverse the scan direction This is an advanced menu option and must be enabled on the setup options page See also Web Site Copy CD_ Copy 5 9 6 5 Setup gt Settings Menu The Centra allows six factory or custom set ups Set Up 1 whether standard or modified is automatically loaded at power up A user may modify the speed force or any feature on the control panel See key command summary Changes to a Set Up unless saved will be in effect only until changed from the control panel CAS software the unit is turned off or reloaded Any of the features shown in the Setup Form may be saved to one of the systems 6 memory locations 28 DFS Remote Panel To save a custom set up Action EAT Diagnostics
47. e fuse block so that the desired voltage appears in the fuse block cover The DFS power entry module requires one 5 amp fuse for 110 vac or two 2 5 amp fuses for 220 vac The infeed requires one 1 amp fuse for 110 vac or two 0 5 amp fuses for 220 vac d Close the fuse block cover and verify that the desired voltage is showing 4 3 3 Connection to PC Do not connect the Centra DFS to the computer until told to do so by the installation CD Connection from PC to Centra is either by USB or Ethernet If you want to read about using the Ethernet port for the cutter see the document Website Copy CD Copy 4 3 4 Allen Datagraph CD Rom The finisher utilizes either USB universal serial bus interface or Ethernet connection to the computer POWER FNTRY MODUL F The Centra comes with an installation CD that will walk you through connecting your equipment to your computer and installing software The Setup CD contains 1 An installation program that walks you through connecting your Centra DFS to your computer 2 The Remote Panel Utility program for managing finisher settings 10 3 A current revision of firmware Firmware is software that controls the machine functions The firmware on this disk is provided for update purposes only and should not be installed on new machines 4 The DirectCut printer driver This driver been tested with AllenCAD CorelDRAW versions 10 x5 Adobe Illustrator versions 10 cs5 Flexisign
48. ed 54 change ip address part 1 0 255 use for speed up down to change value select change ip address part 2 0 255 select change ip address part 3 0 255 select change ip address part 4 0 255 select MAS is displayed press select change mask address part 1 0 255 select change mask address part 2 0 255 select change mask address part 3 0 255 select change mask address part 4 0 255 select GATE is displayed press select change gateway address part 1 0 255 select change gateway address part 2 0 255 select change gateway address part 3 0 255 select change gateway address part 4 0 255 select then power off cutter and back on Example if you want to set static ip to 192 168 3 30 with mask of 255 255 255 0 and gateway of 192 168 3 1 you would select gt right arrow to dia gt up arrow to 4 gt select select ip static change ip address part 1 192 select change ip address part 2 168 select change ip address part 3 3 select change ip address part 4 30 select MAS is displayed press select change mask address part 1 255 select change mask address part 2 255 select change mask address part 3 255 select change mask address part 4 0 select 55 GATE is displayed press select change gateway address part 1 192 select change gateway address part 2 168 select change gateway address part 3 3 select change gateway address part 4 1 select A 4 3 3 Button Diagnostic 31 Test the operation of each of
49. ed set on when triggered To reset the sensor states back to zero use this diagnostic Not used if analog sensors Use diagnostic 41 and 42 instead A 5 3 Supply motor on Turn on supply motor same as F2 on front panel A 5 4 Supply motor off Turn off supply motor same as F2 on front panel A 5 5 Take up motor on Turn on take up motor same as F3 on front panel A 5 6 Take up motor off Turn off take up motor same as F3 on front panel Appendix B Error Codes The mmc software error codes are in the following linked document Web Site Copy CD Copy 58 Appendix C Radio and Television Interference NOTE This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC rules These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial environment This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual may cause harmful interference to radio communications Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference in which case the user will be required to correct the interference at his own expense In order to maintain compliance with FCC regulations shielded cables must be used with this equipment Operation with non approved equipment or unshielded cables is likely to
50. g software With the function Off the software can control these HPGL functions Some CAD systems will work correctly only when this feature is set to on These commands include AS set acceleration FS set force KA _ set minimum angle KN set knife offset IP input P1 P2 RO rotate SC set scale SP select pen ST select tool 24 UV up velocity move speed VS down velocity cut speed The Mode radio button sets the operation Select cutting pen plotting drawing or pouncing The Centra will normally only use the Cut function The Dynamic Force radio buttons an advanced option engages the dynamic force function which instantaneously adjusts the force on the fly based on the actual velocity of the knife blade All Centras must accelerate and decelerate as they cut around corners Some medias require different force settings for different speeds This parameter allows for building a database for these materials and when enabled will greatly improve the cutting on these materials See the Setup Dynamic Force Section for more details 5 9 6 3 2 Knife Settings Tab ia Main Menu Fel Draw Speed displays and sets the Print Cut Firmware Version ae ADSI MODEL 218 GTM PL 05 03 593 Rev 12 H dsp 12 p18 12 usb 12 velocity of the knife when it is y Media Height Position x Y actually drawing or cutting The draw Mio Inches 500000 o Inches speed is the speed the knife travels around the periphery of the items being
51. he smaller gutters can not stand as much tension without breaking Lamination material mandrel Set the tension low or off It requires a very slight back tension on the lamination material to prevent wrinkles Lamination weed mandrel Set the tension only high enough to insure the interlayer is pulled off the lamination material InFeed Tension Normally you set the Infeed to center position and just use the motor drag to tension the media 5 9 Cutting your label After webbing the finisher press the load button on the front panel to fill the input accumulator This makes the finisher ready to receive data 5 9 1 Force and speed To adjust speed and force applied to knife use the up and down arrow buttons on the front panel Start with speed 100 and force of 30 20 5 9 2 Test cut Pressing the TEST CUT button on the front panel of the finisher will perform a set of 2 circles square and triangle cut on the paper Use the buttons around the select key as a joystick to move the carriage to show the cut pattern Then use a tweezers or a matte knife to pluck out the circle and the square Face doc should pull away from backing and not rip Then pull out the triangle and inspect the backing If the force is adjusted correctly you will see a light scoring of the backing material Increase the force to apply more pressure to the knife 5 9 3 Lining up SmartMark Use the buttons around the select key to move the carriage left right
52. he maximum speed that the joystick will move the material or head when pressed twice Range 1 100 e Jog Allows the user to set the distance that the head or material will move when a joystick button is pressed and released Range is 1 100 in 1 1000 inch increments i e 1 0 001 100 0 100 OPEr is used to select the operation mode between cutting CUt pen plotting drawing drA or pouncing POUn Press the select key to initiate the menu function then press the left or right arrow key to display OPEr Press the up or down key to select the desired function Press the select key to lock the desired menu setting SEt loads or saves a custom set up or power up default Press the select key to initiate the menu function Press the left or right arrow key to display SEt Press the up or down key to scroll thru LOAd Save press select press the up or down key to scroll thru the settings 1 6 Press the select key to load or are save the setting Setting 1 is loaded when the machine is powered up see also factory and custom set up section The set menu item has 2 sub menus Load loads a setup To load a setting Press select Press left or right arrow until SET menu is displayed Press up or down arrow to display Load Press select Press up or down arrow to display the number of the setting you want to load 1 6 e Press select Save saves a customized setting 35 To save a setting Adjust force s
53. heel should be sharp and not rounded Inspect integrity of pinch wheel bearing This is done by having the pinch wheels in the up position Spin wheel with finger and observe whether the bearing has a dry sound or not If it appears to be dry the wheels should be replaced Pinch wheels p n PL 00 02 062 can be ordered from the online store at http allendatagraph com 6 2 5 Mechanical Adjustments Belt Tension 38 The Centra servomotors use timing belts to control the material X axis and tool Y axis positions The belt tension and wear should be inspected if cut quality deteriorates To inspect the belts remove the back of the Centra This can be done by removing large screws along the edge of the rear cover see also TSB Mechanical Adjustments to Restore Cut Quality to Normal Web Site Copy CD Copy Y Axis The Y axis short belt runs between the Y axis servomotor and a gear assembly To adjust the tension of this belt it is necessary to reposition the motor bracket Remove the back cover see assembly instruction Web Site Copy CD Copy Loosen the three Phillips head motor bracket screws and apply hand pressure to tighten the belt so that the belt will deflect 0 050 inches at the center when 23 ounces are applied 1 3 mm when 660 grams are applied When the belt is tight and the motor shaft is parallel to the bearing shaft tighten the three Phillips head motor bracket screws Premature belt failure will occur if these t
54. igin only E Combine Polygons Yes Loop Control All Clockwise Verify the printer you want to send the die lines to bai a ak a appears in the drop down box between the Cut and Sort Method Closest Point Properties button Click on the properties button and ee oe as E weed Border No select find origin type you want to use Select origin Minimum Vector Length 0 004 to 0 1 0 010 inch only for normal use End Point End of Job Unroll Media Before Plot Count O Rubber Mode Pen then Knife No 5 9 4 3 Sort Method O irrito ted Na Send Speed to tool No F Use sort method Closest point for optimum output path 21 5 9 4 4 Rotation In the preview window select DFS origin This moves the origin to the upper right This matches the view you see when you look at the front of the Centra Use the rotate selection in the properties until the origin of the preview is in the upper right Select rotation from none 90 180 or 270 5 9 4 5 Space between jobs The space between jobs is the distance between the last cut of the previous frame to the leading edge of the target of the next frame In the case of the sample label designed earlier the space between jobs is 0 050 inch size of bleed and the space between prints Since we designed the label panel with 0 25 inch between the two rows it make since to set the space between labels on the print to 0 25 inch so the total space between jobs should be set to 0 3 If you
55. irect feed from printer to centra Hole Distance and Tear Size are used when the Centra is in the Pounce Mode The hole distance setting is the distance between holes and the tear size is the distance the Centra moves with the pounce tool down to tear the media and enlarge the pounced hole The Rubber tab has several advanced parameters They are described below 46 Rubber Scratch Force displays and sets the down force used during tangential emulation This is primarily used when cutting thick materials such as sandblast rubber Tangential emulation simulates a tangential or servo controlled rotating knife by moving to a position short of the vector to be cut and putting the knife blade down with a very light force while moving toward the direction of cut to align the knife before applying the full cutting force This improves the cut quality in thick materials default 0 1 Rubber Backup Multiplier default 20 displays and sets the distance the knife will be dragged at the light force used to align it This parameter is used with and is additive to the Rubber Backup Offset default 0 02 The Rubber Backup Multiplier is based on the change of angle between vectors and the Rubber Backup Offset is a constant added to the distance calculated based on angle Rubber Minimum Angle default 19 is the rotation angle between two vectors that enables tangential emulation Subsequent vectors that have angle between them exceeding this parameter cause
56. irmware in sendtecirie a toxin _ your Allen Datagraph Centra pram A file can be downloaded from rE the Allen Datagraph web site g and saved to the desktop cod ooo Restore EEROM Before running the setup program be sure to exit the older version of the Remote Panel A 2 5 1 Firmware MyNetwok Filename is50a hex z Files of type v Installation x Instructions Turn off your equipment Press the load button on your front panel and then turn on the Allen Datagraph equipment to be upgraded Start the Remote Panel by clicking on start program Allen Datagraph Remote Panel Click on Setup Com Port and verify that the correct port has a check next to its name Click on Action Upload Firmware If asked select pic32rel hex file and click Open If the upload fails you will be given a backup procedure to follow on the computer screen A 2 6 Save to EEROM and Restore from EEROM This procedure allows saving the eerom and restoring it when certain hardware is replaced A 3 Setup Menu These commands are used to save custom settings and factory settings to the computer when certain electronic components need to be replaced A 3 1 Main Menu Knife Settings Tab The Centra can also self adjust the speed within certain limits based on the speed of the device feeding the unit The range for speed is 1 to 100 Enter min and max speed for Label Mode and check the Allow Speed Change This option is only useful in d
57. its Dealer should be notified immediately 2 Technical Support Up to 4 hours of calls in technical support is available at no charge during the warranty period Technical support is available during business hours based on Eastern Time Monday thru Friday Technical support outside the limits stated will be billed at current rates For Technical support call 603 216 6344 Service Policy All service is subject to ADSI service policy You can read the policy here Web Site Copy CD Copy There are many online documents available to help you to use the Centra at our technical support page at http www allendatagraph com Then click on Technical Support and Online Documents then select Centra Cyper DFS DLS link 3 Installation The Centra and Cypher are normally sold with on site installation The on site installation will help you perform these steps and get you up and running 4 Setting up your i TECH Cypher Digital Label System This section does not apply if you purchased a Centra only system The i TECH Cypher Digital Label System consists of a Epson 4880 Printer a print stand with takeup mandrel and a Centra DFS 4 1 Installation of Cypher Epson printer InFeed Takeup 4 1 1 Setup printer base Printer weighs 88 Ib 40 kg and should be lifted by two people The following are the general instructions to setup up printer Remove printer stand from box Attach ICW bracket for display monitor keyboard and mouse Mount mo
58. k your setup or consult your Epson 4880 manual 4 2 Installing Wasatch SoftRIP 4 2 1 Wasatch CD Rom Wasatch is preinstalled on the computer that comes with the Cypher Each complete 1 Tech Centra Digital Labeling System comes with Wasatch SoftRIP a program used to for roll to roll printing on a variety of different printers If you have further questions about your SoftRIP installation please consult your Wasatch SoftRIP user manual 4 2 2 Setting up the 4880 in Wasatch To setup your Wasatch SoftRIP to manage your Epson 4880 printer follow these instructions 1 Open Wasatch SoftRIP 2 Go to the PRINT menu at the top of the screen then select SETUP and a new menu will appear 3 Click the PRINTER MODEL dropdown menu and elect EPSON then 4880 from this menu 4 To setup the physical connection so that SoftRIP knows what port the printer is connected to click EDIT and then PROPERTIES A new menu will appear The bottom of the menu will list the physical connection Select the Epson 4880 from this drop down if it has not already been selected 4 2 3 Test Print To ensure the connection to the Epson 4880 printer is operating correctly in SoftRIP go to FILE then OPEN and select one of the training label files on the AllenDirectCUT CD AxxisTrainingLabel 5 inch eps labels in CorelLabel zip IlustratorLabel zip in the techsupport axxis directory or any other EPS PDF JPEG or TIFF that may be readily available The file will load i
59. kew no scaling is size done to image received In this case you must calibrate the cutter to your printer rather than a ruler You do this by printing a large rectangle on your printer Then cut the same size rectangle For x and y drawn use printed size 40 Labels or contour cuts are cutting in the wrong spot Target errors tarl tar2 tar3 tar4 rather than a ruler as drawn or desired size If you are using origin scale or origin skew scale then the size of the cut is change by the x or y sensor size parameter in the line sensor menu See SmartMark setup in Appendix A Verify you created job correctly Origin target is at minimum x and maximum y of drawing The scan area contains only target and background with no stray marks that could be seen as targets Verify printer properties are correct Rotation is set correctly Target cut should be in same corner on preview as selected origin corner Find origin property is set to Origin only Verify sensor settings have not been lost In the remote panel select setup gt line sensor menu Verify x sensor offset is about 0 75 inch and y sensor offset is about 0 1 inch If your job is off by only a little bit less than 1 8 inch 3mm and is same for every frame you can measure this error and correct your x and y sensor offset by the amount of the error you measure Verify scan length is the same as the length of the side of the target Verify the scan offsets
60. le ICON_Axxis_Cutter bmp Size and center label on background just created Select background and foreground of label Then click on object gt group Then click object gt transform gt move Enter distance of 3 25 angle 0 then click on copy button Select both print labels Copy the two labels with distance 5 25 angle 270 This completes the print layer This completed label file is at this link Web Site Copy CD Copy Use File gt save to save the file on your hard drive Use file type EPS so it can be imported into Wasatch 5 4 3 Using CorelDraw First setup workspace to Allen Datagraph Open CorelDraw Select gt tools gt options gt work space Place a checkbox in front of Allen Datagraph a s am Next turn on 2 dockers CT TTT X B Object Properties g Object Manager s deske a Select Window gt Dockers gt properties and Window gt Dockers gt Object Manager Verify snap to guide lines is checked from the view menu This adds two control windows on the right side of the program Now we can start the design First we enter the guidelines 16 Select Tools gt Options gt Document gt Guide Lines gt Horizontal Enter the horizontal guides determined in the layout 0 5 5 25 5 3 10 10 2 and 10 25 Then select vertical and enter the vertical guides 0 5 0 75 1 1 05 3 95 4 4 25 7 25 When done your workspace will look like this Now create two l
61. locity without decelerating then accelerating This parameter sets the angle where below which the Centra can continue without stopping High values increase throughput and lower value increase quality Good quality can be obtained at reasonable speed at the default value of 12 Hole Distance displays and sets the distance between holes when the Centra is used in the pounce mode Tear Size displays and sets the hole size created when the Centra is in the pounce mode Acceleration displays and sets the servo acceleration The unit of measurement is 1 4 g s or 8 feet per second per second This parameter is more important in small graphics than in large labels or text A setting of 2 to 8 is generally the best for most label cutting This parameter does affect throughput speed on graphics with short vectors As the graphics get larger the effect of higher acceleration diminishes Higher acceleration can degrade cut quality Use smaller acceleration numbers for heavy materials Load Speed displays and sets the speed of the material loading and the speed of the material pull off in the service loop mode Load Length displays and sets the length of the material that is pulled during the load cycle and service loop if the Centra service loop mode is on Service Loop This should be turned off on the Centra when the Centra is in the Label Mode CAd Override On or OFF enables or disables the CAD function With the function On disabled the Centr
62. mark in both x and y directions and calculates the intersection of the 2 scans The Centra computer then assigns that intersection as the 0 0 point of the Centra coordinate system and matches that to the origin point minimum x minimum y of the HPGL cut file LABEL LABEL 12 The Centra uses a special HPGL command FO to start the registration mark sensing function It automatically re registers the coordinate each time the FO HPGL command is received As part of the setup a x move between jobs is 0 0 POINT input via the printer driver options which moves the sensor to the approximate position of the next copy s or next frame s registration mark The Centra expects the target for the next frame to be within 2 the scan distance of the end of the frame LED POINTER The Red LED pointer must be manually positioned with the joystick buttons at the approximate 0 0 coordinate position prior to sending the first job The SmartMark system automatically repositions the sensor for subsequent copies The positioning process must be repeated if the joystick buttons are used This is helpful because it allows the system to be reinitialized when needed Some printers require a leader between jobs and this feature is a very easy way to deal with the issue Once the LED pointer is positioned as shown the SmartMark is ready to operate and will scan the registration mark when it receives a FO command in the job stream whether
63. mension called the clip limits Stale Knife Settings Rubber Clear Enor to the software so that the State software program can determine SVEND seen eat if the specified cut file will fit If p Cad Override Mode ican On Cof C Cut a file with dimensions larger than th lip limit i t to th M Dynamic Force Draw S Cp SEL IS SENE TOOG COn amp Of C Pounce Centra the cut will be truncated The position window shows the current location of the knife in the Centra coordinate system The Last Saved Error Message window displays the last error Errors displayed here may be old The error may have occurred earlier in the Centra s life The Clear Error button clears the memory of the saved error notification Some features are advanced and only appear if menus advances is selected in setup options 5 9 6 3 1 State Tab The State radio buttons allow the user to set the condition of the Centra Unload means the Centra is not loaded and is not ready to receive a cut file The Pause radio button means the Centra is currently paused and the Ready button means the Centra is loaded and ready to receive the cut file and proceed with cutting This set of buttons duplicates the Load and Pause buttons on the front panel The CAd Override radio buttons enables or disables the CAD override function With the function On the Centra will ignore some of the HPGL control commands sent from the cuttin
64. n SoftRIP to print it click on the printer icon at the top of the screen 4 2 4 Installing Color Profiles and Settings ADSI has provided a set of ICC color profiles and pre existing settings that work with a variety of substrates on the 4880 These are preinstalled on the computer that comes with the Cyper Select the profile that fits closest to your current substrate whether it is a matte or gloss paper or a BOPP Film under the image configuration If you would like to learn how to develop your own ICC profiles for your own materials please contact Wasatch or visit their website for further instructions 4 3 i TECH Centra Installation 4 3 1 Setup DFS on stand The DFS requires a special stand The i Tech Centra DFS mounts on the supplied stand The Centra weighs 250 Lbs 113 kg at least 4 people are needed to move the Centra from box to the stand Following are the general steps necessary to take the Centra out of the box Take box off Centra Unbolt angle brackets holding Centra from pallet Assembly stand Place on Centra on stand with angle brackets Remove bolts one at a time from angle brackets Attach to stand using same bolts Attach drop brackets for chutes Insert station bars and drop magnet bars in track Attach cable for sensors red wire to red wire Attach two triangle shaped gussets to stand using 4 machine screws provided Attach Infeed to this plate using 6 Phillips head and flat washer and locking washer Comple
65. nitor to ICW bracket using two m5 Allen bolts that are in display Plug in monitor to power and data cables A wireless keyboard and mouse are provided Place on icw bracket Rest printer on stand tighten 4 clamps Plug usb cable and power to printer The sheet tray that comes with the 4880 is not used when printing on roll media 4 1 2 Power Equipment is normally factory preset for the power requirements of the your location WARNING IF YOU RUN YOUR EQUIPMENT ON 220V WITH INPUT MODULE SET FOR 110V IT WILL DAMAGE YOUR EQUIPMENT Important Note Use of a HIGH QUALITY surge protector or uninterruptible power supply Printer 55w Infeed 60w Dell computer 235w LCD display 90w total 440 watts is REQUIRED by Allen Datagraph Systems Failure to do so could affect your warranty coverage if a problem arises due to improper power connection e CAUTION The power cord is a three conductor cable that incorporates a safety earth ground connection For the machine to operate safely and correctly the power cord must be plugged into an outlet that has an earth ground contact Never plug the power cord into a two prong outlet by using a 3 2 cord adapter e CAUTION Never allow roll or sheet goods to rub on the power cord because the material can cut the cord causing an electrical fire hazard e Computer LCD display and printer have universal input and run from 110 240ac 49 61hz e The InFeed can be configured to operate from either of
66. nto the preset position Install plastic cap Reinsert the knife holder into the tool holder and tighten the brass thumbscrew Replacement blades are available from several sources including from Allen Datagraph Systems Inc They can be purchased online http www allendatagraph com or by calling 603 216 6344 H20 017 30 Allen Datagraph i TECH DFS Centra Axxis cutting blade Ideal for label stock Angle of blade at 30 degrees to have exact control on depth of cut This blade has a 0 012 inch 0 0305 cm offset It can be identified by its blue plastic cap H20 007 45 Allen Datagraph i TECH DFS Centra Axxis cutting blade Ideal for general purpose cutting of vinyl and other thin materials Angle of blade at 45 degrees to 36 balance depth of cutting and pivot angle This blade has a 0 012 inch 0 0305 cm offset It can be identified by its red plastic cap H20 008 60 Allen Datagraph i TECH DFS Centra Axxis cutting blade Ideal for cutting thick materials Angle of blade at 60 degrees to optimize cut angle This blade has a 0 012 inch 0 0305 cm offset It can be identified by its green plastic cap Tool Holder Block The knife blade holder is installed in the tool holder block with a thumbscrew The tool holder block is held to the cutting head by two hex drive screws Knife blade holder Assembly The blade holder is designed for use with Allen Datagraph s 30 45 and 60 blades Solvents and lubricants should
67. on works well on all painted surfaces CAUTION Do not use any abrasive cleaners as they will cause the paint to blister e Yearly Inspect the internal circuit board assemblies and clean accumulated dust as necessary Be certain that the cutter power is off Observe static discharge safety procedures that may damage sensitive electronic components Wear a grounding strap connected to earth ground Wear safety glasses to protect eyes Remove rear cover and use compressed air to remove dust and debris Replace cover to original location and make certain that the boards and any connectors are well seated 6 2 4 Pinch Wheel Maintenance Pinch wheels are critical to the Centra unit s material handling performance They should be inspected for wear regularly and cleaned as needed To clean adhesive off the pinch wheels simply use a soft cloth and denatured alcohol In normal use the pinch wheels will need to be replaced in time Also trying to move them when they are in the down position can damage them If material does not track well and guide alignment has been verified the pinch wheels may need to be replaced For best tracking results replacement pinch wheels should be replaced as a SET To check condition of pinch wheels Inspect condition of rubber The rubber wheel should not have any cracks and should be securely adhered to the aluminum hub of the wheel The transition from the flat surface of the wheel to the sidewall edges of the w
68. op hold the knife up The display should read 0060 or more The display should change immediately as you move the knife up or down Slightly move the flag to obtain the above reading at each of the three locations Check that the flag screws are tight and recheck Bottom and Down A 4 3 6 Flag Setup Z Axis 58 This diagnostic trains the Centra to match the carriage installed Phase 4 Set Tool Bottom Remove the tool from the holder and press the Select Key Phase 5 Set Tool Down Adjust knife depth guide to equal the blade length Place knife tool in holder and press select key 56 A 4 3 7 Label Mode 64 On power up the label mode is set to on If you want to run without accumulators and stepper motors you can run this diagnostic and set label mode to off A 4 3 8 LED and LCD display 29 This diagnostic display characters on the 4 digit LCD display and flashes the LEDs A 4 3 9 Line Sensor 21 This diagnostic displays the amount of reflectance received back from the SmartMark sensor It is normally lt 20 for black and gt 80 for white A 4 3 10 Amplifier Status This diagnostics displays the temperature of the motor amplifiers A 4 4 Manufacturing Diagnostics It is not recommended that the Manufacturing Diagnostics be run unless instructed by direct contact with Allen Datagraph Technical support Damage to the system is possible A 4 4 1 Collect Motor Position Used by engineering to tune the servo system A 4 4 2 Default
69. orms a self test program to check all operating parameters If a malfunction is detected the letter E and a three digit error number will be displayed in the display window The error numbers and the corresponding malfunction descriptions are given in the Appendix B Error Codes When an error is displayed and no obvious damage was done to the Centra power off the Centra and repeat the procedure that caused the error to display If the error reoccurs the user may push any key on the control panel to enter the diagnostic mode Many errors automatically place the Centra in the diagnostic mode when a key is pressed The fail safe system is designed to detect failures in the operation of the electromechanical system in the Centra and to prevent such failures from causing other damage The Centra monitors motor currents and will generate an error if motor current 49 too high or unmeasureable It also generates an error for impossible or dangerous conditions The appropriate error code will appear as mentioned above in the display window on the control panel The diagnostics in the Centra exist at several levels 1 POWER ON 2 CONTINUOUS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE MONITORING 3 OFF LINE The POWER ON diagnostics are performed at power on or reset of the microprocessor and test the microprocessor memory servo analog and digital hardware and some of the testable sensors After initialization CONTINUOUS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE MONITORING
70. ost labels If however there is a problem with the printing it may become desirable to use multiple registration marks see also discussion about marks in Tutorial Using Adobe Illustrator section Upper Left Upper Right max x max y max x min y Scale Point When using two registration marks the embedded computer in the Centra will automatically scan Printed Rectangle Lower Right min x ran y Skew Foint Ongin Foint Media Takeup 27 Media both the Origin Point and the Skew Point This is helpful if the printing is skewed in relationship to the media When using multiple registration points it is helpful to understand the FO command and its parameters X Y Scan offset This is the distance from the skew point to perform the Y and X scans to find the skew point With the targets defined as above the X Y is the correct signs for the scan offset for the skew mark Scan Skew Point A fourth scanning mode is implemented that performs scaling and skewing by scanning only two marks origin and scale This method assumes there is no scaling error in the Y axis Specify the Origin Skew and Scale mode in your artwork software By selecting the scan skew mark off the Centra will only scan the Scale and Skew mark and perform X axis scaling and skew correction This parameter should always be on unless your printer driver does not support origin scale processing Target Scan Direction sets th
71. peed acceleration as needed Press select Press left or right arrow until SET menu is displayed Press up or down arrow to display Save Press select Press up or down arrow to display the number of the setting you want to customize 1 6 1 is the setting that is loaded on power up e Press select 5 9 6 9 Mandrel switches See section 5 8 Media Mandrel Tension Controls 6 Maintenance amp Consumables 6 1 4880 Printer refer to Epson Manual 6 1 1 Substrates The Epson 4880 uses Epson DURABrite ink which is a water based ink It is recommended that all substrates are coated with an ink jet compatible coating 6 2 i TECH Centra DFS 6 2 1 Changing a blade The knife blade should be replaced when the force has been increased by more than 20 percent or the cut quality has degraded The first sign of blade degradation usually occurs in the corners of the cut and may lead to poor weeding New blades slide into the holder to a preset height and are held in magnetically No tools or adjustments are required To replace the blade first remove the blade holder from the tool holder by loosening the brass thumbscrew and pulling up on the silver knife holder Remove black plastic cap To remove the used blade grasp it with a pair of tweezers and pull it out of the knife holder discard the blade safely Remove the new blade from the plastic case and remove the protective cap Insert the blade into the holder and let the magnet pull it i
72. rap h Sample directory on 1 Before running this procedure run the Calibrate to Printer diagnostic 2 Print the 6x3 rectangle in c program files allen datagraph sample directory on the same printer you ran the same printer you ran the the calibrate to printer diagnostic 3 Enter the designed size of the rectangle in the Rectangle Size boxes calibrate to printer diagnostic i Load Media into cutter 5 Move the Smart Mark Sensor beam near the lower right corner of the 6x3 rectangle 3 Enter the designed S1Ze of the 6 Click on Find Sensor Size and Offset This determines the size of sensor based on the focal length and the current setting of the threshold rectangle in the Rectangle Size 7 After scanning the scale skew and origin points you will be asked to joystick carriage to lower right comer b of rectangle Oxes 8 Click on OK to save new values or Cancel to restore original values 4 Load Media into Centra Find Sensor Size and Offset Retry Move the SmartMark Sensor eee ee 5 Description Range beam near the origin comer of X Rectangle Size 3 to 59 Inches the 6x3 rectangle Y Rectangle Size 3 to 59 Inches 6 Click on Find Sensor Size and Senso Ofset rales a n Y Sensor Offset 4 to 4 Inches l Offset This determines the size E A OK Ge of sensor based on the focal length and the current setting of the threshold 7 After scanning the scale skew and origin points you will be asked to joystick th
73. ssigned same ip address each time you power up In this case run diagnostic 4 and assign a static ip address to the cutter See also Website Material Does not track Inspect pinch wheels straight Clean grit wheel and pinch wheels Reduce acceleration and or velocity 43 Lamination Not Tracking Insure cutter is loaded straight Same distance from back wall from supply to takeup Perfect leveling is not required in steps below but adjustments need to be close Machine loaded per Web Site Copy CD Copy and Web Site Copy CD Copy Machine Level place level on cut strip level with machine table legs Rear media guides set correctly Measure distance between gear panel to media guide They should all be same distance from gear panel Adjustable bars level Set level on Web guide 3 exit roller and adjust until level Mandrels Level to adjust remove back of machine and loosen 4 mandrel leveling bolts Align with Square Check with level Tighten bolts Skewing Verify both front and rear dancer bars are not bouncing on bottom or top of service loop Bouncing will cause the media to slip between the grit wheel and the pinch roller Machine loaded per Web Site Copy CD Copy and Web Site Copy CD Copy Machine Level place level on cut strip level with machine table legs No tension is required on Laminate feed mandrel Set tension control to off position Unwind stand inadequate A suitable unwind stand
74. t designed for the Centra With the function On the Centra will ignore some HPGL control commands sent from the cutting software With the function Off the CAD software can control these HPGL commands The commands affected by CAd override are AS set acceleration FS set force KA set minimum angle KN _ set knife offset IP input P1 P2 RO rotate SC set scale SP select pen ST select tool UV up velocity move speed VS down velocity cut speed Press the select key to initiate the menu function Press the left or right arrow key to display CAd then press the up or down key to toggle between of and on Press the select key to lock in the desired menu setting diA is used for entering into the diagnostic mode Press the select key to initiate the menu function then press the left or right arrow key to display diA Press the up or down key to scroll thru the diagnostic numbers 0002 0099 Press the select key to start the diagnostic see diagnostics section To exit from a diagnostic mode select 0099 and press select FILL is used to add more material to the supply accumulator loop at any time during the operation of the Centra Press the select key to initiate the menu function then press the left or right arrow key to display FILL Press the select key and the Centra station will pause and the supply nip roller drive will start to fill the supply dancer bar loop Once complete the supply nip roller drive will a
75. te assembly instruction are Web Site Copy CD Copy 4 3 2 Power WARNING IF YOU RUN YOUR EQUIPMENT ON 220V WITH INPUT MODULE SET FOR 110V IT WILL DAMAGE YOUR EQUIPMENT Note there are two power input modules one for Infeed and one for Centra Important Note Use of a HIGH QUALITY surge protector or uninterruptible power supply 700 watts is REQUIRED by Allen Datagraph Systems Failure to do so could affect your warranty coverage if a problem arises due to improper power connection CAUTION The power cord is a three conductor cable that incorporates a safety earth ground connection For the machine to operate safely and correctly the power cord must be plugged into an outlet that has an earth ground contact Never plug the power cord into a two prong outlet by using a 3 2 cord adapter CAUTION Never allow roll or sheet goods to rub on the power cord because the material can cut the cord causing an electrical fire hazard The finisher can be configured to operate from any of the following power sources 100 132 VAC 47 63 Hz or 180 240 VAC 47 63 Hz ALLEN DATAGRAPH products are normally factory preset for the power requirements of the destination country The machine s configuration is indicated on the power input module as either 115V or 230V To change the configuration a Disconnect the AC power cord from the fuse block on the power input end panel b Open the fuse block cover with a small flat screwdriver c Orient th
76. tepper Speed Diagnostic 45 allows setting speed of stepper motors Time steppers by timing the feeding of 36 inches of media The divide 36 by the time measured Enter this number On Centra this number should be about 3 5 inches per second A 4 2 7 Diagnostic 44 Max Accumulator Position If you have analog sensors you must map the sensors since the transducer is not linear Diagnostic 44 allows mapping the non linear position of the analog position to adc values Before running diagnostic check operation of the adc Do this by removing media and running diagnostic 41 for supply sensor and 42 for takeup sensor Display will oscillate between the position and the adc value The position value will not be correct until completing this diagnostic 51 The top adc value should be in the range of 1 50 adc counts You do this be making the plunger for the sensor just slightly push in the plunger You change this by either rotating the block on the bar or moving the top of the diagonal toward or away from the sensor The bottom adc value should be between 600 750 If you have a larger value the plunger is probably bottoming out You fix this by moving the bottom of the diagonal away from the sensor In order to load media on a machine on machine that has never run diagnostic 44 you have to turn off label mode with diagnostic 64 off To run diagnostic load media between supply nip through pinch wheels and output nip Accumulator dancers shoul
77. the Centra will move between vectors without evoking the tangential emulation mode A p Line Sensor Menu so Stencil Force is the force Line Sensor skew Scale pees cizi separation between drag Description eae FANS knife mode and tangential X Sensor Offset 4t0 4 Inches 0 750 emulation cut mode Y Sensor Offset 4to 4 Inches foio Tangential emulation cut Scan Offset 1 to 1 Inch is mode is normally used for Scan Offset Awe 125 rubber or very heavy x Move betweenjobs 3to 3 Inch 0 000 material The Centra will elene 0 01 to 1 Inch 0250 normally not cut this type SEEE l Poo of material so this value Target Fail Count Oto 255 0 should be set to a high X Sensor Size 0 05 to 0 05 Inch 0 020 force Y Sensor Size 0 05 to 0 05 Inch 0 022 Target Scan Direction Cancel 5 9 6 4 Setup gt Line Fax CK COCKY OXY Sensor nee Clicking on Setup Line Sensor menu opens the SmartMark Menu 5 9 6 4 1 Line Sensor Tab O Sensor Offsets The SmartMark sensor is offset from s the center of the knife The sensor offset distance is p preset at the factory or during installation but may need to be adjusted on occasion The Centra can KONI 2 automatically calculate and set the SmartMark offset o and sensor size parameters See drawing for definition o of sensor offsets See TSB Title Calibration Web Site o Copy CD Co Y OFFSET X Y Sensor size is the offset from the exact center of the red dot of the
78. the FO command is 1 This command is used on CAD systems that do not emit the FO HPGL command You set up the initialization string to have BJ1 FO 1 1 lt for origin skew and scale processing gt or BJ1 FO0 1 lt for origin and skew processing gt This causes the Centra to look at the Y Target Location parameter from this menu item 47 A 3 3 Setup gt Line Sensor Scale tab X Target Location This is the distance between the origin target and the scale target when the 1 parameter of the FO command is 1 This command is used on CAD systems that do not emit the FO hpgl command You set up the initialization string to have BJ1 FO 1 1 lt for origin skew and scale processing gt This causes the Centra to look at the X target location parameter from this menu item A 3 4 Setup gt Settings Dynamic Force engages the dynamic force function that instantaneously adjusts the force on the fly based on the actual velocity of the knife blade All Centras must accelerate and decelerate as they cut around corners Some medias require different force settings for different speeds This parameter allows for building a database for these materials and when enabled will greatly improve the cutting on these materials See the Setup Dynamic Force Section for more details Coordinate System Allen Systems have four origins to allow for flexibility when using various CAD CAS systems The Centra is shipped with the Long
79. ting station and for several other functions The four ARROW KEYS are used to jog the material or Centra carriage that holds the knife blade and the SELECT SmartMark sensor Press the key once to move the material or carriage slowly and press it a second time within 2 second to move at a faster speed Tap the key to jog the Centra a fixed distance The distance is adjustable see Joy section below or joystick in the Remote Panel section SELECT The select key is used to invoke the menu system Press the select key and the display will change to indicate the last used menu item To select a menu item press the select key and then press the right or left arrow key to scroll thru the various menu items 33 With the desired menu item displayed press the up or down arrow key to select the state When the desired state is displayed press the select key to input the menu item and state The menu items are ACCL CAd diA FILL indE JOY OPEr and Set Menu Items ACCL allows setting the acceleration in 1 4 G increments Acceleration is the rate of increase decrease of speed of the motors along a vector Higher G values increase throughput however higher G values also increase the likelihood of experiencing repeatability problems Recommended values are 2 8 for standard labels CAd override menu function enables or disables the CAD override function This is an advance function and is only necessary when using cad systems that are no
80. tion marks you may need to reduce the scan velocity X move between jobs is the distance after the farthest excursion of the x axis during a frame that the Centra should advance to find the target in the next frame of labels This item is duplicated in the DirectCut printer driver as the space between jobs These two parameters are added together so set this value to 0 Target Scan Direction sets the direction of the scanning operation For single mark origin scanning the default target scan direction is X Y There may be circumstances where it might be desirable to reverse the scan direction For instance the mark might be printed to close to the trailing edge of the preceding labels limiting the distance available for scanning In this instance it might be ae oe lo x desirable to reverse the scan direction in el alax Line Sensor Skew Scale this axis Consideration must be given in the cut file because the inside edge of the DEREN ox mark will be considered as the 0 0 point eo ee es DENE for the Centra coordinate system This is Y Scan Offset 1 to 1 Inch 0125 an advanced menu option and must be enabled on the setup options page See also Web Site Copy CD Copy pa Roni r On 5 9 6 4 2 Skew Tab E Cancel oc The SmartMark system can use one two or three registration marks In standard aea operation the Centra only requires one registration mark to accurately cut the die lines of m
81. tructions are in the following linked documents Web Site Copy CD Copy and Web Site Copy CD Copy 5 8 Media Mandrel Tension Controls To the right of the control panel are two knobs four with laminator option and one switch The knobs control the torque on the mandrel which in turn controls the tension of the web as influenced by the mandrel that the knob controls Each knob is labeled with the name of the mandrel it controls Turn the knob clockwise to increase the tension or counterclockwise to decrease the tension There is a learning curve involved in setting the mandrel tension and the type of media and gutter width between labels affects the settings A fair amount of trial and error is required to get the setting correct for certain difficult medias The following will give you basic guidelines for setting up the mandrel controls Take up mandrel If not slitting set the tension as low as possible while maintaining adequate roll tension and tracking The setting of this mandrel is the most important as it effects tracking and weeding If slitting the tension must be set somewhat higher to insure there is enough tension on the web to allow for the slitting knife to penetrate the media Weed mandrel Set the tension as high as possible without breaking the weed material As the percentage of weeded material gets smaller the gutters get smaller the less tension is required to pull the weed material off the backing while at the same time t
82. utomatically stop and the Centra will resume This is useful if for some reason either of the dancer bar loops have insufficient material IndE indexes the x axis One of the uses for this function is for metering material Press the select key to initiate the menu function then press the left or right arrow key to 34 display IndE Press the select key Press the up or down arrow to toggle between inches INCH or centimeters cEnt When the desired unit of measure is displayed press the select key The display will read 0001 The number represents the number of inches or centimeters to be metered in the x axis Increase the number by pressing the up arrow key of the joystick Hold the key down and the numbers will start moving slowing then more quickly Press the down arrow key to lower the number Alternatively the force keys will increment the single digits and the speed keys will increment the 10 s digits Input the length and start by pressing the select key JOy allows changing the joystick parameters of jog distance or slew speed Press the select key to enter the menu system Press the left or right joystick buttons until JOy is displayed Press up or down on the joystick to select Sped or Jog Press select Press up or down on the joystick to select a value for joystick speed 1 100 or jog distance 0 01 inch increments Press select to save the displayed value This menu item has 2 sub menus e Sped Allows the user to set t
83. want the space between jobs to be the same as the space between prints you need to add a small cut object at the end of the print 0 3 inches 5 9 4 6 Multiple pen output If you are using a single color and a single force set multiple pen output to No If you want two different forces applied to knife during frame you have to set multiple pen output to Yes You can then turn on Send Force to tool and select different forces for different pen colors 5 9 5 Cutting label After you have set the properties click ok to close property window Then click on the Cut button to send the job to the finisher Once correct job is sent to finisher the computer can be used for other purposes as you can use the copy button on the front panel to send additional copies of the frame to the finisher Select copy use up down arrows around select key to select number of copies or select 1 for copy count for count up mode Then press select key 22 5 9 6 i TECH Centra Remote Panels and LCD panel The Centra has a 4 digit display and a 16 button panel The display is used to interact with the operator showing current status If the menu is not active the first digit is C for cut 2 digit is speed 0 0 4 1 5 14 2 15 24 and last 2 digits are force 5 9 6 1 i TECH Centra DFS remote panel The remote panel is installed by the installation cd It appears as an icon on your bh RA desktop and in the start menu at Start gt All Programs gt
84. wo shafts are not parallel Verify tension Close back cover The long belt is adjusted using a lead screw located behind the control panel To set the long belt s tension X Axis e Position the carriage to the far side e Remove the control panel housing as follows e Remove the 4 allen screws that hold on the cover for the lcd display e Loosen the locking nut e Adjust the lead screw so that the belt will deflect 0 125 or feels taut You can also pluck it like a string and is should make a low tone e Move the carriage slowly from two or three inches cm front and back to equalize tension on pulleys Check tension again e Set the lead screw lock nut e Verify belt path and tension e Replace the control panel housing top rail cover and rear cover Open back cover The belt inside the rear cover drives the grit wheel X axis To adjust the tension of this belt it is necessary to reposition the motor 39 e Loosen the two motor bracket screws and apply hand pressure to tighten the belt so that the belt will deflect 1 16 inch at the center when 23 ounces are applied 2 mm when 660 grams are applied Replace belt if damaged or worn e When the belt is correctly tensioned tighten the two motor bracket screws e Verify belt path and tension Check that the large gear turns freely e Close back cover 6 3 Troubleshooting i TECH Centra DFS Cutter does nothing Panel lights off no fan noise plugged in power on

ITech Centra Manual

Contents

Download Pdf Manuals

Related Search

Related Contents