When the plotter is not communicating with your computer the most common reason is an incorrect cable connection or configuration.

1. Verify that the cable is connected to the proper communication (COM) port on the host computer. Your software may allow you to select different ports.
2. Verify that the data cable from the host computer is connected to the serial port on the plotter.
3. The “pin out” on the cable configuration may be incorrect. Check your operation manual for the correct setting.
4. Plotter have communication settings. The correct setting for your plotter is 9600 baud, no parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, and either XON/XOFF or hardware handshake. If you do not understand what this means, refer to your user manual for further explanation.

If all of the above solutions fail, you may need to replace the communications kit which consist of the 1488/1489 IC Chip Set & Dart.

Indications of side play are:

• Letters or text not being finished completely.
• Pen appears to sway or tilt slightly.
• If cutting vinyl, the letters are not being cut completely, beginning or ending of cut not matching, and leaving a gap in the cut.
• ArtPro Cutter assembly appears to sway or tilt slightly while changing directions during a cut.

There should be no side play in the pen holder. If there is, it can be corrected by tightening the cone point bearing screws. Using the allen wrench provided with the plotter (size 3/32), carefully tighten each screw equally. The point of each bearing screw should engage the mating hole in the carriage. When properly adjusted, the empty pen holder will fall under its own weight.

CAUTION: Care must be taken not to over tighten, as this will damage the pen carriage.

In order for the plotter to go further than 32 inches, you need to use the Host Utility Disk that came with your plotter. If you don’t have it, you can <download it.

In DOS type HOST35 or HOSTART to bring up the menu.

To set the plotter for an 80 inch cut, enter the following:

KEYPAD – ENTER ENGLISH – ENTER MANUAL MOVE – ENTER SET LOWER LEFT – ENTER GO TO – ENTER GO TO COORDINATES – ENTER X COORDINATES – 80 – ENTER Y COORDINATES – 24 – ENTER GOTO – ENTER GOTO – HOME – ENTER EXIT – ENTER QUIT

This will allow you to plot/cut up to a useful area of 22 by 80 inches. Unfortunately, every time you wish to plot over 32 inches, you must repeat this sequence on your host disk.

If you desire additional information on the plotter menu, please refer to your instruction manual, section Learning the Menu Structure.

If you are using a pen and the line quality is poor, try these steps:

1. Check the pen to assure that the ink has not dried since it was last used.
2. Reduce the pen speed.
3. Set the pen up/pen down delay (for liquid ink pens).
4. Check the pen force setting.
5. Check the pen height adjustment.
6. Adjust the pen dashpot.
7. Examine the pen carriage for cracks. If it is cracked it may move excessively as it is drawing, or it may affect the pen height.
8. The traverse rods that the carriage rides across could be bent. You can check this by rotating the traverse rods and watching the movement of the carriage. If the movement of the carriage is not excessive, the traverse rods can be turned so that the plotter functions properly.
9. There should be no play in the pen holder. If there is, it can be corrected by tightening the two set screws on the pen jaw. When properly adjusted, the empty pen holder will fall when lightly tapped, and will nearly fall under its own weight. Care must be taken not to over-tighten, as this may damage the carriage.

If you do not know how to make these adjustments, refer to your owner’s manual, section: Plotter Maintenance, for instructions.

First, determine whether the shift observed is due to a gradual continues process called creep (media slipping slowly on the grit shaft) or a sudden shift (lines with sudden sharp angles).

• If you use paper in your plotter, fibers may break down while plotting, this causes slippage. To assure good tracking, regularly clean the grit shaft with a toothbrush.
• Vinyl, rubylith and paper all stretch if pulled off a heavy roll. If you unroll a length of media prior to cutting, this will minimize some registration problems. By providing temporary support, like a table in front, extra long length media can coil rather than hang on to the floor. The load of the cutting surface caused by heavy vinyl can be reduced.
• The chartwheels may have a flat spot on them allowing slick materials, like vinyl, to shift. Inspect the wheels carefully.
• The grit shaft may have lost enough grit to hinder registration. If you think this is the case, the grit shaft may need to be replaced.

Indications of the keypad button getting stuck are:

• The test plot will start running each time the plotter is turned on.
• Knife will cut without offsets.

Indications of the keypad button getting stuck are:

• Remove the right top cover.
• Remove the red button from right top cover by squeezing and pushing it out.
• With a file, you can grind down the top and bottom were the button fits in.
• Slide button back in. If it continuous getting stuck, try to grind down the space a bit more.

If the cut is good when the vinyl is moving toward the front of the plotter (positive x-axis direction) but is cutting too deep when the vinyl is moving toward the rear of the plotter (negative x-axis direction), add more downward force to the cutter “foot”. This will provide more support against the blade digging into the vinyl.

To adjust the force:

1. Find the pen force adjustment arm under the dust cover on the rear of the pen holder arm.
2. Push the pen force adjustment up or down to decrease or increase the pen force. Each new downward position of the arm increases the pen force by approximately 10 grams. The range of adjustments is 20 to 60 grams.

The tension of the spring in the Knife assembly must be increased. To do this, unscrew the top of the ArtPro knife and remove the plunger, turning counter clockwise.

After removal, stretch the spring. Stretching the spring gives the knife more tension so the knife responds faster to picking up the blade off the media.

If the line quality is poor when cutting vinyl or rubylith, perform the following steps:

1. Reduce the cutting speed.
2. Set the pen height adjustment.
3. Replace the blade.
4. Check the pen force setting.

If you do not know how to make this adjustments, refer to your owner’s manual, section 8.

Change the degree of offset from 15 degrees to between 20 – 27 degrees in your Host Disk to improve the cut quality. If you do not have your Host Disk Utility you can download it directly from our web site. Sometimes when you change from one software package to another, offsets need to be adjusted.

Sample:

Enter Knife Offset (mils): 18

• This parameter is the amount of “blade offset” or the distance from the tip of the blade to its center or rotation.
• The term “mils” refers to .001″ (1/1000 of an inch) units.

The blade offset for the knife blades from Ioline is marked on the package in which they are shipped.

There are knife blades with two different offset distances available; 47 mils and 15 mils. I have specified 18 mils as the offset distance in the above sample. I am using a 15 mil offset blade, and I have found an 18 mil correction in the software to provide better results than specifying the actual offset of 15 mils.

A common reason for media tears is a broken or dull blade. A magnifying glass can be used for examining the blade for a broken tip or edge.

If it is broken, remove and replace with a new blade. New blades are available from Ioline Customer Service.

If the cutter bumps against or rubs on the plotter dust cover, check to see that the Cut/Plotswitch is set to cut. If the clearance is still too tight, loosen the dust cover screws and gently push the cover back while re-tightening the screws. If this does not solve the problem, remove the dust cover entirely while cutting.

The plotter default communication setting is 9600 baud, no parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, and either software (XON/XOFF) or hardware handshake (RTS) protocol. The plotter is a DTE device, and requires null-modem cabling, with a DB25P (male) connector at the plotter end.

The following is recommended: