Puma II users manual
Contents Important information …………………………………………..…….. Quick installation guide ………………………………………….…… About cutting tool ………………………………………….…………. Checking Supplied items …………………………………….……….. I II III IV Chapter 1. Parts Names and Functions ………………………….……. 1.1 Front view …………………………………………………… 1.2 Back view with stand ………………………………… …….. 1.3 Side view …………………………………………………….. 1.4 Control Panel ………………………………………………… Chapter 2. Setup …………………………………….………………… 1-1 1-1 1-2 1-3 1-4 2-1 2.1 Setting up ……………………………………………………..
5.1 Cleaning the cutting plotter ………………………………… 5.2 Clearning the grid drum…………………………………….. 5.3 Clearning the pinch rollers …………………………………. Chapter 6 Troubleshooting ………………………………………….… 6.1 If the cutting plotter cannot operate ………………………… 6.2 Light indicators …………………………………………….. 6.3 Cutting quality problem…………………………………….. 5-1 5-1 5-2 6-1 6-1 6-1 6-5 Appendix: 1. Specifications of Puma II ………………………………………….. 2. Specifications of GCC blade ……………………………………….
IMPORTANT INFORMATION Thanks for your purchasing of our SignPal Puma II series cutting plotters. For your safety and optimize the performance of the Puma II, please read user manual completely and keep it in a correct location. PRECAUTIONS IN USE For safety’s sake, please always hold the cutter firmly from the bottom when moving it. Please hold from the bottom. Do not shake or drop the blade holder, blade tip maybe fly out.
QUICK MENU 1. Power ON. (The POWER LED lights on) 2. Note: Make sure the level is up before placing the media on the plotter. Place the media and pull the level to lower down the pinch rollers (must be sure the pinch rollers are position above the grid drums, that is, within the white marks). 3. Puma II will take about 10 sec to initialize the machine. Then the cutter will size the media automatically according to set of the dip switch (usually the presetting is EDGE media type). 4.
About the Tool A generic term refer to the blade that cuts the sheet, the pen that does plotting, and the LED bombsight (option) used for pointing to the reference point. OFFSET is the distance that the blade tip is displaced from the centerline of the blade.
Checking Supplied Items 1. Installation CD 2. Printer Cable 3. AC Power Cable 4. RS232 Cable 5. Blade Holder & Fiber – 6. Cutting Strip (Pad) Tip Pen 7. Safe Blade 8. USB Cable 9. Error-Correct & Function Sticker 10 Roll Base 11. Tweezers (only for PII-30/60) Puma II Users manual IV 12.
Chapter 1 Parts Names and Functions 1.1 Front View Pinch Roller: Press the Cutting Carriage: This unit performs the cutting media against grid drum during cutting. Control Panel: Consists of 10 control keys and 6 LEDs with the installed blade and pen. Paper Sensor: The Sensor detect the presence of media. Cutting Pad: Provides protection for the blade while the blade is cutting Alignment Ruler: Media can be aligned with the clear guide line marks media back and forth during operation.
1-2 Back View of Puma II 132S with stand Roll holder support Stand Roll holder Roll Holder guide bushes Fig 1-2 Back view of Puma II 132S with stand Puma II users manual 1-2
1-3 side view of Puma II 1 2 3 Fig 1-3 Left hand side view of Puma II 4 5 6 7 8 Fig 1-4 Right hand side view of Puma II Left Hand Side (Figure 1-3) 1. AC Power Connector – Used to insert the AC power cord. 2. Fuse – Up to 3 Amp. 3. Power Switch – On when switches to [I]; Off when switches to [O] Right Hand Side (Figure 1-4) 4. USB interface Connector - Used to connect the cutting plotter to a computer through a USB cable. 5.
1.4 Control Panel PAUSE Key – This key can temporarily halt cutting DATA CLEAR Key – CUT TEST Key – To test in progress, and the This key can clear the set value. The CUT ON/OFF LINE LED the data in the buffer TEST LED is on, while flashes. Press ON/OFF memory. doing the cut test. LINE Key can resume cutting. ARROW Key – To move the media or the ON/OFF LINE Key – cutting carriage. This key can connect the cutting plotter and the host computer.
Chapter 2 Set Up 2.1 Setting Up CAUTION! At least two or more persons holding the Puma II 132S at its bottom surface on the left and right sides when you unpacking, installing or relocating the cutter. Make sure the power switch is off before installing the cutting plotter. Notice! Choosing a proper place before setting up the cutting plotter Select a proper location which meets the following conditions. The machine can be approached easily from any direction.
2.2 Stands and Media Support System Installation There are seven steps to assemble stand and media support system. Please follow the procedure: Step 1 Check screws and wrench in the accessory box of stand carton: Items Puma II 60/30 Puma II 132S M6 screws 28 24 M5 L- shape hexagon screw driver 1 1 M6 L- shape hexagon screw driver 1 1 M6 wrench (spanner) 1 1 Step 2 Puma II 60 stand: There are three components to assemble it. Please refer to Figure 2-1.
3 Only Puma II 60 has side screws. Puma II 132S doesn’t has side H-stand screws. Figure 2-2 Third, (For Puma II 132S only) position the stand beam perpendicularly to part 3 and put the screws into the holes and tighten them as Figure 2-2-1. Figure 2-2-1 (Only for Puma II-132S) Step 4 Move the cutting plotter from the carton. Put it on the stand, then Insert the screws into the holes on plotter’s bottom as Figure 2-3.
different holes. Figure 2-4 Step 6 Place two roll holders into the holes in the roll holder support (Figure 2-5).
2-3 Power and cable Connection ! Notice Check the plug of the power cord to see if it mates with the wall outlet. If not, please contact with your dealer Be sure that the power to both the computer and the main unit is switched off when connecting the cable ! Warning Connecting the Power Supply Ground the unit with the ground wire. Insert the plug (male) into a grounded power outlet. Insert the other end (female) of power cord into the AC connector of the cutting plotter.
2.4 Blade Installation ! CAUTION Do not touch the tip of the blade with your fingers. ! Notice The blade will affect the cutting quality significantly. If any of the following occurs, which means the blade has reached the end of its life. Please replace with a new blade. 1. The tip of blade is broken. 2. Cutting traces are not as good as they were. 3. Uncut area remains the same even the blade force has been raised significantly. Figure 2-7 is the illustrator of the blade holder.
Step 2 Push the blade to the bottom of the blade holder. (Figure 2-9). Figure 2-9 Step 3 Adjust the blade tip to suitable length by screwing “Blade tip adjustment screw” clockwise or count-clockwise (Figure 2-10). Figure 2-10 Puma II User’s Guide Tips: “The proper length” means the blade’s length is about 0.1mm more than film’s thickness. For example, if the thickness of film is 0.5mm, then blade’s length is properly adjusted to 0.
Step 4 Insert the blade holder into tool carriage. Please note the outward ring of the holder must put into the grooves of carriage firmly (see Figure 2-11) and lock the grip Figure 2-11 Figure 2-12 Step 5 Use the reverse steps to remove the blade holder. Step 6 Press the push - pin to remove the blade from the blade holder when the blade needs to be replaced. Please refer to Figure 2-9 for reference.
2.5 Media Loading 2.5.1 Loading the Sheet Media To load the media properly, please follow the procedures listed below: 1. Pull the lever forward to raise the pinch rollers (Figure 2-13). Figure 2-13 Load your media on the platen and slide it under the pinch rollers from either the front side or the backside. The alignment rulers on the platen extension will help you to adjust the media precisely. Note: Be sure that the media must cover the paper sensors on the platen when loading the media.
2.5.2 Positioning pinch rollers Then move the pinch rollers manually to the proper position. Be sure the pinch rollers must be positioned above the grid drum. The white marks on the main beam will help you to position pinch rollers easily and correctly. (Figure 2-14). White Marks Figure 2-14 Push the lever backward to lower down the pinch rollers. Turn on the power, the tool carriage will measure the size of the media automatically. And the plotting cutter begins to work.
2.5.3 Loading the Roll Media First, put the roll media guide bushes on two roll holders (Figure 2-16). Figure 2-16 Option A (Recommended) Insert the two roll holders into the roll media support set then place the roll media directly between the two roll holders (Figure 2-17).
Option B (Use the media flanges) 1. Insert a roll media flange at the end of each roll media and tighten the thumbscrew until the roll media is firmly gripped (Figure 2-18). Figure 2-18 2. Then put the roll media on the roll holders. Adjust the position of the roll media ensure that media flanges are able to run in the grooves of media guide bushes.
3. Loading the media on the platen. After loading the roll media, flatten the media on the platen and hold the front edge of the roll media firmly (Figure 2-20). Figure 2-20 4. Then turn the roll downward to make an equal tension across the media.
5. Move the pinch rollers to the appraise location and be careful that the pinch rollers must be positioned above the grid drums. 6. Push the lever backward to lower down the pinch rollers. 7. Fixes roll media guide bushes on the roll holder to secure the roll media. 8. Turn on the power switch, and the tool carriage will size the media automatically. Then the cutting plotter is ready to work. 9. Use the reverse steps to remove the media.
2.6 Tracking Performance In order to achieve the best tracking performance for a long plot, we recommend some significant media loading procedures described as follows: 1. If the media length is less than 4 m, leave the margin of 0.5mm~15mm in the left and right edges of the media (see Figure 2-23). 0.5mm-15mm 0.5mm-15mm Pinch roller Pinch roller Figure 2-23 2. If the media length is greater than 4m, leave at least 25mm margin on the left and right edges of the media (see Figure 2-24).
2.7 Dip Switch Setting To get a perfect cutting job, you have to choose the proper Dip Switch setting. The table below shows function of each Dip Switch. The cutting plotter will read values of Dip Switches every time when press ON/OFF LINE key. **Dip Switch setting change during on-line condition will not work. You can change the setting by pressing PAUSE key or when the plotter is in off-line condition. The default setting value is as Figure 2-25.
SW-5 : QUALITY There is a trade-off between cutting quality and speed, the better the cutting quality, the slower the cutting speed. Fine quality Draft quality SW-6 : SMOOTH Make the curves smoother during cutting. **When cut the small letter, please set smooth disabled to cutting quality smooth setting. Disable the smoothing cut. Enable the smoothing cut. SW-7 : AUTO UNROLL Unroll the heavy media at least 50 cm when the next point of movement is located beyond the unrolled position.
2.8 Power On Be sure not to put anything or hands on the platen of the plotter when turning on the power. It may cause injury. Keep long hair away from the grid drum when power is on.. Turn on the power on the left-hand side of the cutting plotter and the POWER LED is on. Notice: It will take about 10 sec to initialize the machine, the cutting plotter is ready to receive data from computer. As bellowing is control panel lights when uses different functions key in normal conditions.
2.9 ON/OFF LINE Key **On - line When the machine is in “ON LINE ” condition. The ON/OFF LINE LED is on. The cutting plotter is ready to receive data from the host computer. At this moment, only “PAUSE” and “ON/OFF LINE” keys are valid. **Change the setting value 1. Press the PAUSE key. Then switch the dip to change the setting value. 2. Press the ON/OFF LINE key to effect new setting and continue cutting.
damaging your blade. ** Procedures to repeat cutting job at different position: 1. After cutting finishes, use the ARROW keys to move the tool carriage. Move to your desired position for repeating the cutting job, then press the ORIGIN SET key. The ORIGIN SET LED lights, and new origin point is set. 2. Press the REPEAT key to repeat the cutting job, and the REPEAT LED lights. 2.12 DATA CLEAR Key The purpose of the DATA CLEAR key is to clear the data in the buffer memory.
2.14 Cut Test Before carrying out actual cutting, it is necessary to perform a cutting test to determine the appropriate cutting force and offset value for your media. The cutting test should be repeated until you get an appropriate cutting condition. Once you finish the cutting test, the new origin is also set to the current tool carriage position. There are two adjustments you should do when perform cutting test. First one is cutting force adjustment; the second one is blade-offset adjustment.
If the square appears BB or CC layout, adjust the OFFSET setting (please refer to paragraph SW1-3 OFFSET SETTING; Please also refer to the paragraph “About the tool ” at the beginning of the book to learn the definition of offset.) Note: The new origin will be set at the position of tool carriage after cutting test.
2.15 When Completing the Cutting Job After completing the cutting, raise the sheet loading lever, then remove the material. You can also cut off the extra media with the cutter tool along the knife guide (Figure 2-25).
C Ch haap ptteerr 33 Connecting Cutting Plotters The cutting plotter communicates with a computer through a USB (Universal Serial Bus), Parallel port (Centronics) or a Serial port (RS-232C). This chapter shows you how to connect the cutting plotter to a host computer and how to set up the computer/cutting plotter interconnection. !! Notice: 1. When USB connection is enabled, both parallel port and serial port will be disabled automatically. 2.
3.2 PARALLEL TRANSMISSION 3.2.1 Connecting to the Parallel Port (Centronics) 1. Connect a parallel cable to the cutting plotter and the host computer (Figure3-1). 2. Set up the output port LPT1 or LPT2 from your software package 3. Send the data to your cutting plotter directly. Or, use DOS commands like TYPE or PRINT to output data. 3.3 SERIAL TRANSMISSION 3.3.1 Connecting to the Serial Port (RS-232C) 1.
TYPE filename > COM2 Tip: Add the MODE command line to your system’s AUTOEXEC.BAT to automatically execute MODE command every time you want to output your data at the DOS prompt via serial connection. However, values in a MODE command should comply with the related requirements of your software. Refer to DOS manual for further information.
Chapter 4 Virtual LCD 4.1 Installation 1. Start Windows 98, ME, 2000, or XP. 2. Insert “Installation CD” into your CD-ROM. 3. Click on “installation of VLCD” 4. Follow the appropriate screen prompts to install the VLCDTM program. 4.2 Before using VLCDTM This utility acts as a virtual display to assist you when checking the configurations in your cutting plotter. To run this utility, simply execute it under Windows. Before starting the detection, make sure: 1. 2.
Figure 4.3.1 There are four functions available in VLCD: Poll Size, Loop Detect/ DisDetect, Scaling, and About. A. Poll Size Clicking the Poll Size will reveal the X/Y values. In this case, the maximum cutting length is 25000mm, and the distance between the farthest two pinch rollers is 277.70mm (Figure 4.3.2).
Figure 4.3.2 B. Loop Detect and DisDetect Clicking Loop Detect will reveal the value settings of your cutting plotter (Figure 4.3.3). Figure 4.3.
(Figure 4.3.4), and adjust them from your cutting plotter. After the adjustment, click Loop Detect again. You will then be able to see the new values (In this case, the Force was changed from 200 to 277, see figure 4.3.5). Figure 4.3.4 Figure 4.3.5 Notice! One function of the DisDetect key is to release the port.
DisDetect whenever you want to send a job to the cutting plotter or use another device with the port currently used. C. Scaling Click DisDetect and then the Scaling key will be enabled (Figure 4.3.6). After clicking Scaling, a dialog will pop up (Figure 4.3.7). Figure 4.3.6 Enter the width and the length of the rectangle that you would like to cut.
Figure 4.3.7 After the cutting job is set, an adjustment dialog window will pop up. Measure the real cutting width and length of the rectangle, and then, key in the values in the boxes (Figure 4.3.8). In this case, the actual cutting width of the rectangle is 49mm. 49 Figure 4.3.8 After pressing OK, the cutting plotter will cut the 50mm2 rectangle again and the following dialog will pop up(Figure 4.3.9). Measure the real cutting width and length. If it is a 50mm2 rectangle, press YES.
Figure 4.3.10 While saving the scaling data, you will be asked to key in a password. Type in 111. (Figure 4.3.11). Figure 4.3.11 Click OK and complete scaling (Figure 4.3.12). Figure 4.3.12 D. About The About key shows you the version of your cutting plotter’s firmware and driver (Figure 4.3.13).
Figure 4.3.
Chapter 5 Basic Maintenance This chapter explains the basic maintenance (i.e. cleaning the cutting plotter) required for the cutting plotter. Except for the below mentioned, all other maintenance must be performed by a qualified service technician. 5.1 Cleaning the Cutting Plotter In order to keep the cutting plotter under good condition and best performance, you need to clean the machine properly and regularly.
! Turn off the cutting plotter, and move the tool carriage away from the area needed to be cleaned. ! Raise the pinch rollers and move them away from the grid drum for cleaning. ! Use a bristle brush (a toothbrush is acceptable) to remove dust from the drum surface. Rotate the drum manually while cleaning. Refer to Figure 5-1 Figure 5-1 5.
C apter 66 Troubleshooting Ch hapter This chapter helps you to correct some common problem you may come across. Prior to getting into the details of this chapter, please be sure that your application environment is compatible with the cutting plotter. Note: Before calling customer service personnel, please make sure the problems are in your cutting plotter, not from the communication between computer and cutter or a malfunction in your computer or a software problem.
When your cutting plotter stops operating or the lights are on or flashing unexpectedly, see the following descriptions of panel light patterns and actions you should take. 6.2.1 Warming Indicators When the ERROR LED flashes (as show below), take the necessary action according to respective instruction below. If the problems are solved, the ERROR LED will turn off automatically. Press ON/OFF LINE key once can also turn off the ERROR LED.
Warming 2. HPGL/2 command error If your cutting plotter cannot recognize the commands from your computer, please check the commands applied to your cutting plotter are HP-GL/2 or HPGL command. Then send the same cutting job to plotter again. If it shows the same result, please contact customer service personnel. Warming 3 Lever up or no media Check if you lower down the lever and be sure to load the media before cutting. Warming 4 Cannot repeat cutting This Error comes from two possibilities: 1.
6.2.2 Error Indicators If some mechanical problems or failure during operations happen, the ERROR LED will turn on. Please follow the instruction below to solve the problem. If the plotter still cannot work, please contact customer service personnel and tell him or her about the error indicators.
6.3 Cutting Quality Problems Check blade installed correctly and the blade holder fastened securely No Yes Please refer to the "Installation the blade of Chpater 2" Is the blade dulled or chipped No Yes Check tool force setting Replace a new blade Yes Check tool offset setting Yes No Please refer to 2.13 " Cutting Test" to adjust the tool force.
Appendix I Specifications: Puma II PII-132S, PII-60 & PII-30 Model Name/No. Operational Method Max. Cutting Width Max. Media Loading Width Min. Media Loading Width Acceptable Material Thickness Number of Pinch Rollers Drive Cutting Force Max.
Appendix 2 The Specification for GCC Blade ZZ00219A GCB-145S For cutting general signage vinyl. Blade with largest angle. The blade is 45°with Yellow Cap, 0.25 mm blade offset ZZ00220A GCB-245R ZZ00221A GCB-360SB ZZ00222A GCB-460SO ZZ00233A GCB-500 For cutting thick fluorescent and reflective vinyl. Also for cutting detailed work in standard vinyl. The blade is 45° with Red Cap, 0.25 mm offset For cutting reflective vinyl, cardboard, sandblast, flock, and stencil sharp edge.
