Equipment/VinylCutterOld

Status

• I have had a certain amount of success running the cutter with a serial connection from Inkscape under Linux. More messing around is needed.--Artag 13:32, 19 August 2010 (UTC)
• I have gotten the cutter to reliably cut reasonably complex shapes (see image to the right). See http://github.com/muz/Ruby-PNC950. Looks like the serial port needed negotiating correctly.--Muz 20 August 2010.

Model

• Roland CAMM-1 PNC-950. PDF manual, FAQ.

Specifications

• It holds up to 610mm (24") media and cuts up to 584mm ( ~23").
• Length is essentially unlimited as it can use roll-feed media but seems to be restricted to 25m.

Instructions

Quick setup guide

• Set inkscape to HPGL output. File > Save As > HPGL format.
• Draw your figure.
• Connect the cutter via USB to Lovelace. This is done with a serial port converter from 25-pins -> 9-pins -> USB.
• Load vinyl, making sure that it is flush with the left edge and has some slack for being pulled to and fro.
• Turn on the cutter, the cutter head should fly to the right edge.
• Press Setup, cutter parks at left.
• Move cutter if necessary with cursor buttons, press Origin Set to mark lower right corner of drawing
• Run '~/serialshite.rb <HPGL filename>' from a Terminal.

It should be possible to enable the serial port as a printer and print direct to it, but I found this produced cutter errors (flashing power light) and no cut.

The following file was generated by inkskape for a star shape. This works.

IN;
SP1;
PU3999,6429;
PD2693,5186;
PD929,5557;
PD1707,3932;
PD809,2369;
PD2596,2606;
PD3805,1269;
PD4131,3042;
PD5776,3778;
PD4191,4636;
PD3999,6429;
PD3999,6429;

Creating Images for Cutting

Converting an existing SVG

For some reason, Inkscape doesn't like going straight from SVG to HPGL. This can be fixed by:

• Open up the SVG file
• File > Save As > select the DXF file format.
• Open the DXF
• File > Save As > HPGL

Creating your own image in Inkscape

Inkscape seems to play nicely if you just create a new image and lay down some paths or polygons of your own. You can save this data for the cutter by just going to File > Save As > HPGL

Avoiding overloading the cutter with TOO MUCH DATA

The cutter doesn't seem to happy when it recieves a large set of instructions in one fell swoop. As such, it is highly recommended that you format your HPGL files nicely.

• vim yourhpglfile.hpgl
• <Esc>
• :% s/;/;<C-x><C-m>/g
• <Return>
• :wq

This will place each command on its own line, and in the case of more complex drawing patterns, avoid having the cutter throw a hissy fit and get confused.

Tips

• Sometimes the cutter refuses to print or respond to any buttons. This hasn't happened since I opened a door in the bottom of the printer and poked an EPROM there, so may be due to some poor internal connection.

Serial cable

The serial cable (blue, with a 25WD at one end and a 9WD at the other) is connected as follows :

Cutter, 25 pin male D	PC, 9 pin female D	Use
pin 2	pin 2	PC RXD from cutter
3	3	PC TXD to cutter
4	n/c	cutter pin 5, RTS CTS loopback
5	n/c	cutter pin 4, RTS CTS loopback
7	5	ground
20	8	cutter DTR to PC CTS, flowcontrol

This provides for hardware (rts/cts) handshake. Software flowcontrol may be OK but the cutter manual suggests overrun may occur.

Consumables

There is a pledge running for the purchase of more vinyl.