Cool, glad to hear it worked out for you.
| WorldWorksGames http://worldworksgames.com/forum/ |
|
| Silhouette SD - Loud CLICK - Belt Binding & Skipping http://worldworksgames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=12606 |
Page 1 of 1 |
| Author: | morganm [ 01-27-2014, 07:24 AM ] |
| Post subject: | Silhouette SD - Loud CLICK - Belt Binding & Skipping |
My wife is trying to finish up a wedding shower invite project and once again the hardware is a source of frustration. Printer issues aside; lets talk about how I can fix the Silhouette. When the cutting head moves to the left I can visibly see the belt is under stress. It tweaks a little in a slight S shape. The head is moving noticably under stress. Usually results in 1 - 4 loud CLICKS as the belt / gear skip some teeth. This obviously puts everything that much off course and the rest of the cuts are off mark. When the cut head moves to the right.... no problem. Belt is straight, head moves smoothly, and life is good. Really at a loss on what to do. Belt seems OK but what do I know? I mean it's obviously not missing teeth. Could be worn but I'm not sure why that would cause this binding. The metal slide / track under the cut head was very dusty. Thought that might be causing friction so I wiped it down but it didn't help. Please advise! |
|
| Author: | morganm [ 01-27-2014, 07:29 AM ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Silhouette SD - Loud CLICK - Belt Binding & Skipping |
OK some more info. When it's NOT cutting; moving left or right... no problems. No stress, blet is straight, no cliking or skipping. Like when you first turn it on it goes right to left. Works no problem. This problem only happens when it's cutting. Blade is... not THAT old =) I think I replaced it least year some time. Cuts are still clean and crisp. I've had dull blades and usually cuts start getting rough and you get more tearing around tight corners. |
|
| Author: | Squirmydad [ 01-27-2014, 08:23 AM ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Silhouette SD - Loud CLICK - Belt Binding & Skipping |
When that started happening to me I was advised to try the following; a) Get a new blade b) Turn off the machine, then slide the carriage to the ends of the tracks in both direction. This is supposed to reset some of the internal hardware, and it does work sometimes. c) Reduce the cutting speed. All of these worked for a while, but I had to reduce the speed, and reduce the speed, and reduce the speed...until it couldn't go any slower and I got tired of ruined sheets. I just bought a Portrait last week and it's a fabulous replacement for the Silhouette that I owned and abused for 4-1/2 years. I relate my happiness here; |
|
| Author: | mproteau [ 01-27-2014, 08:25 AM ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Silhouette SD - Loud CLICK - Belt Binding & Skipping |
Ninja'd by Squirmy! 1) What is your blade cut depth set to? Are you using the new adjustable blade? You're cutting cardstock? I wouldn't set it deeper than 3. 2) What speed are you cutting at? If you're cutting at a speed faster than 5, try 5. 3) Is there any pulp buildup around the blade? I wonder if some WD-40 would help or maybe not matter at all. Just brainstorming. I mention these things because #1 and #2 were steps I had to take recently with my SD - it would get to a specific location on the page, grind for a split second, then be off for the remainder of the page. Slowing things down made a big difference. I still do some light cuts at full speed, but if there's any detail, I cut slowly, and if there's a lot of cutting, I cut slowly. I also had my blade set too deep when I got a new blade, and it was getting hung up on the cutting mat below. I tried my own cutting mat, and saw that it was slicing almost through two layers of cardstock! |
|
| Author: | morganm [ 01-27-2014, 09:31 AM ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Silhouette SD - Loud CLICK - Belt Binding & Skipping |
I'm not sure if I have an adjustable blade or not. How can I tell? Cutting 110 lb cardstock; same stuff I've used for years. I'm using the red cap which is a thickness of 3 I think; right? I did take the blade assembly out, took off the cap, nothing obviously wrong. No buildup on the blade or cap. Cap was smooth (thought maybe it was sticky / rough). Blade looks fine; no gouges, nicks, or broke tip. Not sure what the speed setting is at. I'll try slowing it down. These cuts are about as basic as you can get. Just simple rectangles with inverted curved corners (scallop corners?). |
|
| Author: | mproteau [ 01-27-2014, 09:47 AM ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Silhouette SD - Loud CLICK - Belt Binding & Skipping |
Older blades used a color-coded cap (yellow, blue or red) and the newer blades have an adjustable depth that is numbered. Since you said you're using the red cap, you've got an older style blade. Red cap is right for cardstock, though the recommendation is a slow speed (5 or less I think). Here's something you can try - remove the blade altogether give it a try. If it still slips, it clearly has nothing to do with the blade. |
|
| Author: | morganm [ 01-28-2014, 10:04 AM ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Silhouette SD - Loud CLICK - Belt Binding & Skipping |
Speed was already down to 3; I think that's the recomended speed for cardstock anyway which is why it's already there right? I did that other suggestion of turning it off and manually moving the head all the way to the left and then back to the right. Not sure if this helped. There was no binding or resistence when I moved it. Slid smoothly side to side. Did a test cut without the blade with no issues. However I don't think it was a valid test. She was running a different cut job through than the one we had problems with. There were no long cuts from right to left. Put the blade back in and ran the job with no issues; again I think because there wasn't the same cuts as the previous job. I'll have to investigate this further. Anyhow I went and ordered a new blade. Current blade seems ok to me but it can't hurt right? I see this new style you were talking about... this will work in the SD right? http://www.amazon.com/Silhouette-SILH-B ... e+sd+blade Should be here by Friday and I'll let yall know how it goes. If this doesn't fix it... there may be a Cameo in my near future =P |
|
| Author: | Squirmydad [ 01-28-2014, 01:01 PM ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Silhouette SD - Loud CLICK - Belt Binding & Skipping |
Yes, that blade will fit. The Portrait is significantly cheaper than the Cameo and is the same size as the old Silhouettes. Cameo does allow for larger cutting jobs though. |
|
| Author: | morganm [ 02-12-2014, 06:18 AM ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Silhouette SD - Loud CLICK - Belt Binding & Skipping |
Alright it seems to be working better now. Since the new blade and turning the 'thickness' down to 30 I've not had any clicking. I can see the belt still gets fairly stressed and tweaks when doing those left to right cuts but it hasn't skipped / clicked. Also I don't trust the suggested depths Silhouette studio recommends for these new blades! It told me to set it to 4 when using card stock. The old 'red cap' was a 3. Did a few cuts and it was going almost all the way through my carrier sheet! Machine was under obvious stress. I did actually get a couple of clicks at that depth too. I dialed it back to 3 and it's much better now. Still cuts all the way through my print out and just barely touches the carrier sheet. Thanks everyone. I've been a printing, cutting, and gluing fool lately. Getting ready for game night with my son and his friends this weekend. Forgot how much fun... and time consuming... this was. It's been years since I crafted any cardstock models =/ TTFN =^.^= |
|
| Author: | Squirmydad [ 02-12-2014, 12:44 PM ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Silhouette SD - Loud CLICK - Belt Binding & Skipping |
Cool, glad to hear it worked out for you.
|
|
| Page 1 of 1 | All times are UTC - 8 hours |
| Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|