I bought a Silhouette SD a couple of years ago and had great success with it. However, I have been manually cutting my last build and it has been in storage for a long while now.

Returning to TLX, I thought I would drag it out, dust it off and fire it up. The initial couple of sheets cut fine, but after that, the damned machine refused to recognise the lower (3rd) registration mark. It seems to pick up the upper ones fine, so I don't think its a problem with the optical sensor, it just goes hunting for it in the wrong place (way down the bottom of the page). I am confused as to what the problem could be.

Anyone else (of the few people left who frequent this place) had something similar ?

Frank

I've had this happen before, but it's been a long time, so I can't 100% recall what was the issue for me. Here's what I'm remembering:

I THINK at least once it was because I was feeding the page in with the top in first. Remember that all cutfiles for WWG stuff are made for feeding the pages with the bottom in first.

And I think on another time, it was because I had accidentally printed the pages from Acrobat Reader without making sure that "Actual Size" had been selected. Thus, they weren't printed to proper scale and the registration marks at one end of the page were in the wrong location.

NINJA! Still, here's my post:

I've been upgraded to a Cameo, so I haven't been using my SD at all recently. Let me get the "sorry I have to ask this" questions out of the way first:

1) Frustratingly the files have four reg marks on them. Are you sure you're inserting the page correctly (i.e. the bottom of the page first)?

2) You're sure there's no scaling of the prints, which might cause it to misread the final registration mark?

3) There's adequate lighting in the area?

4) You're running *the latest* version of the Silhouette Studio software?

5) You're sure *the latest* version is reading the GSD files happily and it has gone and put the registration marks in the right place?

I've been involved in making my own cutfiles, so I haven't used the WWG GSD files in a long time. I'm not sure how well they open in the new Studio software. If you open the GSD files, are the reg marks there and in the right place and orientation? Make sure the settings are:

a) Style: Type 2 (Original, SD)
b) Length .250 in
c) Thickness .020 in
d) Position: .625 in, .990 in, .625 in, .500 in
e) Inverted orientation

Guys, thanks for all the help.

1) I am using a cheap HP deskjet 3520 but its one I have successfully used before. The printouts measure correctly.

2) My two successful cuts on Sunday were for the LotDG Tall Box Walls. Printing out the same sheet now results in a failed registration mark detection.

3) I have quintuple checked and I have got all the scaling options off before I print.

4) I am definitely feeding the sheet in bottom first to the cutter.

5) The cutter detects the "bottom left" registration mark first. Then it successfully detects the "bottom right" mark. Then it all goes Pete Tong. The cutter scrolls the paper to the top left of the sheet as expected but goes WAY past the "top left" registration mark and starts hunting for it at the top left corner of the paper. It never finds it there (because it isn't there, it's about an inch lower down and a quarter of an inch right of where it is looking). Eventually, it gives up.

6) Ambient light isn't brilliant but it is not dark by any means. Comfortable reading light certainly.

7) I am in the UK and printing on A4 paper. The printer is set up for A4 paper and so is the Silhouette SD.

8) I have loaded the Sillhouette Studio software from CD, so am reasonably sure I am using the right version of that. If I have to check the cutter's firmware version, I am not sure how to.

9) Reg marks on the GSD look like they are in the same place as on the printout.

10) I don't know how to check the Studio settings as defined in the last post though.

I am about to give up I think

It sounds like you're using the version of Silhouette Studio that came with the cutter. That might be fairly out-of-date, so you might want to just go to and download the latest and use that. I can't say that it'll fix your issues, but it's a possibility.

As to how to check the registration marks settings, either look in one of the menus at the top for "Registration Mark Settings" or look for an icon in the upper right that shows 3 little L-shaped registration marks and click on it. Obviously, do this while you have the GSD file open. That window of options should match what mproteau listed.

Another question: you haven't played with the calibration settings in Silhouette Studio, have you? That COULD be causing the issues, though you'd usually know it if you'd changed those. To check, go to the File menu and select Calibration. In the window that opens up on the right hand side, there should be 2 little gauges that should both say something like 200.0mm. If they're off by much, then it can cause you some issues.

Well, I am pretty sure it's a problem with the cutter.

I downloaded the latest Silhouette Studio software and set it up as recommended above. I tried it on another LotDG Tall Box Side and got a perfect cut. Yippee.

I tried it on two more, just repeating the process and they worked fine.

On the 4th try (flushed with success), the bloody cutter started looking for the 3rd registration mark in the wrong place again and failed to find it, exactly as before. I made no changes on Silhouette between the 3rd and 4th cut sheet.

I am utterly bamboozled.

That is odd.

Out of curiosity, what are you using for a carrier sheet?

Hi Michael. I tried a) and b) multiple times and it seems to work. Cutter has been working fine tonight and I have managed to successfully cut 10 6" by 6" tiles. I accidentally left the cutter set to letter size paper (it's A4) and although I had to position the card much higher on the carrier sheet than usual so that the first registration mark could be found, it has since worked all night.

Mystifying. Thanks for the tip on the carrier sheet. I shall try that.