Printable View
Hi..
I've been given this old plotter, and it seems to be impossible to get any software for it. Is an old pen plotter, and the intention was to cut stickers with a "penknife" or what you call it. The question then is; would it be possible to obtain such a driver from someone on this forum? I would think that this driver would exist on someone’s old computer. It uses rs 232 interface. I would appreciate any advice concerning this problem.
Thanks in advance.
Jon
Join the Signmaker yahoo group. There are lots of MUTOH users on there. It may well work with generic HPGL plotter drivers but those can be hard to find for XP if that is your OS. Unlike plotters and printers a lot of the vinyl cutters need an output program (spooler) that will let you control the options on the cutter from the cutting software. There are some issues with drag knife cutting that need to be addressed when using a plotter as a cutter. The down force for vinyl cutting needs to be adjsustable and is critical. You can just stick in a sheet of vinyl and do a cutout. It has to have a backer media that holds the cut objects in place or they end up wrapping around your feedwheels and the knife blade. Sign vinyl comes with a backer paper but the down force has be set so the knife does not slice through everything. Also the knife holder normally has an adjustable nose piece that controls the depth to an extent. Without both you are in for a frustrating experience.
The nature of the knife means that you need to deal with the fact that there is undrcut and overcut and problems when changing direction (like on a 90 deg corner). Most of the vinyl cutters have special electronics that lift the knife at a corner and then offset the cut going in the other direction so the two cut lines cross. To get some feel of this take an exacto knife and hand cut some complex shapes without lifting the blade out of the cut and never stopping motion.
You can make it work but is not as simple as just replacing the pen with a knife. With the cost of vinyl cutters below $1000.00 it starts to become a toss up on spending all the time and money to convert a plotter that will do marginal work VS just buying a new or used vinyl cutter with drivers.
"You can just stick in a sheet of vinyl and do a cutout."
should say: "You can't just stick in a sheet of vinyl and do a cutout.
Thanks alot. Great answer. Maybe I should think twice about my litle free "tresure"....
Jon
I am not familiar with the MUTOH plotter, but I aquired an HP plotter from a large corporation after all the engineers (koledge edumacated) could not get it to work. Simple trip to HP web site (after I got it home) revealed that it needed a special cable, not a "standard" cable. Pin outs available at their web site! It works like a charm!
I have an Mutoh XP501 (sadly like new too) and it categorically refuses to work with any HP graphics code.
It has something to do with vector versus rastor graphics of any Windows print drivers. We even tried aftermarked software adaptation code and a properly jumpered cable (via switch box).
Does garbage printing unless you use DOS Autocad 9 which we lost use of eons ago.
Thats too bad. I'll probably just have to throw mine away then..... It ain't any point in using time in something that won't work anyway.
Hello.
I'm testing this driver from mutoh.
IP-210/IP-220 http://www.mutoh.be/page.aspx/152
2000/XP drv = http://www.mutoh.be/01/MyDocuments/xp-nt.exe
It should work with all old plotters, also iP-530.
And yes I have iP-530.
I test with PCAD (PCB Design prog.), would someone give some feedback on how is working with AutoCAD, ProEngineer etc.?
There are some minor problems with offset (XY zero pos.) and some missing vectors (small lines, dots). I'm not 100% positive it's PCAD's fault, but allmost :)
BR
***you can find them. They are a Third part Products, suggested by HP, Autodesk, Motoh, etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by quickerz
We have them for all plotter Brands.
We can support you.
Please contact us.
www.paolocasella.it
----->click CONTATTI and fill the form or go to
www.plotterdriver.it
Quote:
Originally Posted by zwmaster
***as you experienced very well, Windows creates a lot of problems in plotting CAD/Cutting/Engraving works.
The problem is that Windows, Plotters and Applications usually don't give good drivers, or they don't give at all for old plotters.
We can offer a solution: a Third Part Product
Those drivers are recommended from HP, Autodesk, Mutoh, etc. and work great with Autocad, Proengineering, Corel Draw, Power Point, Micrografx Designer, EXCELL, Lotus, Word
and all vectorial-oriented Windows applications, under W95, W98, WME, NT 4.0, W2000, WinXP, Win VISTA
Paolo Casella
tel. ++39 0182 660 210
fax ++39 0182 660 180
www.paolocasella.it
----->click CONTATTI and fill the form or go to
www.plotterdriver.it