Xpres Cut® Plus
INSTRUCTION MANUAL
Xpres Cut® Plus
INSTRUCTION MANUAL
contents
Installation and Set up
Installing and setting up the Roland GX-24 cutter |
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Roland GX-24 functions
Loading garment film |
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Installing and changing Xpres blades |
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Blade usage |
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Blade force |
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Using CorelDRAW
An introduction to CorelDRAW and its tools |
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CorelDRAW’s most common tools |
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Common tasks using CorelDRAW |
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Xpres Cut® Plus
Roland GX-24 Front Panel Overview |
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Setting the Media sizes on the Roland GX-24 |
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Producing text for cutting |
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The Xpres Cut Plus process |
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Producing cut lines
Using CorelDRAW’s Drawing tools & Drawing cut lines p13-14
Driver Settings
Current driver settings |
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Troubleshooting
General troubleshooting and tips |
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Instructions in this manual refer to Windows XP and CorelDRAW.
Other versions may differ.
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Xpres Cut® Plus is the new name for Ultragraphics |
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Installing the Roland GX-24
Insert the Roland GX-24 software package CD into the CD-ROM drive. The CD Will Auto Run and you will be presented with the screen on the right.
Click Install next to the Windows driver option.
Important: Do not connect the GX-24 to the |
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computer until you are instructed to make the |
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connection. Failure to follow the correct procedure |
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may make installation impossible. Installation of the |
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driver requires full access rights for the computer. |
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Log on to Windows with a computer administrator |
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account. |
click here |
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1.Connect the GX-24 to the computer (when instructed to do so by the driver installation wizard) using a USB cable, then switch on the power to the GX-24. The [Found New Hardware Wizard] appears.
2.When the found new hardware wizard appears, select [No, not this time], then click [Next]. If the screen does not appear, refer to step 3.
3.Choose [Install the software automatically (Recommended)], then click [Next]. Installation of the driver starts.
4.When the driver compatibility window appears, click [Continue Anyway].
5.Click [Finish].
6.Browse to the printers and faxes folder, right click on the Roland GX-24 and choose properties. Click on ‘printing preferences’ and click on the ‘Options’ tab. Un-tick the ‘High Resolution’ check box then click ok.
The Roland GX-24 driver installation is now complete.
Loading garment film
1.Make sure the loading lever is lowered.
2.Pass the material through the machine, and pull out the material until its leading edge is positioned over the guide lines.
3.Pull out a length of material that is slightly longer than the amount needed for cutting, leaving some slack. If you don’t, the material will not feed correctly.
Loading lever
4.Move the pinch rollers so that they are positioned at the edges of the material and also inside the areas of the pinch-roller position-verification marks.
Note: Be careful to position the pinch rollers so that they are not too close to the edges of the material and do not extend beyond the edges of the material.
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Loading garment film continued
5.Align the left edge of the material so that it lies parallel to the guide lines.
Note:
•Do not use excessive force when moving the loading lever. Doing so may damage it.
•If the condition of the material is as described below, then stretch or flatten it before use.
*The material is curled upward.
*The leading edge of the material is bent or creased.
6.Raise the loading lever. The material is now secured in place.
7.Turn on cutter, the display will read. Press the ‘ENTER’ key.
8.The head will now move over to the left hand side and give a width reading. Note: The width is determined by the distance between the inside of the pinch rollers, not the width of the material.
9.You can now use the cursor keys on the cutter to position the head/material start point. When you have the correct start point of the material press and hold the origin button. The display will flash ‘Origin Set’.
10.Adjust your blade force as required (see below) for the type of material you are using.
Installing & changing Xpres blades
1. Loosen the screw of the cutting |
2. Support the screw from below and |
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insert the blade. Note: If the blade |
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is installed without supporting the |
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screw, blade damage may occur. |
Blade Usage: XP2006 (blue tip) is used for all vinyl based print and garment film. XP2005 (red tip) is used for all flock based print and garment film.
3.Tighten the screw. Tip: To ensure the blade has been installed correctly, tug upwards on the blade to make sure the blade is tight enough.
Blade Force: After loading the material into the cutter you may need to change the force. Press the ‘FORCE’ button, then press the RIGHT arrow key and use the UP and DOWN arrow keys to increase or decrease the force as desired. Once the required force is set, press ENTER.
Cutting Depths For use with Roland CX/GX-24
Garment Films
Easy Cut: 60 - 80gf Easy Flex: 90 - 100gf Extra Flex: 90 - 100gf Fashion Range (excluding Sparkle & Textile Foil): 90 - 120gf Flexi Cut: 110 - 120gf Multi Flex: 90 - 100gf Nylo Flex: 90 - 100gf Premium Flock: 90 - 110gf (Flock Blade)
Promo Flock: 60 - 80gf (Flock Blade) Sparkle: 140 - 180gf (Flock Blade) Super Flex: 90 - 100gf Textile Foil: 120 - 140gf Thermo Reflective: 90 - 110gf Ultra Cut: 90 - 100gf Glossy Flex: 90 - 100gf
Full Colour Transfer
Dark Jet: 60 - 80gf Inkjet Dark: 70 - 90gf Subli Flock: 80 - 100gf (Flock Blade)
Sign Vinyl
Sign Vinyl: 90 - 110gf
Gem Tec
Stencil Film: 200gf + (Flock Blade)
Use the ‘TEST’ button on the cutter to obtain the correct depth, by starting at the recommended minimum depth above and increasing in increments of 10gf. All forces above have been taken using a new blade, and can differ from cutter to cutter.
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Introducing CorelDRAW and its tools
CorelDRAW is an extremely powerful program of which you will probably only need to use half of the tools and features of the program. In this section we will introduce you to the tools in CorelDRAW and what they do and also take you through the most common tasks you will need to complete in CorelDRAW.
Below is an image of the toolbox in CorelDRAW with explanations of the tools based.
Pick Tool
Shaping Tools
Zoom Tools
Drawing Tools
Rectangle Tools
Ellipse Tools
Polygon Tools
Basic Shapes Tools
Text Tool
Interactive Tools
Eyedropper Tools
Outline Tool
Fill Tool
Interactive Fill Tools
Each of the tools shown here except the Pick tool and the Text tool have extra tools hidden in what are called flyout menu’s, to access a fly out menu hold the left mouse button down on the corresponding button
and the menu will pop out allowing you access to the extra tools.
Each of the flyout menus are shown below
giving you a breakdown of where all the tools are stored, the most common tools and their functions are shown below.
Shaping Tools
Left to right: Shape Tool, Knife Tool, Eraser Tool, Smudge Brush, Roughen Brush, Free Transform Tool
Zooms Tools
Left to right: Zoom Tool, Pan Tool
Drawing Tools
Left to right: Freehand tool, Bezier Tool, Artistic Media Tool, Pen Tool,
Polyline Tool, 3 Point Curve, Interactive Connector, Dimension Tool
Rectangle Tools
Left to right: Rectangle Tool, 3 Point Rectangle
Ellipse Tools
Left to right: Ellipse Tool, 3 Point Ellipse Tool
Polygon Tools
Basic Shapes Tools
Left to right: Basic Shapes Tool,
Arrow Shapes Tool, Flowchart Shapes, Star Shapes, Callout Shapes
Interactive Tools
Left to right: Blend Tool, Contour Tool, Distortion Tool, Envelope Tool Extrude Tool, Shadow Tool, Transparency Tool
Eyedropper Tools
Left to right: Eyedropper Tool,
Paintbucket Tool
Outline Tools
Left to right: Outline Pen Tool, Outline Colour Tool, No outline, Various widths of line, Colour Docker Window
Fill Tools
Left to right: Fill Tool, Fountain Fill, Pattern Fill, Texture Fill, Postscript Fill, No Fill, Colour Docker Window
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Interactive Fill Tools |
Left to right: Polygon Tool, |
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Graph Paper Tool, Spiral Tool |
Left to right: Interactive Fill, Mesh Fill |
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Introducing CorelDRAW and its tools
The Pick Tool: This is the main tool that you will use in CorelDRAW, it is used for manipulating anything onscreen in the main window and also for selecting and using any of the other tools, holding the left mouse button and dragging a box will select anything within the area that you drag over, clicking an object onscreen with a single left mouse button click will select individual objects.
The Zoom Tool: When you select the Zoom tool your cursor will change to a magnifying glass with a plus sign in the lens, to zoom in on an are click the left mouse button, to zoom out click the right mouse button, to zoom in on a certain area click and drag around the area with the left mouse button and you will zoom to the selected area.
The Bezier Tool: The Bezier Tool is the main drawing tool that you will use with the Xpres Cut Plus system, for more details refer to page 13 which goes through the tool in more detail.
The Shape Tool: This tool is used in conjuntion with the Bezier Tool to curve lines that have been drawn as per the section on page 13 which deals with the drawing tools. This tool can also be used to alter the shapes of objects and to change the spacing on text.
The Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon & Basic Shapes Tools: All of these tools work on a very simple basis in that you click and hold the left most button down and drag out the shape that you would like to the sizes you require.
The Text Tool: Simply click on screen with this tool and then type as normal with the keyboard, you will see that you have all the standard options at the top of the screen such as font type and size as well as the standard formatting options.
The Outline Tool: This tool lets you change the properties of any object on screen to change the width of the outside edge by selecting the object first with the Pick tool and then choosing the Outline tool to make your changes.
The Fill Tool: The Fill tool works in exactly the same way as the Outline Tool but alters the properties of the inside of an object i.e the colour fill of it, by selecting the object first then choosing the Fill tool to make your changes.
The Interactive Tools: These tools are a collection of tools that will allow you to add artist effects to any object in the
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main CorelDRAW window such as shadows, contours and transparancies etc.