Return to Our work | Fabrication Wiki
The printer works as a standalone unit. The "test" pattern (square with a circle inside) cuts fine. The measure function and moving the blade work as well.
The printer seems to have been having port conflicts on the scanning printer. It has since been moved to another computer. The USB cord seems to require drivers not supplied by Copam. These are Roland PNC-960 or HP HPGL for Flexi. I have been unable to locate either driver freely. Several sites offer to sell the driver.
Using the Parallel port on the 2nd computer, I was able to cut a design:
To Cut a Design
-
Plug in printer; ensure it is connected to the computer via the Parallel Port (25 pin plug)
-
Open "SignBlazer Elements" (Green Logo).
-
Click "Trial Mode" when prompted. The software company is no longer in business so you cannot activate your validation. Trial mode is identical to full version mode.
-
Create a drawing / text / scribble, using the drawing tools in "SignBlazer". Chapters 1-5 of the guide on the accompanying CD outline how to use these functions.
-
Click the Green "Cutter" button to enter cut mode.
-
Select "Setup" and ensure all the proper settings are selected. Your cutter should be "CoPam 2500" and your output device "Blazer.LPT1". If you have more than one parallel port, adjust the output device to reflect which port is in use.
-
See chapter 6 (p. 195) of the guide for further instructions on cutting or making adjustments.
-
Click "CUT!"
-
Click "Cut Tile"
-
At this point, the printer should cut your design.
Note, this will only cut vectors created within the SignBlazer Elements program. You cannot cut imported images or bitmaps in this manner.
To Cut an Image
You can import and cut an image by "vectorizing" it. This creates a path for the blade to follow while cutting.
Keep in mind that this is not a printer. All images should be black and white and details should be fairly large (or you'll have lots of peeling to do later).
-
Launch "SignBlazer Elements" (Green Logo).
-
Under "File" menu, select "Import"
-
Find your image on the hard drive, select it and click the green check mark
-
Under "Image" menu, select "Vectorize"
-
If the program says cannot Vectorize as the image is not Monochromatic, select the image, Under "Image" menu, select "Monochromatize" then "Vectorize"
-
Click the green check mark
-
Click the green "Cutter" button to enter cut mode
-
Select "Setup" and ensure all the proper settings are selected. Your cutter should be "CoPam 2500" and your output device "Blazer.LPT1". If you have more than one parallel port, adjust the output device to reflect which port is in use.
-
See chapter 6 (p. 195) of the guide for further instructions on cutting or making adjustments.
-
Click "CUT!"
-
Click "Cut Tile"
-
At this point, the printer should cut your design.
 |
 |
 |
| The Arm | Poster 1 | Poster 2 |
Problems
-
The machine only has 2 rollers that hold the paper flat. This can cause some bowing in the middle, which when the cutter runs across to "measure" will leave a scratch on the paper. You can solve this by lightly holding down the middle of the paper. But keep your fingers well clear.
-
Make sure you heed the paper measurements taken when you first turn on the machine. You will have to input these into the "Cutter" setup settings. This is not done automatically. If you try to cut something larger than your paper it will simply get left off once the machine hits the edge. Just because it appears to fit on the screen doesn't make it so.
More to come...
Theory of Cutting
I believe, to cut an image on the cutter you must:
-
Open a new file in Signblazer
-
Import an image
-
Place the image at 0, 0 (bottom left corner of pink box)
-
Reduce the image to 2 colours (under "image" menu)
-
Vectorize image (under "image" menu)
-
Click the "Cutter" button
-
Check the "Setup" of the cutter to ensure all the right hardware is selected
-
Click "CUT!"
-
Printer should then print.
