COLE CL365 User manual

COLE
Cutting Plotter
CL365/720/870/1100/1350
Instruction Manual

Contents
I. General Safety Rules·······································································1
II. Specifications·················································································2
III. Plotter Components Diagram·······················································3
IV. Assembly Diagram of Plotter Stand ············································4
V. Loading Paper················································································5
VI. Loading Cutter and Pen································································6
VII. Running Plotter in Test Mode ·····················································7
VIII. Operating Instruction··································································8
IX. Test and Force Adjustment························································10
X. Frequently Asked Questions·······················································11
XI. Troubleshooting··········································································12

Cole Plotter User Manual
I. General Safety Rules
Please read the following before operating the plotter!
1. Do not connect or remove serial cable/parallel cable when the unit is
powered up. Make all connections with the power off.
2. Keep your hands and hair away from the metal rollers at all times to
prevent injury from moving parts and cutting blade.
3. Keep all magnetic sensitive and other magnetic material away from
the unit. This may cause damage to the electrical components.
4. To ensure the machine work safely and reliably, please always
connect the power cord to grounded power outlet.
5. Turn the power off when the machine is not in use.
6. If there is no media (vinyl, paper, etc.) in the machine do not lock down
pinch rollers. Locking them without media may cause damage to the
rubber traction material and damage the metal bottom roller.
7. Do not attempt to pull media manually through machine as this may
damage the stepping motors and control unit.
8. This unit works from 110v power system. If you do not have 110v a
voltage stabilizer should be used.
9. To prevent damage to the moving track do not attempt to move the
unit by lifting from the top. Always move the unit by holding from the
bottom.
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Cole Plotter User Manual
II. Specifications
Model CL365 CL720 CL870 CL1100 CL1350
Max.Paper Width 365mm 720mm 870mm 1100mm 1350mm
Max. Cutting Width 275mm 630mm 780mm 1010mm 1260mm
Cutting Speed 60- 800mm/s
Cutting Force 50-500g
RAM 1M
LCD Display Backlit LCD Display
Communication Port Serial/Parallel/USB Port
Power Requirements AC110V±10% or AC220V ±10%
Repeatability 0.0127mm
Mechanical Resolution 0.0254mm/step
Command Set DMPL / HPGL
Temperature 0-35℃
Working
Condition Humidity 5%-65%（without condensation）
Remark:
Except for CL365, all other models include Aluminum alloy floor
stand.
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Cole Plotter User Manual
III. Plotter Components Diagram
List of Components
1. USB port
2. Serial port
3. Parallel port
4. Carriage
5. Cutter holder
6. Keyboard controls
7. Metal rollers
8. Front side of pinch rollers
9. Power switch, Fuse, and Power cord input
10.Plotter stand
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Cole Plotter User Manual
IV. Assembly Diagram of Plotter stand
Assembly Description
1. Vinyl roll holders.
2. Vinyl roll holder side arms.
3. Three 1 ¼ inch flat tip screws with matching metal connecting
grommets to screw on the ends will connect the vinyl roll holder side
arms.
4. Two ¾ inch pointed screws placed inside of the black sleeve attach to
the sides of the middle bar and covered on the ends with the black
grommet cover. Note: on larger stands there will be two middle bars to
attach.
5. Four 1 ½” pointed screws attach to bottom of stand.
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Cole Plotter User Manual
V. Loading paper
1. Adjust the place of pinch-roller according to paper-width.
Cutting plotter has 2 to 4 pinch-roller assemblies (depending on
machine size) and they can be moved on the guide rail. When moving,
please ensure the handle of the pinch-roller is lifted up, then hold the
back of the holder and push it to the left or the right. Do not pull the
roller bar in the front, otherwise the machine precision will be affected.
2. Placement of the pinch rollers:
ٛa. Pinch-roller is in the place out of the scope of the pattern.
ٛb. Pinch-roller is 10-50mm away from the edges of paper.
ٛc. Do not lock pinch roller over a joint on the metal roller.
3. Loading paper
a. Lift the pinch-roller handle and keep it away from the roller.
b. Insert the paper between metal roller and pinch-roller of the
machine from behind to front.
c. Press down the pinch-rollers.
d. If vinyl film is not well placed, a serious deviation will occur.
Please carefully check vinyl before sending a file for cutting. If
vinyl stretches out longer on one side than the other, lift up
pinch-roller on longer side and draw the vinyl back from this side
till both sides of vinyl are on a horizontal line. Press pinch-roller
and try running and adjusting the vinyl several times in this way.
Some vinyl is not originally horizontal or upright, so it is
necessary to run vinyl for enough times to ensure least deviation
before working with it.
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Cole Plotter User Manual
VI. Loading cutter and pen
1. Structure of cutter holder and items of components
Rotate the cutter holder to adjust the length of the blade past the
bottom of the holder making sure that it is not
extended too far, resulting in the blade cutting through
the vinyl backing.
ٛa. Cutter (diameter is 2mm)
ٛb. Cutter holder shell
ٛc. Cutter holder body
ٛd. Cutter-exiting staff
2. Installation and adjustment
ٛa. Before installing the cutter, you must carefully clean the cutter
holder body, the cutter and your hands. Even very slight dirt can affect the
rotating sensitivity. Insert the cutter into the cutter holder body with care,
then push the cutter to the bottom with a flexile plastic or rubber, but don’t
damage the blade tip.
ٛb. Rotate the shell of the cutter holder and make the out-stretching
length of the blade tip is not larger than the thickness of the vinyl and
adhesive.
3. Plotter holder
You can use ball-pen to plot with the given plotter holder.
a. Loosen the screw on the holder with a screwdriver
counter-clockwise.
b. Insert a ball-pen and adjust the tip out the proper length.
c. Clockwise fasten the screw.
4. Installation
a. Turn off the power.
b. Loosen the locking-screw of the cutter-bracket, then put the cutter
holder or plotter holder in the “V” breach and ensure the blade tip or
refill reaches to the plastic pressing-strip. Fasten the locking-screw
clockwise.
c. After turning on the machine, the tip should be raised about 1 to
2mm away from pressing-strip.
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Cole Plotter User Manual
VII. Running Plotter in Test Mode
1 Place the machine on a smooth table, and keep enough room around it.
2 Keep machine away from strong electromagnetic disturbance or thick
dirt-powder.
3 Connect the machine to the computer by the serial or parallel cable, and
then turn the power on. If the carriage can automatically move right and
metal roller can rotate automatically, this means machine’s automatic
reset.
4 If it fails to reset, press the “RESET” key.
5 The cutter holder should then rise 2mm or so. If you press “origin” key,
the holder will lower to its cutting depth; Release the key, the holder will
rise again. It shows the carriage and cutter holder can work properly.
6 If you want the machine to cut from appointed location, press the
“option” key, the yellow light will be on, press “←”or“→”,the carriage
move to left or right; press“↓”or“↑”,the media will move forward or behind.
Then press “ORIGIN” key, the machine will work at the point of blade’s
location.
7 Press “TEST” key, the machine can start its own testing program and a
test-cut design will be automatically cut. This is a great way to adjust the
blade depth and ensure you are not over or under cutting the vinyl. You
want to just score the toplayer of the vinyl preventing any cutting on the
backing material. MAKE SURE the blade is deep enough to cut all
corners and edges of your vinyl test.
NOTE:
A. Turn off the power of computer and machine before connecting the
cable.
B. When you use the software, ensure to set controls such as: port,
commands set, baud rate and device, etc. to coordinate with the
cutting plotter. When you input data from computer to the machine,
the machine will work.
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Cole Plotter User Manual
VIII. Operating Instructions
The machine contains six working status: Reset, Online, Offline, Setup,
Offline + Setup and Pause.
1. Reset status
When you turn the power on, the machine can automatically reset.
When it is working, if you press the “reset” key, the machine will return
to reset --- clear up all information, and get ready for new work.
“Welcome to use” will appear on the LCD that means the machine
intend to receive the data from the computer. At the time, the default in
the LCD is as follows:
ٛa. Baud rate = 9600
ٛb. Cutting speed: 200mm/s; Cutting force: 150g;
ٛc. Cutting origin is according with the default in the machine
ٛd. Clearing the buffer The above information may be changed
through operation.
2. Online status
After the machine resets, the red light (reset indicator) is on, when the
machine receives data from the computer, the yellow light flash, machine
entered into online status. You can operate as follows:
ٛa. Change the cutting speed: please press “V+” or “V-” key.
ٛb. Adjust the cutting force: please press the “F+” or “F-” key.
ٛc. Change the origin: please press “option”, and “F+” or “F-”,
“V+” or “V-” to move the cutting blade to appropriate position, then repress
“origin”, this position will be confirmed as the new work origin. After you
press “Reset” key, machine will work at its default position.
3. Off-line status
Under online status, press “Offline” key, and you’ll enter offline status.
The yellow light is on. Meanwhile, “motion” and “X=xxx, Y=yyy” will
appear on LCD, which shows the coordinates location of the blade at
the moment. If the cutting plotter is at work, it will stop working, and the
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Cole Plotter User Manual
blade will be lifted up. Then the cutting plotter can’t receive data
transmitted from the computer, but you may operate as follows:
ٛa. Press the key “↑”or “↓”,and you may remove the vinyl film
forward or backward;
ٛb. Press the key“→”or“←”,and you can move the carriage right or
left;
ٛc. When you press the key “origin”, the current location of the
blade will be defaulted as new work point;
4. Setup status
In online status, when you press the “Setup” key, the green light is on,
and you may set the baud rate of serial port. If you press “Setup” key
once more, it will restore to online status. NOTE: unless you are a
professional technician, it is not suggested to change this setting.
5. Copy status
Press “Offline”, “Setup” and “Origin” key, the machine will re-cut all the
data output at the time of latest resetting. But the machine will NOT
re-cut anything, when the green “Reset” is light flashing, if the output
data is more than the buffer capacity. In this condition, you may press
“RESET” key to re-start cutter’s work.
6. Pause status
ٛa. Check cutting effect: With the unit on: press “Offline/Pause’’
key, it will pause. You may move media by pressing“→”,“←”or“↓”key（but
do not press“↑”key） and check cutting effect. Repressing “Offline/Pause”
key will make the machine back to work.
ٛb. Continue work at a new point: When the blade moves to a new
point, if you press “Origin” key instead of “Offline/Pause” key, the cutter
will continue work at this new point.
NOTE:
If something unusual happens, that you can’t stop cutter’s work,
please turn power off.
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Cole Plotter User Manual
IX. Test Cut and Force Adjustment
Test Cut
Once you have the blade installed and vinyl inserted you may test cut to
check the force of the blade and verify that the plotter is operated
correctly. Press the TEST key to set up the test cut.
Adjustment of blade’s force
By pressing the right arrow or left arrow the force of the blade will be
decreased or increased by one level. If the force is too low the cut will not
be deep enough, if it is too high the logo or patterns could be
compromised. Additionally the blade and cutting strip could be damaged.
The blade should normally stick out about 0.5mm or less which is
two-thirds the thickness of the vinyl. While drawing patterns by the plotter
you should first try adjusting the force to be conservatively low.
NOTE：
Always test cut every time you use a new type of vinyl to verify the
cutting force.
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Cole Plotter User Manual
X. Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What languages can this machine process?
A: DMPL / HPGL (Roland Compatible)
Q: What programs have been tested on the machine?
A: Signcut, Artcut, WinPC Signs, Signlab and Flexi (plotter works
fine with all versions of Flexi).
Q: Will this cutter work with other software?
A: This cutter will work with most sign-cutting software such as Flexi,
Signcut, Artcut, Winpcsign. You can export files from current versions of
Adobe Illustrator or Corel draw and import them into Artcut 2005.
Q: What colors of vinyl can you use with this plotter?
A: You can use multiple colors of vinyl. This does not print color. If you
would like full color with gradients, you need a printer. If you want to
block colors (more vibrant than printed colors), this is perfect..
Q: Will this cutter work fine for t-shirt transfers?
A: Yes
Q: What driver do I use?
A: Most other software programs will work using the Roland PNC 1000
driver.
Q: Will this work with a MAC?
A: Yes! We have tested on a Macintosh computer and chipset but not
yet on the newer Mac’s running on the Intel chipset configuration.
Q: Does this plotter have an opos eye or registration mark reader?
A: No
Q: What voltages will this work at?
A: This will work fine at 110 or 220V.
Q: I need to know the cut radius, what’s the resolution?
A: Mechanical resolution: 0.0254mm / step.
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Cole Plotter User Manual
XI. Troubleshooting
Artcut software
If you are using Artcut 2005 there should be 2 CD’s in the case. The blue
CD that says Artcut 2005 is the one you should install which should be in
English or at least have an option to install in English. At some point in the
install it may ask you to insert the second disk which is the disk with the
Chinese characters that says Artcut graphic disk. That disk is in Chinese
but you only need to insert it briefly so that the install can continue and
you normally will not need to use the Chinese disk again unless you
reinstall the program. Sometimes you maybe encounter a tip saying that
“insert graphic CD” that means that you should insert Graphic CD into CD
Rom of your computer. So Graphic CD is also regarded as a key CD to
Artcut.
Problems Cutting
1.Check to make sure the cables are connected properly
2.Are you using the correct driver in the cutting software?
3.Run a test cut
4.Be sure the pinch rollers are tight enough and placed correctly on
the ends of the vinyl and somewhere in between.
Connectivity Problems
Artcut and most other vinyl / tint cutting software interfaces with the vinyl
cutter directly without using Windows drivers. As such, the settings in
Artcut are critical.
Parallel Port
In most cases the parallel port will work by simply connecting the
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Cole Plotter User Manual
parallel cable and setting up the Artcut software to plot through the
LTP1 port. If you do have problems you can try the following steps.
1.Verify all cables are connected properly and try rebooting the
computer and/or plotter.
2.Make sure you have a parallel cable not longer than 12’ (the shorter the
better).
3.No other devices or switchboxes should be connected or daisy
chained to the parallel port.
4.Try changing your parallel port mode to ECP if it is not already. This is
done in your computer setup (BIOS) and is it recommended that only
advanced users adjust this setting.
5.Remove any other devices that are listed in control panel>Faxes
and printers. You will not actually see the plotter installed as a device
here but since it uses a driver through the cutting software but any
other installed parallel drivers could interfere with the plotter.
Serial
For Serial simply connects the serial cable to the PC and set the
Artcut software to print through COM1, and if that does not work try
COM2.
Built-in USB
Please refer to “USB dirver Installation under Windows XP.pdf”. Once
the drivers are installed, you will need to go into device manager and
change the USB port from COM4 (or default setting) to COM1 or COM2
so that it can be recognized in Artcut 2005. As mentioned before the
USB connection is the same speed as a serial port. This is the most
difficult connectivity method since it is the only method where it is
necessary to install a driver. The driver is for the USB conversion cable
and not the plotter itself.
1.Before connecting the plotter install the driver from the mini driver disk
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Cole Plotter User Manual
included with the cable. If you have the plotter connected it will try to
automatically install a driver, which could lock up your computer so leave
it disconnected during the driver install.
2.You will need to install the USB driver into computer;
3.Once the driver is installed, please turn off the computer and plotter
and connect the cable.
4.Start your computer and plotter and the plotter should be ready to use.
5.Be sure to change the port settings in Artcut.
The USB device will be found as “COM 4” from “Device Manager”. To
ensure stable work, please change the port to “COM 3”.
Distributed By
AnHui Cole Technology Co.,Ltd
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