Chapter 25: Solving Printing And Registration Problems; Check The Job; Poor Print-To-Cut Registration - Gerber OMEGA CP Reference Manual

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Chapter 25:
Solving Printing and Registration Problems
Occasionally, a job may print differently than what you expected. There are some tips and
techniques that you can use to determine what happened and how to change the design or
production of the job to achieve the effect you want.

Check the job

If a job does not print or cut as you expected, review "Before Printing or Cutting, Check the
Design" and "Five Steps to Successful Output." In Composer, toggle F8 so you can view the job
in the filled mode to try to determine what is incorrect.

Poor print-to-cut registration

There are five techniques you can use to solve print-to-cut registration problems. First, make
sure that the specific plotter that you use to cut the job is calibrated to the specific printer you
use. This calibration procedure is in the topic "Calibrating the plotter to a printer."
The second technique is to use multiple printed targets for registering the plotter knife to the
job. This is described in the topic "Configuring targets for accurate print-to-cut registration."
The third technique is to center the job on the vinyl as described in "Centering a job on the
vinyl."
The fourth technique is to use a trapline to eliminate print-to-cut registration problems with
outlines and strokes as described in "Using a trapline to create an outline."
The final technique is to expand the print area of an object with a bleed. The Bleed command in
the Tools menu establishes a distance beyond the cutline to ensure good print-to-cut
registration. There must be a cutline on a filled object to assign a bleed.
This example shows how the bleed amount extends beyond the cutline of the shape. When the
shape is cut on the plotter, the bleed amount beyond the cutline is weeded away.