Want to convert HP Draftpro 7570 into a vinyl cutter.

[StackemHard]

Please help me out i need to convert this plotter so i can cut vinyl but i need info and steps on creating or buying a knife holder to hold the blade. Please dont tell me about luberth.com cause i have been there and i know my plotter is one they tested but the site is god awful and i cant find a way to contact the person who tested the 7570A. Please help me out!!!!

[doc_ecu]

Hello!
I'm currently in the process of converting this pen plotter to a vinyl cutter. I use simply a blade holder you can get for cheap in eBay (mine was for around EUR 27).

The pen holder of this plotter is not very strong, so during plotting vinyl the blade holder will move around and the output is unusable. I removed the stock pen holder (just the small spring loaded thing) and replaced it with a small aluminum profile, shaped so that it holds perfect the blade holder. Many ppl just use elastic band or ty-rap.

You'll need some extra weight. On my 7570A i tested it with around 10gramms (balancing weight for alloy rims), enough to cut normal vinyl. You have to play around with the weight and media you want to cut.

All in all - it works. But i'm still not 100% happy with it. I have still a little problem with it, sharp edges will not be perfect, they're all the time a bit rounded. I set in my plotter software the tool offset, but it still not perfect. Maybe just 1-2/100th of a mm (a hair ), but if you know that there is an error, you'll notice the error.

Maybe someone else with a converted penplotter can say anything more about this and share his/her experience with us?

[StackemHard]

Yes Finally!!!!! Doc tell me can you post pics of some of the work you have done with the vinyl cutter and tell me what blades and blade holder did you buy ??? What website??? How Much?? Please help me and tell me what i have to do to get mine at the stage your at now????

[doc_ecu]

Today i took a photo of my blade holder. The picture will explain better how i fixed the bladeholder to the plotter.

Beside of the blade holder, i just filled the gap underneath the pen. I just used a strong plastic tape (the white stripe in the picture).

I got my blade holder and blades from eBay. Here some links:
Blade Holder: http://cgi.ebay.at/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...4347&rd=1&rd=1
Blades: http://cgi.ebay.at/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...6215&rd=1&rd=1

BTW: I fixed the problem with the not so sharp cutted corners. The first blade i tried had a little play in bladeholder. So the knive can move around (i speak of 1000th of a mm) when chaning the direction of movement. The new blades have thicker shafts, so the fit tigher into the bearings of the bladeholder.

[kennected]

Try this item on ebay... Item number: 190073850786

[hempuli]

I just got my 7475a pen plotter to work as a vinyl cutter. I used one of those knife holders off ebay as well as 45 degree roland blades off ebay. I filled the gap under the cutter with a thick vinyl tape and am currently adjusting the weight needed for the right pressure. My biggest challenge now is mastering the software (and finding out how much weight I need)...

[hempuli]

I am having issues with the paper feed. it seems that the feeder is slipping on the surface and therefore moves the paper/vinyl wrongly. Does anyone have this issue? Any suggestion how to fix this? thanks.

[hydrocat]

Hi Doc-ecu

Great job with the plotter/cutter

Iv'e got a couple of questions on your project if you don't mind.

- Which are you using?
- Which driver?
- Software?
- How did you get around the pen carousel functions by fixing the cutter to
the head? In other words, can you remove the carousel altogether?
I'm using a friends HP 7550a at the moment with a homemade blade holder and it's working fine on text. I will test graphics once I get Joycut to talk to the plotter.


Fanie

Today i took a photo of my blade holder. The picture will explain better how i fixed the bladeholder to the plotter.

Beside of the blade holder, i just filled the gap underneath the pen. I just used a strong plastic tape (the white stripe in the picture).

I got my blade holder and blades from eBay. Here some links:
Blade Holder: http://cgi.ebay.at/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...4347&rd=1&rd=1
Blades: http://cgi.ebay.at/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...6215&rd=1&rd=1

BTW: I fixed the problem with the not so sharp cutted corners. The first blade i tried had a little play in bladeholder. So the knive can move around (i speak of 1000th of a mm) when chaning the direction of movement. The new blades have thicker shafts, so the fit tigher into the bearings of the bladeholder.

[doc_ecu]

The plotter is a 7570A (DraftPro).

At the moment i use the tryout Version of SignGo. Very easy to use software. You can download the tryout version on www.signgo.com . No Printer/Plotter driver cause SignGo communicate direct with the plotter over the serial port.
Very helpful in SignGo is the feature that you can modify all the plotter (HPGL) commands as you need.

I removed the carousel complete including some of the plastic gears which drives the carousel. The plotter does not check the carousel nor does it verify the pen chance. BTW when plotting with SignGo the plotter just starts to plot/cut, no pen change occures. (So nothing to worry about *2 )

All in all i'm almost happy with my plotter right now, but ... one little problem left, maybe you can verify this on your plotter & SignGo?
Here is my problem: when i cut a "o" (Arial Bold, 7mm high) the start end end point (left for inner and outer circle) does not line perfect up. So you can see it A little, dirty cheap fix is when i plot it 90deg rotated (start/end point on the bottom of the "o").

Good look to your project, let me know how it works for you ...

Doc

[hydrocat]

Thanks for the info......so far

I'll check for the start/end difference once I get Signgo on my pc.

I managed to get Joycut to drive the Hp7550a last night...so most of my problems are sorted. I will also get Signgo installed over the w/end and see how that works.
I will pick up a Hp 7570 (draftpro) and a Hp 7585a on Satutrday...so theres lots of testing to be done.

Are you using a standard Signgo driver for the 7570? or did you modify one of the other HPGL drivers to suit this plotter, as I understand that there are no specific HP drivers listed in the program.

[doc_ecu]

I use the standard HPGL driver in SignGo. (Don't search for a universal or standard driver in the "install driver program", just install the software, the standard driver is allready installed.) The only problem here is, that the 7570 has the center coordinates in the middle of the sheet. My workaround is to get the sheet size information from the plotter (after paper loading) and use the SC command do modify the oriantation of the coordinates.

I.e. here how i modifed the commands in SignGo for A2 sized paper:
init: PU;IP-10699,-6697,10699,6697;SC21398,0,0,13394;
reset: PU;PA0,0;IN;IP-10699,-6697,10699,6697;SC21398,0,0,13394;

With this parameters the 0,0 coordinate is in the upper left corner.

[fattyjr]

Could someone tell me what blade holder I would need???

I can find some on eBay, Mimaki (which was mentioned on the Luberth site, or a Roland which was mentioned.

I am looking at the tungstentec eBay store.

Any thoughts???

Also, I have read a lot about shimming up under the blade holder with plastic or tape; does anyone have a good pic of this???

Thanks