Leaderboard

If you have a specific goal in mind with what you plan to use the cutter for I'd skip the bundle. Get the cutter and software, should be included, a stand for the cutter (not absolutely necessary but very worth having) and get a roll or two of vinyl in the colors you want. That's all you really need. Everything else you might need can be found a local stores or improvised with stuff laying around the house.

That is exactly what I do. I pay everything with a cash back credit card. As soon as that amount hits my credit card, I pay it. I don't wait for a statement. I pay it. You can see all of your activity online. Many times you can get much better deals searching around, and saving more money that way. The internet provides you with better deals. My balance remains Zero.

If you want a USB cutter that's pretty much plug'n'play for Mac, then bite the bullet and get yourself a Graphtec. It even ships with it's own software (which you need to download), and plug-in's so it can cut from different design programs. Boom! The total package. USC could potentially bring the cutter hardware up to date, but then they would need to sell it around the prices of the Graphtec. Cutters/Plotters and huge deals to some of us, but make no mistake, the average business and household doesn't have one, so there's no mad push to pour tons of money into re-engineering it to bring it up to date. Does it suck? Yes. Do we make it work? Yes.

Haumana - thank you! darcshadow - I'll need to look into it. I really try to buy what I can, locally, using cash and not spending on our credit card. Funds are crazy tight and when I get paid for jobs, I use cash to buy supplies.

If your cutter is not showing up when you connect it to the computer Inkscape isn't going to work for you either because you don't have a mac driver. That being said, you should be able to use the comm port. If you don't have a serial port on your computer a Tripp-lite USB2COMM adapter can be purchased that will work with a mac. From there it should be just a matter of setting up the comm port connection correctly.

Get Clean Cut Blades. They're wicked sharp and last a good long time, unless you abuse them.

That was definitely an old support thread, and since then, they've come out with newer models and some of the those have since cease to be Mac compatible. It's very unfortunate that when you contacted them directly, to totally skimmed over your comment about specifically selecting the SC2. That being said, if you want a Mac compatible cutter, it needs to be a Titan series or better if you're looking at new machines. Breaking even on your first job, whether you're a sign shop or not, is awesome, but not always reality. If you have to cut several boards to break even, that's a bit more realistic - even when buying a cheap machine. As Skeeter said, the lower end cutters have a more difficult time with cutting smaller font. What is the smallest font that you will be cutting, but in all honesty - that's a LOT of weeding, and if it's going to be small font, you might learn pretty quick that you'd rather pay the sign shop to print it. There are other cost that will go into it, not just the machine, the vinyl (is the menu board inside or outside - so you can use the best vinyl for that purpose), application tape, substrate, etc. If you still choose to fall down this rabbit hole, just remember that those of us here are actually trying to help you the best we can, but at the end of the day - it's still a bunch of volunteer users helping others.

Just picked one up...$500!!!

You can do it in Inkscape for free -