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Well, looking at the image posted above, my first suggestion would be "plug it in" (no power cord attached in the picture!!!!!)

So my SC2 was delivered today. Such a difference in the VE cutter and the SC2 cutter. I think the oddest thing I have seen so far is I swear that this cutter was an off white, almost eggshell color when I took it out of the box and now its a light baby blue. Other than that the VinylMaster Cuts software is easy to use, the machine is easy to operate and it cuts great. I am extremely pleased with the cutter and the decision to dump the VE. I have to pay the shipping to send the VE cutter back to SW, which is an expense I'll happily pay to get rid of it. As a test I just cut out some words and it cut wonderful, in straight lines, no tracking issues. For a more detailed test I cut out some back the blue flags for an FWC officer down the street to hand out. Each flag was cut very well after a couple tries to get the speed and pressure right. I am 100% positive that this cutter is going to make me some money. The cutter is grounded to the stand and the stand itself sits on concrete.

This will be my official "Show my work Post" ""VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED"" You have been warned. Prototype #3 This is a HUGE improvement over prototype #2. And Here's a Video for your viewer enjoyment. I will be posting all sexy images in this post from now on. Enjoy.

Nope, didn't do a thing to make your text better...FMF had no problem recognizing the letters.

Did you actually try to open them? The preview screen does not always work, and I'm not sure it shows previews for anything other than sbd files anyway.

Definitely graphtec. I myself started with a titan after a few years I wanted to upgrade and I needed a little more so I ended up with the graphtec ce6000-60. I actually still use my titan to this day but for simple designs and all that to save my blade on the Graphtec. Blades can be expensive and I figured if I can save the life of my graphtec as well as blades by using the titan for simple stuff it’s a win win. Lol well anyway welcome and good luck. I’m new myself and the men and women here are awesome!

Have you tried just basic shapes and text that you create within SB? Need to figure out is this a cutter/software issue, or just an image issue. JPG and Tiff are raster image formats and can not be cut. EPS and AI are vector formats, but they can also contain raster images, which sounds like you've figure out already.

I have, they were good except the image that I used it on was kind of small, and I had to re-heat the transfer, because I added another type of decoration to the shirt, but I would use it again.

Happy to hear this and Thank you very much for your first hand comparison of the plotters -

Have you tried any of the Howards "Shimmer" colors? Those look like something that I might try out. The silver shimmer in particular. Just wondering if they are at all reactive to light like a mild reflective?

That is awesome! Glad to hear that you're able to hit the ground running and can start the addiction out the right way.

Here is a proper link, https://www.howardct.com/

Graphtec for me also

I use F&M exclusively at this point. They have various products and their website will walk you though most of your questions. Order a sample kit and it will give you samples of all the stuff they do. I was originally concerned with product lifespan but I used them on some of my construction guys tee's and paid attention to how they wear and they held up really well. Probably not quite as lang as HTV but it's a close second and the price saving for clients is really impressive. On any kind of volume I actually do less work and make more per shirt so I basically doubled my output in the same amount of time. You already have a press so you're good to go. HTV will always have it's place and things like specific numbers or any kind of custom work or higher quality work like on nice jackets or polo's is probably better with HTV. I'm a small mom an pop shop and work from my living room so being efficient is key for me. I do my designs in AI but they will accept PS or Corel Draw as well. Basically you pick your product (I mostly use the Athletic formula because it resists dye migration the best). Pick your color count and size of transfer sheet. If single color you basically get two choices for the cheap deal. Can't gang two images on the $0.15 program but it's so cheap it doesn't matter anyway. If you are doing 2,3 or full color then you have to decide if it's priced best to go with a certain size sheet or gang a bunch up on a larger sheet. I build an AI file with the different sizes offered and decide by crunching numbers which one makes the most sense bearing in mind gang sheets with ,utile logo's you will have to cut apart yourself. Leave enough room that you can cut several at once with a paper cutter board and it goes pretty good. Sometimes a lot of little ones are cheaper than a few large sheets (min order on gang sheets is 8 I think) Most of the time it's cheaper to use the XL sheet and stack a bunch on there when doing 2 or 3 colors. I have done some full color work and it turns out great too.

Great jobs!

Another strong Graphtec fan here - have had 2 ce6000-60's - I just upgraded the first one after 3 years on general principle as I have always updated equipment regularly

Graphtec all day long. You won't be sorry. Not to mention a lot of the members here have it, and can do some pretty awesome troubleshooting if necessary.

Welcome from Idaho. I lived in FL for a couple years. I don't miss the heat though. Or the bugs. I'm a fellow Illustrator user. The Graphtec is pretty much the fan favorite if you have the funds. They have a free plug-in for Illustrator that lets you just cut right from the program. I think there is also a free offering of Graphtec Pro Studio with some machines.

If you can afford the Graphtec CE6000, go with it and don't look back. I have a couple Graphtecs, and bought 2 for my kids. Great cutters and no problems. They hold their resale, if you decide to sell later. Great tracking, cutting detailed designs, great memory very quiet and accurate.

As a side hustle, I do rideshare driving, and I often wear a baseball hat (or trucker's hat). Hmmmmmmm, this gave me an idea. Ordered a small sheet of pink HTV, and there ya go!

why not have the co worker set the cutter up? it is their cutter.