jondale

Just to circle back around on this, we ended up with a US Cutter SC2 and it has worked perfectly using Inkscape's Plot function. On Windows and Mac everything needed is bundled with Inkscape. On Linux, you do have to install pyserial but luckily it is really easy to install. Everyone has found it really easy to use and we've had lots of people make some great things. I'm currently looking at the PrismCut (P28) cutter. It looks like a step up in build quality which is helpful for detailed cuts. Figuring out the network connection and contour cutting seems like it'll be a todo but a fun challenge. My question is has anyone used this with Inkscape yet? It can use plt files directly and the usb can work with multiple softwares so this seems evidence it's serial and hpgl and therefore would work just fine. Was just hoping someone could confirm it before sinking money into it.

Thanks everyone for all your answers. I think design orientation and converting objects to path before sending to cnc is something we're all very familiar with and equipped to teach. The built in plot extension doesn't seem to do weedlines but Inkcut does... slice&dice's link up above caused me to take another look at it. I had assumed it was a dead project but it seems to have been recently redone and more fancy. Looks like it handles weedlines and gives a preview of the operations with orientation. It's worth looking into. Thanks again.

I can sense I'm moving against the grain here a bit. Our decision here is clearly not going to be the best for some if not most people. The goal is to have the entire software stack as open source. Inkscape is already in heavy use for us with laser cutting, a small silhouette cutter (has it's own inkscape extension), and other applications so it was my natural goto. It also works on Windows, Mac, and Linux so it hits all our members. We were thinking something like a Roland 24" with stand. As with the other tools we'd figure out the process and teach classes on it for those interested as well as have laptops setup and ready to go with the configuration. I just want to make sure whatever we get will work. slice&dice It is not evident to me what operations would be missing with the plot extension. Can you speak to that? We have altered extensions in the past to add functionality and make things easier. Maybe we can add it to the extension ourselves.

I am interested in one for the local makerspace but would like to make sure I get a model where everything (including sending) can be done in Inkscape. From my understanding, as long as it has a usb serial connection and supports standard hpgl that it should work but I'm having a hard time verifying this with anyone or with internet searches. Does anyone here only use Inkscape with their Vinyl Cutter? What brand/model if so? Do the latest uscutter ones work? I have spoken to someone who said an older version he owns does not.