badun

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Everything posted by badun

  1. badun

    Trouble with contour cutting

    I can't get contour cutting to work with my P20. So far I have: Calibrated it. The red x aligns perfectly with the printed crosshairs. Printed the test page with VinylMaster. Aligned the blade with the very outside edge of the registration mark. I try to cut it and the head wanders off a bit, the LED turns red, and the machine beeps at me. I've also aligned the blade with the inside edge of the registration mark. Same result. I used a different image. Same result. I tried using the pen. Same result. I used the camera through the menu and made sure the reg mark was visible. Same result. I've been trying this all afternoon and I am a bit frustrated now! I watched PM-Performance's video but it appears his cutter was plug and chug and he didn't need to screw around with calibration.
  2. badun

    Trouble with contour cutting

    oops, I missed this response. I don't know what went wrong the first time I tried but it is working well now. Maybe there was something wonky about the original image or I missed a step in the creation of the contour cut or calibration. Regardless, works like a charm with a different image. Thanks!
  3. badun

    Cutting rubber sheet?

    A friend asked me to cut some 1/32" rubber sheet into roughly 3"x5" pieces. I have a PrismCut P20. Any recommendations on the blade type, speed, pressure, etc? I have extra material with which to experiment but I'd rather not waste it if someone has some guidance for me. Thanks!
  4. badun

    Cutting rubber sheet?

    Thanks!
  5. badun

    Cutting rubber sheet?

    No, there are curves and cutouts around the posts as seen in the image. I should have said it's a gasket for an electronic device. The gasket goes to the edge of the case. Don't ask me what it is because he's trying to make me guess and I haven't figured it out yet! I have the SVG of the gasket and it is clean, I just offered to find out for him if it can be readily cut by machine.
  6. The attached graphic will go on the front of a baseball helmet. I can get it to lay flat on the curved surfaced but only through lots of stretching and manipulation. I need to be able to hand these off to people so they can easily apply their own. Are there any graphic adjustments (I use Inkscape) that can make the application easier while still retaining the same look? Note that the attachment may not be the final version, it's just the one that I had available on the computer I'm using. But it's close enough for illustrative purposes. Force.svg
  7. An update... I ended up using FDC 2100 vinyl because Oracal didn't offer the color I needed (I ended up with a layered design). I did the initial demo yesterday and it turned out quite nicely. I used clear tape and cut it closely around the design, then heated it up over a lamp. The text went down easily with some gentle pressure. The tail didn't want to follow the same contour so I cut it off and applied it separately. The issue of the customer applying it themselves resolved itself when the team's coach decided to give me the helmets before players get them so that I can apply the decals (with that bit of labor going into the cost). Thanks again for all the replies, they were very helpful!
  8. Thanks, all! The global map example is what I was imagining in my head but "high end 3D modeling software" vastly exceeds my needs for this project. I do know some people that dabble in CAD so I may pose the question to them but I think the solution for this run is fresh 751, heat, and patience.
  9. It will most likely just be an outline. It's been a while but I cut one on old vinyl (less flexible) and it was a pain to get it to fit the curvature. To my surprise it held up well through use and abuse but it wasn't something I could hand to a parent and tell them to put it on Little Johnny's helmet. I know that using fresh vinyl will help but this is a question I've been meaning to ask for a while since not all surfaces are flat (motorcycle gas tanks, for example).
  10. Thanks for the response! I wasn't expecting any miracle settings in Inkscape or any other application. It's very hard to describe but what I'm picturing in my head is adding curvatures where the vinyl wants to go in one direction but the graphic dictates that it should go another way. I can experiment with this but my hope was that someone would respond with "Oh, that's easy! Just twist here, here, and here. We do that all the time with helmets!" But I can definitely use heat/different vinyl on helmets (I'll just charge extra for application and tell people it's included in the price). Thanks again!
  11. badun

    Vinyl for textured surface?

    The player has the helmet and I probably can't get it for a picture. It's a matte finish with a diamond pattern texture, almost like a sandpaper (although not abrasive).
  12. badun

    Vinyl for textured surface?

    I use Oracal 651 for making logo decals for baseball helmets. A potential customer has a textured surface on the helmet, the first I've encountered. They've had problems with other decals coming off the helmet because of the texture. Should I try the 651 or is there a better product for a textured surface? The texture is similar to a powder coat. Not rough, but not glass-like, either.
  13. Is there a reference or method for determining the color values by brand of vinyl? My specific example is I need to closely approximate a sports team's logo colors for both decals and clothing. I generally buy Oracal and Siser for those applications, but rather than go by eyeball matching to color charts I was wondering if there is a more scientific way to do it. I know how to get the values for the different color models (RGB, hex, etc.) but it would be much simpler if I knew the actual values of the vinyl to start with.
  14. badun

    Determining color values for vinyl?

    Excellent, thanks! Works perfectly in Draw.
  15. I purchased a vector image in Draw format. I exported it as a SVG and also EPS file. When I open the SVG in Inkscape, it looks the same as it did in Draw. If I export to EPS from Inkscape, the output looks the same as it does in Draw. When I import the EPS in Make The Cut, it looks just fine. Same for Sign Cut Pro. However, when I import it into SBE, there's nothing on the page. There's nothing visible, there's nothing to select, it's just blank. I can't use Sign Cut to cut it because I chose not to purchase a license after my year was up. MTC is OK, but it's just not as intuitive to me as SBE or Sign Cut so I tend not to use it for anything but pixel tracing. Thus I really want SBE to work, but I can't figure out why it won't import. Ideas? Forgot to mention that I imported it with the "full postscript interpreter" and also "postscript scanner" but neither produced any results. And I'd really prefer not to post the image since I paid for it. So basically I'm just checking to see if this is a common issue with SBE and if anyone has a solution or workaround. Thanks!
  16. badun

    Vector image won't appear in SBE

    Message sent with attachment. Thanks!
  17. I have the attached vector that was made for screen printing. The owner asked me to produce vinyl decals from it. I'm fairly new to cutting and so far all the work I've done has been from my own designs so the shapes have so far been cutter-friendly. The software I have available is Inkscape, SignCut, and Make The Cut. I am not asking anyone to do this for me, but I would be very appreciative if someone took the time to explain how they would make this cutter-ready. Left to my own designs, I would probably use Inkscape to adjust the nodes into more distinct shapes (e.g change the swoops into individual polygons per letter), but before I do that I am curious as to how a pro would do this. Thanks for any assistance!Spirit Logo.svg
  18. badun

    How would you clean this up?

    I actually know more than I may have indicated in my first post. Where I lack experience is in the intuitive manipulation of objects that don't fit neatly into a cutting program. When I make my own I am, of course, making them as simple as possible. The ones I've converted from rasters either were simple to clean up with MTC! or Inkscape; this is the first one I've gotten in vector format that clearly was not designed for cutting. My friend (and file owner) has a lot of years in the production end of printing so his comment was directed at designers who draw in a vacuum and don't consider how the image will be used. Apparently he sees a lot of this in the business. To answer the question about MTC!, my year's license of SignCut is almost over so I bought MTC! as a possible replacement. I think it's worth the price just for the raster to vector conversion, though. I have not used it to cut anything other than some simple geometric test patters to ensure it was compatible with my cutter (a US Cutter Refine) before purchasing. Since I learned with SignCut, I haven't made the investment in time to learn another program. I guess I had better do so since it won't be long before my license is up. Again, many thanks to everyone who has assisted. I not only got some cut-ready designs, I learned a lot as well!
  19. badun

    How would you clean this up?

    Thank you all for the suggestions and effort, it is greatly appreciated! The owner of the file is a printer by trade but does not do design or graphics. His comment was "Damn designers have no consideration for what it takes to actually work with these things!" It is somewhat a relief to know this required real effort to resolve - and the technique of taking it to raster and then back to vector is clever. Thanks again!
  20. badun

    How would you clean this up?

    Jay, can you describe what you did? Not that I don't appreciate the file, of course, but I hope to learn from this so next time I will know what to do without futzing around for hours.
  21. badun

    How would you clean this up?

    Here's the eps version and thanks! Spirit Logo.eps
  22. badun

    Shrinkage with

    oops, got distracted while typing in the subject name. I meant to say "Shrinkage with heat transfer vinyl". I recently purchased ThermoFlex® Plus heat transfer vinyl from Best Blanks to make a dozen two-color sports t-shirts. It cut well and was easy to apply (I used a clothes iron, but I'm in the process of purchasing a press) but the first layer shrank considerably during/after application. The top layer was then out of alignment (the bottom layer is the outline for letting, so the misalignment really stands out). I previously purchased some noname heat transfer vinyl for a similar project and it was quite a bit thicker than the ThermoFlex® Plus - and it did not shrink at all so two-color alignment was perfect. The t-shirt material was 50/50 cotton/poly. Iron temperature was ~50 degrees less than prescribed on the instructions. The carrier film was removed almost immediately after application. So the question is, what caused the shrinkage? And how can I prevent it? I like the price and ease of cutting of the ThermoFlex® Plus, but it it was the cause of the problem then I'll just switch brands. But I don't want to stock up on something else if the problem is technique!
  23. badun

    Shrinkage with

    Cool, glad to hear that it is easy to remedy. I should have a press within a week or so but was holding off on purchasing additional vinyl until I knew the cause of the problem. Fortunately, the misalignment wasn't consistent and looked deliberate so I was able to pass it off as artistic license. And it was my own team so I didn't have to worry about upsetting paying customers.
  24. badun

    SignCut Expired

    Coincidentally, I came here looking for an affordable vectorizer app and opened this message because my SignCut license will be expiring soon. I just played with Make-the-Cut and the vector conversion routine is indeed very impressive. I used it for a JPEG that has so far befuddled all other apps I've tried (online, freeware, and demos) and this software produced the best results by far. Can't wait to try it out on my US Cutter! I'll just have to get over the prejudice against it being intended for scrapbookers.
  25. I'm a newb and one of the things I may do with my new cutter is vinyl heat transfers for some of my softball team's apparel. We have great difficulty in getting good service and reasonable prices from local suppliers so it's tempting to try and do the uniform printing using vinyl as well. However, I don't know how durable vinyl is compared to screen printing. Uniforms have to stand up to high heat, sweat, clay, and grass. They don't get washed too often over the course of a season, though (it's travel ball so each uniform is worn one day of a 2-day tournament and then washed and put away until the next tournament). Does anyone have real world experience with vinyl and screened designs that can offer an opinion? Dealing with the uniform vendors is a total pita, but it pales in comparison to parents complaining about the printed designs they paid good money for not holding up for an entire season!