johng1970

A slight alignment problem. On the brighter side, I worked out making my own "registration marks", so I could use Sign Blazer, rather than Sign Cut. Don't get me wrong, I love Sign Cut, and perhaps one day I'll purchase the lifetime license, but because I only have 1 year on the program right now, I want to see if I can do without it or not before getting too much more envolved. Oh, and to get an idea of the size of the overall image, the weed-box I made around the entire picture is aproximately 2 inches high.

Regarding blades. I see 60 degree and 45 degree blades. I understand 60 degree blades are used for smaller objects and 45's seem to be used for larger items, while the 60 degree blades tend to be used as a great all around blade. Am I correct in assuming the 45 degree blades are used for thicker deeper cuts, while 60 degree blades are for thinner, smaller cuts? I'm thinking I probably will only need the 60 degree blades for the most part.

It said I had to login before I can see the thread. Is there a way you can post the link to imprintables without logging into to the forums? The "Preferred vendor introductions" implies that forum might not be available to first time visitors... I'd be interested in seeing the deal, but if you have to buy $100 in supplies each month, that might get costly for someone who is using it for hobby work.... Even in the case of the original poster wanting to do boat letters and letters on the back of the boat, she probably would never buy $100 every month in Vinyl, unless she plans on doing a free service of placing letters on every boat in the city, even then she's going to reach a poing where she's done all the boats and they allready have way more vinyl than they need... In fact at that rate, she'd likely be forced to doing the letters in a rainbow of colors, each letter in 2 different colors just to use up the extra vinyl.... ;-)

Just one other note since you mentioned your budget is $600 I have somewhere an 8" Roland Cutter, and until Cricut became popular you couldn't find any sheets of Vinyl smaller than 21" to order anywhere. I found myself buying rolls of vinyl 21" and manually cutting them down sheet by sheet as I needed them to 8 1/2" x 21" or so, then splitting that up to make 2 sheets and working with that.... Let me just say that's a royal pain! It gets old quick. Besides the fact that you can cut larger letters (I have never needed greater than 8 1/2" letters for hobby use, but buying supplies is far easier for the 21"+ cutters. I myself am fixing to buy a cutter. I've seen some offered on e-bay from US Cutter and a few other companies. I'm fixing to order the 25" cutter from US Cutter (I think it's a MH series cutter or something like that..., the cheapest they have). Let me assure you I have been researching this and have experience cutting Vinyl. A couple of things to look for and why I am choosing the plotter I am choosing... Other companies sell similiar plotters for comparible prices, but the only company I've seen that offers a stand for $30 more is US Cutters. This adds value to the overall price. Many companies offer you a "Kit Price" but you won't use everything in the kit and just ends up costing you more money. I'll order the Vinyl I need as I need it. Other Vinyl cutters are sold without any software. US Cutters comes with Sign Blazer Elements and Sign Cut Productivity free. I checked on various places that sell software to cut signs.... Add $500 if it doesn't come with your plotter! Also, the difference between the 12" and the 21" with stand on US Cutters is $50 The choice becomes clearer....

I like that, I may make a similiar one with point sizes as well.... Was just thinking though, depending on how big your shop is and all... It'd be cool to make a banner or something with letters all the way up to 24" or 31", or whatever size your cutter is... A lot of folks get confused when you tell them you can make letters as large as 24" and seeing them on a banner might actually make them realize you can handle far more than they need! They can also just point and say "Give me something like that T over by the 3rd row of lights...."