haumana

Is this the result you're looking for, or are you wanting the ELCOME to be the same width at the "W"? It can be done, but it will look a bit strange because the thickness of the various letters will be increase. If that really is the case, then like Wildgoose said, each letter has be treated individually so you can you stretch/shrink to the exact size that you're looking for.

You're looking to do a text in a vertical layout, but you want the letters to be all the same fixed width and height (individually)?

That is one wicked worksheet!!

Mahalo Sue2!!

I just love it when business hit me up for work, but then don't even know what fonts they use, much less have some of their own artwork in hi-res, because asking for it in vector format gets me a, "huh?" Any one want to hazard a guess as to what the original font was, before someone skewed it?

check offset and maybe slow the cutter down. if you can, try to vectorize the text and see what's happening with the nodes.

From the online manual (pg. 240): Possible Cause: The plotter is defective. There was a heavy load on the up and down function of the tool carriage. Solution: Please clear any obstruction in the up and down function of the tool carriage and turn the power back on. If the error display continues to show, please contact the store where you bought the product or the Graphtec Customer Center.

For legal reason, I am not posting the actual link, but if you go to YouTube and put these words into the search, you should be able to find your answer. "graphtec pro studio vectorize"

Do what you gotta do to make it work. Try to set some money aside from every job, so that you can eventually buy some vinyl.

What software are you using?

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.

text & image. personally, i would either type out the text in design/cutting software and put a bunch of space in the lettering and drop in graphic. or two sets of the text, with the graphic in between. it's personal preference. what software are you use?

buying refurb'd is always a personal decision. if i am confident in a company that will stand by their warranty, then i am willing to buy refurb'd. other people will not buy refurb'd no matter what. if the warranty is the same and the return policy is the same, it's definitely worth considering.

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.