arhash

hope this helps skulls.eps skulls.eps

I mean extra RAM for the cutter not the computer. I neglected to mention that when I got the new RAM for the cutter I installed it and it fried the motherboard in the cutter. They were kind enough to send me a new one for free. Now I am running better than ever.

When you trace an image in illustrator you also trace it's background. This will cause a duplicate tracing of the image. The SignCut software will see this as two cut lines. if there are two lines directly on top of each other you wont be able to see them no matter how close you zoom in. Don't know if this is your problem with out seeing you file but it might help: Tracing a image in Illustrator: 1. Place your image and select it 2. Click "live trace" this command will be in different places depending on which version of illustrator you have. 3. Double click the image (this will expand the tracing into seperate entities) 4. Select what you want to keep(you may have to hold down the shift key to add items to your selection. example-the hole in the letter "O") 5. Once you have what you want selected go to edit>copy 6. Next select everything select>select all 7. Then hit delete 8. Imdeiatly hit paste (this will leave you with only what you want) This process will get rid of any extra strokes that will cause the cutter to cut lines twice. Here is a slightly different way to trace an image. Look at these photos and you will see what I mean. step one:import image (I just grabbed something from the internet. Hence the crappy tracing. Make sure whatever you trace has a high DPI like 300 - 500) step two:live trace image step three:double click or hit expand image Step four: choose what you want to keep and move it out of the way. This reveals the duplicate outline of the background that illustrator traced as well Step five: choose the excess and hit delete

it sounds like a RAM or tiling issue. I would like to see the file as well.

can you post the file. It could be that the cutter is running out of RAM. I ordered some new RAM for my machine and now its running pretty well.

that is a bad motherboard. What you are describing is exactly what mine did when it went bad. It

I would guess static. Do you have your cutter grounded?(little wire that came with the machine that can easily be missed) Sometimes my LCD on my refine would just go blank. I eventually had to replace my motherboard. Now everything is great.

well the good news is that shortly after I installed the new motherboard I cleaned up and re-organized and now everything seems to be working fine...... Maybe I eliminated some interfering static somewhere shifting furniture or something. I have not yet cut that particular file but I have cut more complex larger files and IT WORKED!!!! so..... I will just have to take a closer look at that file and maybe generate it again. Thanks for your help and if I have any more problems I will email them to you. I have noticed that if I generate too many weeding lines in Signcut and send it to cut The software crashes but upon restart it works fine. Kind of annoying but hey it works.

not sure what you mean. do you mean using the blade to the front holder? I don't think sign cut has a plot command

this is actually clean

here are my specs: IMAC 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4GB memory 500GB hard drive1 Leopard OS SignCut X2 CS3 Refine MH721 cutter with 4MB upgrade I have had problems with complicated cuts where about half way through it has a mind of its own and cuts a diagonal line through the work (afterwards it keeps cutting but renders about half of them useless). I thought it was a memory issue so I upgraded the RAM. It didn't really help and I am sill having a lot of problems here is an example. I was cutting about 50 or so of these machine guns. They are about 2" in length and 1" tall.

I have the same problem.

well I updated and I am still having the problem. Its fine on small jobs (24" x 24") but if it gets any bigger it does the slash across everything. Here is a photo of the problem. Its approx 24" x 36" with about 75 - 100 machine guns that are about 3" x 1" each. I don't think the problem is with the file because I actually have had success cutting this file with the same machine and an older version of SignCut and an older PC.

I had that trouble with some thin foil. If you pre-cut the piece you are using off of the roll and then load it back into the machine then feed it back and forth the length of the cut it usually helps a lot. This relieves tension. --Arthur

Yeah that is what I am thinking. Software. I will have to check on the update when I get off of work. I am usually good with that sort of stuff. Maybe it is a problem with the type of vinyl I am using that is generating more static. What is the brand that you use the most? I can switch. It would be good to know just for me. I don't really think that is it though. I use multiple brands and kinds (foil, static cling, regular, economy etc etc) Could someone post a screenshot of what the settings should be in the "cutter" section in SignCut with a refine cutter using a MAC? I am going to bet that I have some box unchecked or checked that is causing all of this. Usually when I update it fixes the problem temporary then after a couple of days it starts acting up. I am wondering if it would help to ground this cutter to an outlet instead of the stand? Thanks -Arthur