Nitsuj

So is there a known and proven fix for this? I can't believe Graphtec is ok with this. My plotter died at 3 years old. Graphtec referred me to an "authorized repair person" that seemed to be just some guy working out of his basement. He said that it could be any number of parts, and no way to test them, just have to keep replacing stuff until the problem is fixed. According to others I've spoken with, this is a common issue. I realize my warranty is up, and don't expect a freebie, but with less than 3 years of light hobby use, I wouldn't expect a "pro level" unit to be basically worthless. I may as well have bought a cheap knock off plotter. Graphtec should be ashamed. And US Cutter, as my retailer, should be pretty annoyed at Graphtec as well.

Bought a CE5000-24 from US Cutter about 3 years ago. The unit has performed well as a hobbyist machine. Recently, I turned it on, and it won't respond to anything. The display reads "NOVRAM INIT". Any ideas? I tried calling Graphtec, but they just told me to call a local service center, of which there is one, 40 miles away in another state, and he's not home at the moment. I tried US Cutter's live chat, but it keeps disconnecting me. I'm really glad I decided to spend the extra money on the Graphtec, rather than buy one of the much less expensive machines. Sure, it's more money, but what you're really getting is the longevity and fabulous customer support. ;-)

Got it, thanks man! When I get some time I'll see if I can possibly trouble shoot this myself.

So closest repair facility to me returned my call this morning. He said my error is common, and is one of 4 things. 3 cheap things and an expensive thing. (his words) The three cheap things add up to $300 with labor. (sheet switch, flexible cable, and panel relay) The expensive thing is $700 with labor. (main board) Trouble is, there's no way to diagnose it. So I have to pay the $300 to find out if I need to pay the $700. So it most likely will cost $1000ish to fix. I'm beyond disgusted right now. I'm not paying someone $300 to guess if I need to spend $700. I'll take a look at that repair manual and see if it has enough info to diagnose this myself. I have enough to a technical and electronic repair background to do my own labor. I just need a little bit of info. I'll post up updates in case it can help anyone else. Jaybird, my email is duc1098desmo at gmail dot com

Jaybird, think you'd be willing to part with a copy of that repair manual?

Figures it's a rare problem and I'd be the one it happens to! I did have it plugged into a surge protector, actually, and didn't suffer any other equipment failure of anything plugged in my office. Must be a fluke. I imagine I'll just end up fixing it. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but logically, it would make more sense to fix a $1200 (or whatever, I don't remember) rather than buy a $400 one to replace it. I'm just a little miffed that it needs done, and more upset about the reaction of the guy at Graphtec I talked to about it. He didn't seem too concerned about helping me get it fixed. It was like I was calling a Honda dealer with a Toyota problem. I told him my issue and he just told me to go to their site and look for a service facility. I realize it's not a warranty item and I'll be out of pocket, but I'd have hoped to talk to someone a little more informative. Oh well, customer service isn't what it used to be. Thanks for the help gents.

Until I decide for sure what I'm doing and until I get a final repair price, I'm going to hang on to it. If I decide to get rid of it, I'll let you know. Thanks for the offer.

Really? A $350 motherboard? That's a bummer. I'm sure I'm out of warranty, and I don't expect things to last forever. But gosh, I spent the extra money to supposedly get a "good" machine. I got 3 years out of it, and when I tried to call their customer service, I got a guy who was zero help, and he directed me to call a third party, who has also been zero help. I think I'll spend the $350 on one of the no-name machines. At least I know up front those may only last 3 years, and I won't feel like such a chump for spending the extra money for a name brand with the illusion of "you get what you pay for".

For fun I did some graphics for a friend for his son's pinewood derby car. My graphtec was able to cut them and I was able to weed them, but it was finicky and time consuming. Some of the logos we did were in your size range. Things got a little dicey on some of the real fine detail stuff, but we managed to work it out. It was a lot of screwing around I wouldn't want on a paying job, but for a couple of guys to do it on a rainy sunday over beers, it wasn't bad. If I was charging someone for that job, it would have cost far more than anyone would pay to do pinewood derby graphics.

Of course! Distort! I knew it would be a simple solution. I've been away from Flex for awhile, so some simple things are eluding me. Thank you very much!

This must be a very basic question, but I'm having a heck of a time making it work. I need to make 2 stripes, 29 1/8" long, starting " wide at one end tapering to 1/4" at the other end. I cant get it to work in Flexi Pro. Any suggestions?

Midwastes is probably better than mine, but I was in a hurry. I got a window screen kit from Lowes. It's 4 pieces of aluminum material made to hold window screen. It comes with corner connectors. I cut it to the size I wanted, then put it together. I use binder clips to hold the app tape on. It's hard to explain, but I can take some pics when I get out to the shop later.

There was a guy that made a home brew version. I think his screen name is Midwaste. I don't remember if it was here or on Vinylforum. I made one out of window screen frame from Lowes.

I recently did a long job and it's the first one where I wish I has a catch basket. So, I whipped one up with some steel flat stock, all thread and some material. Then I stuck my logo on it. I'm pleased with the results.

I've been extremely plasec with Clean Cut 60degree blades in my Graphtec. They last longer for me, and I think I get a littler better quality on the very small fine cuts.

I'm pretty new to cutting as well, so take this with a grain of salt. I use Corel and Cutting Master with my CE5000 as well. My jobs seem to default to the front right edge of the vinyl. Once I load my roll, hit "roll 1" and set the origin it cuts exactly where my image appears on the vinyl in cutting master. Are you loading your roll, then selecting "roll 1"? Have you tried starting with your cutter at the right side of the vinyl and hitting "origin"? The cutter should begin cutting wherever you set the origin.

Is there any way to see previews of eps files before I open them? I've been playing with Signblazer, but I'm not thrilled with it. So now I'm screwing with Corel and Cutting Master. But when I open Corel, and then try to open an eps file, it doesn't show me previews or thumbnails, just file names. It makes it hard for graphics that aren't named for what they actually depict.

That did it! Thanks a ton!

I'm getting frustrated. I have several eps files, they will open only in Corel. Inkscape won't open them. Signblazer won't open them. Is there some way to open them in Corel and save them in such a way to make them useable in Inkscape or Signblazer?

Whats the trick to Ghostscript? I downloaded it, but all I have is a folder that has HUNDREDS of components in it, but none of them appear to be an .exe

I'm in a sort of different market, so I'm not sure what you'd start with. My cutter is a supplement to an existing business I already had, I'm not marketing signs or anything like that. I would guess the place tomstart would be small stuff. Those stickers soccers moms buy to show everyone what sport little Connor plays comes to mind. And stick figure families. Stuff that people buy, but there isn't any pressure. If I was just starting out and could only do simple designs, the last thing I'd want would be companies coming to me for graphics only for me to tell them it's too big or complex. In almost any industry, you start small and work up to large business to business stuff. If you just started a plumbing company, it would be better to spend time doing residential stuff rather than try to plumb a steel mill. If you screw up a minivan window sticker, no big deal, you cut another. If you screw up a big window sign for a coffee shop, you wasted a lot of time and vinyl. Not to mention you look bad to the guy who owns it. Which can cost you business. Not that I'm an expert, but that's how I'd be looking at it if I were starting a full time vinyl shop.

I'm new to the vinyl cutting thing, but I can offer advice based on starting other business. Buy the best you can afford. It's hard to start ANY business on a budget of $750, but if you have to, you have to, and people have been successful with less. Having just made the purchase of a cutter and some tools, I honestly have no idea how you'll make it happen on $750, but more power to ya! By the time you get a cutter, some vinyl, app tools, various supplies and set up a work area, even with an inexpensive cutter, you're going to be stretching your budget. My favorite tools with my limited experience is the standards. Cutting and weeding tools, squeegees, etc. I like having a light box, and you can make one inexpensively. Lighting. You need good lighting, it wasn't long before I learned that the light fixtures in my office weren't good enough. Get some cheap clamp on flexible arm spotlights for your bench. I have 2 on My 8' bench and wish I had bought 3. One more thing, if I were starting a new business on a real tight budget, only being able to do simple jobs, I wouldn't aim at business to business sales starting out. Businesses will generally have larger more complex needs, and/or tighter deadlines. I'd start smaller and simpler and work up to B2B sales. You don't want to jump in to big stuff, not be able to need the demands and start out with a bad rep in the community.

Take a look at the attached logo. Totally copyrighted, I know. I have NO intention of making the graphic and selling it. I'm trying to achieve the same look on other text. Not the font, but the black shadow around the text. Can anyone give me hint on how something like this is achieved?

So, I can do it with other programs, but what I was hoping for was that when trying to open them in Corel, the previews would come up when I was selecting which file to import. It seems odd to me that Corel can open an EPS file, but its not capable of showing you a preview of what you're opening.

Hi gang, I need a few yards of 751 in yellow and black. I hate to buy 2 rolls when I only need a few yards. I use mostly 651 so far, so I don't know it would be worth it for me to have 2 rolls of it around. If anyone stocks 751 and would like to sell a couple of yards, shoot me a PM.