Wildgoose

No here on the forum

That's a great quote man! Love it! Ha ha!

Relax a little, you would be surprised at how few people know the laws and the group here is a bit touchy about copyright so as a group we tend to make extra sure that newer members understand. Maybe a tad too zealous but better safe than sorry so don't take offense. I have a customized harley logo that I made as a joke to put on a bobber that I built that says Hardly instead of Harley and I was convinced that I was all legal to sell it by the fair use act and got told by more than one member here that I'd be busted if I did. I spent a few weeks doing research and talking to a good friend who is an attorney and in the end found that yes I probably would be covered by the fair use act but the final outcome wouldn't be known until AFTER a lengthy court battle with a huge wealthy company that makes no bones about fighting each and every potential infringement case so I ended up just having it on the back of that bike and on a full zip hoodie and never tried to market it. The point of this novel isn't to further bash your ideas but to let you know that you are not the only one who has caught a little crap. Most of us in this industry, over time, develop a very unique skill set that allows us to easily tread on that thin ice and we just have to be careful. If you do a google search for the names in your thread heading it will bring you right to this thread and I guaranty that there are people paid to search out those kinds of things and bust the folks breaking the law. As I understand the posting regulations on this forum, they don't want to be facilitating things that break laws. Your work looked great btw and I'm sure it looks nice on your personal truck.

Good luck on the cars unless they are old like us. The new crap is all computer garbage!

one is flat and one glossy. I would buy 651 to practice on because you won't need that much practice time. Or maybe a small roll of the greenstar brand which is super cheap.

I have mixed emotions about the clear. I keep some on hand and it works fine for some scenarios. I use the R-tape in various styles. Have not had any problem with the R-Tape at all. USCutter has some house brand that is ok but the edges are a little weird so I keep a 12" roll around because it's cheap but I buy better stuff for the wider roll. In my experience DON"T use the greenstar clear, that's about the only one I personally would steer you away from. It tears too easy and will tear your vinyl when it does especially if it's cold. R-Tape clear choice works fine but stretches with heat changes.

The last sample pack I asked for they sent me some 8.5"x11" samples to try out. I was hoping for bigger. I got a large roll from 3M one year but they are looking for people who actually have large format printers.

In my experience high school kids just like screwing in any form. Screwing up, screwing off....but ya they seem to just "get it" where us older codgers have had to fight for it. I bought my first computer in about 1990 because I was remodeling a grade school where they were putting a computer lab in for the kindergarten kids. I knew right then I better get on board or we would be sunk.

Johnny, don't feel bad. We ALL have done similar things and went...what was I thinking? USCutter is a great place for about all the vinyl and supplies you will need. You will want to get an account set up for substrates and those suppliers will also sell vinyl and supplies. Around here in Idaho we have Sun Supply and Denco Sales and I use them both but they are wholesale so yes you will need a tax ID or resellers permit etc. USCutter is cheaper for most things like vinyl and app tape etc... I read a lot where quite a few on here use other suppliers to but I have not found any that were going to save me any money over USCutter. 631 will work outdoors too but its much more temporary than say 651 and the step up to 751 or 851 is changing to cast vinyl versus calendared. Do a search and a little reading and you can find the differences out. IF you have no vinyl at all you should have a pen attachment, most cutters come with one and you can get some paper or butcher paper and run the pen to practice and check computer connectivity.

Ya buddy! The key word with the fair use protection is that it is used as "defense" and "protect" your right to fair use. Now why would you need to be defending yourself? Can you say hello mister lawyer and bye-bye savings account? I think you are absolutely within your right to make anything you have the ability to for your self but like jay said I rarely brag about it with pictures (although I have from time to time).

The stahls is a pretty good product for sure. I like the thermo film that has a real rubber consistency that I appreciate. I have and do use some stahls products both of my favorites are the ones you have noted. I have really loved the Siser products that you can get here at USCutter too. In fact I do 95% in easy weed or easy weed stretch partly because they are so much thinner felling than the other brands. The stretch has a super soft feel and flat color which is perfect for some looks and fabrics and both are lower heat (305* for 15 sec) and fast because they are hot peel. The jerseys look great! Nice nitch to find. I used to ride but my old bones are not as forgiving as they used to be when taking diggers.

I use Signcut Pro which is what used to come with the uSCutter machines (had 1 year free subscription) They are mac compatible and are a great cutting software that you just import your designs into and it will get it to the cutter. You can get a free trial and buy subscriptions in various increments at reasonable rates. I just (yesterday) finally decided to buy the permanent lifetime version which has a usb key but the subscrition based one uses an internet connection to be sure you are licensed. I don't know how often it checks or what happens if you internet goes down but I have used it a lot and carried it over to my high dollar cutter after the upgrade because I like the layout better than the ones that were available from Summa and it is cross platform compatible (mac & pc) if I decide to upgrade my laptop to a macbook later. You might give it a try if you are having trouble cutting from your mac and you wouldn't have to make an immediate decision on what you will do for your shop until you get a little more seat time under your belt.

A serial port is one of the pin connections that stick out of the back of PC computers. Some laptops have them but not very often. You can easily install one in a desktop box and they don't cost much. This lets you just hook up your computer and skip the translation process that has to happen to push the info through a usb port. I agree with slice that this is a good way to go if you don't mind having on old tower sitting around your house. You shouldn't need to connect it to the internet or anything so some of the inherent pc issues would be reduced that way as well. The thing about mac and pc is as you know its a ford vs chevy thing and there will always be a conflict. There are far fewer developers who build mac compatible software for cutting so it does pose a challenge. Part of the reason is that mac won't allow just anyone to make stuff for them and I assume charges them up the ying-yang to be a licensed developer, don't know. The funny thing is that a lot of the heavy hitter programs that true programmers work on are unix based (way over my head but I have a brother that develops software for Boeing and a nephew who writes for some sort of web program design firm) They both agree that the mac program is basically a branch off of that type of system and that is why it's also much more stable as is Linux than windows. I think windows was just the first real attempt to make computers user friendly to the masses. And it has worked and influenced even the mac and linux crowd to the point that windows-similar style interfaces are now here for the mac and linux too. I got tired of windows and ran a linux based computer for about a year but found that I am not computer savy enough to deal with that program so on the advice of my brother bought a mac and have never even looked back. Still have a windows based laptop and use windows daily at my other work and still get pissed every time my comparably new windows laptop gives me a blue screen and I have to restore it. My kids play on my mac like it's some sort of gaming console and 9 different people use it daily for howework, facebook surfing, you name it, and it has just chugged away without any real issues for 3 years now. I know from past history I would have already been on a second computer if not ready for a third if we were still using windows.

We are just disappointed because when it rolled out in was going to become the best thing since ice-cream and they were making major steps forward regularly....all excitement and fireworks... and then it sort of fizzled and they stopped progressing sooo close to being a complete package that most of us were left unimpressed. There are much better options out there, some of which are totally free (Inkscape for design) so it gets a lot of mud thrown at it. For cutting...meh, it's ok and if it came with your cutter then it's not a bad deal but I would never pay the $200 bones they want for it.

Here is one of the previews that came from the build. Not sold on the colors but his truck has as existing white stripe with blue outline that he is thinking he wants to match.

I can't seem to figure this one out. Any help is appreciated. I think the cursive is something like Mistral but is slightly different and I think I can make Mistral work for that part but the DIXON has me baffled. It's on a very old shirt which doesn't help at all and the owner has no idea what it is.

I just went ahead and drew it last night I was just hoping to find a quick fix since I had so much other stuff to work on. I'm getting too many late nights lately and my body is getting pissed off. I ended up rebuilding that with Rockwell for everything except the O and I can't remember which one was closer on that letter but it turned out nice. At least I can feel a little better when even marc can't find an exact match it lets me know I'n not a total idiot. LOL

Thats not quite it. It did get me to some others that were a little closer, unfortunately all of the ones that look like they would be close enough to shave some drawing time are big bucks to buy. The serifs are square and that X is a little weird. I may be able to find a few of the letters in another font and do the stretch to fit thing and draw the rest. How come all the fonts I seem to come across are freaks?

Ya it's massive. The engine consists of a home built replica of a regular train engine around one of those huge generators we call whisper-watt's that the pipe layers around here use for running their 480 de-water submersible pumps. He owns a construction supply business and someone ordered it in for Y2K and never showed to pick it up so he was stuck with it and originally took it to his own house (40 acres) as an emergency gen for himself and then got the wild hair to build a train. It currently has a long loop track that is still under construction but he can unhook the cars and caboose and back the "engine" up a small spur rail and then hook it to his house for emergency power. Sort of dual purpose.

Heck ya that looks great! I think my favorite part of having a cutter is being able to do cool stuff for friends. I did a 5 ft tall mickey head on a fake water tower for a friend who has a 1/4 scale electric train last summer.

I don't know if I have mentioned this before or not but I have started buying better quality masking tape and loving it. I happened across a roll of some American Brand PG masking tape and tried it out and now I'm hooked. Another quality option is 3M Automotive Refinish Masking Tape. Both of these have far far superior adhesion and come off without any leftover adhesives on the substrate. They are stronger and don't rip when trying to get them off the roll and hold so much better it's amazing. I buy mine at one of the local auto paint supply stores. It costs twice as much as the stuff at wally world but I think it's money well spent and a small cost percentage as far as a project goes. It's worth trying out to see if you find the same benefits that I have.

In the end I have decided to stick with Signcut Pro. Even at $400 for the dongle it is the best for my situation. The biggest factor being that I work on a mac but currently cut with a windows. With the Dongle I can load up both computers so if one dies I am still cutting without any downtime and if I upgrade my laptop to a macbook which i am considering I will still be good to go then as well. The only other cross platform cutting software that I could find out there is Macsign which came with the Summa cutter and the version that I would want is double the cost of SignCut Pro and I am not sold on the layout and look as much as I have become accustomed to the Signcut layout. Thanks to all who have pitched in on this thread.

That's awesome to see your kid helping out! My kids love to help too.

Very Nice! Welcome from Idaho

I looked back at the files I was using when I had SCALP and I see I was able to use CS5 directly (which is the version I am still using) but I was having trouble getting multi-colored files to come through correctly and had settled on splitting them into separate color files rather than fighting with it. There have been several updates since then so I can't vouch for what works now. If your file isn't too big to download you might post it up and we can take a look and be sure it's not something funky in the file itself.