Wildgoose

I would go with black background then smaller yellow. You will have much better adhesion and the small black edge won't want to get caught and rub off. For the layer I learned a trick by accident that I have shared, Use a piece of parchment paper that people use to bake cookies. IT is thin enough to see through and line up your top layer. Just pull off the carrier sheet and lay the parchment in place of it. If you are worried about seeing good you can use clear app tape. It's a simple version to building a light box and you can just throw away sheet once your done because it's cheap. My wife buys long rolls at Costco.

I use square, they charge a little more for non signed version to cover the risk but take it just fine.

If you use the heat gun (I do it all the time) just pass it over it lightly so you don't get the paint too hot.

It cost a lot more but so far I have had best success with an iMac.

SignBlazer is a big step up from SCALP so I know it is totally capable of doing that. Don't use it so I'm not much help with technical details but it probably won't be the bezier tool that gets you there for this application. You should be looking to make a larger duplicate image or offset the outer line in the eagle to create a separate image that is the size of the punch through you are trying to make. In most programs this will then be used to "subtract front" of just "subtract" or some such language that will cut that out of the lower layer. Usually once you use the image to punch through as you say, it will be gone and this is the reason for creating it separately from the one you want to be there in the end product. Signbalzer may be different.

I traded up from P-Cut to a Summa (out of your price range) but I can tell you that you will absolutely love a servo cutter. I obviously don't have a Graphtec but from all I have heard they are real great machines and I have been sooooo happy since my upgrade about a year ago. You will be surprised by the amount of time you will save in just not having to babysit the thing. I put my vinyl in and wander elsewhere to weed something or go have lunch with no worries and the higher quality cutting means easier weed and much more accurate multi-layer work. I never used the weeding lines with my P-Cut because it would cut into the design due to the tracking and now I use them often and save time and lost work accordingly.

You definitely have a unique application for the trace feature. A lot of programming has been done to try and avoid the final product you want. LOL I have never tried to tweak things the other direction but typically the live trace feature is underwhelming IMO. I am sure with some work you can achieve similar results to Skarekrows trace by following his example. From your screen shot you look to be using CC version or CS6 so things will be a little different from mine to yours. I know they revamped the trace engine in CS6 and it supposedly does a better faster job on high res images. Comparisons say not as good on B&W simple stuff. I would try Threshold at 1, Path Fitting at 0, Min area at 0, Corner angle at 180, blur at 0. I think it will turn out just about what you want. I think if you click ignore white it will ignore the threshold setting altogether.

Believe it or not a LOT of us were right there where you are at right now. Very frustrating at first because it seems like too much to deal with. Just relax and think some happy thoughts and it will all work out and you will be in my spot one day calming someone else. Be patient and keep at it and it will all add to your experience. Now for help: Go back to basics (which I realize are all new to you) Start by double checking blade depth, If you are unsure about this just do a fresh search and ignore anything that says 1/2 of a credit card. Mz Skeeter has posted the best way about 10,000 time so you should be able to find it here on the forum. After blade depth look everything over from top to bottom and try to see if anything is slightly loose. Things to check include the blade holder and clamp, the carriage which is the part that scoots across the top beam (check that all the rollers are in place and seem tight, check the drive shaft which has the grit/traction rollers (with the machine off rotate the shaft with your fingers to be sure one section or another isn't loose. There is only so much you can see but you would be surprised at how many times people find that the blade holder is loose or a roller is off on the back of the carriage. Next be double certain that the pinch rollers are over the gritty traction part of the shaft. Your cuts didn't look that far off so I doubt that is your problem but it needs mentioning. If all these things look OK then you will need to go through your settings within the software. I do not own a Graphtec but they are one of the top brands so you can rest assured that the problem will be corrected one way or another and it's not normal. For the actual machine set-up you should have some literature with your machine to work through it. If you don't find what you are looking for with the manual you may have to get with tech support. If you bought the machine through USCutter they will totally help you out and there is a specific thread for Graptec machines that may have some pertinent info also. I don't know if I helped you much but hopefully you can figure it out. That looks like an offset issue or possible over-cut if it wasn't one of the other physical issues.

They won't melt especially with siser because you are down in the 305* range. You may have to be sure and get the right siser for the job. I did some motorcycle goggle bands that were probably similar in makeup and they did ok I used Siser stretch to handle the stretch factor.

I think I read somewhere that it is supposed to be the height of a Capital A. But I don't recall where I read that. I usually make a quick box that is the height I am aiming for and then size until it fits for most of the letters. There are usually some that are above or below. I also error on the safe side when making competition jerseys that might get inspected at sporting events. 6" or 8" numbers I usually make slightly over just in case.

I would be in that price range, probably tending toward the $400 mark.

The three intellectual property attorneys in this thread agreed and the fourth estate planning half way agreed that you will be covered under fair use on making your own shirt. Can't hire someone to do it for you. This is the same exact advice that I got from an attorney friend who has kids that play on the same team as mine. (I asked him for some pro-bono advice last year) http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/can-i-legally-use-a-trademarked-college-logo-on-a--1487256.html

Copyright probably not but trademark can protect the look of fonts and all sorts of things. Bottom line is whether or not you are going to be selling them for any reason including a fund raiser. Copyright does protect anything that is even inspired by the original or that may confuse a customer into thinking that they are buying an original.

I'm certainly no authority on copyright or trademark law but I have done some research including physically talking to a couple attorneys and an official licensing authority. Copyright protection protects certain things and trademark protects other things. Without going into all the bloody details, the college licensing people I talked to told me (I was asking if I could get permission to make my daughter a sweatshirt with the College logo) that if I possessed the ability to make my own for myself then I wasn't breaking any laws. Now if I was going to sell them that would be a different story. Also giving them away may be construed to be "diluting" the market which is one of the provisions within trademark protection so there is even some potential trademark infringement by giving away copies but it is a more ambiguous statement and I think they would have to prove the value of damages which for a sweatshirt are pretty much non existent. The college did ask politely that I follow the constraints they had set up for use of the logo so as to keep the brand in control, which I did out of respect.

What software are you using to cut with? Plotters are not like printers that can print right from your applications, they require a cutting program. Some cutting programs also design to one degree or another such as SignBlazer and Sure-Cuts-A-Lot-Pro and Flexi. Others are just design or just cutting software such as Inkscape, Illustrator or Corel (Design programs) and SignCut (cutting only). So what program are you using to design and what are you trying to use for cutting?

THat's going to be a heavily copyright item so no one is going to be posting a cuttable version on the forum. Did you try Brands of the World.com? They might have something.

Be sure and set up your blade depth right off the bat or you may break your tip. It should just barely be out. Take the blade holder out of the cutter and use a piece of scrap to adjust it close. There is an old article somewhere that says to go about 1/2 of a credit card WHICH IS WAY TOO MUCH. You should not really be able to see it with the naked eye. I have to hold mine up to a light to see the point. If you drag it across the scrap piece with a decent pressure it should cut through the vinyl and just put a good scratch in the carrier. Once you get the length about there then put it back in the machine and start working your way up from a light pressure setting until you get a clean cut with a light scratch on the carrier without being able to feel the cut from the back side. I don't own a Titan so can't help you with the pinch roller question. You typically cut INSIDE the pinch rollers and the material that goes through them is wasted. If it is pinching so hard that the vinyl is getting torn up or scrunched up then there is something wrong for sure but a "track" in it may be normal. It is for my machine.

Not my best work, just quick and dirty but maybe it will help you out. Shadow.svg

Have you checked to see if that is an actual font or custom? I think you will have to recreate the whole thing in order to re-do the red or it will never fit right, especially from a pic of a curved surface.

I don't sublimate but this mug made me laugh.

That is a classic sign of overcut. A little less pressure would fix it.

I didn't open any of these but maybe they will work for you. http://all-free-download.com/free-vector/michigan-state-seal.html

A little extra thrown at the cutter will be better money spent than about anything else. I actually talked with the people at USCutter in person and they helped me make an intelligent choice. ANY cutter you buy will come with a learning curve and you may at first be a little upset until you get it figured out. Then you will have a blast and become the life of the party and all your dreams will come true. I started out with a 48" P-Cut and only occasionally cut 30" vinyl and only then because it happened to be the size of a specific color I needed that the local supplier only had in stock 30" wide. When I upgraded to a high end cutter I went down to a 30" Rarely do I do any jobs that I even need the 30". (Summa's only come 30" or larger so it was the smallest available). If you stick with it and have even the smallest ability in you you can make the machine pay for itself without too much trouble. I don't advertise or anything and have work coming out of my ears most of the time. once people figure out you can do it then they come in droves. If you can swing the cost I recommend you also buy at least a cheap 15"x15" heat press so you can do heat transfer vinyl on shirts. You will be glad you did and make even more money. Wait, you don't live around my home town do you? If so just ignore everything I just said, you really don't want to get into this line of work it's just a money pit.

I like what you did with the flags darcshadow. Looks good. I had a golf game today and by the time I got back everyone has pitched in. I rebuilt the wolf head in mine so if you want you can pull it apart and lay the flogs and such over the top. I separated the flags but hadn't gotten to doing any more than just starting to play with. I would use Darcs flags. Lone Wolf2.svg

This thing is messy! How many color layer are you wanting? I understand breaking out the flags but there are several possibilities within the wolf that I might as well clean up while I'm in there.