darcshadow

I tried opening it with Inkscape and all I get is the overall shape.

If you're using the RS232 connection be sure you have your baud rate set correctly.

It's the new way to do software. Why design and test something when you can just release it to the public and let them test it and tell you what would make it better.

Is there any markings on the USB-Serial adapter? Kind of looks like a TrippLite one, but hard to say since they all look pretty close to the same.

I know this works in Inkscape, and I believe SignBlazer will do it as well. If you don't want to have to manually delete the little pieces that will be created by the above process, you can select the cross, break it apart, the select the silhouette of the cross, punch that through the wings, then combine the cross again. Note, in Inkscape, when you punch through the object doing the punching is deleted so you'd want to duplicate it before punching through. I do not believe that is the case in SignBlazer.

Are you trying to do contour cutting with a MH cutter? They do not have that ability so the only way you could do it would be to get very lucky manually lining everything up and even then, if 1/16th of an inch is an issue, the MH cutter will have a tough time holding that tolerance over to great of a distance.

Another option if you don't want to convert svg to eps, you can open the svg file with inkscape, to a select all and copy, then past the image into SignBlazer. That's typically how I do it.

I just received a sample chart from Oracal and they have two types of vinyl that let light through, Transparent (8300), and translucent (8500). Transparent is the kind you can kind of see through and looks a little like stained glass. Translucent looks like normal vinyl and is designed to be back light. I think the 8500 would work for what you're wanting to do.

Maltese cross, the center portion of the logo. Seeing how that appears to be an official logo for the Garland Fire Dept. if you're making something for them, they should be able to provide you with the image.

From the description of the tape on the Orafol web page "Extraordinary low adhesive power" I'd say you have the wrong type of tape. You want a medium to high strength for working with matte vinyl. HT95 or MT95 would probably work much better.

You need a serial or a null modem cable to go from the Tripp Lite to the cutter. Your cutter should have come with a cable, connect it to the Tripp Lite adapter and your cutter, if not, the manual should tell you what kind you will need.

Are you wanting to do a single graphic that is larger than your machine can handle, or just a large sign? Most signs can be broken into smaller pieces and put together on site with no worry of seams. It'd be kind of like layering, put some alignment pieces on each section then just line them all up as you build the sign and pull off the alignment pieces once done.

The grey background would cause some problems with auto trace. You'd need to edit the image in a photo editing program and remove the background. It'd probably also be a good idea to try and edit the photo down to three colors, black, orange, a your background color of choice, white would probably be best. This would be a good image to practice manual trace on.

Like this

These pages you found, did they have a big attention getting button that says something like download now? If that's what you found and clicked on that's the problem, you didn't read the page close enough. If you scroll down the page a little more you will find the real link to download the font directly. Those big attention getting buttons are not your friend.

You want to tape the bottom layer. Even using the parchment trick, if you don't have the base in a fixed location it'll make keeping things lined up a pain.

I don't know LXI, but what did you try and why was "wrong" with the results you were getting? This image looks like it'd be pretty easy to trace. Manual trace would be pretty easy to do and an auto trace should produce decent results as well.

Sandy, you asked for help, but didn't indicate what you tried, what software you're using, or the results you got that you were unhappy with. Were you actually looking for help on how to do it, or just someone to do it for you?

Which is why customers should not be designers. ha!

Busterbaby, your post above showing your results from the break apart is what Inkscape does as well. I simply had to edit the result on the right to complete the shape and remove the white area of the face and pizza box.

Don't know SCAL, but in inkscape, select the image, duplicate it and move it off to the side to make working with it easier. Then break apart, union all the parts, change to a color you can see on your screen (red), add a stroke(red), and slide the whole image back over to the original and send it behind the original. Now adjust the stroke size to get the desired outline. You will also need to do some node editing to make the red fill the face but that's pretty quick and easy.

If you think the USB connector on the cutter is going bad, and you already have a Keyspan, why not just use it rather than go through the hassle of trying to replace the usb connector?

Another option for long USB runs, there is a device that will convert USB to a cat-5/cat-6 cable and allow you to run nearly 200', then convert back from cat-5/cat-6 to standard USB. And if you need to go even further, you can get one that converts to fiber and run nearly 1500'.

If you have Inkscape setup to open EPS files, you can try renaming them as an eps and then try opening them with Inkscape. It works quite often.

One big complaint about the HF cabinet is that you have to assemble it which leaves lots of room for gaps and leaks. For a little bit more you can get a cabinet that is injection molded plastic which has no seams or places to leak outside of the holes that are suppose to be there. I have a Cyclone E500 it was about $75 more than the HF one, but I have been very pleased with it and didn't have to worry about trying to seal it up. As for compressors, both the ones you mentioned would work although the 3gallon is pretty small. For most blasting you'll be in the 40-60psi range. The larger the tank and higher the HP on the compressor you can get the better. Reason being, the larger the tank, the less often the compressor needs to run. The higher the HP, the faster the tank will fill. If the compressor can fill the tank faster than you drain it then you never need to stop. If the compressor is not fast enough, you'll need to take short breaks to let the tank fill back up. Not a big deal either as you are rarely blasting non stop. The other thing to note, the blasters all have a suggested or min. psi usage. That, for the most part, can be ignore. I believe mine says to run it at 100psi or something, but it works just fine as low as 25psi. The other thing you want to look at is a vacuum for the cabinet. Ideally a dust collection system with good filters, but a simple shop vac or household vac can be used to clear the dust in the cabinet. It can get dusty very quickly and be nearly impossible to see what you're working on.