darcshadow

No, plastic is an insulator. If that is case you will want something like this: https://uscutter.com/Anit-Static-Kit-for-Vinyl-Cutters/ it's basically just a metal wire that drapes across the vinyl grounding it to the cutter.

The issue of grounding is not the cutter or even the stand for that matter, the issue is the vinyl itself. As you stated the cutter is grounded through the outlet and internal wiring. The problem is the vinyl is what is generating the static and it has no place to go other than through the blade. The static discharge into the blade will also pass through the various electronics before it gets to ground. The fix is to ground the vinyl itself so that static does not build up. This is most easily accomplished by grounding the stand since the vinyl is touching the stand all the time static can not build up on it. The other option is a grounding wire/cable that drapes across the back of the cutter and touches the vinyl as is feed into the cutter.

What good does a virtual comm port do? A real comm port is needed to talk to the cutter, no?

Try the serial port on the cutter. The USB port on the MHs are just trouble.

On the MH cutter it is a simple 741 op-amp chip. Chances are good it's the same on yours, look for a small 8 pin chip that has 741 on it.

have you tried re downloading the install program? That error message would seem to indicate the file is corrupted and can not be extracted. Or it is trying to extract it to a location that you do not have write access to. Seems unlikely since all the other files extracted ok, but might try re-running the program with admin rights.

Most any software will work, it's just a matter of getting the communications working between the computer and cutter. You're best bet is to use the serial port on the cutter and forget about the USB. If you do not have a serial port on your computer a Tripp-Lite Keyspan adapter will be needed. There are several adapters and they are not all created equal. Most do not work with the MH, the Keyspan is known to work and is the go to recommendation from everyone on these forums. Once you get the adapter you simply setup the comm port and baud rate in your software to match the cutter and you'll be good to go. Signblaze is free and should work, although I don't know if anyone has tried running it on windows 10. If you want to stick with free, Inkscape can be made to cut although it's not a true cutting program and is missing several nice to have feature. Vinyl Master, not free, but a very good cutting program. You can get the cheaper version, Vinyl Master cut which has very limited design features, but it will cut and you can use other programs such as Inkscape to design with. This is typically what I do. I have a hire level of VM, but I rarely use it to design in because I learned to design with Inkscape first and VM does things differently and as a result it takes me longer in VM than Inkscape and I just haven't bothered to learn to do it in VM.

Sorry, about the his thing, not paying attention to screen names and just habit posting to largely male heave forums.

While it can't hurt to try different software, I don't think it's a software thing. His cutter is an MH and the pressure on those are not controllable through software, only the control panel on the cutter. When the cutter finished cutting and it's just barely scratching the vinyl, if you start another job without making any adjustments does it start good or does it still only scratch? Or what do you have to do to get it to start cutting good again? You say it fails about half way through a design. Have you tried a simpler design? Is the failure a consistent amount of time after the cut starts? My thinking here is there is some sort of electronics drain and the power to the sednoid fading for some reason.

You say it makes the motions but doesn't cut, what about the cutting head, is it moving up and down still?

And as far a logo to recreate, that one is going to be pretty easy. What specifically are you having trouble with?

The mat is only needed if your cutter needs it or if the vinyl being cut is too small. Just load the vinyl in your SC, shinny side down, mirror the cut and you're good to go.

What's the "Leave" button on the control panel do? That what you press when you're fed up and done for the day? ha

Going to need a bit more information. What have you tried? Does every cut stop midway through, or just a specific design? What software are you using? Is the cutter/vinyl grounded? Are you using USB or Serial? Did it ever work?

Nothing wrong wrong with xp and several here still use xp machines to cut. if you do upgrade a tripp-lite kingspan usb to serial adapter is what you’ll want to connect to your cutter. signblazer is no longer supported, creator passed away but it’s still a very useful tool. If you want a. Newer design program Inkscape is free and quite powerful.

I see so it more of the design than the actual control of the cutter. If that's the case you can always use the program you know and like to do the design then save it off as an EPS and open it with what ever cutting program works with your cutter. Several on here design in one program and cut with another.

I'm still curious though, what is it that this software can do that you can't do in other software?

You don't. Plotters in general do not show up as a device, and if they do, they don't show up as a printer. Why do you need to use this Llumar software? Does it have a feature/ability that the other doesn't or is it just the old software is what you're use to and you don't want to learn a new system?

I never had much success with the vectoring from SignBlazer. Once you figure out how to cut text and get things working then you can look into Inkscape. it's a free vector design software and has a really good vector ability. I do most of my designing in Inkscape then save it as an EPS or SVG and open/import with my cutting software.

I think you answered your own question, a windows update happened. Find you an older, offline PC and run WindowsXP and forget about updates.

Throw it away. I'll hang onto some small pieces but for the most part they end up just laying around. Vinyl is cheap and the hassle of dealing with small pieces is just not worth it.

If your desktop has a built in serial port then all you need to do is configure it and the software to what the cutter is expecting and you should be good to go.

Unless you have some sort of stand already, and you want to do longer designs, you'll want a stand. Sitting on a desktop is fine if your designs are only about 12" long. But as you get longer you'll want a stand to hold the vinyl and allow you to feed it smoothly. As for which cutter, the 28" Titan is probably the best from USCutter that is in your budget.

While true, I don't believe memory is the issue here. Could be a tracking issue, I don't have much experience with running paper through the cutter so I'm not sure how well it tracks compared to vinyl. How big is this image? Try making a simple image the same size. Say just a large box with a circle in it. How does that come out?

Have you ran the calibration routine in the software?