darcshadow

Did you try any of the other suggestions? There have been several. What were the results? Need to know the results of the suggestions in order to offer additional advice.

Yeah, I've never understood why they say it's not compatible, unless they actually mean the usb to serial chip that is inside the unit. If you're talking to it over the serial bus it shouldn't matter what os you're using so long as the program is using the correct communication protocal. Since you have it "working" and it's just not cutting well I'd say it's not likely a Mac problem. If the problem just started after you moved the cutter, go over it and double check that everything is still tight and lined up. Also make sure the cutting head is correctly on the rails.

Here's some large sheets listed on Amazon. Do a google search for 3M reflective White and you'll find some. https://www.amazon.com/3M-Reflective-Adhesive-Vinyl-Silhouette/dp/B074G4NGMC/ref=asc_df_B074G4NGMC/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=216645986348&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=18127706468128079468&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9027204&hvtargid=pla-362145529650&psc=1

Try with pen and paper and see if it behaves the same. I'd also slow the cutter way down. I have an MH and run it about 120, 300 is really fast for that machine. Have you check the calibration of the steps? With pen and paper have the cutter draw a 6" square and check to see if it is actually 6" on each side. What program are you using for cutting? Vinyl Master has a calibration routine that works really well. Other programs probably have something, at the very least they should have a way to control the steps per inch. Your pressure seems high too. Set it as skeeter instructs, I currently have mine set to 90, but I'm not trying to cut two layers at the same time, still, I wouldn't think you'd need much more than 150. It should probably also be noted my machine is about 6 years old and each machine is going to be a little different. I'd also suggest going to a 60 degree blade for cutting through that thick of material. Not related to your problem, but are you wanting to block the light completely? If so, you might try vinyl with a metallic backing such as reflective vinyl. It'll dull a blade faster, but it should block the light with a single layer and no need to double layer.

Most likely the software is locking up because it is trying to talk to the plotter that has gone off in the weeds. If you wait long enough after hitting cancel, the software will eventually time out and give up trying to talk to the hardware and start working normally again. When you say the cutter resets, does it go back to home and stop? Typically when static is the problem the cutter runs away and feeds vinyl till you stop it, often times with the knife down and cutting a nice long slice through your good vinyl. Everyone talks about the memory issue, I have a MH and I've never had a problem and have cut some designs with a ridiculous amount of nodes. If the software is working correctly the amount of memory on a cutter should be irrelevant. Software feeds the data to the cutter till the memory buffer is full, then waits for the cutter to request more. In theory, a cutter could work with just a few bytes of memory, it'd be extremely inefficient, but it could be done. I would try the pen thing mentioned by skeeter first, and if it still behaves weird, then try different software. If it behaves weird with no blade, and different software there's a good chance it's a hardware problem.

Just because a driver is built in doesn't mean you don't need one. Windows has tons of drivers built in.

I often wonder if that is actually a correct statement. Several of the high end cutters still have serial ports so the motherboard is using good old fashion RS-232 on it some place. I would guess the cutter is also just using a USB-2-Serial chip, the only difference being it's a higher quality chip, and the drivers have been written in such a way that it does not identify itself to windows as a comm port.

I believe USCutter sells a grounding kit that dangles a metal wire onto the vinyl as it feeds into the cutter allowing you to ground the vinyl without a stand. I'd suggest getting something like that, or better yet get a stand. They are very handy to have. If your cutting head does not go up when you turn it on then the z-chip has most likely gotten fried. Since the cutter is new and under warranty call them and have them take care of it. If it was not under warranty, and you can handle a soldering iron, it is possible to replace the chip for a few dollars.

Any time I've shopped around I have yet to find a place that can beat the prices with shipping that USCutter offers for Siser and Oracal vinyls.

Go with direct, cut manager is like a printer spooler, and I don't recall if it actually works correctly with SB or not. The initialization error is most likely because the cutter you have selected is not a compatible cutter with the pc-700

You plotter should appear in device manager under comm ports. Check there and see what port has been assigned to it. I do not use Flexi, but I believe you need to have the comm port set to something less than 4. Once you have it set in Windows go to Flexi and make sure it is using the correct port.

Glad to here, the other ways mentioned will likely work too. There are usually 3 or 4 ways of doing something, especially in the vector world, it's just a matter of figure out which way makes the most sense for you in a given situation.

and some place on the forums someone once posted all 50 states so you wouldn't even need to trace the state.

There is an add on for that, I just recently heard of it and installed it. Haven't played around with it much to know how well it works though. https://github.com/fablabnbg/inkscape-chain-paths

You have to think how it will cut, not necessarily how it looks on the screen. For example, you could have one large black piece, then the white line. When you cut, if do not separate the cut by color you will have the desired result, you just weed out the "white" part. Or you could punch through the white so that the black is cut into two pieces and you don't need the white anymore. Looking at your design in outline mode/wireframe mode can help visualize how it will cut. If you have VM Pro, sounds like it's really easy though.

I'm not sure if there is a more direct way, but if you just create an outline and make it white, or any color, then create an outline of that and make it black, then just cut by color you'll have the result you're looking for.

I can't speak to etching steel but I do know the process to etch copper works well with vinyl. I used vinyl to create a circuit board and it came out great.

If you have Inkscape already I'd say dig into it more. It can pretty much do all that you need. The only downside to inkscape, and pretty much any vector design program in comparison to programs like AutoCad is most vector design programs don't deal with exact measurements when drawing lines like cad programs do. You said autocad can "explode" fonts into vectors, most vector programs do that. In Inkscape, it's called "Object to Path" it's under the Patch menu. When designing in any vector program, it's also a good idea to switch to wireframe/outline view occasionally to double check your design will cut like you think it will. I have not checked, but I believe the two cutters you're looking at use the HPGL language for control, so virtually any cutting program can be made to work with them. Inkscape could even be used to cut designs with them. The advantage of having the cutter in question "supported" by a cutting program is that the default values for things like steps per inch are set for the cutter in question, although some fine tuning may still be necessary.

Shouldn't matter, but maybe try the EPS file format.

I don't know if the wires are all soldered in place of if they have connectors. If connectors, it could be something as simple as a loose one. Could also be a wire has broken but still makes intermittent contact.

You could give Inkscape a try. It has a very basic cut ability built in now, under Extensions->Export->Plot. You will likely need to do some test cuts to dial in the DPI setting.

I would say no as well, not sure the blade would even be big enough and if it is, it would not be able to do the pressure required to cut something that thick. It might be possible if you do 2 or 3 passes, but I would not count on the accuracy of the MH to be consistent enough to exactly trace the same path.

Agreed, the pancake compressor will get you started. I only have an 8 gal compressor from HF. The cfm rating is just the cfm of the compressor, once the tank is full your cfm is simply that of what ever your hose and couplings will allow. Having a cfm equal to or higher than required would mean you could run the blaster nonstop. Having a cfm lower just means you have to take breaks every now and then to let the compressor fill the tank back up. Not a big deal since you rarely blast glass for long stretches.

One down side the HF box that I've read about a lot, is they tend to leak. When you put it together if you take your time and use a good amount of caulk they can be pretty good from what I understand. I ended up spending a bit more and got a bench style unit that was one solid piece. Only place for the media to leak out is the window door. Most cabinet come with a cheap syphon gun that is usually good enough for most projects.

My pleasure, happy to help. If you keep looking you might find other fonts that a free to download. Monogram KK is a decent font, lower case letters are small and capital letters are larger. I've used this font a few times, although I usually adjust the size of the letters a little as I wasn't quite happy with the look.