darcshadow

Super Moderators
  • Content Count

    3,046
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    207

Posts posted by darcshadow


  1.  

    The MH does everything I want it to do if I'm scrupulous about the adjustments.

    That was my thinking as well.  But the whole process is so much faster and easier with a higher end cutter. I was like you, and completely understand your stance. Until you experience a good cutter it's hard to comprehend how much better they can be.

    Engineer here as well, and I too hate throwing stuff out that I know should be a simple fix. Best of luck, just don't throw too much money at it.


  2. And at $100, I'd look at a new/new to you cutter. You can find some pretty good used cutters pretty cheap. I'd read on here for years people talking about how much better higher end cutters are and I always thought how much of a difference could there really be. I'm here to say, there is a huge difference. I went to a graphtec I found used and it was night and day difference. Detail designs were no longer a fight to weed. Thicker stuff like glitter cut amazingly well. I did a design on the MH and weeding took me over an hour because of the glitter vinyl I hated working with glitter vinyl. Same design with the graphtec and I was done in like 5 min. I couldn't believe it.

    Don't be afraid to walk away from the MH and get something better. From what I've heard, even the SC is a big step up from the MH.


  3. Finally got around to playing with the software. When you type out the text., the box that appears around the text is not the size of the test. It extends above and below. I'm assuming below for lower case letters and above for super script or some sort of punctuation maybe. As far as I know, the only way to get the true size is to convert the text to curves then resize it.


  4. Static would be my guess as well. And to be clear you need to ground the vinyl. Most people accomplish this by grounding the stand. USCutter also sells a grounding kit that basically draps a metal chain across the vinyl to dissipate static.


  5. I can't help with setting up the new cutter but I would suggest you get in the habit of saving/exporting your designs as EPS or SVG files. That way in the future if you ever do have to switch to a different program you will be able to easily load old designs.

    Also, don't let the number of old designs you have scare you from switching software. How often to you actually load an old design and cut it? If like most people, not often. And when you do need an old design, just load it, save it off as an EPS and you're done. No need to convert them all, just convert them as you need them.

    • Like 2

  6. The function of the spring and the adjustment of depth have nothing to do with each other. Set the blade depth per Mz Skeeters instructions. Then if you're still having issues look at things on the cutter, bad cutting strip, non smooth movements of the cutter head, correctly functional solenoid. With the blade set correctly it is impossible to cut too deep. 

    • Like 2

  7. I think you're missing what slice was trying to say. It's not that other programs can't use a Siser cutter, it's just that the only software FC supports is the Leonardo Studio. 

    Here's another example. MicroSoft will say that MS Office is only compatible with with Windows 10 and newer. However there are plenty of people out there that have gotten MS Office to run on older versions of Windows, and even various versions of Linux. There are almost always other ways to run things, just the vendor doesn't want you to use them and doesn't directly support them.

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

  8. If you change which USB port on the computer you are connected to that can sometimes confuse the software. If you have a serial port, or a usb-2-serial adapter, on the computer the serial cable is the recommended way to go though. It's more reliable with the MH cutters.


  9. I would be very surprised if Cutting Master can not open or import and EPS file. If you don't see EPS as an option when you select open, look for an import option.

    You can design for any cutter in any design software. Just like you can print any picture with any printer, you can cut any design with any cutter. I like Inkscape for design. It's amazingly powerful for a free program.

    Pick your design software, make your design, save it as an eps file, IMPORT the eps file into your cutting software, click cut.


  10. They are two different command code languages. One was developed by HP and is used by just about every machine. The other was developed by Graphtec and is only used by Graphtec. What exactly the difference is, can't say. You'd have to dig into the actual code to understand that. My guess is the GP-GL has some custom commands in it specifically for specific machines. So long as the software is set to generate the code that the plotter is set to receive either work just fine.


  11. A buddy just told me about a relatively new app from Adobe, Adobe Fresco. It's a free vector drawing app that is suppose to work really well with tablets and styluses. A guy he follows uses the app and a screen protector call Paperlike that makes drawing on the tablet feel a lot more like drawing on paper. This guy is really pleased with it and his only real complaint is it dulls the colors a bit.

    Anyway, I have not used this app but we get people in here every now and then asking about using tablets and drawing pens. This might be one worth looking at if that is what you're after.

    • Like 2

  12. Only other free software I've heard of for cutting in Inkcut, which started as an add-on for Inkscape. I played with Inkcut a little and didn't care for it, but it did work. You can also cut directly from Inkscape in the newer versions. It's not ideal but it did work.