darcshadow

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Posts posted by darcshadow

  1. Posted

    I have seen that sort of problem, plugging something in and the computer seeing it, but not recognizing it and the problem turned out to be the USB port. It was a pass through port on a KVM and they had wired it wrong. Pin to Pin was correct but they were using the shield as a signal line so the computer was able to see that something was connected but the communication was so bad that the computer couldn't do anything with the device.

    Have never heard of that being the problem with a plotter, but if all else is ruled out, that might be something to look into.

  2. Posted

    After thinking about my statement in doing the measurements I realized that would be of no use in this situation.

    Typically the wire running to the switch and fuse should be the hot wire. I found a chart with various wire colors and it does look like Yellow is pretty common for a hot line. Green and Green/Yellow are earth ground, not seeing either color referenced as a Neutral.

    Now electrically, both neutral and earth are tied together back where it comes into the house, so for functionality, you should be ok with either wire in either location. HOWEVER, from a safety standpoint, you really need to have the correct wires connected.

    You take your meter and set it to measure resistance, the omega symbol, and measure from the end of the green/yellow wire to bare metal on the cutter and measure from the green wire to bare metal, once should be nearly zero, the other will be a bit higher. The one that is nearly zero would be your earth wire.

    • Like 1

  3. Posted

    You're guesses would be what I would assume as well. However looking up the Australian color coding the Green/Yellow would "normally" be the earth wire but who knows what color scheme the MH uses.

    Can you trace where the wires are connecting to further in the machine? The earth ground should be easy to spot, it usually just runs to a random looking screw connected to bare metal.

    If you have a meter, the voltage between earth and neutral should be 0 or very close to it.

    If no one responds with better info, I'll take a look at my cutter tonight when I get home.

    • Like 1

  5. Posted

    Even if you don't hit big and rake in lots of money the higher end machines are still a good idea as they will pay for themselves eventually even if you do nothing more than use them as a hobby and sell stuff to friends and family. And if/when you decide you want to get out of it all together they'll have a higher resale as well.

    Basically what I'm saying, is don't worry about throwing the money away, it'll come back eventually. 

    Regarding amazon vs person web page, I can't speak much to that other than to say when I think of custom/personalized stuff, I don't think of Amazon so i question how much traffic would you actually see.

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  6. Posted

    Never used that software, but just some general troubleshooting steps.

    Do you have the correct plotter driver selected from the list in the software?

    Do you have the software pointed to the correct USB port every time you change where you have the USB plugged in you'll have to change the software accordingly.

    Do you have the plotter turn on? You'd be amazed at how often that is the problem.

     

  10. Posted

    As Dakota said, it's just a simple momentary switch, you should be able to pick up something at your local electronics store and make it work. You don't need something the exact shape or size. Just something you can affix to the cutter in the correct location. May not look pretty but you can do quite a bit with super glue, hot glue, and solder. :)

    I can't tell exactly from your photos, but is it just a case of the wires came disconnected? If so, a little bit of soldering should take care of that.

    • Like 1

  13. Posted

    Some programs do have a fill option that people have used with a marker. It basically adds a bunch of lines to areas that are "solid". Works ok for markers with a wide enough tip but would not work with a pen very well.

    I don't recall the name of the software or the name of the feature. Maybe someone who remembers it, or has done it will reply here.

  15. Posted

    You can buy those mats individually and use them with your cutter. If they're not big enough you could try making your own. Get some poster board and a light adhesive, cover the board, apply the mylar and hope for the best. ::)

  16. Posted

    Ok, so I had to go look up mylar stencils. When I, and probably most people, think Mylar, I think mylar balloons or mylar blankets, thin shinny material. Cutting that on a cutter would be virtually impossible I think. However, from what I can tell, they type of mylar you are talking about is more of a thin plastic or a thick film rather than the shinny stuff I'm thinking of.

    At 4 mil you shouldn't have too much trouble. standard vinyl is around 2.5 mil so increasing the pressure, adjusting the blade depth, and possibly making 2 passes should get you a decent cut. The next question though, does the material have a sticky back and come on a carrier sheet. If it does you should be good. If it does not, you'll need some sort of carrier sheet to attach the mylar to in order to feed it into your cutter. If you try to cut without a backing material or carrier sheet you'll ruin your cutting strip, not get a good cut, and waste your material.

  21. Posted

    If you're cutting into the mat you simply have too much blade exposed. Setting the blade depth is the same no matter what it is you're cutting. Follow Mz. Skeeter's instructions which have been posted on here hundreds of times to get the blade depth correct.

    +1 on Haumana's comment about the material slipping. The whole thing needs to stick to the mat, just just the edges.

  22. Posted

    For the stuff you referenced, a 28" would be more than big enough. I only do this as a hobby have have a 24" cutter, but I've never had a need to bigger. The few cases where I had a design larger than 24" it was simple to break the design into segments that could easily be cut on a 24" cutter and then pieced together during application.

    • Like 1