rrc1962

My 871 shipped with the fuse in a plastic bag. I had to install the fuse. Also try another power cord. It takes a standard 3 prong that you'll find on any computer. Shut off your computer and try that one. If it works, go buy a new cable. Definitely use the serial connection. USB on these cutters is problematic at best.

Reduce pressure a little at a time until you see an issue, then increase it a little. When you cut a long line on one side of the vinyl, it will throw the tracking off. You can feed the full length, but even if it feeds straight, the blade pressure will still throw it off. The 2 fixes are to increase roller pressure and/or decrease blade pressure. You should also check the rulers on the machine. Mine are off by about 1/16". If I line up the vinyl at 3" on both the front and rear rulers, it walks to the left every time. If I line up the front at 3 - 1/16 it tracks straight.

I'd be at $65 + the aluminum, so probably $130 - $150.

Yes, I think that's it. For a sharp corner, click and release. For a control point curve, click and drag the mouse a little.

I haven't upgraded memory yet. haven't really had the need. I routinely cut up to 10 feet long with no issues. Flexi is a better program, but it costs a boat load more money too...So I'd expect it to be better. SBE is a pretty good program for what it costs.

All the more reason to hand trace it. Auto tracing just doesn't pick up the fine details like your eye can.

It's usually faster to manually trace than it it to auto trace and clean it up. Illustrator does a respectable job at auto tracing one color logos without a whole lot of detail, but anything other than that and it's usually faster to trace by hand...regardless of the program.

No. Photoshop is a raster program. You would need to take the bitmap image you create in PS and convert it using a program like InkScape, Illustrator or Corel. It's easier to just design using the vector program to begin with. Inkscape is free and quite capable.

Or learn how to draw. Some of the requests I see would take less time to draw than it took to type the request. This profession does take a little artistic ability. A sign maker can't rely only on what they can download and expect to stay on top of the competition.

If you're asking if it's easy to cut vinyl graphics, then the answer is yes, there is software that does all that for you. However, no amount of money you spend on software will magically make you an artist. If you have no artistic ability, then you may struggle a bit. The CriCut is just a vinyl cutter. It will cut what ever you send to it, including fun fonts and sayings.

Isn't that just a round disc?

We order industrial components from Atlanta and Chicago on a regular basis. Atlanta is 1 day UPS ground and Chicago is 2 days UPS ground to Nashville. Memphis is easily 1 day to Nashville...And I believe you're closer. If it's taking longer than a day, someone is dropping the ball. Could be FedEx. I find UPS to more consistent. FedEx ground from Atlanta could be anywhere from 1 - 3 days. UPS is always 1 day, even around the holidays.

We burn through white, black and red and only use paper tape. An app tape roller makes things much easier. There is also the Big Squeegee, but it doesn't work 100% of the time. Shameless plug.... We actually make an app tape roller in our steel shop. I came up with this because nothing else I bought worked in every instance. We just started marketing it a few weeks ago. See the photo. The side plates are 1/8" steel (powder coated) and the roller tubes are 14" thick PVC. You can mount it to an existing bench or use a 36" wide slab door from HD or Lowes. I've masked as long as 22 feet x 24" using the actual table in the photo.

Would still be $1000+- to install depending on location, height off the ground, etc. Might have to rent a man lift, unless OP happens to own one. Figure at least two men and an hour per number.

He won't make it very far doing business that way. For what little you charge for this service, there is no excuse for skipping out on payment. I don't think you'll offend anyone by asking for payment up front. I would expect to pay up front for a service like this.

Did you mean 59.5 x 9.5 INCHES? If your talking feet, not inches, you'll have 4 - 5 rolls per color at about $85 per roll for Oracal 651. I think you're a little light at $45. That's what we charge to do a truck tailgate. I agree with truckntran. I wouldn't touch something that big with vinyl. It is doable, but not the best way. projector is the way to go. If you do it in vinyl, you'll need a high end cutter. Don't even consider using the MH or any other Chinese cutter. Something that long may even require a pin fed machine.

That would be pretty easy to just draw from scratch. You probably spent more time looking for it then it would take to draw it. Good graphic to practice those drawing skills.

Disappeared before or after you got paid?

I'd be at $300 - $350 per sign.

You can buy vector collection and legally use them to create your own decals and you could legally display a jpeg of that image as examples of the decals you can print. To to that you have to buy the vector collections, but like speed said, if you want to stand out in the crowd, you have to offer something everyone else isn't. Basically, you can undercut everyone else selling nickle and dime decals or sell original designs and make some decent money.

During jury selection, just tell them that you heard about that case. Should be short trial since everyone knows the guy is guilty. There is no way the prosecuting attorneys will let you sit on the jury.

I used this one on the back of a semi tractor once. badabing.zip badabing.zip

You can't get real close to the edge. You're probably wasting more material in errors than if you just left a 1/2" margin.

RTA = Ready to apply and substrate would be the sign blank. On RTA I weed and mask, but I don't lay up multiple colors on the bench. I ship them separately. I really don't like doing RTA. Customers are usually just trying to pinch pennies by doing it that way, then when they mess up the install, it is somehow always your fault. The PITA factor is pretty high. On Oracal 651, 24" wide, cost is about .60 per foot or .05 per inch. $1.30 per inch is a pretty good profit as long as you don't get into doing these little nickel and dime decals. I don't do those. I do RTA for people who want to do their own install on a storefront, vehicle or even a banner and we have a $20 minimum. I have a regular who buys RTA for 8' banners all the time. Not bad considering I'm into the vinyl for $9.60 and it takes about 20 minutes to cut and weed on average. I don't know why he does it that way. He's into a single banner for $124.80 and he does the install. The big sign shop downtown will print the same thing for $128 and he knows it.

On RTA graphics, I've been charging $1.30 per linear inch with a $20 minimum. A 12x12 would be $15.60. A 12x20 would be the same because it's still using 12" off the roll. A 12x25 would be $32.50 because now it has to be turned 90 degrees and will use 25" of vinyl. I don't advertise that's how I do it, but it makes it easier for me to quote jobs from the hip. I find that most of the time what ever is not cut in the 24" width of the roll is pretty much wasted. If I'm cutting a single line of text say 3" tall and 36" long, I might adjust the price because the waste is large enough to be useful for another job. If I'm doing a custom install quote, I'll figure the graphics at $1.30/inch then figure travel time and labor separately at $35/hr. I try to make 30% on the substrate.