dcbevins

Treksgiving

lol

I lurk quite a bit around here. One observation, I think mark-s is a Fontbot 5000.

It looks like Adobe Arabic. http://www.fontslog.com/adobearabic-regular-otf-25853.htm#custompreview

I have a "USCutter TC Series Vinyl Cutter with Laser Registration for contour cutting (ALTC) - Model: 50" with stand" as the confirmation email lists. It also lists as TC Vinyl Cutting Plotter W/64 MB Memory 50" TC1261. I understand this is basically a Liyu. When I first got it, I procrastinated awhile before assembling, yes a bad idea. I finally got it up an running. Used it for a year or so, but never tested the "Laser Registration for contour cutting". When I got around to trying this option, no amount of selecting "ON" on the ORIGIN CURRENT ON screen will make a little red laser shine, as far all I can tell is supposed to happen. At the late date it was out of warranty. I did call USCutter about it and they pretty much just gave me the line that they don't offer support for the laser registration on this model. Eventually, I got them to tell me replacing the carriage "might" fix the problem. Hoping it might help, I ordered a Replacement Carriage for TC Series Vinyl Cutters (ALPTCCARRIAGE). Unfortunately i pulled one of the power lead wires apart fumbling around with it. It might be fixable with a solder gun. My question is do you think replacing the Carriage might make the registration laser come to life, or might my problem be elsewhere? I dislike disassembling the thing for fear of damage.

Looking at the replacement carriage I borked, I think I see the laser. I'll see if I can power it with something to test.

When I turn the cutter on, the menu LOCAL is already highlighted. I hit Enter. Hitting Select two times moves it to OFF. Hitting Enter than changes it to ON, (you said change it to off.) When I hit Enter with OFF selected I get a new menu with ENTER EXIT and the carriage moves slightly to the left. From a Youtube Vid I watched, this is supposed to be where you set the number of reg marks. Say I want four, I would hit Enter with ENTER selected, re-selecting it the number times to match the number of reg marks I have then selecting EXIT to take me to the previous menu. The video example I watched used four. After I use the EXIT selection, I have tried going back to ORIGIN and selecting it. I have tried toggling the ON/OFF options again. At no point in any of this does a laser light turn on that I can see. The vid example was using Flexi. When the cut job was sent Flexi had a prompt to manually set registration. The cutter would show another menu with what looked like X Y values, (blurry vid.) It seemed like Flexi was sending a signal to the cutter to display those XY values. The man in the vid would then use read those values from the cutter menu and feed them into Flexi, four times, (once each for the number of times he entered enter in the menu I was describing.) I just have Signcut Pro. It has a menu for setting the calibration for registration marks, but I am not sure I understand the whole thing. If the laser did come on I think I could figure it out and progress. If it is a bad laser, is it a replaceable part? What do I look for? Would a new laser be in a Replacement Carriage part?

I ordered the 32" cut vinyl and the 18 inch rivet dent. They will be here in a few days. Woo hoo.

I am a bit bewildered by all the different Big Squeegee tools. I am still viewing YouTube vids. There are laminator, cradle, cut vinyl, and yard sign tools in a variety of sizes. What I am hoping is something to make masking easier, and maybe alleviating the need for a tape roller. Also I think these might be used in applying the graphics. My cutter can hold up to a 48" roll. Something that I could use to deal with say a large wall graphic would be nice, but versatile enough for smaller applications. I currently can't output photo or printed material only having the cutter. I am not laminating. If I get say a fat juicy Roland print cut, laminating might be needed. So being versatile enough to handle that would be a boon. I am not sure one of these can replace a regular laminator. I just did 24 double sided campaign signs on 24"x18" coroplas with cut vinyl. I manually pulled the application tape by hand, (had a helper hold the tape for some.) Stooping over left me with a sore back! I am looking at the Big Squeegee as less painful and quicker method. What Big Squeegee do you guys recommend I try and what size? Can I apply the tape and the graphics with these? Does it allow for better alignment/placement? Could I some how apply a large wall graphic in one swoop? Any other tips or usage ideas for these things? I wan't to get one at least, but might go for two if they could be super useful. Which one(s)? I am eyeballing these, though this listing doesn't seem to to list all sizes and models. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=bl_sr_office-products?ie=UTF8&field-brandtextbin=Big+Squeegee&node=1064954

H it is. Thanks.

What do you guys think on three different kinds of stakes for coroplas? Spider: http://www.uscutter.com/USA-Spider-Stake-Corrugated-Plastic-Step-Stake-Case-of-50 Double: http://www.uscutter.com/StepStake-2-Wire-Stake-for-4mm-Corrugated-Plastic-Signs-Case-of-50 Single: http://www.amazon.com/Corrugated-Sign-EZ-Wire-Stakes/dp/B0054516O0/ref=pd_sim_lg_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0HVE2RKY5631WPP3MAX6

Thanks for the input. Are you using something like this pshawny? http://www.uscutter.com/APPRoller-Tape-Application-Roller I generally have smaller roles of transfer tape than the size I am using so I end up making two passes. Will a BS be useful when my tape isn't as wide as the graphic and I have to do multiple passes or should I just start getting bigger tape? I am tending toward the Big Squeegee Cut Vinyl/Tape Applicator Tool, 32", but the 18" Rivet/Dent tool looks like it would be easier to wield for smaller things. Would both be redundant?

I am giving the Pre-Release Versions (0.91 Pre2) 64bit Windows Version a whirl. As it is 64 bit, it is not surprising the SignCutPro extension to "Send to SignCut" does not appear. Has anyone heard of a possibility there will be an export version that will work with the soon to be stable 64 bit release of Inkscape? I suppose SignCut itself would have to be released as 64bit first. I don't think it is possible to make the 32bit plugin work with the 64bit version, but maybe one of you fine people know a work around. Version .91 has some new muscle. I am giving it a real eyeball to replace my Corel X7 subscription. It has some fantastic things, especially in node and path editing/manipulation. Of course it is easy to live without the plugin just adding a few more steps to get it into SignCut. It would just be nice.

If you have one, insert a ballpoint pen into the blade holder and turn the material upside down. Then it would draw on the backing instead of cut. That might let you find the tracking limits. http://www.uscutter.com/USCutter-MH-Ballpont-Pen-Holder-Pen

A good KVM switch might cost as much as a cheap monitor, depending on your monitor connection and video cards, (analog, dvi, hdmi.) A potential no cost solution would be to use some free remote desktop software like RealVNC or possibly the built in desktop sharing depending on your OS. There are ton of remote desktop apps available. The down side is software can be slow, depending. You probably want to get the keyboard, mouse and sound shared. Some remote desktop software can do this, but certainly a KVM switch can. Some monitors have dual inputs, one analog and another digital. Possibly you could plug both computers into the single monitor and use the monitors controls to select the input. However you probably would need two keyboards.

I do like many of you do. Folders for organizations/groups/customers. Clip-art by source, (website name or cd/dvd collection name.) One thing I recommend highly is a good thumbnail viewer. For me, a visual search is many times faster than any tag or file name search. I use ST Thumbnails Explorer 1.5. It is commercial, ($29.95,) but it is the only thumbnail viewer I have found that handles most every vector format I can throw at it. It gets my CDR, AI, EPS, and SVG files. It handles most raster formats as well, (fails on hpi though.) Xnview or XnviewMP with ghostscript comes close and is free if anyone is looking for a free solution. I also recommend FileHamster. It is a like a revision history for your art work. It is nice to have a copy of your art/design made each time you hit the save button. You never know when you might need to back up a bit to something earlier. Traditional backup will miss such a change.

Expand maybe?

Ah, I see. So probably it is just a polish on the same feature. The hpgl is going to be the same.

Hey. I was reading this topic, went to reply, and somehow replied to an another topic that was months old. Anyhow, what I was saying was the developer release of Inkscape has a new extension to send directly to a plotter. To save me some typing, here is the link to the other topic I posted in: http://forum.uscutter.com/index.php?/topic/40978-software/page-2 Screenshot:

DOH the date says Feb! I just trusted the show new content option in the forum. Weird. Anyway.

I have not used this option. I use SignCut Pro and pay every six months. However I do use Inkscape often and follow the forums and chat room. Thus I know that the developer release has an Export-Plot extension that is supposed to be able to send directly to a hpgl, (also dmpl and knk,) compatible cutter. Here are some screen shots of its settings. I am using Inkscape 0.48+devel_64bit r13443. I do not know if this will work, but I would bet at least ten bucks that exporting as hpgl from Inkscape and sending that file directly to the cutter is the root of the problem. Maybe it is converting all those curves into many short line segments. I THINK that this plot extension uses a different approach to how it sends to the cutter as hpgl over the how the export to hpgl files does it, but I am not certain.

I agree with OWJones. Raster artwork doesn't jive with a plotter. Your artwork must be vector.

I set the origin to different locations periodical to reduce wear on one spot on the strip. But yeah, if its damaged can't fix it.

For me it seems like common tasks take longer, (much longer,) to accomplish in Illustrator. I can't put my finger completely on why, but these few things might contribute: Alignment Shortcuts. C E T B P shortcuts in corel just save so much freaking time. It is a simple thing but having to open a dialog/docker in Illustrator to do a simple align is like being forced to go from a jet airplane to a tricylce. Node Editing. The pick tool in Corel is multi-functional. In Illustrator I have to switch between tools to do same thing the one tool does in Corel. It is frustrating in Illustrator when you are used to the quick node editing in Draw. Zoom. What is it with Illustrator's Zoom? It is bizarre. I am not sure if it is the way it refreshes. But it is a chore zooming in and out to try to get to the area you need to focus. Draw can zoom more than 7X deeper with draw than Illustrator going by wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_vector_graphics_editors). Snapping/Alignment. This might be wrapped up in the Zoom mystery, but snapping and aligning things in Illustrator can be like pulling hair. Something happens and the whole thing gets "slippery" for lack of a better term. Those are the major ones that jump out at me. There are some other minor speed factors. Generally I need to dig in Illustrator, what you want is there, but it is levels deep in a menu or dialog. Rounding rectangles is just dirt simple and speedy in draw, as well as fillet/chamfer/scallop. Draw has multipage documents. That is one Illustrator can't do, but it is a small thing in the grand scheme of things. But I will admit I am have more practice in Draw. It could skew my opinion. So often when I start a project in Illustrator I find myself gravitating back to Draw.

No I haven't. I got some generic "Cleaning Cartridges" off amazon. All the colors were clogged except magenta. Now just one black and one cyan are clogged. I'll have a look at the Cobra. I too let it set unused for too long.