PhaedrusZen

Yeah, seems to work alright. In the SCALP software, both GP-GL & HP-GL are listed in the default drop-down menu, so I assume it works with both. I might try cutting in HP-GL with the corrected step-size and see if there is any difference. I'm still trying to get the kinks worked out for being able to cut the full 24 inches of width. I have many designs that come darn close to that, and need to be able to maximize the range. I'm tempted to turn off the roller sensor setting, and think that as long as I manually set the origin point before cutting, I should be good. Thoughts?

Ended up giving USCutter tech support a call. They had me change a couple settings on the machine, which I matched in SCALP. (I don't think there is any way I would have known to change these from the default otherwise...) I left the Command language on the cutter @ Auto, but switched to GP-GL on SCALP I switched the step size on the software and cutter to 1016. *** I think that "step size" is equivalent to the "cutting size correction" Skeeter was referring to. *** Now that those changes are done, I'm good to go. Still trying to see if there's a way to have the design automatically cut at the origin point, regardless of how it's laid out in the software (that was a very convenient feature with the Titan 2), but otherwise I'll just have to get used to laying it out exactly how I want to have it cut. (First World problems...) Cheers!

Mine's a mashup from one of my favorite books. The protagonist in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance refers to himself as "Phaedrus" when talking about prior life experiences. "Phaedrus" was already taken on Xbox Live, so I added the "Zen", and it's been my user name for pretty much everything since high school.

Wish I would have seen that sooner, I would have picked one up at the warehouse when I was up there a couple days ago. =/

Also curious is there is an easy way to switch between wsywyg cutting and origin point cutting on the Graphtec. The options are different in SCALP now, and where the Titan 2 had a simple drop-down for wsywyg (i.e. the decal was cut exactly how it was laid out in the program vs origin point, where it takes all the graphics and starts cutting from the bottom right corner of the vinyl regardless of how it's laid out in the program. I see a way to change where the origin point on the cutter itself, as well as in the controller software, but it still cuts the decal in relationship to where it lays in the software, and doesn't start as far to the bottom right as possible. I didn't see any mention of something like this in the manual, and so I'm not sure if it's even possible.

Looking for a cutting size reference in SCALP, but not seeing it at this point...

I've tried both HPGL and GPGL, switched through SCALP's interface, although that's another question I have... couldn't find anything explaining what exactly those settings do and how they differ... ***Edit*** Did a little research and found it's "Graphtec vs Hewlett Packard" language differences, or something like that. The cutter itself is set to auto, so I'm assuming it would switch to the most appropriate setting depending on the software's needs.

I haven't tried shutting my cutter off, but will give that a shot. I've had my decals interrupted 4 times today already, so it seems like it's getting worse. I haven't had my laptop going into sleep mode or showing a screensaver.

I'll be trying the spray as well. I've wasted I don't know how many yards of vinyl because my machine has been stopping mid-cut. It's almost always toward the end of a long day of cutting (8-10 hours into the day). Since I've started cutting with my machine (Titan II) I've switched computers, changed software (from SCALP 3 to SCALP 4) and bought/tried a serial cable in place of the USB cable. I'm still having aborted cuts, with the wasted vinyl probably up over 20 yards at this point, and it's getting pretty frustrating, especially on my larger pieces which take time to cut. I've checked/double checked the ground wire that came with the Titan II, and while It's installed properly, it seems like it should be connected to bare metal, as opposed to the powder coated metal that the directions say. I'd also think that the cutter's 3 prong plug would assist with the grounding process, but I'm no electrician by any means. I did notice tonight that the cutter disconnected and immediately reconnected from my laptop at the time of the problem, which I attribute to the static discharge. (I know this because I recently changed my laptop's system sounds to be different when a device connects vs when it disconnects, as well as when the software notifies me that the cut is finished, allowing me to better know what is happening with the software/hardware. It sounded off all three notifications in rapid succession when the cutter quit on me. ) Any other suggestions for eliminating this problem in the long run? I really don't want to have to buy stock in anti-static spray. I've thought about placing an anti-static office mat under the cutter, but since I'm unclear on the science behind my problem, I wonder if it would be a waste of money. Anyone else tried that? I'm ready to go as far as requesting a replacement of the cutter, since it's really costing me time & money at this point. Thoughts?

I read up on some old threads and it seems like most people are able to get 9 months to a year out of their blades. I've just changed blades out for the third time, since I've started cutting, with this last blade lasting just over a month and having cut around 400 yards. (The first two were fairly similar.) I'm using Roland 45 degree blades on Oracal 631, with only two colors being metallic (gold and silver, and not cutting much of either). My pressure hasn't gone over 100 g. Is there something I might be doing wrong or that can increase blade longevity, or does this sound about right for cutting 400 yards of material? I've also seen discussion about different blade brands, and was wondering if anyone has had recent experiences worth mentioning. Not sure if I want to shell out for the deluxe blades or try out a batch of Chinese cheapos...? Cheers!

I'm happy to try to do this myself, but have no clue how. I have a friend who wants me to do a decal for his office and I used the trace function in SCALP 4 to get a basic svg. The trace has kind of reversed what I'm looking for however, and since the edges of the object aren't closed I can't simply break the image apart and remove the aspects I don't want. Any suggestions? Logo unedited SVG.svg

You guys are awesome. I'm definitely still learning the design aspects of the software; I'll try to remember about tracing text in the future. I still have to learn to think of things like this as separate objects grouped together as opposed to as a single finished logo...

With the pictures posted, I'm essentially looking for the bottom image (minus the website), but ended up with the top image for my svg. I can break it apart and layer it for the different colors (just blue and red), but can't get it to the point where I can work with it. Any help would be awesome.

So, I saw a tool balancer during a web search for something unrelated and got interested since my wife helps me occasionally with vinyl work, but hates using my Mondo trimmer since it's relatively heavy and unwieldy. The tool balancer seems to be oriented more towards more industrial uses, and the initial search was turning up price tags way beyond what I was willing to fork out on an experiment ($150-$300), but I found a cheaper version on Amazon that I went ahead and ordered. Looks like it's actually shipping from China, not the Amazon warehouse (Hence the much cheaper price @ $20) so I won't have it in hand for 2-3 weeks, but I think it'll work well mounted over my worktable and connected to the center of the Mondo. Any one else do something like this? I'll let you know how it works out. Could be a total fail, but at $20 versus $150, I'm willing to give it a spin. =)

Double check where you live too. Here in Washington State, the state business license is cheap, but the city I live in wants a piece of me too, and have their own business license they require, even though I don't have a store-front and just sell online.

For smaller pieces(9x12 pieces and smaller) I've used these in the past with no customer complaints. No extra padding used. Just toss it in along with printed instructions and a business card. (I've been tempted to just shoot an instructional video or use a common-use video on Youtube and just include the link in an email to the customer. Saves paper, and a video is worth a thousand pictures. =) https://www.upaknship.com/p-152-95x125-rigid-document-mailers-14-pt-thick.aspx For larger pieces I have been rolling them up and shipping in 2" tubes ranging from 9" long to 24" long. http://www.papermart.com/brown-mailing-tube/id=1190#1190 I caught some flack when I talked about rolling/mailing in the past (I had similar questions), but I've shipped a large amount of orders and have not had any complaints on the customer's end about the condition the decals arrived in. I tape the edges that are being rolled so there is no separation of the transfer tape from the backing paper, and roll the decals vinyl side out. I let the decal expand inside the tube so it doesn't shift inside during shipping, and call it good.

All 50 yarders, all the way! I use 24" and haven't needed (or wanted) to go bigger). Make sure you develop a good way to store/organize your remnants, too. I don't know how many yards of vinyl I've "doubled or tripled" my profit on because I was able to use pieces from a previous job. If it's not fast/easy to find, it's not worth keeping. I keep a small pile of strips that are 4-5" wide ( I don't keep anything smaller), and then have a place for mid-size pieces stacked in color order (A3-A4 sizes) and then a rack for larger pieces (18" wide, with some pieces as long as 40"). Remnants can get overwhelming quick, and I start tossing stuff when I know I can't get it sorted.

Full disclosure, I'm still relatively new myself, but have received a ton of help on the forums. There are a tone of great threads out there, and I've saved myself some posts by getting creative with my searches. =) I second what S&D said. The more time you take to make sure the blade is set just right, the less aggravation you'll have down the road. A proper blade depth/pressure will make weeding infinitely easier as well. After I've set my blade up and have been cutting for a while (usually 300-400 yards worth of cutting), when the weeding gets a little "sticky" and doesn't separate from the design cleanly, I just add a few grams at a time to the cutting pressure and I'm usually back in business. I usually end up starting at 50 g after the blade is properly set, and I'm currently up to 75g. Cutting speed is very different, and I think is most dependent on the detail of the cuts you're making. For my more detailed decals (such as a 1" x 6" decal with script/cursive font or something) I'm down around 300 mm/s. For my current project (Big names, about 4"x30" in a chunky font) I'm up to 900 mm/s with no problems, and I'm tempted to try speeding up even more, since I'm done weeding and taping one set of names before the next set of names are ready. If you're only cutting out a single project like the file you have in your original post, it's probably worth keeping speed lower and just being patient, but if you're cranking out a larger quantity ( I have 500 names I've had to cut out), keep adding a few mm/s to your speed to see what works without compromising quality of the cut. Cheers!

I started hearing a scratching noise tonight while I was cutting, and initially thought one of my rollers was going bad. On inspection, however, I found that there is what looks like a strip of plastic tape covering the entire white cutting strip, and it has started to curl in a certain spot. Is that something that is supposed to have been removed earlier, or is it something that should be left in place. And if it's supposed to be left in place, does this mean that I've damaged my strip somehow? No bad effects during my cuts so far, but the noise is obnoxious.

Just got into SCALP 4, and I'm noticing that the "snap to grid" feature isn't so "snappy". SCALP 3 had an option on what increment to snap to (1", .5" 1/4", etc), and I haven't found that on here, but I selected the snap to, and still feel like placement is free-hand currently. Any ideas?

Awesome! Thanks. Always too impatient to look at that screen for settings when I'm cutting. I wish you could look at those settings outside of the cut screen. I'm sure I'll forget where it is again...

Where do I find the "End Action" setting? I set it a while ago and want to add another quarter to half inch to the length after cutting, but can't for the life of me find where the setting is anymore. Any suggestions? LOL, it's like losing my glasses, knowing they're going to be sitting right on my head when I find them. =)

Rode my motorcycle to work in freezing fog this morning, 18 degrees, in Southeastern Washington State. Frozen fingers and toes, but no Ice on the roads, so I'm still rolling on two wheels for a while longer. I rode to work for all but two shifts last year, so we'll see what I can get done this year. =)