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And from what I have read, it takes a few passes...

Well Try doing a 2 or 3 pass means they will cut the circle like 2 or 3 times.. Or your blade is not out enough to cut the rhinestone metirial I do 2 passes There is a lot to learn about Rhinestones to get them to work well! First off do not use a Hand Iron! http://www.amazon.com/PowerPress-Industrial-Quality-Digital--15-Inch-Sublimation/dp/B009CCVS4E/ref=sr_1_1?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1429034225&sr=1-1&keywords=heat+press That is the Heat Press i Started with when i started doing HTV and all that crazy stuff! This is a wonderful lady! https://www.facebook.com/Rhinestonetemplates I get all my stones and stuff from her And last but not least the software to make your design i just use a plugin with Corel! I would watch a lot more youtube video's to learn what NOT to do! lol Good Luck

wonder if he still passes on the right that fast

Yes, I have cut magnet material with my Graphtec. You'll want to use a dedicated blade and experiment with the cutting pressure, blade exposure, and speed. It should cut about 90% of the way through the material, then you press it out with your fingers the rest of the way. If needed, you could double up the shape in the cutting software so it makes two passes. There are different thicknesses of magnetic material, 15-20 mil for indoor use, and 30 mil for use on vehicles.

There should be no need to double cut HTV. You could just make two copies of the design and center them vertically and horizontally. The cutter would then make two passes.

I have the Summa and love it and wouldn't trade it. The only thing I will say is any of the three you are looking at are probably going to give you fine details very similar, for small stuff the differences in the machines is fairly minimal. No matter which one you choose getting the machine set-up spot on is the key to fine details and to tell the truth it's harder to weed successfully that to cut. I learned good machine set-up by having a budget cutter for a couple years and there is an art to it that takes time and patience to learn and perfect. Most of the time you will play hobb trying to get it to transfer and stay stuck on the intended substrate at the end of the day because there really isn't enough adhesive there to catch hold. Vinyl is really not intended to be used that small but we do it now and then. I do 1/8 letters occasionally and have even done smaller but you have to weed the insides with an xacto blade and stab them out or weed them after application. My eyes are getting tired and I hate doing that kind of thing if I can avoid it. I would go Summa or Graphtec. And if I was going Graphtec I would go FC just for the added pressure. The Summa isn't designed for heavy cutting like sanblast resist or diamond grade reflective like you would see on street signs. I can cut them but I have to do it in two passes. Works fine for the few times I need to do it because the machine is so accurate that you can't tell it went over it twice but it's less ideal. These are my personal opinions and cost is not factored in. If you really want to go trick go with a Summa T series Tangential cutter. That's the shizz.

its actually easy to weed and fast all in one piece I make glitter rhinestones a lot. to the OP when cutting sticky flock I would have a xtra blade and blade holder just for it and flock and glitter and do 2 passes also make sure that your blade is a 60* blade and not 45*. when you cut sticky flock right it will leave the cut circles on the paper. I use to use a MH721 to cut it and was at like 180 to 200 pressure. also you might have to cut your circle 1 size up. do small test cuts.

I 'm gonna ask what may be some stupidly simple questions of you. 1. How many passes is the Cutter making around each of those letters. (Should be only one) 2. How old is that vinyl. Or is it Cheap Vinyl? There should not be any gapping in a vinyl cut to where you can see white. It looks like either it's making multiple passes and tearing out the pieces, or that the vinyl you have is terribly old calendared vinyl that is shrinking away after it's cut. Or that your Blade is way to far down and cutting into the paper causing the separations. 3. Is your machine still under Warranty? If it is, call USCUtter Tech Support and get them to straighten you out. Part of that Warranty is to help you get up an running, regardless of the cause. They have always been great with me. Even in the beginning when I called several times to ask Stupid questions that make you go DOH! after wards. As a test, put the pen in the machine and do that same design on a piece paper, and show us that as well. It may clarify it. Kevin

I am looking for a cutter, mainly for my father to make airbrush stencils with. But what I would like to do also is cut leather. I have been searching non stop for the past two days for an inexpensive (around $500) cutter to do the job. Problem is, I can't find info on cutting anything thicker than vinyl and such. The machines I have narrowed down to are the Cricut Explore (it is proven to cut leather up to 4mm with a few passes), the KNK Zing, Vinyl Express R19, US Cutter Laser point II, or Titan. I really do not want a Cricut because it forces you to use their web based software. I can set up a computer in the room the cutter will be in but I don't feel like running cable through my attic for an internet conncetion and the wifi signal is iffy at best on that side of the house. I also don't like being tied down to one piece of software. But the Cricut can do what I want it to do. I was considering a Cameo but apparantly, feeding it anything over 1mm is extremely tough to do. Can thick material be fed into any of these cutters? Thanks!

In your software progam, you will have an option of how many passes you want the plotter to make. You can select two passes for thicker material. A 60 degree blade is recommended for sandmask; however, I use a 45 degree CB15U supersteel. My FC8000 cut through sandmask like butter. If I don't be careful with the pressure, I end up masking my sandmask to install it. You don't want that! Your cuts should be about 3/4 cut through the mask so you won't have to mask it.

Yeah, I've seen the thread (I'm also a member there). I've seen a lot of threads, lol. I searched high and low for over 20 hours between two days before I started asking questions. I've been leathercrafting for several years and with some of the items I make, it takes me longer to cut them out with an Xacto blade than to actually form and assemble. I figured I could get the pieces cut out a lot quicker with a cutter. I know a bit of downforce is needed for leather, but if the Cricut Explore can do it, I really don't see why the more higher end ones can't. http://www.kgdcraftermath.com/2014/03/cricut-explore-cutting-materials/ http://content.provocraft.com/b/pdfs/cricutexplorematerialcutcapabilitytestreportv21.pdf This is why I am asking about other machines. I know they are capable of the downforce, it is just what is the max thickness of material that they can accept being fed into them is what I need to know. In the PDF by Provocraft, the downforce they are using is somewhere around 300g with a few passes. I would like to NOT buy a Cricut, as I mentioned, because of the machines being locked to their online software. I like freedom to use what software I choose.

Found a claim that it has been done on a GX24 with 60 deg blade, and cutting mat. Thickness was ONLY 0.79mm. Two passes. But you would need strong downforce, and strong X Y motors for best results i imagine. I want to see it done!

I have cut some stencils and had best luck making a couple passes rather than trying to push though in one shot and I also had best luck on a cricut cutting mat from walmart that I could allow my blade to go clear through the cutting material without fear of getting into my cutting strip. The mat was a little too sticky and was hard to get the stencil up off of and wouldn't work for adhesive backed material like you are working with. I was cutting some plastic spray paint masks at the time. If you are just painting with them you might look at some paintmask material. I think it even does ok for light sandblast but I have not tried it.

I do mine in the garage. In the house would not be a great idea, especially if you are like me and choose the cheaper Harbor Freight cabinet that has a tendency to leak. If you already own a compressor it's reasonably affordable to get into without breaking the piggy bank. I etched for a while but on the larger open spaces it's really hard to get a good consistent look like you can with blast. Also with blast you can really get a deep cut that impresses the heck out of people. A simple frost like you get from the creme literally takes a few seconds. A couple more passes and you have a real bite into the glass and then if you get creative you can do some deeper carving with part going deep and some just frosted giving a cool 3D look. I'm no expert but there are several on here that do fantastic work. I mostly do Christmas gifts and custom names on Pyrex cookware.

Yes, I have tried 2 passes, even 3. I just don't understand why I can't get a few perfect stencils and then a mess. Is the mylar dulling the blade that quickly?

Have you ever tried making 2 passes cutting instead of just the 1?

Got the new blades in today and decided to try to cut some SandBlast resist...YUK This stuff is thick. I got the Graphtec to cut it pretty good but then realized this stuff is so thick, 12 mils tha its not going to be too great for any small detail stuff. I can see it being great for bigger letters etc but nothing with any detail. Had the best luck doing 2 passes. Anyone have any suggestions for Vinyl or resist for smaller detail stuff. I think I may try some 651 and just don't go crazy with the sandblaster. Again, this 12 mil stuff I got from USCUTTER is not bad but it for sure will be for big stuff only. I tried to do 1/2 letters....Yea...NO! I was hoping to sandblast small items like shot glasses etc but not with this resist I'm all ears to any suggestions

Got the laser point 24" to cut with flexi 8.1 without hititng the safety red buttons on the side. Now its making three passes over each cut and cutting and tearing vinyl. Any ideas? I have the passes set to 1. I am also having issues and with the lines being cut. When it does make one pass at times it leave squiggly lines around the edges? Any ideas anyone? This is getting extremely frustrating! Thanks! SoCal

Hi Guys , I'm a newb but am just going to jump and ask for help because we need it ! We recently purchased an FC8600 so we could cut thicker ( 21 mils ) materials - primarily graphics for offroad applications. Printed on the Roland with reg marks then laminated & cut on the Graphtec. We have just updated the firmware on Graphtecs recommendation , use CM3 with multiple reg marks ( each corner and also the length of the print on both sides) , we have slowed the cut speed down to 3 cm/sec and do two passes with a lighter force rather than one with a heavy force. We have the material specific blade & holder and the additional grit rollers ( 5 total ) . We also cover the crop marks with a matte scotch tape as prior to that it was just horrible and we read a lot of other people having issues with it reading the marks correctly on a gloss laminate. Having done all that we are STILL having problems as it just will not accurately follow the cutting path in either contour cut or perf cut. Any advice would be great as I'm getting ready to rip out the little hair I have left ! Thanks, Sean.

Any idea why? I have never had a problem, even when I tried 3 passes just to see how it did.

I used 2 passes with higher pressure and it was deep enough to break apart cleanly.

I'm getting ready to purchase my first cutter. I'm thinking 24" is all I need to get going. Have been going back and forth on the Graphtec vs the Ttian 2. I don't really see myself needing ARMS (unless someone here can convince me otherwise, I don't think manual setups with the laser will be too much of a burden), and I would like to confidently cut high intensity reflective and thicker sandblast (I worry about the longevity of the Graphtec if I had to repeatedly do two-passes for this type of material). My question is, what is the value of buying the Titan2 vs the Saga720. It seems that the main difference would be customer support from USCutter vs Sagacnc Does anyone have opinions on this matter? I plan to do the following: - general vinyl decals and lettering - reflective decals for motorcycles/helmets (stickers and "safety" graphics) - experimenting with heat pressing garments and other fabrics - experimenting with sand blast masking (outsourcing the actual blasting) Thanks for any advice you can offer. I'm excited to get an order in and start cutting!

Hi Everyone: So I'm trying to cut with my SC that I just received and I'm running into a slight problem that I beleive is operator error. I have attached the original and the result, If you can help point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it. I'm using a 45 blade that appears to be adjusted properley per the instructions and I'm using 300 mm speed and 6g pressure, althought changing these settiings didn't seem to make a difference. Again, I'm sure it's something I'm not doing correctly. Its seems like the blade head is catching the vinyl it's already cut, causing it to peal back. I've used both 631 and 651 and really no change. Also, the cutter is making 3 passes on the cut and I'm not sure if that's normal or the cause. Thanks in advance

I've heard that the instructions say to set the blade with a stick out the thickness of a credit card. Well that would be good if you are cutting through credit cards. Do what MZ Skeeter says and you'll be set to go. Also check what Jay and busterbay mention about having the software set to 3 passes. Where did you get the file, I did a search on Google for "Got Milk Mastiff Decal" and came up with a couple. Be careful they've been copyrighted.

3 passes is not normal. Either a bad file or multi cut is turned on. If you post the file somebody will take a look at it.