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hobbymom

Crazy Lines Being Cut Through my piece

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Okay, so I cut vinyl for home interiors. Normally a yard or two is my max length. I am trying to cut something that is 21 feet long. The largest piece I have ever cut. It will just the first few letters and then the blade will go all the way across the vinyl. Bang agains the opposite edge and then when it comes back, it cuts a huge diaganoal line through everything. Is there a tricks to cutting large pieces? Do I need to break them up some how? I have a cute line that needs to be cut too. AHHH! I am totally stressing. Please help!

BTW- My SignBlazer hasn't been updated in forever since that computer isn't connected to the internet. I am planning on figuring out how to run the updates, but any other help would be great!!!

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 Not enough info. You are not stating what brand of cutter or model you have?  Or whether your cutter is grounded to the stand?   or is  serial or USB connection? on what operating system.? More like not enough memory in your cutter. ,  or static from the vinyl.    It would not be Signblazer. and there is no updates to Signblazer,  It is not even in business.  Has not been for quite a while,

just read back on your previous posts,  You state you have USB and A MH721,  

http://forum.uscutter.com/index.php?action=profile;u=638;sa=showPosts  

for long cuts like that,, you need more memory,

http://www.uscutter.com/4MB-Chip-for-Refine-Series-Plotters_p_34.html

and and best to be on USB to serial, so your connection doesn't drop.  A Keyspan adapter is highly recommended

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Keyspan-High-Speed-USB-Serial-Adapter-USA-19HS-/120420154018?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c0999baa2

and definately ground your stand to the cutter with a copper wire.

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Okay, so I need to get this order to the customer by Friday! Yes, I am using MH 721 with a USB connector. It doesn't appear to be dropping the connection at all since it's still cutting.

Is there a way to break up the cuts. So, one is "The Trampoline Place" with a line above it. Could I somehow cut "The"  then "Trampoline" then "Place" and then try and do the line? Would that work? I obviously don't have time to get more memory or the adaptor too.

I'm not sure what  "ground your stand to the cutter with a copper wire" but I will ask my husband

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 Your first post says "it will only cut the first few letters," then it goes  crazy cutting where it shouldn't, bangs against the side of the cutter.  so it has lost connection from the computer, dropped connection from USB,   the computer is no longer directing it.  among other things. without having your cutter grounded,  static builds up from the vinyl and can discharge thru the electonics in your cutter,  thru the head, an into other parts of your cutter. JUst do a search  grounding cutter,  and you will see numereous searches where people didn't have their cutter grounded and ruined the motherboard and other electronics in the cutter.  

http://forum.uscutter.com/index.php/topic,26216.0.html

you will just have to cut the sections alot smaller.

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Okay, I will have my husband ground it!

I guess I am not explaining this well. . . The cutter starts cutting on the far right side at orgin (if you are facing the machine), it will cut a few letters and then it starts feeding the vinyl through like to make the furtherest cut). While it is doing the feeding, the blade moves all the way to the far left side. It gets to the destination, and while it is coming back it cuts a huge diagonal line until it gets to it's next point. It will then proceed to cut the image (going back over the diagonal) line it already cut.

Is that making more sense???

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Some of that could be caused by the static build up from lorring out all of that vinyl. Is your cutter properly grounded?

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If you want to cut the text as seperate peices (which I would do) In SignBlazer under Arrange there is an option to convert your text to curves. Then select the part you wish to cut. In the cutter window there is an option to only cut what is selected.

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No, it's not grounded at all. I will try that first. Then how do I continue to cut the remainder? So, if I cut the first word, where do I origin to cut the next piece so it's all one piece and still in alignment[/img]. I will include what I am cutting

sky_high_jump.eps

sky_high_jump.eps

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My Laserpoint was doing that and grounding fixed it.  There is a huge static build up.  What I saw was cut lines from the blade not lifting up.  We moved the cutter to a different room and the "boys" had taken my wire off.  I had been cutting little pieces and didn't notice any difference.  Had trouble cutting long pieces last week,  I loosed a screw on the bottom of the cutter, wrapped a piece of wire around the screw, tightened it up, then did the same to a screw on the stand.  I used floral wire, it was pretty heavy wire.  It has been cutting fine since then, with the exception of the broken part. 

Nancy

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No, it's not grounded at all. I will try that first. Then how do I continue to cut the remainder? So, if I cut the first word, where do I origin to cut the next piece so it's all one piece and still in alignment[/img]. I will include what I am cutting

even when fixing the ground wire,  I would still doubt that your cutter has the memory to cut anything as large as what you are trying to do.  and trying to keep the tracking straight  for 21 ft.  Alot of people are losing the memory at 10 ft. and are adding memory chip to the cutter which helps.  The only way you will know, without wasting vinyl, is to put the pen tool in and use paper, ,  Or just remove the blade  send the design and see it it will  complete the design without running out of memory and going over  to the side. and hitting one of your resets.

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Thanks everyone. I am going to have my hubby help ground this once he gets home and see if that will work! I know it should have enough memory, because it was already able to cut the web address without too many problems! So, I am guessing it's just a grounding issue. Ahh, at least I hope so!!! I'm going to go crazy if not!!!

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Okay, we grounded it and now I can't even get anything to cut??? I did a re-install, I think of Sign Blazer, a download off the download sections. Did that screw something up? Wondering if my ports or something is off?? AHHHH! I am going to cry!!!

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make sure your com ports are matching...in the software and your computer.  hit the reset button on the side of your cutter,  Goodluck

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i have seen this before with my machine, it is a static issue well at least it was for me.  I ground my machine but it was still doing the same thing, it was not until i got some static guard and sprayed the back of the vinyl as it was being unrolled that my machine stopped doing that, you may want to get some static guard and try it.  I cut pieces up to 120' and since i started using the static guard i have not had this problem.  Just my 2 cents.

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Okay, we grounded it and now I can't even get anything to cut??? I did a re-install, I think of Sign Blazer, a download off the download sections. Did that screw something up? Wondering if my ports or something is off?? AHHHH! I am going to cry!!!

Crying wont help! :thumbsup:

But taking a break usually will....

If you uninstalled/reinstalled SB, make sure you have the connection to the plotter right.

Not sure how you said it was connected but if your using USB, you'll need to make sure you select the proper COM port (The usb connection simulates a com port). You find the connections for SB after selecting CUT then setup...

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I got it to start cutting again! Now, I am still having the same issue with it banging against the left side. I don't have static guard, where do I get that? I am willing to try anything now that is quick! I need to have this done tonight or tomorrow.

Does anyone know if there is an easy way to break this huge thing into pieces. For example, "The Trampoline Place" is 21 feet long. I know I can select "The" and cut it, but is there a way to then select "Trampoline" and cut it so it's in the right location specially on the page as if I had cut it all as one cut? Do you understand me? I'm so frustrated that I am confusing myself!!

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In SignBlazer to seperate your text do this:

Select the text.

Arrange + Convert to Curves. This will break up your text.

Select the part of the text you want to cut.

Select Cut.

In the cut window click on the Selected Only radio button. (now only selected elements will show up in the cut window.)

Cut.

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Can't you just make each word a seperate color?  Try "convert to curves" then select the entire word and make it a different color.  3 words - 3 colors, then cut one at a time.

Jay beat me to it!

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Yes, I understand that. Say I'm cutting "The Trampoline Place." I select "the" and cut. Now what? When I select "trampoline", I want that to cut next to "the" on the same sheet of vinyl. I can't origin it, right? It would cut over "the" I have no idea how far apart "the" and "trampoline" are suppose to be. Where do I cut "trampoline" at? I guess I should say, how do I cut the next word and so on. I want it to all look level like it was one cut, even though I am breaking it up!

sky_high_jump.eps

sky_high_jump.eps

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When they are that big, you can use a tape measure to locate them. Just meassure so it is the same disstance from the bottom and the letters are equal distance apart. If it's off a quarter inch or so, no one will notice.

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Using this, I would cut the red first, then the green, then the blue (of course all on the same color vinyl).  Then I'd cut the black line.  Then, you can align it on the wall using the hinge method to install.  After all of the words are up, then install the line (or vice-versa).

SHJ.SBD

SHJ.SBD

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I wish I could cut it like that, but "Sky" is like 22" tall and I only have a 24" cutter so I couldn't cut the "the" underneath on the same cut. I was planning on cutting them like "Sky," "High," "Sports," and then "The," Trampoline," "Place." My sister is delivering the Static Guard. I'll try that first and if all else fails, I'll cut each word separately what a pain in the butt!!!

Thank you for all of your cutting wisdom!

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