sluggo2u 32 Posted June 16, 2012 Hello all! This post is only meant to help others that might be having problems similar to mine. Not to flame anyone. I knew I was taking a chance buying a low end cutter. I'm new to cutting but not so new to illustrator/photoshop. I do mostly vitntage Mustang stuff. Been sending my files off to be cut by others. A recent experience forced my to get my own cutter. I chose to go with the 871 as a starter and replace it after I've piled up some money. Anyway. My cutter arrived June 6, 2012. I set it up as soon as I got home and started reading the documentation and watching videos on US Cutters. IT was not long before I was cutting and not much longer before it started making a horrific noise. Feed rollers were poorly adjusted. For some reason my laptop would not download the pdf for adjusting them so I contacted support. Jaime sent them to me via email. The next day I was able to cut a 52x26 piece of greenstar matte black with a complete stripe set on it. There were a few areas where I had to finish cutting through the vinyl in order to weed it. After applying the stripes to the car I decided one piece was not level enough and that I wanted to reduce the size of a logo. I ran through a ton of vinyl trying to cut the replacement pieces. The problem was that it would cut fine then not cut through, then cut fine, etc. I adjusted the bade thinking it just needed to cut a little deeper. Eventually it got to where it was cutting into the vinyl when advancing to the next cut. Mad at the world and ready to box it up and send it back for an upgrade, I decided to take one last run at it. I was running it from my laptop using usb. Reading many posts here on the board and other I decided to change it to my desktop and run it from the serial port using XP. No change. Next I pulled the side cover off and checked the ground. Recalling a post where the poster cleaned the paint off the chassis and regrounded the wire, I did this as well. I also ran the stand ground to that point. This helped with what was apparently a static issue but not with the erratic cut depth. I ran a couple more cuts while getting down and eyeballing the blade holder as it ran. Could not see it lifting. It was not until the blade parked that I noticed it sitting there jittering up and down. I pulled the 3 screws off the cover and removed it and BAM.....there's your problem! The ground wire was broken away from the solder joint and just sitting on top of it. I soldered it back on and it works perfectly now. I'll attach a couple pics here in a minute. The red arrows on the first pic are where it was soldered and where it was after I pulled it away to take a look. It was actually just barely touching the solder and would lose connection as the carriage moved and bounced. The second pic is after soldering it back together. After resetting the blade depth it cuts quite nicely. Oh yeah, and it now close the weed box too. It would only cut three sides before. I quit using the weed box already but that scrap of info might help someone else solve their issue. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cowboy_1_831 28 Posted June 16, 2012 WOW, glad you got it figured out. It's also good you shared this info so others can learn from it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ravenwind / One Off Grafx 187 Posted June 16, 2012 Awesome thanks for posting this. i have to say i love my 871. no problems to speak of that was not fixed with getting more knowledge to use it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slice&dice 2,450 Posted June 16, 2012 I absolutely wish that my camera could take such clear close-up macro pix. My MH871 is sitting in a corner of my studio ever since I broke the USB connector plug. (I've since swapped in a new port board, and it's back to full working condition, but I'm now running the SC machine I bought as a replacement machine, and the MH is no longer my primary) Poor baby, unused and unloved. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sluggo2u 32 Posted June 16, 2012 I absolutely wish that my camera could take such clear close-up macro pix. My MH871 is sitting in a corner of my studio ever since I broke the USB connector plug. (I've since swapped in a new port board, and it's back to full working condition, but I'm now running the SC machine I bought as a replacement machine, and the MH is no longer my primary) Poor baby, unused and unloved. How do you like the SC? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pcrat 65 Posted September 22, 2012 I know its a bit old, but I have had my 871 for i guess a couple few months now,, When i got it, the bottom roller wasnt turning, because it wasnt on one of the bearings,, the set screw was grinding right into the roller,, i fixed that easy, but then it made some crappy cuts, it wouldnt make a perfect circle for the life of me,, FINALLY i got through to uscutter support, they knew right what was wrong, i pulled off the side cover ( left side ) and there are 2 wheels one on the motor and one on the bottom roller, and a belt that connects the two, the set screw on the wheel on the motor was loose, i tightend it up, and now it cuts like a mad man! its a good cutter, but alot of people recieve there cutters all messed up from the get go. i know there a low end cutter, but wow. in a few years i will buy maybe a roland or something, and use this as a secondary. But its a good cutter for now. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
