Nice to meet you all... HELP!!!!

[MrsNewbieVinyl 0]

Hello.

Thank goodness I love vinyl. I just bought my first cutter, MH871. Hooked it up, started the SignCut, started cutting, and it was digging into my vinyl. The "Signcut" logo. It is a very intense logo, so perhaps that's the problem. The test of the "star" works great.

I tried to adjust the depth of the cutter, just in case I had set the blade too low, and then it wouldn't go down and engage the vinyl at all, it was just running through the motions, and cutting air. So I sent something else to the cutter, a name I typed in randomly in Inkscape, saved it, and opened it in SignCut. It just made crazy single lines all over the vinyl. Not the name in the block font. So maybe it didn't recognize the file type? Unsure.

Is there a class I can take? A tutorial on how to use the software? I can see myself developing a drinking problem quickly. <wink>

I appreciate any advice you can offer. Thanks! And... nice to meet you all.

Kim

[plbrooks 13]

I use SignCut... and sometimes when my cutter gets all crazy like that I just unplug the USB and shut the cutter off to reboot it... What file type are you trying to cut (other than the SignCut logo)?

[Binford 53]

Hello from Reno Nevada nice to meet you to

[Dr12volt1338 116]

Did you start here Start.uscutter.com ? Those machines aren't just ready to cut out of the box there is some time involved in setting them up. Sometimes you can spend a couple hours fine tuning your blade depth, pressure, and offset.

[piscespokerbrat 80]

Welcome Kim!

[mabscotthandyman 1,410]

Hello and welcome from West Virginia

Dan

[MrsNewbieVinyl 0]

Hello everyone! Nice to meet you all. I'm back at it this morning. I love how you all put your specs at the bottom of your profiles. I'll do that today! But for now: PC i5, 2.4Ghz, 6G Ram, 64-bit, Windows 7, Cutter: MH-781, USB connect (advantages vs. serial?), SignCut, Inkscape, Signblazer. I also have MS Office (if it's useful?) I plan to add others, but I don't know Corel from SignCut at this point, so... (if you can save my time with advice, I'm grateful)

First, I did read the book, which wasn't very helpful. I was able to put the stand together from it. I found start.uscutter.com and read it several times. It did take a long time to get the blade set in the holder. I put the pressure initially at 100g; baud 9600; Speed 300. I had to download drivers to run the USB. I was going through the software set up and it said click scissors and press cut out. And I did. (At this point I'm thinking it's a test). It began to cut the logo on the screen. The "SIGNCUT" very line intensive logo and the vinyl was being cut many times in the same place, (which I think is why the vinyl began to tear). When I got it stopped (went offline), there was vinyl on the tip of the blade (I took it out and cleaned it off, put it back) and began to start messing with pressure settings, etc. After that NOTHING. It would run the cut and the machine sounded different??? And I looked while it was going through the cut motions, and the blade holder/blade was 1/4" above the surface of the vinyl. It wasn't engaged down to the vinyl, but running the vinyl like it was cutting. So I set the offset (which had been 0.30) to 0.0, nothing. I set it back to 0.25 nothing. Meanwhile, understand, I kept stopping it with OFFLINE, and never did clear out the queue. I then realized it was probably like a printer, in that the info was sitting in there somewhere and still running itself. So I turned off, booted the PC off, unplugged everything, including USB, and started from scratch. Plugged it all back in, rebooted, and it took off cutting -- the same logo (SIGNCUT), and this time I let it run. Which is when I realized that it was cutting the very line intensive logo, which was causing the vinyl to lift up, not from blade depth (it never did come through the back of the paper), but from repetition. So I let it run its course. After, I had to clean the blade, holder, and the decal was of no one's use (it was a tangled mess of vinyl). Now at this time, I have gone into Inkscape and typed a name in a sans serif, saved it as an SVG. I opened it in signcut and then hit CUT OUT. It made lines all over the place, but no intended name or useful info, just a lot of diagonal, vertical/horizontal lines in a 4 x 4" square (guessing). Whew.

By this time, it was almost midnight. I'm a diehard -- I hate to admit defeat, and this machine was kicking my butt. I was thinking about some coffee or maybe... VODKA. ROFL j/k (I'm in love with COFFEE! I don't drink, but it's my ongoing humor that I'm going to start). HA.

Thanks for tolerating my rant -- and for any advice. kim

[MrsNewbieVinyl 0]

Dan -- where in West Virginia? I grew up in Huntington.

[mabscotthandyman 1,410]

Beckley the crossroads of southern WV. Been to Huntington many times have worked there on different sign jobs and buy from Mutal wholesalers for the handyman service .Always nice to meet another Mountaineer.

Dan

[Jay2703 704]

Kim, you asked about advantages of USB vs Serial connection. From my experience on the less expensive chinese machines like your MH, Serial is a much better way to go. Many people have issues with USB connections or lack there of. You should have received a serial cable with your cutter. Does your computer have a serial port?

[AshComputers 197]

If not get a usb keyspan, my works great!

[Dr12volt1338 116]

WOW theres a name we haven't seen in a while.....

[mabscotthandyman 1,410]

Yep came riding in on his hog a couple days ago lol

[MrsNewbieVinyl 0]

Hello again everyone! My cutter works GREAT! I figured it out. SignBlazer seems to be the way to go. I never could get SignCut to work (it's probably just user error). Dan -- you said SignBlazer had little curve -- you are right. Now, I'm on the hunt for vector art and more fonts. USB is working great; I had to install the drivers and it took a few bumps to stop hitting OFFLINE every time I wanted to stop the machine and then neglecting to clear everything before starting a new job. ORIGIN button is just great. Pardon my "joy joy" attitude - HA - I still have that Christmas morning feeling for my cutter. Thanks again everyone; I love this forum you all give great advice. kim

[speleopower 46]

Hey from Cocoa Beach Florida-Glad to read you got your cutter up and running. So far I have not had an issue with USB on my SC machine. But if I start having issues I will swap over to serial very quickly. Make sure you put the ground wire on from the cutter to the stand.

I've not had luck with SignCut either. But then again I have not really messed with it for more than a few minutes. Signblazer seems to work fine for me for right now. Plus it is a pretty slick vector editing platform once you get the hang of it.

Download Inkscape from Inkscape.org and then go through the varioius tutorials in the help section of Inkscape. If you want to try to cut some vector graphics soon you could goto www.vectorstock.com and get some cool graphics. I purchased a handful from Vectorstock when I first got my cutter and have used components from a lot of graphics I bought.

When I first got my cutter I cut through a 24"x10yard roll of vinyl very quickly. Everyone around me had stickers there is stickers all over the place at my house now...LOL

-Scott

[MrsNewbieVinyl 0]

Hello again everyone. I finally figured out how to use my cutter, bought some new software with the readi-made stuff. And Scott... everyone around me has vinyl somewhere. And my house looks like a vinyl museum, ha. My kit came with the five sample "5' rolls" and I cut through that in the first day. There are lots of learning curves. One day I sat down and at some point in the evening realized I was still in my night shirt, cold cup of coffee on the counter, and a stack of the craziest looking vinyl ever! It's VERY addictive and creative. Now... at this point I have ordered only 50 yard rolls. The smaller rolls I seem to run through way too fast.

Now for the question... do you find that by using the Oracal (instead of Greenstar) that you need to get the 55 tape? The 55 seems more "tacky" to me, but it doesn't curl up as much either. I've used the cheaper tape on Greenstar, didn't notice anything other than the curl -- am I missing something?

Can I use Oracal 631/651 for merchant windows OUTDOOR? These businesses typically stay in place for less than three years before a redo. I can see it being easier to remove when need-be.

Jeremy -- how's your learning curve coming along? Also, if you get the Vectors for the Home software -- make sure you turn off the preview button. It is much to large to load, and I kept crashing SignBlazer. Also, Jeremy... YouTube videos are awesome for a quick lesson.

Scott - you putting vinyl on your jetskis? Does it last much? Salt vs fresh?

Finally, I'm running out of space. Do the racks work well, or is there a less expensive way to store vinyl. Right now, the extras are still in the box and standing in the corners.

Thanks again for being such a great forum! Kim

[speleopower 46]

Yes vinyl seems to hole up well enough on jetskis.

[mabscotthandyman 1,410]

Hey Kim the 631 is for interior like wall art or signage the 651 is good for about 6 years outside . My vinyl rack is 2x6 with 1.25 in. closet rod 2 ft long installed about every 12 inches works great for little money or in my case nothing because I had the supplies in stock . I use r tape 4075 for most every thing .