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captjrc

Guidance Needed For Newbie

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I'm completely green to vinyl cutting. What I'm trying to do is create a template to be used to etch aluminum.

What I am planning on doing is to stick the vinyl to the aluminum, then remove portions of the vinyl so that part of the aluminum will be exposed to the etching solution, while the rest of the aluminum will be protected by the vinyl.

My question is which cutter would be best suited for making this type of cutting, and which software would I need/want? Just about everything I cut will be imported graphics.

Thanks in advance!!!

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Any vinyl cutter will do that.

Pretty much all of your questions can be answered, as what is your budget to spend?

You can purchase the Chevette or the Corvette of everything from Vinyl, software to vinyl cutters. and accessories. And everything in between. It depends on what you want to spend.

Then do searches in your price range for the items you want to purchase.

As always, buy the best you can afford.

If you go to a UScutter EBAY ad, it breaks down the differences in cutters. Value to professional, Scroll down this ad, where it says compare machines. Good luck

http://www.ebay.com/...=item46043e1d7e

Look thru the UScutter.com store for items, You can get a look at prices and products that way.

And spend as much time as possible in reading this forum. There is a search box in the upper right corner. Go to the home page first and do searches. All your info is here in the forum. Take some time to read it.

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The cutter you will want will depend on your budget and the size of the templates to be cut. If you need small detail you would be better of with one of the Pro model cutters (Servo motors rather than Stepper motors.)

The imports you do will need to be vector graphics and .eps is usually the standard. Some machines will cut directlly from Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw with the proper plug-in.

Sure Cuts a Lot that is bundled with some of USCutter model cutters uses .svg file formats.

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What kind of etching solution will you be using? If it's anything strong, then common vinyl may not stand up to prolonged exposure.

I've used standard vinyl (like Oracal 651) with acid etching creme for etching glass - if it is anything similar to that then you're probably OK.

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