wont cut right

[rex 7]

i traced a skull in illy., from a scanned magazine, to make an airbrush stencil, but when it goes to my mh871 from signblaser to cut, it starts cutting on the node path, then just goes off in another direction, to and fro, not on a path,,,,what have i done wrong with this thing, can anyone figure this out for me? thanks for any input

skull.eps

[MZ SKEETER 4,708]

There is no inside/outside to the path.    They are just lines.  You can't just cut a line..  You have lines not even connected, and crossing other lines.  It will not work.  Your file needs a lot of work..

 

Zoom it up big and look at it...in wire frame.

[mb20music 760]

Try this

 

 

skull.eps

skull.SBD

[rex 7]

There is no inside/outside to the path.

     could you explain this,,,,i used the pen tool to draw it,,,,making nodes,,hence vector??

[rex 7]

mb20music,

    thanks, that worked, except for the lower jaw didnt come through,so,,what did you do that i wasnt doing,,,,ive made a few stencils before without any problems,,now im stuck on this one

[mb20music 760]

After I imported your .eps file I welded it and then thickened the lines with the manipulate+expand+outline function. I did a little node editing

and it l noticed the middle bottom tooth was missing so I added a new one (maybe it was supposed to be missing?) but I added it in, thought

it would look better. I don't know what happened with the lower jaw, can you post a .jpg image of what the skull is actually supposed to look like?

[rex 7]

heres the jpeg., its scott mckays skull in this months airbrush action magazine,,,i was doing this as a personal project, so its not exact  as the pic, but youll get the idea

[mb20music 760]

heres the jpeg., its scott mckays skull in this months airbrush action magazine,,,i was doing this as a personal project, so its not exact  as the pic, but youll get the idea

 

I see...actually I was wanting to see how your vector turned out in regards to the lower jaw area.

[rex 7]

gonna give another go tomorrow,,fed up with it for the night,,,new day,new eyes,,hopfully,haha,,,sucks i wanted to start this tonight,,,i could sketch it and cut it, but then thats why i got a plotter,,,,,,,thanks for the help by the way, i appreciate it

[MZ SKEETER 4,708]

There is no inside/outside to the path.

     could you explain this,,,,i used the pen tool to draw it,,,,making nodes,,hence vector??

LIke, he said below:  he did..  because there is no thickness to the line. inside/outside.

 

thickened the lines with the manipulate+expand+outline function

[rex 7]

well something else is going on, i just tried cutting some files that i have cut before, and its doing the same thing,,,,for instance; it will start a cut,say, the left eye socket on a skull,then go to the jaw bone, but the knife stays down makiong a cut from eye to jaw, so i end up with thefile useless with zig zag cuts throught,,,,when its cutting you can see it it signblaser preview pane, just going nuts

 if i do it in outline like suggested it does work better, if i was making decals i could do that, but stencils is different,,, ive used the mh871 along with signblaser and adobie to make stencils for 3 years without any problems untill now???

[MZ SKEETER 4,708]

does the blade stay down all the time?  If so, sounds like you fried the zchip... 

[rex 7]

thats whats strange,it does go up and down, sometimes and stays down sometimes,,,,is the chip replacable?

[MZ SKEETER 4,708]

yes,

 

http://www.uscutter.com/Z-Axis-Carriage-Chip-for-MH-Series-Cutter

 

 

but also make sure you have your cutter grounded to the stand if you have one. 

[mr300s 1,272]

It could also be a issue with Sign Blazer delete it and re install it you wont lose any files...

[rex 7]

using the pen tool and paper so i can show you whats going on,heres whats happening, the black is where it cut correct, the red is where it made cuts on its own, so to speak,, ive used thi file many times and its never been a problem

[mr300s 1,272]

I think that why the easiest to start with is a re install

[rex 7]

your probably right,thats easy enough to do,dont think its the chip since its not down all the time, but its only 5 bucks so if the reinstall doest do it, i`ll order one and try that

thanks to everyone on the advice, i appreciate your guys and gals help

[rex 7]

ok, i got it to make a cut right, i did the reinstall, no change at all,,,,so i did a new trace(for about the 5th time),,this time i set my pen at 1, usually i use 3, then when i finished i set it to outline path,and it cut fine,,the outline is so close its unnoticeable,,,,i am stumped,,i dont know what happened to cause my problem,or if i even really fixed it,,,tomorrow i will try cutting some tried and true stencils, and if they cut they way should, all will be good,,if not,,,well i got a big bottle of single malt that i am gonna have a long talk with,,hahah,,,thanks for the help guys

[mr300s 1,272]

The reinstall seems to work most of the time with issues like that.  I think the program just gets corrupt somehow with no support.  At least its working...