jujumonkey

New US Cutter MH871-MK2 bad test cut

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Newbie to vinyl cutting. Just bought a US Cutter MH871-MK2 to get my feet wet for a reasonable price.  First test cuts came out fine. Beautiful stars.

 

Then cut my logo out a few times no problem, then I did a 8 ft x 1 ft test which came out decent enough but I did notice that the cutter would pick up pieces of vinyl in some places and that not all corners had clean cuts (some over and some under cuts) Still made it work for what I wanted but wasn't extremely happy with it. 

 

Now I want to cut a very large project 9 ft x 14 ft space. I do not want to waste that much vinyl!  So I read up on fixing some of the settings. Slowed the cutter all the way down. adjusted blade and pressure. 

 

Ran the test cut from the machine direct and it is absolutely horrible!!!  Played with settings, added teflon lube to the blade holder, changed the blade, looked for debris, adjusted more settings....and still horrible.  Totally at a loss as to what may be wrong.  THinking I should buy some more blade holders as spares in case that is the problem. 

 

Attached is the picture and no matter what I do, it comes out equally bad, Over and under cuts at corners, straight lines are coming out curved.

 

Please please please help!!! See attached pic. Sorry used my webcam and you see reflection of my hair in the way.Bottom left corner was under cut, right tip and lower right tip of star undercut, top left corner of square crooked as well as the bottom right, top left side of star distorted with curves and not straight.

post-69232-0-31132900-1379781113_thumb.j

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Would the cutting strip being removed be the problem?  I didn't know what it was.  When the cutter arrived the cutting strip was half way off, so I thought it was a piece added for protection. I tried pushing it down a few times until it was causing a problem, so then I thought it must not be part of the machine since it was not mentioned in any of the setup information.

 

Could this be the cause? Would US Cutter replace it on a brand new machine? OR should I just buy a new piece or glue the piece I have back down?

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If you are pulling directly from the roll, you must not,  there must be enough slack in the vinyl for the order,  make sure all grit roller set screws are tight.  Make sure the white wheels of the carriage head are firmly in their track. 

 

When you stated lifting vinyl, that is usually because of too much blade exposed.  This is how you set your blade correctly.

 

To start with, you should set your blade depth correctly, by taking the blade holder out of the machine, and firmly cut across a piece of scrap vinyl, you will be cutting. You should only be cutting the vinyl and barely a mark on wax paper backing, Adjust blade to get there, Then put the blade holder back in machine, and use the force of the machine to get there, same results, only cutting the vinyl and barely a mark in wax paper backing.

 

Did you follow all the directions correctly of setting up your cutter,? even including changing the baud rate to 4800?

 

http://start.uscutter.com/mh

 

Yes, the cutting strip could be the problem.  Is it really the cutting strip loose, or just the tape that is over it? Which should be removed.

 

And you are using the cutter on a Windows program, correct?  As your cutter is not Mac compatible. 

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pretty sure you hit it on the first post carolyn - one of those - the offset can't be far off because 1/2 the corners are square 

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Grit rollers are tight enough where they are leaving tread marks.

Offset is. 25

Baud is 4800

There is enough slack for the star as it is a small square.

I corrected the blade depth.

The entire plastic piece curled exposing metal underneath and I removed it not knowing what it was.

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FInally found out the issue, but have no clue how to fix it.  The screw on the bottom right side of carriage fell out.  Tried to tighten by hand but it won't "bite" and stay in.  Seems stripped.  Have no clue how to get a screw driver in there. So the holder kept getting wobbly until the screw hung all the way out and fell out.

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Try putting a drop of super glue on it after tightening as best you can. That may hold it in place.

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