Brad new plotter going crazy!

[OWJones 1,981]

Although I think it's great that people want to "do it themselves", it makes no sense to me to buy the equipment, buy the vinyl, buy the software, work through the learning curve - all to decorate one boat and then sell everything at a loss.  No one in their right mind pays close to retail for a used low-end cutter, and when you factor in shipping and handling, it's usually cheaper to just buy one new from a store and get a warranty with it.

 

When you factor in the time spent getting it up and running (which apparently took MUCH longer for this noob than it did for most people) + the time spent learning how to use the equipment properly (and as mentioned numerous times you have a PLOTTER/CUTTER - NOT A PRINTER - IT DOES NOT PRINT!) + the time spent actually doing the job + the time spent trying to re-sell the equipment + the amount spent shipping it twice + the amount of depreciation when selling a used low-end plotter + I don't think you can legally transfer ownership of SCALP once you've installed and activated it + whatever else I'm forgetting is all going to add up to far more than it would have cost to pay a professional to do it for you.

 

Here's a tip, if you don't want advice from seasoned veterans, don't go to a support website that is almost entirely run and responded to by seasoned veterans.  Every thing they told you was 100% accurate and valid advice - we've seen people come here with these same symptoms dozens, if not hundreds, of times before - you're not some special case just because you claim to be an IT professional.

 

Here's a second tip - next time you need advice, go to Signs 101 - they're much better suited for handling noobs like yourself...  Trust me,  you'll fit right in...

[jaybyrd 3,770]

Yep signs 101. They'll treat you right

[Tyson0317 0]

I re-read the posts. I distinctively thanked those who posted honest (albeit wrong) advice. By these others I was effectively being told that it was because I didn't spend enough money on a plotter, that it could not do a wave pattern. My post was about a tool path that ran about 30% through perfectly well and then dug the knife in and started unwinding the roll. Given that I saw dozens of videos of people cutting more complex shapes of all sizes and doing things beyond what I would need, I felt that unless USCutter was purposely faking these reviews to perpetuate a complete fraud, I had made a good choice. I called bullshit on the statement that my problem was rooted with the fact that I chose the USCutter MH and told the people who made those comments to stop polluting/trolling my thread with their off-topic sales pitches. I stand by everything that I wrote.

 

The cutter I chose may not be great or tough enough for a professional sign shop, but its plenty for what I am planing to do with it and the problem I had was in no way shape or form inherent to the device. It took us less than an hour to set up the machine, load drivers, software and cut our first "Hello World!" decal, which was followed by about a dozen others before I attempted the wave graphic for our RC boat and hit the problem. Read: Not a setup issue.

 

Per my decision to go this route. I.T. is one of those fields of work that gets very tiring. I know a great many IT guys and there are a finite few who have been in the business as long as I and had not either gotten completely burned out, or fallen off the technology wagon, mentally checked out, left the profession, or worse. I maintain my sanity by stepping out of the box once in a while. I hold a stupid number of licenses and certifications - I get into something, get good at it, get bored and move on. Sometimes it makes money, honestly most times it doesn't. But it keeps my mind busy.

 

By the way, I never said "Speed Boat" - I said "Race Boat"! Geez, get the difference DUMBASS!! (I hope you can read the sarcasm) And there is about as huge of a difference between those terms as between 'printing' and 'plotting'. I could go on for a while and beat a dead horse about the misuse of terms, but just pointing out that you guys are not keeping yourselves to your own standards.

 

On to why I got this plotter... The boat is an advertisement as much as anything else. But being a boat, everything for it has to cost five times as much as it should (if you've owned a boat, you know.) Well apparently some of the local vinyl shops thought that this applied to them as well. I don't understand how our van wrap that was far more complex, with "Printed" Vinyl and had to go around doors, windows, bumpers and all kinds of stuff, cost us $1800, yet a hull graphic on the side of a boat (a slightly curved flat surface) which was infinitely less complex to make and apply - to be cut from only 3 solid colors of vinyl, had to cost $1700-2200!! In all, the whole design that I requested, came back from 2 shops ranging from $6000-11000!! Worse yet, EVERY SINGLE SHOP that I sent my designs to, missed their own self-set deadlines for bid, which does not inspire confidence. I saw the MH machine - if it works as well as it does in the videos and if the reviews I saw on youtube are not faked, it is plenty good enough to do what I need. Application honestly scared me a bit. But for the rates they bid, I can wreck a whole lot of vinyl, throw this machine in the dumpster and still come out on top while learning something new. If I fail, it won't be the first time, but I will learn something anyway. Look at it this way - thus far I am in for about $700. My time is worth money, but I write this off as a hobby and experience. Even if I do sink $2k into this with absolutely nothing to show for it, I have only burned ~20% of the project cost - in business worse things happen. In all my poker sense tells me that this pot is worth a $700 call with a possibility of adding as much as $2k total, as there is a good chance that I will come out on top.

 

Update: The new motherboard arrived overnight a few days ago. We didn't have time to mess with it until today when I set our intern on the job of swapping it. Very simple board by the way! Replacement of which RESOLVED THE PROBLEM! Incidentally, the new rolls of the 12-year outdoor vinyl made it on the same day, so I already cut our first design - going to apply it after work tomorrow! The big blue roll for the hull wave is coming from Timbuktu and wont be here till next Tuesday, so the big job will need to wait till next week.

 

One thing that does bug me. On more than one occasion during my experience on this forum, I have looked up at the address bar at the top of my browser to verify that this forum is indeed hosted as uscutter.com! I cannot believe why on earth they would allow trolls who at any opportunity, even completely off-topic, would try to steer new buyers to competitor products. I don't know of anyone that allows this type of activity on their forums! My experience with USCutter support thus far has been awesome! The plotter works great and on principle we will not be connecting the ground strap just to see what happens! The carpets in our shop are all treated for anti-static and I thought there may be a chance that because of vinyl to metal rub of the roll, there may be some static generated, but that should not matter because the plotter and all of its electronics are grounded and the stand has no electrical components. Anyone here actually have an Electrical Engineering degree? Two of the guys that work for me do and they laughed when I showed them this post.

 

Bring on the flames - they have been a great after work unwind for me!

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

no flames - just experience - the grounding issue is from static building up in the stand and vinyl as the stand is insulated from the plotter as it sits on rubber feet and even the rollers the vinyl sits on many times has plastic "bushings (unlike the corvettes as you call them) when the charge gets big enough it will discharge thru the cutter head and fry the z-chip at the least and the mainboard many times.  the higher end cutters actually have metal contact from the bottom of the cutter to the stand and the rollers under the vinyl are metal to metal bearings so static can be safely discharged constantly.(on the graphtecs the metal is all chromed and no paint that would also serve as an insulator for the static charge.   I only have 2 years of formal electronics training so not an engineer by any means or trained as much as one but have seen it hundreds of time on the forum.   usually worse in the winter and in less humid locations than seattle.  your choice of a good cast vinyl made for the marine environment is part of the extra cost for the project - when you get into printing the cost of the special vinyl and laminate goes way up compared to cheaper flat surface applications that do not sit in the water.  

 

good luck with your project.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

The people on this user forum volunteer their time to try to help in all hours while usc is closed - do they know everything - no . .  . but they do try and they do help get a lot of frustrated people going that may not be able to get help on a Friday night and don't want to wait until support opens mid day on the east coast on Monday.  if someone doesn't like the advise that is fine but please don't discourage all those that try to help when other help is not available.  it's not a perfect system but has helped a lot of people over the years

peace out

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

for those interested I think we are talking more of a racing sailing vessel like this one 35ft Sloop - J/35 not a motor boat - nice videos with the gopro by the way 

 

[Tyson0317 0]

My guys looked at the plotter's rollers and cutter and said that everything is fine. I will double-check it tomorrow.

 

Forums are not a perfect system. I made forums (as in wrote code) and ran forums since before they were called 'forums', before the were 'bulletin boards'... Not a perfect system, but seriously I dont appreciate being sold to! I came for help and was told to buy something that had nothing to do with the problem at hand and that is bullshit! And I WILL make $11k-worth of graphics for under $2k just to spite the jackasses at the graphic shop and some on this forum who made remarks about who I am, what I do etc. 

 

Simple f'n question - my plotter went nuts 30% into the cut. Serial communication problem/adapter was a good guess. But to tell a guy that the plotter he bought is crap and physically cannot do what he wants and that he is a dumbass for buying it (paraphrasing) is by definition a troll maneuver. Call a spade a spade. I dont care if someone made 10,000 posts here - they need a life. If 3000 of them were on how to set blade depth, they REALLY need a life! 

 

Dakota. I bought what I thought was the nicest vinyl for the job. Thin, light and rated for 12 years outdoor life. I didn't know that there was a marine grade - didnt run across that in any of my searching. If you have a product to recommend, I am all ears - that would be useful info.

 

And yes, Google-fu is strong with this one ;-) 

[jaybyrd 3,770]

The grounding issue is documented by uscutter and I believe it even has something about it either in a setup video or instructions. I am glad you have it up and running but every thing that I personally stated is my honest review of the mh based on thousands of people struggling with similar issues and also on the personal experience of owning one along with a Master, Seiki, Laserpoint 1, Laserpoint 2, and a Vinyl Express qe60+. I have been inside some of these machines so many time that I can honestly say that I have more hands on time than many of the techs. My advice was free and it's up to you whether or not to use it but I really am glad you got it fixed and can enjoy the hobby that is vinyl.

[Wildgoose 4,200]

Bring on the flames - they have been a great after work unwind for me!

Flaming doesn't really happen on this forum, even when it might be warranted. 

[darcshadow 1,626]

EE here. The static build up has nothing to do with the floor or the physical room the plotter is in, it is from the vinyl itself, you can feel it some times, the hair on your arm will raise when near the vinyl just after you unroll it. You can even hear it some times as you unroll it. As dakotagrafx said, it has to go someplace and if the only discharge point it through the knife and cutter head it will likely fry something. Technically the stand doesn't need to be grounded, just the vinyl. Since most stands are metal and the vinyl is making contact with the metal, grounding the stand is the easiest option.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

cut vinyl you should be fine with the high end cast - print vinyl has the marine grade and it really really expensive.

the 3000 post on blade depth has been to correct an incorrect instruction and video created by newbie techs at usc that stated to use 1/2 credit card depth for a blade length so it has been very very necessary to repeat it every day as those videos and instructions live on causing a lot of problems with accurate cuts.  as far as the keyspan it has helped many people with the less than robust usb chipset and memory in the mh.  many do more complicated graphics with them.  but that part will show itself in more time.

again glad you got it all worked out and on your way 

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

Flaming doesn't really happen on this forum, even when it might be warranted. 

well not so much after several got banned for that and name calling!  we still have our moments though

[Wildgoose 4,200]

well not so much after several got banned for that and name calling!  we still have our moments though

I guess it has to be taken in contrast to other forums of like content. Signs101, pirate4x4 are two examples. Pirate even has flaming emoticons.  

 

If Tyson finds after-work release in getting flamed and having high temp discussions he would find them a-plenty as you mentioned earlier at signs101 

[RickS 39]

The posters on sign's 101 don't like to play nice most of the time, you will need really thick skin to play there!!!

[jaybyrd 3,770]

The posters on sign's 101 don't like to play nice most of the time, you will need really thick skin to play there!!!

More like body armor when the get annoyed with somebody.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

they just prefer sign professionals and have no tolerance for new people in the industry.   not a problem with that if that is the site you want.   vinylforum.org is like in between - more experience without the intolerance of newbies.  each site has it's place in the whole scheme of things.   just know which pool you are stepping in before you make a move

[darcshadow 1,626]

You'd think a forum called what ever 101 would be open to beginners.  ha!

[jaybyrd 3,770]

The 101 is the bait to lure you in then the feeding frenzy begins. And it's not just newbs, they'll eat they're own on occasion. That being said if you can tow the line there is a lot of old timer knowledge on 101 that you can't find other places.