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JennieDidit

New Cutter, New Problems .. help?

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I recently purchased a US Cutter MH series (I know this is the SC forum but I didn't see a section specifically for MH) and I'm used to using my Silhouette.

 

I make my graphics in Illustrator and turn them into SVG files.  Everything was going great, then I got a new cutter so I could do larger graphics.  I've got the cutter set up (watched all the videos and tutorials) have the SCAL software installed, got my origen set properly and the blade is set so it isn't cutting through the paper and it's cutting cleanly .. so here is the issue

 

Once it starts cutting .. it pulls the vinyl off the dead areas and leaves them stuck all over the decal.  Not good.  Yeah I can go through and tweeze them off, but it of course leaves a sticky residue all over the decal.  Not good.

 

Another thing it's doing .. is ever so often .. it's over cutting.  It leaves little "hairs" of vinyl left where it retraced over a section it has already cut, leaving a sliver .. but also removing a portion of the part that should remain (sometimes it doesn't matter, other times it does, like when it's already a thin piece).

 

I'm wondering if it's something as simple as I'm still using a 60 degree blade (came with it) and not 45 (ordered, just hasn't arrived yet).  I'm still a little unconvinced I have my speed and pressure set correctly though.  I can cut this same design with my SIL at a medium pressure and almost max speed (max pressure on the SIL is 33, I cut this design at 15.  max speed on the SIL is 10, I cut this design at 8 ).

 

Any help or advice is appreciated .. and I'll be honest, this is only about the 4th time I've cut something on it.  It's so frustrating to work with this thing that I try my best to not have to use it .. but as much as I paid for it and how much extra I *could* make with it .. I need to get this problem sorted out so I feel comfortable advertising that I can make larger items.

 

TIA,

Jennie

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Sounds like too much blade exposed, or it would not pick up the vinyl..  Set blade like this below  Also now that you have gotten into the adhesive,  clean your blade with alcohol or similar.  Slow down your speed for detailed designs.   You bought the least expensive value cutter there is, so expect to be tweeking the settings on every run..  The Silhouette is made by Graphtec,  a great name in vinyl cutters.  You bought the opposite end in vinyl cutters. Don't expect it to cut nice and clean like the Silhouette   What brand of vinyl are you cutting? 

 

Make sure you don't have duplicate layers,  that is a good reason it is cutting 2 times.

 

Where do you have your blade offset set at?

 

 

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.

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The blade is perfect.  I actually use a CB09 blade holder on my SIL (not the little POS blades they sell for the machine), so I know that isn't the issue.  

 

I probably do need to clean the blade off though

 

But I'll be damned, there are 2 layers.  I busted the design apart and there it was.  How strange!  It's a single color design .. so I am going to have to figure out why it's bringing in 2 layers with the SVG.  Lots of deleting with all the small parts = going to be very aggravating.

 

I don't mind tweaking, I tweak every time I cut on the SIL too, which is why I bought the least expensive, that and I didn't want to invest $$$ only to cut 1-2 things a year.  Need to make sure I have a market before I dump a fortune into a large cutter.  I mainly do t-shirts, so decals are a secondary item for me.

 

thank you for the ideas!

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I could hug you right now .. it was the layering.  I went in and turned all the "blank" layers my SVG brought in off and it works perfect.

 

Now, I've just to figure out why my transparant background is turning white when I import my SVG's into SCAL!

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Hi Jennie, it's good you got that sorted out.

 

In your photo, I notice the blade seems to be in the FRONT hole position in the carriage holder.

It should be in the rear position for cutting (it will sit directly over the cutting strip there).

The front is for the pen cartridge.

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I actually figured out why the SVG was layered .. for some reason my Illustrator is saving the SVG's with a white background (even though they appear transparent on screen) .. I'm more proficient in Photoshop than Illustrator .. so it's going to take some googling on my part to 100% fix that, but I did discover it's easier to delete those layers in Illustrator 1st, then no issues with the SVG later.

 

I'm not quite sure I know what you mean about the blade holder.  I only see 1 hole.  Can you elaborate?

 

 

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Jennie,

 

If you are using the "merge" option in the pathfinder pallet it will create unfilled objects in all the holes or open spaces within a shape. You can select one over in the layers box by clicking the little button on the right and then use the "Select All with similar fill" option and it will select them all and you can usually just delete them all at once if your design is built correctly and doesn't need them there. 

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