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Tjames557

Pcut CTN630 software for Mac- I'm new!

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I have been trying to research but haven't found a perfect answer for my situation so I'm hoping someone can help me. I was given a Pcut ctn630 so I can cut some vinyl. I have a MacBook pro running the new Yosemite IOS. I have experience with Inkscape but can not get a clear answer on what cutting software I can use for the cutter that is compatable with my MacBook. The guy who gave it to me provided me with sign blazer 2007 for pc but that does not seem like it will work for my application. Can someone please point me in the right direction here? Thank you!

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I use SignCut Pro. It is subscription or dongle so not free but a great cutting program. Not a design program but you can send or open your files from Inkscape. I don't think there is a free mac compatible cutting program so you are going to spend a little money one way or the other. Sure cuts a little pro is mac compatible I think but I was not impressed with the program and got rid of my copy. 

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I use SignCut Pro. It is subscription or dongle so not free but a great cutting program. Not a design program but you can send or open your files from Inkscape. I don't think there is a free mac compatible cutting program so you are going to spend a little money one way or the other. Sure cuts a little pro is mac compatible I think but I was not impressed with the program and got rid of my copy. 

Thank you sir! I will look into this one. I dont mind paying, I just want something that works correctly with the printer!

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I really like SignCut. In fact when I upgraded from my old P-Cut 1200 to a high dollar Summa I tried out a few other options (very few that are mac compatible and even less that will work with both mac and pc) and ended up talking to SignCut about getting drivers that would run my Summacut D75r which was a fairly new model at the time and they hadn't updated drivers to run it. They specifically built drivers for me which turned out to be so tough they had to purchase their own Summa to use in their lab to get it to work correctly. That's what I call over and above the norm for tech support. Every since I have been making sure to mention their world class support and a great cutting program.

 

One thing you will find particularly handy is the step-by-step cutting option. For really long simple graphics this lets you tell the cutter to cut everything within a given distance, like 12" or 10" etc.., and it will finish everything within that zone before moving on to the next and thereby get around some of the off-tracking that is common with a budget cutter if you are doing something that is like 6 or 10 ft long. If you have a complicated desing then that doesn't do so good because it will have too many little half cut objects to try and catch and hook together and the tracking being what it is it won't work. I had a 7 ft half circle log that I couldn't get to line up at the end it was 3/4" off and looked horrible but with the step-by-step it turned out fine.

 

Another trick that I did when I had my P-Cut was stack the lettering in a text type file in order within the design (not sure if you have that much control in Inkscape but reasonably simple in AI) and the program just cut through in order so long strings of text ran in order from front to back rather than jumping around which helped turn out good work. Not sure if there was a setting I had within the SignCut software or if it did that naturally but it worked great. The Summa driver is enough different that the whole workspace in SignCut looks different with different options and the cutter doesn't have any tracking issues so I don't even think about that stuff anymore but hopefully SignCut still works that way for you with your P-Cut.

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I really like SignCut. In fact when I upgraded from my old P-Cut 1200 to a high dollar Summa I tried out a few other options (very few that are mac compatible and even less that will work with both mac and pc) and ended up talking to SignCut about getting drivers that would run my Summacut D75r which was a fairly new model at the time and they hadn't updated drivers to run it. They specifically built drivers for me which turned out to be so tough they had to purchase their own Summa to use in their lab to get it to work correctly. That's what I call over and above the norm for tech support. Every since I have been making sure to mention their world class support and a great cutting program.

 

One thing you will find particularly handy is the step-by-step cutting option. For really long simple graphics this lets you tell the cutter to cut everything within a given distance, like 12" or 10" etc.., and it will finish everything within that zone before moving on to the next and thereby get around some of the off-tracking that is common with a budget cutter if you are doing something that is like 6 or 10 ft long. If you have a complicated desing then that doesn't do so good because it will have too many little half cut objects to try and catch and hook together and the tracking being what it is it won't work. I had a 7 ft half circle log that I couldn't get to line up at the end it was 3/4" off and looked horrible but with the step-by-step it turned out fine.

 

Another trick that I did when I had my P-Cut was stack the lettering in a text type file in order within the design (not sure if you have that much control in Inkscape but reasonably simple in AI) and the program just cut through in order so long strings of text ran in order from front to back rather than jumping around which helped turn out good work. Not sure if there was a setting I had within the SignCut software or if it did that naturally but it worked great. The Summa driver is enough different that the whole workspace in SignCut looks different with different options and the cutter doesn't have any tracking issues so I don't even think about that stuff anymore but hopefully SignCut still works that way for you with your P-Cut.

 

 

Great! Thank you for the tips. Just downloaded the software and i will start playing with it a bit. That is some good customer service! I appreciate your help. I am not willing to give up my Mac for a PC so im glad this software was out there.

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Great! Thank you for the tips. Just downloaded the software and i will start playing with it a bit. That is some good customer service! I appreciate your help. I am not willing to give up my Mac for a PC so im glad this software was out there.

Yeah I'm the same way although I do have a windows 7 laptop that I actually use over at the cutter. I like SignCut Pro because it works on either platform. If you buy the dongle you can load it on as many computers as you want and just plug and play. If you are subscription you can swap computers but only like 5 times without additional permission. I had my pc go blue screen on me one night way late and needed to run on the main mac to finish the job and was glad of the ability to jump back and forth effortlessly. 

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