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fustratedinhawaii

Bridge Cutting Plotter (new to me) HELP

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I read LOADS of bad things about Sign Warehouse's shipping and their customer service has 1 star across the board.

I've also read US CUTTER and STAHLS are more on the 5-STAR for both shipping out products and service

 

Has anyone read about or bought from  Imprintables Warehouse? How were they??

Heat Press Nation??

 

Are there  any other stores that people have had good experiences from? or bad ones??

 

Only bad thing right now I can see is that US CUTTER and STAHLS shipping prices for the cutter is a LOT more (Mz Skeeter is the first one who told me about the eBay side of US CUTTER already ;) )

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Ok, I can't find the thread it was on, but somebody asked (Jaybird or Dakota I think) if I had a local supplier over here. Mz Skeeter sent me the link she found to remind me. I went there a few months ago, and even though they say their a Graphtec dealer, they don't carry them in stock. HOWEVER, there was one that another customer bought and was picking up today, so I got to see it. It was a GRAPHTEC CE6000-60 and it was BEAUTIFUL  ;D ;D ;D !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I"m working with STAHLS on ordering the cutter and the heatpress. Cutter is a little over $100 to ship over, but the HOTRONIX AUTO CLAM is going to cost over $800 to ship. I DON'T THINK SO!!! I got a phone quote a LOT cheaper from IW and she's going to check on that...

 

Anyway, as far as our local company "One Shot Grahic and Supplies", I talked to the clerk and he told me if I wanted the Graphtec, it would be:

1) 21 days to come in

2) $2,400 which included shipping (vs $1,845 from STAHLS or IW)

3) NO SOFTWARE COMES WITH IT!!! (what do they do? take the software that GRAPHTEC sends with the cutter? :huh:?)

 

Price of vinly:

751 = 15" x 10 yds for $50

651 =  15"x 50 yds for $90

651 =  24"x 50 yds for $160

 

We may LIVE in paradise, but WE PAY FOR IT :( !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Graphtec has it's own software,  can be downloaded from the Graphtec site, right now...  Cutting Master 1 and 2  And Graphtec Studio.  That is what you get...

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COOL :) !!!!!!!!!!!!! Since I'll save $555 from buying it online, I'll look up the videos now and get familiar with it BEFORE my cutter arrives :) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

THANKS MzSKEETER !!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D

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COOL :) !!!!!!!!!!!!! Since I'll save $555 from buying it online, I'll look up the videos now and get familiar with it BEFORE my cutter arrives :) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

THANKS MzSKEETER !!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D

Your welcome...  You can play in Graphtec Studio now and design...

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Watching the videos now...ugh...complicated to me, I've never done this before....all new to me. SO GLAD  you told me about this now, so I can practice BEFORE the cutter gets here :) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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UPS tracking showing everything is coming on time. Took 2 days to get to the East coast to Hawaii. Got here this morning at the airport. Now it's going to take 2 whole days to come 15 more miles :rolleyes: ::) We call that "Hawaiian Time."

Gives us time to still clean up the area a little bit, and a little more time to spend on all the youtube videos and the Graphic studio.

 

Cutter and stuff coming on Monday

Heat Press and stuff coming in on Tuesday

 

Plus, seems slow, so I figure everyone can read my ranting right now  ;D ;D ;D

 

 

 

 2 days and counting.....

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Did you order that special DC converter to be able to plug in your Graphtec? I know you have to have one since the servos run on DC power......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ha ha! Just kidding. Made you think!

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YOU JUST MADE ME CRAP MY PANTS  :angry: >:(:angry: >:(:angry: >:(:angry: >:(:angry: >:(:angry: >:(:angry: (no crying emoticon)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I IMMEDIATELY thought... WTF IS THAT!!!! I knew what the keyspan was, but never knew I needed THAT!!! I thought Graphtec's USB was supposed to be GOOD!! Now there's a problem with the frick'n POWER SUPPLY??!!!

 

**revenge is mine sayeth the Lord"....I'm just here to help him move on a little bit faster ;D

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IT'S NOT EVEN 12 NOON AND UPS IS HERE :) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! well, at mom's...Had to use her address, because they don't take P.O. BOXES....

SEE YOU GUYS IN A FEW HOURS :) !!!!!!!!!!!!

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WHOO HOO :) !!!!!

Congrats,  Night and day... right?   You will enjoy how quiet and accurate the Graphtec is...

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Hmm...I answered your post, now it disappeared...computer gremlins :(

Well Mz Skeeter, I don't have anything to compare it to. The cutter I got from my friend, I never used it. I popped in the cd's, but EVERYTHING was in Chinese!!! I"m sure it's a good cutter, but not knowing which cd was the driver and stuff, I just packed everything up and put it away. I got home at 9pm (1.5 hours ago) and my wife videotaped my unwrapping the 4 boxes. I mostly wanted some kind of insurance in case something was damaged that I could tell right away. Not like I want to post it on youtube, my voice sucks and I'm no male model :'( lol.... Cutter was pretty well packed, but the 2 boxes that the vinyl and htv came in slid side to side as I carried it to my truck and back home. At the ends, they left WAYYY TOO MUCH SPACE, same as the stand, 1 section had  2' space so stuff slid around a lot. Thank God, nothing seems damaged. Graphtec LOOOOVES that little blue tape to hold everything down :) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Skeeter, Dakota, Jaybird, Wild Goose, Halpain and everyone else...thanks for you patience and understanding .....Now that I got it, I'll REALLY be testing your patience ;D ;D ;D !!!!!!!!!!!

FH

 

p.s. I just noticed I hit 68 posts and the Forum gurus got me as "Advanced Member" along with Mz SKEETER with almost 11,000 posts. I'm too NEW here and don't know ANYTHING about this trade!!! Now some newbie is gonna see I'm an Advanced Member and ask ME for advice??!!! good luck newbie ;) !!! Far at this thread, it shows I'M HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nobody has said ANYTHING I did that was "HOT".... :rolleyes:

Oh well....I'll spend the next few days putting everything together, watching the videos and commenting on your comments ;D Oh yeah...and work. I gotta go to work tomorrow....damn it.

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I'm excited for you buddy! Be prepared to lose a little sleep playing with your new toy. 

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Please...I average about 5-6 hours a sleep/night as it is...I don't think this body can take less then that for very long :(

Have to go to finish up a small job today at my parents house, study for something and then go to work. Hopefully when I get off work the heat press and other stuff will be here.

I'll start hooking everything up, but I don't foresee making my first test until tomorrow night at the EARLIEST !!!

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Hopefully your first cut goes better than my first did. Heck even with my new cutter it took longer than I expected to get the right drivers installed and running like I wanted. I only bring that up so if you find yourself frustrated you will know it's fairly common. 

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Ok, well....it's almost 12:30am and I just played around with the pen and holder that was in that little box. The other box had 1 blade...ONLY COMES WITH 1 BLADE?? I guess an order to cleancut blades will happen within the next few days. I was thinking of getting 2 or 3 of the 60 degree ones like OWJONES uses.  I put the stand together and screwed down the plotter on the stand. Wife and I made new black out curtains so the nosy neighbors won't see what I just got in the house  ^-^ (yes, our neighbors are SUPER close to our windows  :-[ ) Of course my dog was good and hung out 15 feet away watching me put everything together, but my teenage kittens just HAD to investigate everything !!!

My place can get pretty humid and unfortunately, kind of dusty (animal lovers...go figure :rolleyes:. We vacuumed the places around what we could and I have a beach towel over the cutter. The Hotronix Auto Clam however looks like the natural position for it is OPEN. #1) What do you guys do to keep it dust free? Should I put a towel over that also? I bought the upper platen cover for it....  I was looking at the label on the cutter and it said "Made in China". Damn, I thought the Graphtec6000-60 was AMERICAN MADE :'( :'( :'( !!!! I also bought a cheap All-in-one computer to keep it dedicated to the cutter. I will put that together tomorrow night. I need to make a better table for the Hotronix, my wife's little sewing table is big enough, but with the counter caddy underneath the heat press, it  still wobbles. Guess it wasn't made for 100lbs ^-^ I'll build a new one out of 2x4's this weekend.

 

If I have the platen cover over the top platen, how much degrees higher to you up your temp settings on average? 5 degrees? 10 ??

 

Please reply with any tips to help me keep everything clean as possible (unfortunately, moving to a better place is not an option right now :-[ ).

 

Getting excited to try it out, but I don't want to screw anything up...taking it  a slow step by slow step (which is 100% opposite me, but as I get a lot older, I'm a heck of lot more cautious and paranoid).....

 

Thanks everyone :)

 

FH

p.s. Get ready for a TON of questions in the next few days :rolleyes:

 

**EDIT. ok...was bugging me...so I hooked up the new computer and downloaded inkscape from their own site. Going to bed now... (it's 4:38am). Remember, it's all Sue's fault :'(

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Glad I finally stubled upon your thread Bert.

 

Man, I remember my first cut on my Puma iii. I watched a video that said "a credit card thickness" on the blade depth. so without looking at what it was curently set on out of box, I began adjusting. The first cut sliced right through the vinyl, backing, and cut strip. I found the safest thing for me was to adjust the blade down to visibly flush with the holder, and then go the closest direction to "0". then I adjusted to about .5 deeper than the vinyl I was using followed by a test cut. I then adjusted from there based on the cut until I got optimal performance. Maybe not the usual way of doing things, but safer for me.

 

I keep my equipment in the garage due to a lack of room, and a new arrival to our family, so I just clean it often with alcohol wipes. Of course I'd probably do the same inside our home, It's pretty windy and dusty here in west Texas.

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p.s. Get ready for a TON of questions in the next few days :rolleyes:

Thanks for the warning. I'll get out my rubber gloves and hip waders. 

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Thanks Halpain, that part I got covered, thanks to MzSkeeter :) But kind of relieved I'm not the ONLY one with a dusty evironment :(

WG, Hope you got a couple of extra pairs ;)

 

Question # 126: I've got both platen covers for the heat press, 1 black and 1 brown. I BELIEVE the brown one goes on the bottom and the black one goes on the top. AM I RIGHT?

 

THANKS,

FH

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Ok...found out about the platen cover issue. Now I got to start work for a few hours and study. I played with Inkscape only about 1/2 hour before I had to leave. Hmm.....lot of tutorials, thank GOD!!! Besides that, and looking up the user manual for my new computer (to cheap to give you one, you have to download it. I'm old school, I like the paper in my hand. Printed out 80 sheets of the user manual....All telling me how to change out the hardware inside the computer....yeesh....Now I have to look for the ACTUAL user manual....Probably won't need it anyway.....

Well, I might disappear off this thread for a few days while I go look up stuff. Hopefully the next post will show you more progress :) and not more questions :'(

 

Don't worry, I'll still be here in mind and spirit, reading the rest of the forum ;)

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What is it made of Bert? You can likely do some form of HTV if you can get the sail to your heat press. 

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