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krisjprice

About to lose my mind

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I have a MH365-MK2 and SCAL3P that has worked perfectly until today when I need to get work done. I am using this to print out vinyl decals.

 

Now when I am sending the files from SCAL to my cutter, instead of being arranged across the width of the cutter, my designs are getting cut pretty much anywhere the cutter feels like cutting them. Is cutting images twice, cutting half an image one way, then 90º another direction, and cutting some of a design in one place, then scrolling down my vinyl roll to cut the rest of it. I have wasted over 2' of vinyl this morning and am about to chuck this thing out the window. 

 

I am running OSX 10.10.2 (Yosemite), SCAL3P 3.070. 

 

I've added a picture of what I sent to the cutter vs what actually being cut. It seems like 2 of the circles are oriented correctly and maybe the two small semicircles south of the dragon, but the rest of the dragons are oriented 90º the opposite way.

 

My process for this is that I import it into SCAL (cmnd+shift+i), resize it using the tool on the right, then hold down shift and rotate the image 90º to (theoretically) save space when cutting vinyl. 

 

I'm just at a loss for words with the bow and arrow. How half of it is done almost correctly below the dragon and the other half is way on the other side of the vinyl is beyond me. And to finish it off, when this is done cutting, the blade and roll does not revert to origin point.

Please help before I recreate that scene from Office Space.

 

TIA!

post-91115-0-59235600-1423158473_thumb.j

post-91115-0-74128800-1423158474_thumb.j

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Not to mention the name Greyson was printed backwards. I would believe it's all my software if all of these images didn't print perfectly the first time yesterday.

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this should clear your problem up,, Posted on UScutter.com

 

 

The MH Series Vinyl Cutter is available in 14", 28", 34", and 50" sizes. Cutter not Compatible with Mac.

 

 

Posted on EBAY

 

NOTE: This cutter/plotter is *not* compatible with Apple/Mac computers

 

Don't blame the cutter

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this should clear your problem up,, Posted on UScutter.com

 

 

The MH Series Vinyl Cutter is available in 14", 28", 34", and 50" sizes. Cutter not Compatible with Mac.

 

 

Posted on EBAY

 

NOTE: This cutter/plotter is *not* compatible with Apple/Mac computers

 

Don't blame the cutter

 

Well MOST of my projects and cuts turn out ok except for the few random ones like this that waste my time and money. So basically, I should either shell out more money because this company doesn't support half of computer users (almost all of which use Macs to do graphic work), just keep cutting the design until it comes out correctly, or go through the complete hassle of designing everything on my mac, then transferring any and all design to cut onto a PC where I would actually send the designs to the cutter?

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Quite honestly I'm not sure how that makes sense. SCAL is compatible with Mac and contains the drivers for this cutter. Plus everything I've done until today has worked perfectly.

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betting less than 10 percent of out 40,000 member use a mac - now we do know people have used them with this cutter but as skeeter said it is clear in the description when buying they do not support the mac use with this cutter.  blaming them for not supporting what they clearly say they don't support is where some resistance from the free help here come in.  they have some of the best support in the industry but a user has to be knowledgeable about what they are purchasing too.  a $300 machine might not have the support a $1700 machine does anywhere . . . 

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Quite honestly I'm not sure how that makes sense. SCAL is compatible with Mac and contains the drivers for this cutter. Plus everything I've done until today has worked perfectly.

This disclosure is the ONLY vinyl cutter that UScutter sells, that is NOT compatible with MAC.and they posted that  for a reason......

 

Even high dollar machines, a rebranded Graphtec that cost over $1000,,  that Signwarehouse sells.. is NOT Mac compatible...and is disclosed as being NOT Mac compatible. .

 

Also their VE Q series rebranded Graphtec which is over $2000  is NOT Mac compatible....

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For the record, if anyone comes into this forum for a similar problem in the future, I took the image and retraced it in AI, imported it into SCAL and it printed perfectly on my Apple computer.

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Next thing is cutters cut not print. Sorry a pet peeve of mine.

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Next thing is cutters cut not print. Sorry a pet peeve of mine.

I was gonna say that also,,, But I told Dakota I would play nice....LOL  

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I was gonna say that also,,, But I told Dakota I would play nice....LOL  

I would never make a promise I can't keep :) I've got a dead qe60 under my bench that is way more costly and I didn't blow a gasket at anybody when it died although the things I said within the walls of my shop would of made a sailor blush.

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Well I appreciate the wealth of help this thread has been.

Maybe you should try Signs101...if you don't like our help...

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I am a mac owner and a mac lover but I also know that there are many many devices that don't do well when coupled to a mac computer. Mac is just a lot more finicky but that is also part of the reason they have less of the other types of issues that pc's are plagued with.  I had a Kodak printer for a while and had to find some generic drivers that someone had built to make it print which it did but was less than perfect. Epson is fine with mac so I switched to Epson. 

 

If I were you (original poster) I would just go find a cheap pc with windows xp or something and set it up as a dedicated cutting computer. I run AI with SignCut Pro as my cutting software and CAN cut from my mac but I still primarily cut from a windows 7 laptop. I just design over on the mac and export my cut files to a thumb drive. My reasons for this arrangement are simply that I have my cutter in a different area than my mac and it's more convenient but it's no real hassle either. 

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I am having the same issues with my cutter while attempting to use it with mac. I have gone through maybe 10ft of vinyl trying to trouble shoot the issue. The cuts are all over the place and overlapping and not in the right proportions.. I spent hours trying to fix the issue and have decided that maybe it is the Mac. I feel that it is a bit misleading to offer mac compatible software with with a cutter that is not mac compatible. So tomorrow I am going to install the software on a windows computer and give it a go. I am really crossing my fingers. I have orders to fill depending on this cutter working.. If windows does not pull through and solve the problem, I am completely screwed. 

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I am having the same issues with my cutter while attempting to use it with mac. I have gone through maybe 10ft of vinyl trying to trouble shoot the issue. The cuts are all over the place and overlapping and not in the right proportions.. I spent hours trying to fix the issue and have decided that maybe it is the Mac. I feel that it is a bit misleading to offer mac compatible software with with a cutter that is not mac compatible. So tomorrow I am going to install the software on a windows computer and give it a go. I am really crossing my fingers. I have orders to fill depending on this cutter working.. If windows does not pull through and solve the problem, I am completely screwed.

never take orders till you have working equipment and the knowledge of how to use it,  that is how you screw yourself.   buying a cutter to use on an operating system that the company has a disclaimer in the description saying it doesn't work with - puts yourself in that position.   

hope you get it worked out.  PS moving up to at least a sc is advisable for those reading this  - research the cutter you are thinking of buying in the forum will teach you a lot before you buy

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Also a good idea to use a pen tool and paper when in the early stages so you don't waste vinyl. The MH is apparently a very frustrating machine. If you are you are a total newbie at this then I definitely second Dakota's sentiment about getting yourself in a bad situation. I did work for free for a couple months for friends and family to be sure I knew that my equipment worked and how to get the job done properly before I was comfortable charging someone. 

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Ok, for all you Mac only folks, here is a solution :P.

 

http://www.microcenter.com/product/439773/TW700_Tablet_-_Black

 

Buy one of those for $70 and cut whatever you want with it. It runs full windows and has a real full sized USB port.

 

I use one (the 8" version with USB3) whenever I travel to someplace that I don't want my precision workstation to get stolen or damaged. They work!

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or buy an old $30 win xp dedicated cutter computer and keep it off the net so no viruses and always ready to cut.   :wacko:

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@ Dakota.

 

You are unlikely to find any $30 pc with a monitor that is not going to be lethargic and archaic. You can't reasonably expect a MAC user to lower themselves to such a depth. It's bad enough they would have to adapt to metro tiles in win8 because they cant figure out how to install a skin. **//end sarcasm

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LOL - a cutter requires very little power to operate and cut - lots of us have dedicated cutter computers as a defence so our business doesn't come to a stand still when a virus, or hardware failure hits - heck two of our better know people have a couple cheap spares they got for around $30.    now windows 8 is hated by 90 percent of everyone so that was a low blow lol

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In all seriousness though, the Winbook line of tablets is a phenomenal value. Where else do you get a real x86 quadcore, full windows, and usb support for $100 or less (in a portable format with no need for a monitor)?

 

I've run a hub off the USB and had my craft robo, a mouse, and a usb stick plugged in all at once. Great for when you are on the road and selling at a seedy/dusty place.

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