Contour Cutting with the Laser Point ..

[ff-extreme 6]

Rebjr, are you a Vietnam helicopter vet?

[dbtoutfit 5]

We'll find something I am sure

FYI they also included a A3 template.

Well theres no need to use the templates that are provided with SC if you rearange the reg marks for 11x17.

The templates I assumed were produced for key locations for pre managed refrance points into the software for the optimum location.

SB automaticly adds it's own cross hairs for referance.

But thinking a little harder on the subject now I guess it really doesnt matter when you get down to the logic.

Trully you do not need a Laser plotter to do contour. All you do is use your cut blade right over the cross hairs.

All roland blades have the offset of the blade listed for each blade type they offer.

If you take that offset value and apply it to your "Laser offset" you can cut contours just as easily.

I simply take my sticker/stock etc and place it in the machine. I then Manually (offline mode) on the machine keys move the blade over the center of the reg mark.  Then I drop the blade using the machine keys. And adjust till I get it right (Takes just as long) and so own with the next reg mark.

And then run the decal cut.

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The one thing I can say with SC is I am going to have to take the time to figure out how to get SC to go back to home like SB does after it contour cuts.  I lay Clear vinyl over my stickers that are printed on laser and you have to simply run the cut twice to get all the way through. Of course I could adjust my blade but that would be insane going from vinyl to decals back to vinyl etc etc

I would also like to know if it prints in the correct colors via SB. I know it doesnt render them correctly in the preview.

Eric

[juniorranger 0]

I havent taken the time to read each and every post but i keep seeing these questions come up about "contour cutting" what EXACTLY are they trying to achieve? Just cut round circle? What could be so hard about that?? ? ?

[deenasteedeezign 0]

wow.i just read every single post in this thread and i am very scared! i am a newbie to vinyl and i am in the process of ordering a lp36 to do contour cutting around my heat transfer for garments.am i making the right choice with the lp36? especially for a newbie who never cut vinyl before? if i use different software,say flexi will it be easier?

[rebjr 0]

To be honest, if I had the money to buy flexi I'd shell out the under 2G's and buy the roland, take the oter 2G's I just saved over the cost of flexi and buy t-shirts, take a vacation, whatever.

Also, a 36" machine to do garments is overkill. A 24" machine is plenty wide enough to cut anything going on any shirt size I've ever seen, and I used to print for a load of scooter tramps with folks who wore 6X consistent, and had one guy wore a 12X.

Not to discourage you, the whole purpose that I bought the LP24 was to contour cut shirt designs. And, it's been one devil of a ride so far. But, as Eric and I often chided in our posts on the subject the cure will be something simple. And it was, or at least for SC X2 it was, and now that it is running fine I am a happier than happy camper.

With the LP you have a lot of manual setup to do. With the roland (I have a buddy who has one) simply set it up and it finds and zeroes in on the cross hairs automatically and cuts a perfect contour. Again, with the LP you have to align the sheets manually everytime you put a new one in the cutter.

If budget is the issue and you really can't afford flexi (which I don't know if it will work or not) then you can't beat the LP and for my money Sign Cut X-2 is the way to go. It gives you full control, print your image fro wherever you want, then just load it to the machine, line it up, and cut.

[rebjr 0]

I havent taken the time to read each and every post but i keep seeing these questions come up about "contour cutting" what EXACTLY are they trying to achieve? Just cut round circle? What could be so hard about that?? ? ?

Contour cutting is much, much more than simply cutting a circle. It is following a cutting path around any imaginable shape. Simplest explaination is that contour cutting could be likened to die cutting. You've seen, I'm sure, all sorts of small little custom decals that instead of being on a square or circle are actrually shaped like the image is, say school bus, or horn, or whatever. Those mostly are die cut. Contour cutting does the same thing, using a vinyl cutter.

[rebjr 0]

We'll find something I am sure

FYI they also included a A3 template.

Well theres no need to use the templates that are provided with SC if you rearange the reg marks for 11x17.

The templates I assumed were produced for key locations for pre managed refrance points into the software for the optimum location.

The registration marks they use (I havn't looked yet) might be easier on the eye than the one's that I made.

The folks at SC told me today that they have successfully tested an out-of-alignment of up to 1" on the left registration mark.

In other words, according to them you do not have to have the paper perfectly straight on the cutter. You line up the 1st registration  point, then click and line up the second, if it is off fore or aft, simply move the item fore or aft with the keyboard until you are dead center and press cut out and away she goes. I have not tested the theory yet, but if true that is another GREAT plus. Will spead up loading considerably.

They also told me how to fine tune the offset in the event that it is needed. Simply adjust in the laserpoint offset dialog + or - 1 at a time and test until you get it dialed in. Once the calibration is done it is stored in the ini file until changed.

I had a ton of trials I wanted to run today, but one of the techs got in a contest with the boss, and of course the boss won, so I ended up with 4 computers to reload. Some days being an independent contractor pays off really good, today was one of those. I hate it when it's slow and I got 1 reload on the bench. Barely makes it worth doing. But 4, now that makes the hourly wage average out pretty nice .. yep ...

Well Alabama Eric, I'll see ya later. And, again, thanks ever so much!

[rebjr 0]

Rebjr, are you a Vietnam helicopter vet?

Yes sir! I flew helicopter gunships in Vietnam.

[dbtoutfit 5]

Sorry if my posts has alarmed anyone.

Bob (IMO) had a bit more issues hit him all at once. This made the simple task of contour cutting more complex.

Bob has had to change many things etc and for each change there was a change needed to be made for that change and so.

Such as using a different pc to be able to simply use serial with no USB to Serial dongle... The catch?  He had to move SB over to the computer and when he did that he needed to re-register SB, which SB support are not the worlds fastest at getting to you. (Sometimes) In my case it was with-in an HR.

This is not typical from what I have seen and from the point I got my machine with no help (that I can think of) I was cutting contours with-in 3 days of having my machine.

Most of all let me make it clear Flexi is not a must have!

I simply was trying to come up with a "answer for all" so to speak for Bobs issues with color management, ability to "print to vinyl" and a way to design if his Corel version ended up not working out.

Bottom Line...

There

[rebjr 0]

I do believe I'm good to go, Eric. If not, I'll be calling for help.

I think that once I get all of the fine tuning done and get SC operating the way that they said it would, once that is done, I'm laying odds that you might switch over to SC.

Of course, I do still want to get SBE working. But, now it will be just as a personal thing, not a neccessity.

Again, thanks.

[dbtoutfit 5]

Not a prob.

Yea.... I have to say I defiantly see SC in the near future... why? For me it is the abilty to print from a progie that has color management.

I think to have both of the programs (SB and SC) is and would be a great thing.

One thing though.  In SB you are more than welcome (this is the only way I do it) to draw your contour in another program (for me AI). Just to make it clear to the folks that SB does have that option and it is great for simple things that you just need a quick contour for, but you can most certainly use any design program to make those contour lines/nodes/tool paths which ever you like to call them.

Keep me informed and your more than welcome to call.

Eric

[deenasteedeezign 0]

To be honest, if I had the money to buy flexi I'd shell out the under 2G's and buy the roland, take the oter 2G's I just saved over the cost of flexi and buy t-shirts, take a vacation, whatever.

Also, a 36" machine to do garments is overkill. A 24" machine is plenty wide enough to cut anything going on any shirt size I've ever seen, and I used to print for a load of scooter tramps with folks who wore 6X consistent, and had one guy wore a 12X.

Not to discourage you, the whole purpose that I bought the LP24 was to contour cut shirt designs. And, it's been one devil of a ride so far. But, as Eric and I often chided in our posts on the subject the cure will be something simple. And it was, or at least for SC X2 it was, and now that it is running fine I am a happier than happy camper.

With the LP you have a lot of manual setup to do. With the roland (I have a buddy who has one) simply set it up and it finds and zeroes in on the cross hairs automatically and cuts a perfect contour. Again, with the LP you have to align the sheets manually everytime you put a new one in the cutter.

If budget is the issue and you really can't afford flexi (which I don't know if it will work or not) then you can't beat the LP and for my money Sign Cut X-2 is the way to go. It gives you full control, print your image fro wherever you want, then just load it to the machine, line it up, and cut.

actually,i have flexi 8 that a friend sent me,so the cost was zero,and the reason i want the lp36 instead of the lp24 besides contour cutting my heat transfers,is because the price difference is just $100 on ebay so why not go for the bigger machine and have the ability to cut bigger vinyl....right?.so will flexi work with the lp36 for the contour cutting? any help will be greatly appriciated like i mention before i am a total newbie with vinyl and cutters,never done it before. is there some kinda check list or things that i need to know posted anywhere?i dont even know what kind of vinyl to buy lol

[rebjr 0]

I have no idea if Flexi will work to contour cut. I am not famaliar with the proggie except it's expensive.

I have dialed in Sign Cut today and am more than pleased with it's capability. It allows me everything that I wanted a program to do.

It took me awhile, and I had some roadblocks in my head for a touch, but once I got those worked out everything is smooth.

Guessing, and again just guessing, I doubt that Flexi would work with the LP to contour cut. It's not an educated guess, either, just a gut feeling.

Fergit Flexi as far as using that to make your choice. The US Cutter Lae serPoint DOES work and it is fairly simple. The posts between Eric and I on this forum were the learning curve for us. Eric had made SBE work, I was having problems with SBE, and wanted to use SC for specific reasons. As you've no doubt noted on the forum that a lot of folks own LP's, but nobody is using them for contour cutting. So, we were crossing virgin ground.

Buy the LP, it will do what you want it to do. If Flexi helps you do it better then you have a plus, if not, you will still be contour cutting less than 2 hours out of the box. Make sure you have a serial port on your computer. The USB will work,  but has some questionable communication properties.

When you get it, put it together and then post for Eric or I, we'll call ya and help ya thru it. It's too simple.

[Guest Terry]

Flexi does contour cuts, and holds the contour or shadow or anything else even if you change font or shadows it automatically changes by it self. nothing flexi can't do. http://givemehelp.com/fullflexi8demo.html

[dbtoutfit 5]

Flexi didnt fix me pancakes this morning.... lazy POS software! 

Eric

[mrdavid 0]

Rebjr so you are saying that you are cutting with SC and not with SBE I don't like SBE and would like to know how easy was it to cross over to SC

[dbtoutfit 5]

David,

SC is easy as it gets, a real no brainer.

It's not like SBE in the sense that SC basiclly runs the machine thats it.  There's no designing etc with-in SC.

Eric

[rebjr 0]

If you are creating your work in another program and saving it to an eps then SignCut is easier than breathing. It is not really a design program. But it will let you cut until your heart is content.

You can set up your contour cutting lines in it, although I don't. I do stuff for dark shirts and setup all my art and cut lines within  Corel, save it to eps and open it in SC.

There is an update out, but I have not downloaded it yet.

[NukleoN 34]

Wow, I read this whole thread. Thanks to both of you for making the problems and solutions public so the rest of us could follow along. I have an LP24 arriving tomorrow, and it seems I've got a lot of good info to deal with issues before they come up.

I am also very interested in SignCut from Bob's recommendation since I'll be doing most of my work in Photoshop, vectorizing in AI and then I'll just need somewhere to cut.

The PCI serial card seems like a cheap way to have a stable connection with the LP rather than mucking around with a loose USB connector.