rocky53204 8 Posted August 14, 2016 Regards, My name is John and I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. Bought a used Titan 15" tabletop from a pro sign maker and as a retired hobbyist am learning it's use. Did my first cut today and to my surprise wasted only a foot of stock before I got a usable product. The machine came with Sure-Cuts-A-Lot Pro 3 which leads to a question... When I tried to cut what I saw on the screen in SCAL3 (2 columns of text) the first column cut OK. The second column seemed to overlap the first and wraparound to some extent. It did not look like that in SCAL3. So... is my problem using the USB connection or maybe trying to cut too wide. Does this cutter genuinely cut a full 15 inches wide? Should I allow wider margins when cutting columns of text? Is SCAL3 truly a 'WSIWYG' product? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xpaperman 719 Posted August 14, 2016 Howdy from Texas. Welcome to the forum. I have Scal, got it when it first came out, used it twice and hated it and haven't touched it since..... so, I can't help with your question but I know there are several folks here that use it and should be along soon to help you out! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dakotagrafx 7,297 Posted August 14, 2016 Welcome from Michigan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dawn's Design 403 Posted August 14, 2016 Welcome from Mississippi. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
arty-rc 719 Posted August 14, 2016 Welcome from SE Florida. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cal 393 Posted August 14, 2016 Welcome aboard Rocky. If that was your first go-around with a cutter I would say that you done good! Before offering much advise, what type of computer are you using & what operating system? Did you design the project in SCALP, or some other program and import into SCALP for cutting? Was your design totally inside the grid "cutting mat", or did some of it hang outside the grid (off the mat)? Can you post up your file so that we can see it? I think that SCALP3 is pretty much WYSIWYG, I say "pretty much" because there are times when my machine will not get every cut. Prior to cutting vinyl I always use the pen tool and check my new design on paper. Cal 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rocky53204 8 Posted August 14, 2016 Thank you all for the welcomes! (What a nice group.) Used an older MSI 32 bit touch screen computer with Windows 10. I can switch to other computers but this one was closest to the cutter. If the USB is the problem I will have to switch as the MSI has no serial port. Designed in SCAL and the text appeared inside the grid. Screen shot and source file attached. The tip on the pen tool is helpful... thank you! test.scut3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wildgoose 4,200 Posted August 14, 2016 Welcome to the forum. Lots of good help and advice on here. Using the pen to pre-check your cuts is a good idea when you're new at it. Ultimately once you get your bearings you shouldn't have to do that every time though. As mentioned by one of the others, there are better cutting programs out there. SCALP gets it done for the less serious user and may be fine for you forever but if you plan to get serious into cutting on any kind of professional level you're going to want to look for more robust software. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rocky53204 8 Posted August 14, 2016 Used the pen to illustrate the problem...the column on the right was done first (perfectly) then the machine did the column on the left and overlapped and cut letters on top of each other... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
busterbay 326 Posted August 14, 2016 Looks like you have something with white font or no lines on your matt. Try recreating it. BTW I use SCALP and my sales are huge, it's smile and easy to use. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rocky53204 8 Posted August 14, 2016 (edited) The picture above your entry is of a piece of paper. (actually 2 pieces taped together to make 15") The matt illustration is in prior comments. I did notice when printing on the paper that the carriage was at it's end of travel which leads me to believe there are issues with alignment and/or inch conversion. I will try a test with metric to see if there is improvement. Follow up! Seems it went haywire because the newbie (me) did not allow width for perforations which drove the carriage beyond it's limits... problem solved! A grateful shoutout and thanks to all involved! Edited August 15, 2016 by rocky53204 follow up comment Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dwp99 283 Posted August 17, 2016 Hello and Welcome. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites