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KC10Chief

SC50 stops half way through and goes nuts!

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Hello!  I recently purchased a SC50 from USCutter.  I've been using a 34" MH Series cutter for a few years now without any issues.  However, I just upgraded to a Mac and I needed a larger cutter anyways so I bought the SC50.  It's pretty similar to the MH series cutter so the setup was pretty simple for me.  I paid Craft Edge $15 to have my license for SCAL4 Pro swapped over to my MacBook.  I am using SCAL4 Pro on my MacBook now.  The MacBook has OS Sierra 10.12.4on it.  Anyways, I was attempting to cut my first job and the first time, it got about 1/4 of the way through and the cutter suddenly went all the way to the left and stayed there.  Machine was making some odd noises.  I made sure my computer wasn't going into sleep mode or something.  The second time I tried the same job, it got about half way done and suddenly started spitting the entire roll of vinyl out to the end.  I also put a cut right down the middle of all of it.  About 15 feet of a 30" wide roll.  I'm paranoid to try it again and ruin more vinyl.  Any ideas on what could be causing this?  Thanks!  

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not sure on the mac version but I know scalp will cut a line in the artwork until it is activated on that particular computer 

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Yes.  It's been activated.  Normally, it will put a line through whatever you're cutting if it's not activated.  It just stopped what it was doing and cut a line as it unrolled the entire roll onto the floor.  Real annoying.  

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wish I had more advice - I hardcore graphtec here and haven't had a stepper motor cutter in 6+ years  - hopefully someone will step in - the other thing is I am not mac friendly - had a couple just couldn't get used to them. and never liked scalp so three strikes and I'm out.  the SC I could probably work with but add scalp to a mac and I would just as soon hit my foot with an ax :(  sorry

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HAHA!  As for using the program, it's the exact same on a Mac as it is on a PC.  I was even able to transfer over all of my projects and files with ease.  I'm used to SCAL now and it does everything I need it to do.  Well, until now.  

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I have been trying a few things.  First, I swapped the cable that came with my MH cutter.  It did the same thing.  Got about half way done and made a weird triangle cut way outside of the cutting area and on fresh vinyl.  I've ruined a lot of vinyl tonight.  So, I took the project I'm working on and designed on my MacBook, put it on an SD card, and transferred it right to my Windows computer.  I plugged it in and the machine cut it no problem.  Of course, this was a piece of vinyl that was already cut up from the previous attempts.  So, I put in a new piece and it's cutting right now.  No problems yet using the Windows machine.  It seems to be related to my MacBook somehow.  The project I'm working on is a couple of name decals for the hood of a Jeep.  You can see an example in the picture below.  I'm laying gloss black on top of blue.  I was able to cut the blue on the machine with my Mac no problem.  The black has a lot more detail and for whatever reason, the machine doesn't want to finish it without making a bunch of weird lines and cuts.  

 

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Are you turning the vinyl cutter off between cuts?  As you should or reset it, so that it dumps the data from the last order.  The SC has very limited memory. 

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Yes.  I've tried turning it off and reseting my computer as well.  The second cut I did of that decal using my Windows machine went perfectly.  At least I have that job done now.  HA!  

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Nothing specific to your problem, but I always test my cuts with the plotter first.  For larger designs I have a roll of kraft paper I got at Lowes.  Much cheaper than chewing up vinyl.

Cal

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10 hours ago, clhyer said:

Nothing specific to your problem, but I always test my cuts with the plotter first.  For larger designs I have a roll of kraft paper I got at Lowes.  Much cheaper than chewing up vinyl.

Cal

I just bought some of that stuff at Lowes yesterday!  Lesson learned!

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On 4/24/2017 at 3:30 PM, KC10Chief said:

I just bought some of that stuff at Lowes yesterday!  Lesson learned!

This process can also sometimes help diagnose a static problem. If you are using a pen tool on paper you generally won't get static build-up so if  file runs clean with a pen but not with a knife you have static interference. 

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