MichaelScott

Advice regarding software and maybe hardware

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As an AutoCAD option you might look into BricsCAD… the owners of the company at my day job detest the subscription model for software and have tried to move to this.  It's close enough to AutoCAD that it's amazing they're not getting sued.  They also have a 30 day free trial.

I'm by no means as experienced at vinyl and/or business as the others commenting on this thread but here's my thoughts on how I would approach things:  Instead of making 20 of an item (your skull for example) and then trying to sell them, why not make 1 and then take that one and try to sell 20 of them and then make them as they sell.  Obviously you're going to need some amount of working capital but this way you won't get all of your capital tied up in merchandise that's not moving and then have to fire sale it just to recoup a little money to keep things going.

On 3/5/2019 at 5:22 AM, MichaelScott said:

However.. I suspect VM "training" is going to be the thing I should focus on.. and leave my inkscape abilities at rudimentary level for now

I would do the opposite and focus on Inkscape.  It seems like most are using something like Inkscape, Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw for the "work" part and then exporting/importing into their cutting software to send it to the cutter.  Since your budget seems to be a concern, I would learn and use Inkscape, which is free, and then use whatever software that comes with the cutter you select just to cut... unless you can determine that there isn't another way besides spending hundreds of dollars on software to do what you want to do.

Having recently gone through the process of getting cutter here was my thought process:  I got the SC2/heat press bundle that came with 20+ 12x15 sheets of HTV for $535 so I saved $100 or more off buying these items separately.  By the time I added in a few squeegees, cutting mat, weeding tweezers, exacto, 12" x 10' Oracal 651, 3" & 12" GreenStar transfer tape and an assortment of discounted sign vinyl to practice with I was at $700.  What I found is that while an $1800 Graphtec and $2000 heat press are awesome they are not required to get started and make money.  So my philosophy is I'm going to get the best my budget will allow and then force it to pay for better equipment down the road, whether that's 1 month, 6 months or a year +.

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On 3/6/2019 at 12:43 AM, Wildgoose said:

I have VM Pro and in the export options it has DXF in the Vector options list. Now when I exported the test file I was messing with and tried to import it into the older CS2 illustrator program I have on that same computer (pc computer at my day job) it just came through as a text string so I probably did something wrong on the export I assume but I am not sure.

Hey, I appreciate you giving it a shot for me!  Not sure how it would become text, unless the actual import failed, maybe?    The DXF file is an ASCII text file, so it can be opened as text in "Notepad".. perhaps the extension was dxf.txt or something? Otherwise, it sounds like the importer didn't recognize that version of DXF for some reason. 

On 3/6/2019 at 1:16 AM, MZ SKEETER said:

I set my prices and I don't care what others sell at.  My service and quality speaks for it's self.  Actually to me, cheap prices speak cheap work in this business. This is considered a skilled job, and you should not be selling cheap.  "Skill" and quality have a price tag on it.   Also the fact that I sell over 1500 items gives my buyers a variety to choose from.  As well as you need product for impulse buyers.  I only sell online. 

I use the other companies as a reference point, because my overhead is currently really really small.  In the metal cutting industry, for the most part, we're all cutting out what is essentially, the same kind of things, and there really isn't much difference between my "skull with a flag in it," and the next guy's..  the only discernable difference is the price.  As such, I create a piece, run a cost analysis as though I had the usual amounts of overhead, and determine a base price of what I'd need to get for it to break even on it, as if I were an actual business.  I usually end-up with a price that's about about 40% less than what my competitors are selling something similar for as their lesser material version, and something around 75% less than their Stainless version.    

The idea was that I'd put the prices at what the market should "easily bear", near theirs, even though it's considerably inflated over my actual costs.  That income difference is intended to represent my business building funds. It seems like a morally correct way to go too, so that I'm not drastically undercutting people in similar markets.

So, I figure that if I boost the price to somewhere around their low-end price, with photographic evidence of the quality, I should be in a decent spot, but it hasn't worked-out that way.  My stuff ends-up selling at what WOULD be a loss, if it were my business. Clearly, not only is it delaying my attempts to go out on my own, it's scaring me away from the business entirely.. however, this is actually my dream job, and I really enjoy doing it.. 


 

On 3/6/2019 at 11:16 AM, Wilson said:

As an AutoCAD option you might look into BricsCAD… the owners of the company at my day job detest the subscription model for software and have tried to move to this.  It's close enough to AutoCAD that it's amazing they're not getting sued.  They also have a 30 day free trial.

I'm by no means as experienced at vinyl and/or business as the others commenting on this thread but here's my thoughts on how I would approach things:  Instead of making 20 of an item (your skull for example) and then trying to sell them, why not make 1 and then take that one and try to sell 20 of them and then make them as they sell.  Obviously you're going to need some amount of working capital but this way you won't get all of your capital tied up in merchandise that's not moving and then have to fire sale it just to recoup a little money to keep things going.

I would do the opposite and focus on Inkscape.  It seems like most are using something like Inkscape, Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw for the "work" part and then exporting/importing into their cutting software to send it to the cutter.  Since your budget seems to be a concern, I would learn and use Inkscape, which is free, and then use whatever software that comes with the cutter you select just to cut... unless you can determine that there isn't another way besides spending hundreds of dollars on software to do what you want to do.

Having recently gone through the process of getting cutter here was my thought process:  I got the SC2/heat press bundle that came with 20+ 12x15 sheets of HTV for $535 so I saved $100 or more off buying these items separately.  By the time I added in a few squeegees, cutting mat, weeding tweezers, exacto, 12" x 10' Oracal 651, 3" & 12" GreenStar transfer tape and an assortment of discounted sign vinyl to practice with I was at $700.  What I found is that while an $1800 Graphtec and $2000 heat press are awesome they are not required to get started and make money.  So my philosophy is I'm going to get the best my budget will allow and then force it to pay for better equipment down the road, whether that's 1 month, 6 months or a year +.

Thanks, I'll take a look at that BricsCAD, and see what it offers.
I normally don't make 20 of something.. I made that mistake based on the amount of people clamoring to buy that skull before it was finished.  I thought I'd have to rush to make another 50, but thought 20 was a good starting point.  I definitely stick to the make one, take pictures, make more as they sell, philosophy now.  My commission pieces are my bread and butter, I guess.  I had hoped to focus more on original art work, but they only seem to be good for drawing in commissions, rather than sales in their own right.

I like your growth approach, and aside from my initial plunge, that's what I hope to be doing with the vinyl, while at the same time, expanding upon my stainless finishing options.  It is starting to feel like this is a way to essentially do the same thing in different mediums.

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For the record, I'm now starting to look at the small Titan 3, as the size I need initially, actually makes it a better price than the Titan 2.  I liked the expand-ability of having a bed larger than I need, but at the same time, those are some nice additional features, and I'm somewhat limited in my space options right now. 

Now,.. what about a Tshirt press.. Clam shell, or slide arm? Are the low-end ones worth the effort?

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Your going to have to learn to create your own niche' and not what everyone else is doing. That is what I do.  Which is why I don't care what others put their prices at.  If your just going to sell what others sell, then it will just be a difference in price.  Create new designs. You are going to have to stand out from the others. 

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1 hour ago, MichaelScott said:

For the record, I'm now starting to look at the small Titan 3, as the size I need initially, actually makes it a better price than the Titan 2.  I liked the expand-ability of having a bed larger than I need, but at the same time, those are some nice additional features, and I'm somewhat limited in my space options right now. 

Now,.. what about a Tshirt press.. Clam shell, or slide arm? Are the low-end ones worth the effort?

I started with a low end clam - got a ir thermometer so I could accurately monitor the temps - and then after making a little money moved up to a hotronix and have never had to replace it

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17 hours ago, MZ SKEETER said:

Your going to have to learn to create your own niche' and not what everyone else is doing. That is what I do.  Which is why I don't care what others put their prices at.  If your just going to sell what others sell, then it will just be a difference in price.  Create new designs. You are going to have to stand out from the others. 

My original stuff is the stuff that I can't seem to sell..  the band wagon stuff flies out of here.  It's somewhat depressing.. like right now, I'm just about sick to death of the current tattered flag craze, but the orders keep coming in from my sales guy (a friend basically making commission off my stuff).   

I think the problem with my original stuff is the attention to detail.. Instead of being much of an artist, I'm a perfectionist, with the slightest hint of OCD-like behavior, which means I can't seem to be able to leave stuff well alone, and just keep going back to add something I felt was missing in comparison to the original material.  For example, I spent a month doing a skull from photos of a real skull owned by a friend of mine..  It's anatomically accurate, and has a lot of information on it, but I suspect that's all lost on most folks.  There's a few that appreciate that level of attention, and have mentioned as such, but still no buyers.  Then, I made a keychain version of it.. just deleted details that weren't going to come out on the small 1.5" diameter keyring version, (dimension including an added loop around the skull).  That was given away for exposure, but seemed to be at least a little popular.  The other day, as a joke, I took that reduced file, and blew it up to 16" diameter (taking out the keychain hole).. I just did that like 3 days ago, and I've already got 5 orders from a picture my sales guy took of it and shared on his facebook page.  

That version drives me nuts.. it's missing all of the stuff I wanted to see on it.
 

 

17 hours ago, Dakotagrafx said:

I started with a low end clam - got a ir thermometer so I could accurately monitor the temps - and then after making a little money moved up to a hotronix and have never had to replace it

cool.. so I'm hoping for as maintenance-free as possible.  The clams don't heat evenly? or the temp range wasn't accurate to the built-in readings?

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1 hour ago, MichaelScott said:

... Then, I made a keychain version of it.. just deleted details that weren't going to come out on the small 1.5" diameter keyring version, (dimension including an added loop around the skull).  That was given away for exposure, but seemed to be at least a little popular.  The other day, as a joke, I took that reduced file, and blew it up to 16" diameter (taking out the keychain hole).. I just did that like 3 days ago, and I've already got 5 orders from a picture my sales guy took of it and shared on his facebook page.  

That version drives me nuts.. it's missing all of the stuff I wanted to see on it..

yup, we are now in the age of the short attention spanned, glance 'n go, generation. people now days are less inclined to slow down and appreciate the finer details of things :(

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7 hours ago, MichaelScott said:

My original stuff is the stuff that I can't seem to sell..  the band wagon stuff flies out of here.  It's somewhat depressing.. like right now, I'm just about sick to death of the current tattered flag craze, but the orders keep coming in from my sales guy (a friend basically making commission off my stuff).   

I think the problem with my original stuff is the attention to detail.. Instead of being much of an artist, I'm a perfectionist, with the slightest hint of OCD-like behavior, which means I can't seem to be able to leave stuff well alone, and just keep going back to add something I felt was missing in comparison to the original material.  For example, I spent a month doing a skull from photos of a real skull owned by a friend of mine..  It's anatomically accurate, and has a lot of information on it, but I suspect that's all lost on most folks.  There's a few that appreciate that level of attention, and have mentioned as such, but still no buyers.  Then, I made a keychain version of it.. just deleted details that weren't going to come out on the small 1.5" diameter keyring version, (dimension including an added loop around the skull).  That was given away for exposure, but seemed to be at least a little popular.  The other day, as a joke, I took that reduced file, and blew it up to 16" diameter (taking out the keychain hole).. I just did that like 3 days ago, and I've already got 5 orders from a picture my sales guy took of it and shared on his facebook page.  

That version drives me nuts.. it's missing all of the stuff I wanted to see on it.
 

 

cool.. so I'm hoping for as maintenance-free as possible.  The clams don't heat evenly? or the temp range wasn't accurate to the built-in readings?

chinese Presses are not generally even temp and even the high end heat presses should be checked with an ir thermometer to make sure temps are on - the trade off is you will pay a lot more for the better heat presses like the hotronix and knight that have a lot more coils in the platen for even heat - if you want even  get a hotronix fusion or knight - at $1600-2400 they are much more accurate temps and personally I use a hotronix

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1 hour ago, Dakotagrafx said:

chinese Presses are not generally even temp and even the high end heat presses should be checked with an ir thermometer to make sure temps are on - the trade off is you will pay a lot more for the better heat presses like the hotronix and knight that have a lot more coils in the platen for even heat - if you want even  get a hotronix fusion or knight - at $1600-2400 they are much more accurate temps and personally I use a hotronix

Totally agree with Dakota. The cheaper presses are fine to get started and in conjunction with a cutter and some HTV (Heat Transfer Vinyl) you can almost instantly begin to generate a return on your investment. I used a swinger press for 2.5 years and then made the leap to a Fusion. That is pretty much the top level for a home office setup. The leap was expensive and I was worried about it at the time. I also bought a couple extra platens that were recommended by other users and were WELL with the extra expense. Funny thing is when I got it I was attempting to sublimate some shirts and was scorching them. I checked the temperature and it was over 40deg off too hot. So even a 2K press can be off. The Chinese press I had was so far off it didn't even make sense and I never figured out if there was a way to adjust the thing so I just wrote down what heat was what on a post it note and taped it to the side of the control box as a reference. There was a cool spot on one corner of the press that I avoided as well. It got the job done but the constant daily use wore out most of the connection and pivot point within that 2 year stint. The Geo Knight, Hotronix and Hix products are built works above. 

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10 hours ago, MichaelScott said:

That version drives me nuts.. it's missing all of the stuff I wanted to see on it.

Sometimes the simplified look is more pleasing to the eye. 

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On 3/9/2019 at 9:13 AM, Dakotagrafx said:

I started with a low end clam - got a ir thermometer so I could accurately monitor the temps - and then after making a little money moved up to a hotronix and have never had to replace it

11 hours ago, Wildgoose said:

Totally agree with Dakota. The cheaper presses are fine to get started and in conjunction with a cutter and some HTV (Heat Transfer Vinyl) you can almost instantly begin to generate a return on your investment. I used a swinger press for 2.5 years and then made the leap to a Fusion. That is pretty much the top level for a home office setup. The leap was expensive and I was worried about it at the time. I also bought a couple extra platens that were recommended by other users and were WELL with the extra expense. Funny thing is when I got it I was attempting to sublimate some shirts and was scorching them. I checked the temperature and it was over 40deg off too hot. So even a 2K press can be off. The Chinese press I had was so far off it didn't even make sense and I never figured out if there was a way to adjust the thing so I just wrote down what heat was what on a post it note and taped it to the side of the control box as a reference. There was a cool spot on one corner of the press that I avoided as well. It got the job done but the constant daily use wore out most of the connection and pivot point within that 2 year stint. The Geo Knight, Hotronix and Hix products are built works above. 

Sawgrass SG400 Dye-Sub Printer & 5-in-1 Heat Press Dye Sublimation Kit, 
Really looking hard at this one..  The more I look at dye-sub, the more interested I'm becoming.  I had previously done some research on photo-printing onto metal, and had to walk away when I got to the expenses, but since I'm wandering THIS close, I'm seriously considering taking that plunge at the same time.  My finances aren't unlimited though.. so I'm looking at this aspect from a hobby level for the moment. 

I'm toying with the concept of just letting go of all my savings, and getting into an approximately $3000 set-up to start with:

the mid-to high level cutter (Titan 28" version 2 or 16" version 3), 
the above-mentioned kit, with a lower-end press with plug-ins, and what really appears to be a decent and acceptable dye-sub printer,
and basic software (assuming the OEM VM version will upgrade like the normal versions of VM do, still want to call them first). 

Then see what sort of advertising packages, signage, shirts, and suchlike, that I can tailor for clients from these items, and the stainless cutting.  Keep going with my artwork, try and get a feel for where my personal interests best overlap the clientele interests, and then refocus and upgrade accordingly, over time. 

Oh.. and pray like crazy that my car transmission will last another year or so!           

 

20 hours ago, haumana said:

yup, we are now in the age of the short attention spanned, glance 'n go, generation. people now days are less inclined to slow down and appreciate the finer details of things :(

11 hours ago, Wildgoose said:

Sometimes the simplified look is more pleasing to the eye. 

Both perspectives are completely true.  The less detail, the more iconic a design can become, AND the more rapidly digested by the ADHD culture we're in..  I just wish my own art interests fell in line with that a little better.  I'm the guy who designs art that I suddenly find I have to break into 4 pieces before the 1.5 million dollar laser is overwhelmed with the amount of detail involved. 

Now, ok, granted, that example is excessive, and not representative of the norm...  I was doing a dragonfly for my little sister, and she had a lot of input regarding how she doesn't like this or that aspect of everyone else capturing the dragonfly in art.  She wanted this and that represented faithfully.  I went ahead and manually traced a dragonfly, and a set of dragonfly wings, complete with every webbed-opening in there, over a period of several months.   The laser had a fit, so I had to do each wing separately, and then stud and bolt them together.   She had breast cancer, but was in remission for a year before it came back in the form of a brain tumor, went away for another year and came back again.  I went over to the house to see her, a year to the week that she'd had that brain surgery.  I saw she was starting to get somewhat disoriented easily, and so I was doing the final push on getting the dragonfly done, so that she'd know what she was looking at before it claimed her mind, and/or put her back into a hospital bed where I couldn't give it to her.  .  I worked on it all through the day and night that weekend, and sacrificed some of the body details to get it done quicker..     
She never got to see it.. I was running the programs for it, an hour at a time, a wing a day. I was literally about to run the final wing through the laser on Wednesday (with the bosses permission, a second wing for that day) when I got a text message from mom, saying she'd died in her arms at the hospital about 3 hours prior. We knew she was terminal but we thought there was at least a year left.  I rushed to my parents house with the partially completed dragonfly, a day late and a dollar short.

ah crap.. sorry, didn't realize I was going to unload.  but..   while I'm "here" here's a picture of that dragonfly, and it's 4-foot wingspan.  true to form, it impressed folks, and I've been offered money for it several times from friends of my parents who have seen it, to the tune of $400, which is about half of what it would have cost me just for running the laser that long, if my boss hadn't decided to let me do it for free.  Material costs, time, and well, emotional baggage would have pushed the price much higher than any market was going to bear.

41034341_2128228170534546_6630460397193265152_n.jpg

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I think you should keep that as a great memory of your sis. Sorry for your loss. I have lost a couple siblings and it is definitely a hole in your life and heart that hurts. 

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Sorry to hear about your sister... that's tough.  I've never had to go through something like that so I can't imagine...

 

14 hours ago, MichaelScott said:

I'm toying with the concept of just letting go of all my savings, and getting into an approximately $3000 set-up to start with:

Personally, I think that's a terrible idea.  I tend to lean towards the conservative and sometimes pessimistic side, but what are you going to do if you exhaust all your resources and then need to buy more tools, or different material or like you said the transmission goes out on your car?  Spending all of your savings is a good way to invite Murphy to show up with a  big dose of life. LOL  I'd probably spend no more than half and then make that equipment pay for upgrades and/or other types of equipment (ie. dye sublimation) unless you already have the demand to justify the equipment.  

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15 hours ago, MZ SKEETER said:

Very sorry for your loss.  That is very pretty.. 

Thanks

14 hours ago, Wildgoose said:

I think you should keep that as a great memory of your sis. Sorry for your loss. I have lost a couple siblings and it is definitely a hole in your life and heart that hurts. 

Yeah, kinda weird.. A lot more to handle than expected.  It's a bit like you're losing several people, all wrapped up in one person.. not to list them all, but there's your first friend, your childhood confidant, etc,    I am going to keep it.. or rather, my elderly parents will, until they go.  Then, of course, it'll be mine, but I'll be wishing it wasn't. Odd how that works.     

 

10 hours ago, Wilson said:

Sorry to hear about your sister... that's tough.  I've never had to go through something like that so I can't imagine...

 

Personally, I think that's a terrible idea.  I tend to lean towards the conservative and sometimes pessimistic side, but what are you going to do if you exhaust all your resources and then need to buy more tools, or different material or like you said the transmission goes out on your car?  Spending all of your savings is a good way to invite Murphy to show up with a  big dose of life. LOL  I'd probably spend no more than half and then make that equipment pay for upgrades and/or other types of equipment (ie. dye sublimation) unless you already have the demand to justify the equipment.  

Thanks, and LOL!

You're right, of course.. it IS a terrible idea, and I really appreciate the wake-up call.  I hadn't honestly thought that through far enough.  It hit home today though, while going over the bills.  three surprises in the past few days, totaling $600, which I had no idea was coming.  like for example, by putting my girlfriend on my income tax as a dependent, it jacked my filing charge to $385, from it's normal $48.  The tax preparer suggested I do it, saying I'd get at least $300, possibly $500 back.  Yeah.. I basically got $100, once you cancel out the rest due to the increase in preparation cost, but $100 is $100..


Anyway, yeah, I need to build-up a buffer first.. I'm just getting impatient; the possibilities have me excited!


  

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3 hours ago, MichaelScott said:

  Then, of course, it'll be mine, but I'll be wishing it wasn't. Odd how that works.     

Those feelings of loss will lessen and you will cherish the good memories all the more. I don't believe this is the end, we will see them again. 

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sorry for your loss - 3 days ago a drunk driver crossed the center line and killed one of my nieces and her 3 year old son - her husband is in very bad shape - I understand

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So, been tinkering with the VM Demo, and I'm liking the features..  The DXF export has been blocked on the demo, so I need to call and see if they can let me do an export somehow, to test it and see if it's going to work for me.  Also need to call because the way the demo has it blocked, you can't tell which versions even PERMIT the DXF export. Plus, I want to confirm that I can upgrade from an OEM version (I've run into a wall on that before).  

Everything hinges on those items.  If the DXF is good, I'm buying... just my tinkering around with it has clearly shown me some great potential there, even though I really don't get some of it. Working with vectors of that type has never been something I did except where I had to make something happen, but I'm sensing it's something I can learn to do properly.

Honestly, though..?  I was almost out of the market on the Vinyl cutter.  I was evaluating price, and realizing I didn't truly have much need beyond the basic SC system, and aside from resolution, and sound level, there was nothing pushing me to go for anything beefier (yet!)..  I'm not really a sign company, it's more like I get asked to do signs from time to time, but that's mainly because they're stainless.  In my area, outdoor signage is heavily regulated, so it tends to be replacements, or indoor signage; they're just buying from me because they like shiny metal, the dancing visions of seeing their custom-made name/product/favorite saying/logo that they can show off to their friends/co-workers/ and family..  That aspect is a bit hollow; feeding the desire for material goods, ego, and pride, but it's still rewarding to see them get excited about an idea.

With smaller stuff, for like cars, toolboxes, etc, it's arguable that I could increase my market with vinyl, (more so, with a dye-sub system to back it up) but I've got a significant learning curve to go through, and I hate offering early attempts which could be so much better if I just knew what I was doing.  It's nothing I'm really prepared to dive-in on and start producing with. 

Getting VM going, would actually be a much higher priority at the moment.   An OEM version of VM that I can upgrade later, would work-out pretty well for me, in-conjunction with the demo for the upgraded portions of the program.   

For now, it would seem that I'm really getting sucked-in by the dye-sub and press though.   I'm swimming in ideas for it, and youtube has done nothing but fueled that fire. THOSE costs, I can fully justify at this point. Also.. raster-based? Thank goodness! Youtube step-by-step videos for marketable products that could work with my existing offerings and abilities? I'm sold.. 

Then, in theory, as noted by others, I could make the Dye-sub system (and the little cutter) buy me a better cutter,  and if I can't.. well, then it's good thing I didn't spend all my money.

I still want to get to a Titan 3 one day, and I'll be pretty pleased when I can justify it by the directions the cheaper cutter takes me, but for now?  I need to watch what I pile on my plate all at once.

Thanks for everyone's help, patience, and forgiving me my side-trip there with the sister thing.. Everything that's been said has been useful and appreciated.

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Are you wanting to import or export DXF files? Or both? From your initial post I thought you were only wanting to import them. In either case, if you have a sample file you can share, post it up and we can do the VM conversion for you so you can see the results, I have VM DSR V4.0 which will import/export DXF files. I'm sure others with the different variants of the program can help and find you the cheapest version that will meet your needs.

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Hopefully you didn't miss the comments by several that a value cutter will still do surprisingly passable work if you stay in a certain size range. Nothing tiny and nothing over about 36 inches long. You can do larger but the tracking will cause issues. About the only one we try to steer people away from is the MH. It sounds like budget IS a concern and sometimes thats the way it is. You have and will continue to hear all our own personal advice and you have to go where YOU want to through the process.

I would hold off on the Sublimation if I were you. To do a good sublimation job you really need a high quality press. Dye sub is very touchy about consistent and exact heat and it's high heat as well. You would need a swing style press to do anything like keychains or dog tags or other stiff objects. A good quality swing press is going to be a lot of $$$. I tried the sublimation market out and found that online sales tend to be a fight for sales with the lowest priced stuff coming out of China and the custom stuff that will bring higher prices really needs a walk in store environment to have any chance. I never had any luck at all getting any consistent sales that justified the process. Shirts worked good which fell in line with my shirt business but you have to sub onto white polyester and not that many people want white polyester shirts. They make some poly that feels like cotton nowadays but it's still a white shirt. 

 

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19 hours ago, darcshadow said:

Are you wanting to import or export DXF files? Or both? From your initial post I thought you were only wanting to import them. In either case, if you have a sample file you can share, post it up and we can do the VM conversion for you so you can see the results, I have VM DSR V4.0 which will import/export DXF files. I'm sure others with the different variants of the program can help and find you the cheapest version that will meet your needs.

I haven't figured-out my workflow, but export would be the important part.. Judging by the demo, it does a pretty smart job with auto-vectorization from raster, and that's where my beginning interest is, as otherwise, I'd need to provide you with a vector.   The DSR version is the first one in that great big comparison list, that indicated a DXF export, but the way it was worded, I wasn't sure if it was actually non-supported by the lower versions.   

Here's a file.. a buddy's band mascot he wanted me do in stainless a year back.  Kinda "iffy" about what to ask for here, because I don't want to make it too much effort, and I don't know the jargon, but end goal, for me, would be to capture the linework, and the very dark shading in a vector, saved as a dxf, and see how it handles it.. 

The focus is the mascot itself, and I'm happy to accept whatever that does to the rest of the image.. hell, I'll be happy with a functioning DXF.  If this is too much, and you'd rather just grab any old image, and share the before in raster, and after in DXF, I'm guessing it'll be enough to at least see how it does.       

You don't have to go further with this.. but if you wanted to tweak some settings: 
I'm unfamiliar with the fine tuning, but I'm shooting for anti-alias correction, and somewhat simplified linework, with minimal artifacting (weird jagged jumps and stuff at seemingly random positions in the linework).  I don't expect perfection, but what I'd like is an outline on all the visible lines and dark shading, as welded blobs, rather than a series of overlapping loops, basically outlining the black and very dark areas (or just outlining the white spaces, I guess either would work). 

The question isn't... "Can it give me all that, and do the dishes too, while it's doing it." but rather "Can it get me into a ballpark that I can work with in DXF format."

---

Usually, my workflow would be to use "threshold" on the raster to turn it black and white, and removing the lighter elements.. using my trusty old "PaintShop
Pro"... problem with this is that it becomes all stair-stepped black squares.  So then I import the image into Autocad, and trace polylines or splines (CAD continuous line-plus arc vector types) by hand, over the blurred zoomed-in image (which actually moves around as you zoom in and out), finally copy my resultant linework to an empty area of the workspace, repair some of the nonsense, and then save as a DXF.  (You mentioned inkscape earlier, and yes, I can achieve that auto-vectorizing thing there with threshold settings, and save as DXF, but the quality just isn't there, and so I end-up redoing a good chunk of it in CAD).
 
Then load it into Radan (for programming the Laser), it has a complete fit, and I go back and reduce the nodes in CAD until it will finally work. Then I have to adjust the design if it isn't "watertight" (the laser cuts in closed loops, rather than lines, which I'm assuming is the same on Vinyl, as I see it seems to be a standard thing in creating vectors of this kind).. Oddly, the Laser doesn't need the loops.. Radan does.. so I can make a design with open-ended linework, and force Radan to generate the Gcode (cutfile) despite all the alerts, errors, and failures, it's just a hell of a lot easier to play the loop game, because the autonesting, among a host of other things, just won't work. (I can make stuff really really small that way though, as I can cut lines at .008" wide).   

VMTest-BTMascot.jpg

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21 hours ago, Wildgoose said:

Hopefully you didn't miss the comments by several that a value cutter will still do surprisingly passable work if you stay in a certain size range. Nothing tiny and nothing over about 36 inches long. You can do larger but the tracking will cause issues. About the only one we try to steer people away from is the MH. It sounds like budget IS a concern and sometimes thats the way it is. You have and will continue to hear all our own personal advice and you have to go where YOU want to through the process.

I would hold off on the Sublimation if I were you. To do a good sublimation job you really need a high quality press. Dye sub is very touchy about consistent and exact heat and it's high heat as well. You would need a swing style press to do anything like keychains or dog tags or other stiff objects. A good quality swing press is going to be a lot of $$$. I tried the sublimation market out and found that online sales tend to be a fight for sales with the lowest priced stuff coming out of China and the custom stuff that will bring higher prices really needs a walk in store environment to have any chance. I never had any luck at all getting any consistent sales that justified the process. Shirts worked good which fell in line with my shirt business but you have to sub onto white polyester and not that many people want white polyester shirts. They make some poly that feels like cotton nowadays but it's still a white shirt. 

 

Thanks, for clarification on the limitations on the cutter.  Yeah, budget is a bit of a concern, or at least I have a concern about overbuying, and finding that it's just not for me.
I appreciate the heads up on sublimation..  I have more research to do on it.. and I would definitely want to be in the "stiff object" arena, maybe almost exclusively. This is the model I was considering going for: 

https://www.uscutter.com/USCutter-Perfect-Press-Digital-5-in-1-Heat-Press

Do you think that would be adequate?  The sales arena seems similar to the laser/plasma cutting sales situation I'm already in.  Maybe I'm overconfident, and quite possibly full of pipe dreams, but I feel like many of the folks I reach with my stuff now, would be interested, especially when it can be combined with my laser stuff.  Nice thing is, my blanks would basically be free on the small stuff (not including prep work).
 

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22 hours ago, MZ SKEETER said:

Here is the Vinyl Master guide for the different features of them

https://www.uscutter.com/static/PDFs/VinylMaster_Comparison.pdf

Thanks, yeah, that's where I saw that DXF wasn't mentioned until you get to the DSR level, but the way it was mentioned, led me to believe that perhaps lower versions might still have it. Maybe I'm being overly optimistic abut it, but I really should call them.  

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I don't think I have ever seen anyone who really loves the all in one press functionality. If you're going to go with a budget press I would just get the 15"x 15" swing press. Anything flat will fit on there. The people who do mugs generally seem to do better with Cactus wraps and the supposed cap attachment isn't going to be all that useful. If you want to do caps just get a good Hotronix cap press. Caps are good money BTW if you find yourself working into the HTV garment market caps are reasonably simple (with a good press) and turn high profits. You can pay for a nice press with one or two cases (144) of hats. When I say good press I speak of the Knight or the Maxx or the Auto Open Hotronix which is what I have. There are several other cap presses that may work ok too but the Maxx (made by Hotronix) and the Hotronix have several platen sizes to fit different hats. I actually use a really small kids hat platen on 98% of the work I do because it just fits inside better and doesn't cause as much deformity at the edges. Not that many people do hats so it's an easy niche if you can find the right client. My regular t-shirt clients often want hats and with HTV small quantities are no problem as well. I have a quote going on 700 hats right now. I charge them $7.50 per each and the hats cots me $3.50. With that kind of volume I order plastisol screen print transfers that in that volume will cost me under $0.50 each. You can press at least 24 hats an hour (often closer to 48) so that's over $80/hr up to $160/hr. I pull that hat press into the living room and watch tv while I work, it's great.

If you are planning to do sublimation on your own cut work then you will be wanting to use a brush on sublimation product in order to get it to work. I have a little of that I bought from Dakota a couple years back but never tried it. Sublimation will work naturally with polyester but anything else has to be specially prepared. I could see doing something really cool with a laser cut product that is then sublimated. 

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