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thinking about purchasing.. need help.. advice

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ok.. i have been reading and wanting to get a vinyl cutter for a long time.. i have been in the computer business forever.. used a bunch of different equipment.. am very efficient with photoshop.. some other graphic programs.. i was thinking this might be something i can do on my down time to bring in some extra income. i run a computer repair business and sometimes it is slow.. this might be the way to pick things up for me and start a new hobby.. i have in the past purchased vinyl stickers from people on ebay.. online.. etc.. not thinking that i could be doing the same thing.. i have always wanted to put some stickers on my car window to advertise my computer repair business but everyone i contacted it was very expensive.. (atleast locally) so i was thinking.. i designed our logo.. made a screen print using ezscreen and made tshirts.. why not try vinyl cutting.. ;D

so my questions are basically how do you get started? 

are any of you also sellers on ebay/online? 

can you use clipart for designs to resell or do you just do custom work?

i was thinking of getting the 25" USCutter one with the stand or the USCutter Laserpoint 24"

any pro/cons of each?

i see they have usb convertors? do they work ok?

how is the SignBlazer Elements Trial Edition software?

can i import paths from photoshop into SignBlazer?

will it work in vista?

if you had any problems.. where they easily fixed?

i love the idea of the forum and i have been a 'reader' for a few days now and i think this is the place for me to start on this new hobby because of all the nice forum members are here for support..

thanks in advance.. all informations is greatly appreciated..

Dave

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Dave,

Something i have learned in the 2 weeks that i have joined this awesome forum is that all three of the value cutters work great.  Laserpoint is a cool feature, but you can actually manually create a contour around an image either by your desired vector program or plugin program or by hand cutting a contour with a pair of scissors.  Either way, it can be done. 

I do believe now that they all have direct USB plugs so converters are not needed.  They all work with Vista. 

As far as Signblazer, DL their trial version and try it out and see if you like it.

Again, all three are good cutters.  There would not be a forum this big if they all were junk.  If you feel you do not need all the bells and whistles, the MH or the Pcut will do it's job with no problems.  Otherwise, welcome to the forum and good luck on your search.

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Dave,

Something i have learned in the 2 weeks that i have joined this awesome forum is that all three of the value cutters work great.  Laserpoint is a cool feature, but you can actually manually create a contour around an image either by your desired vector program or plugin program or by hand cutting a contour with a pair of scissors.  Either way, it can be done. 

I do believe now that they all have direct USB plugs so converters are not needed.  They all work with Vista. 

As far as Signblazer, DL their trial version and try it out and see if you like it.

Again, all three are good cutters.  There would not be a forum this big if they all were junk.  If you feel you do not need all the bells and whistles, the MH or the Pcut will do it's job with no problems.  Otherwise, welcome to the forum and good luck on your search.

thank you.. so is there really any difference between the laserpoint and the MH?  those were the 2 i was thinking about getting.. i read the review of the laserpoint and it was highly recommended.. i have also seen there is a lot of support for the MH since more users have that model..

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There is no difference as far as cutting quality other than the laser eye feature of the LP.  Again, if you feel you need it, then that's the one for you.  Remeber..*Bells and Whistles*....

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Dave welcome to the forum. I sugest that you down-load the trial version right away , start playing/learning  with it. so you will be ready when you do get a cutter. Everything works like the full version. This is what I did and started cutting the files I practiced on the day my P-Cut showed up

P.S. if you do it this way make sure you order vinyl to show up when your cutter shows up

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Guest fivestar

If it matter any Dave, I had both the MH series and the laserpoint, well now I have 2 MH's as I like it better then the laserpoint BUT the reason I like it better is because I use FlexiPRO and the driver it uses for the MH allows me to do ALOT more with the MH then I could with the laserpoint.  As for cutting, they both cut indentical, but I think the laserpoint is a better built machine.

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is there more support for the refine then the laserpoint?  i was looking over at the laserpoint forums and it seems everyone is having problems and nobody is praising the laserpoint.. i posted a thread to get the people who love it to chime in.. i want some reassurance that the laserpoint is a good machine and has good support.. i look at the refine forum and it seems the members there are chiming in all the time about how great it is and showing their work..etc.. this has me worried if i get a laserpoint will i be able to get good support with it.. decisions.. anyone can chime in?

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Guest fivestar

Dave, you'll get support from any machine that US Cutter sells.  The laserpoint is new and there isn't near as many people that have them as there is that have refines and pcuts.  If you're not going to be contour cutting any heat transfers I wouldn't see a need for the laserpoint IMO.  The pcut is the exact same machine without the laser.  Like I said I really think the laserpoint is a better built machine then the refine, but for my particular situation, the refine is ALOT better for me.

Either way you can't go wrong with either machine, there's tons of people on here that'll help you get things going no matter what machine you go with.

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thanks fivestar.. I am thinking of getting the laserpoint simply because i may do contour cutting later on.. always good to have if i needed it.. why do you like the refine better then the laserpoint? software related? thanks for all the info

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Welcome to the forum!

I have the Copam and LOVE it!!  I haven't had the need to contour cut yet.  I can still make signs, decals and heat applied apparel with NO problems.

Whichever cutter you decide, like Five said, there will be plenty of support here.

Jenny

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Yes Dave simply because there are things in Flexi I can do with the Refine that I couldn't do with the Laserpoint.  The laserpoint is an excellent machine though, you won't go wrong with it.

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thanks guys.. im going for either refine mh721 or laserpoint... hopefully i can win one off ebay ;D

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me too!

ive been reading for quite some time about cutters.

i want to do decal/stickers, graphics to press to t-shirts and contour cutting is a MUST for heat transfers.

NOW HERE ARE MY QUESTIONS:

1. can i do contour cutting with the trial signblazer software or do i need additional software ( i see uscutters also sells software for contour cutting)?

2. is the software pretty user friendly for folks like myself who have had no experience in this area?

3. how would i take a jpeg image printed off my regular printer and get the machine to trim it down? Ive never seen one of these cutters in person, so i just cant imagine how you would do that? obviously its possible, but having no schooling in graphics design or any otherwise training im worried i wont be able to figure it out.

im notorious for reading manuals over and over.. do the machines come with detailed manual information?

NEXT, Ive read the other 'non laser points' can also do contour cutting?? since im inexperienced what would be easier for me to figure out, the laserpoint?? AND if i went with a non'laser cutter, would i need additional software to contour cut (other than signblazer, or whatever comes with a USCUTTER)?

thanks for helping me clear my mind, ive been reading and reading and frankly.. its all blurring together.. once i "think" ive made up my mind i run into a new piece of info that opens alot more questions.. like i read about a "optical eye" is this another name for laser point??

thanks guys!! i really appreciate your time in reading/answering my quesions.

Julie

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Guest

1) Yes you can contour cut with SignBlazer. No other software required.

2) The software is very user friendly. If you run into any problems you have a ton of people who are very good with SignBlazer right here on these boards.

3) Well from your description this sounds like contour cutting.

4) Apparently there is a way to make non-contour cutting cutters contour cut (say that five times fast :huh: ) but we do not support this so I would not recommend buying a machine that is not intended to contour cut with the intent of contour cutting.

The higher end machines have optical sensors that do a few different things. Our Copam comes with two optical eyes that are both used for measuring your material. Our Graphtec machines come with a few optical sensors, they are used for measuring the material and finding the registration marks for contour cutting. The Laserpoint does not come with an optical eye, it comes with a laser. You use this laser to manually line the cutter up with the registration marks so that you can contour cut. I hope I have answered all of your questions here. If not just let me know.

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Yuo wont go wrong with an LP24.

I have had mine for a year now and last weekend, I abused it.

I had almost 200 8x11 signs to cut.

It would cut for 30-40 min for each file, then load next file and start over again.  9+ hrs non stop. And it kept going and going like a bunny....

Dave

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Guest fivestar

Holy crap........30-40 min for one design?  Damn, how long did it take you to weed them?

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Each cut session had 12 signs on it with barcodes.

Total weeding time was about 4 hrs.

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Howdy,  friends, just joined the forum :thumbsup:, I, too, have been going crazy searching for a best choice for a cutter for modeling and manufacturing purpose.

I have been working with computer graphics and the plotter since the Apple II (with the 143K drive) and the IBM mini-computer (with my Fortran and Algol software scanned in the scantron reader) days, but never had a chance to play with vinyl cutters.

So here are my questions:

1. Is the ducted fan any good, or is it more or less a hype?

2. For contour cutting, I have seen certain software which prints the reference point on the material and use the plotting pen or equivalent refrence system to align the printed sheet for contour cutting. Such system does not really need the laser pointer if I have the software. But what are the name of these software applications and how much do they cost?

3. The USCutter website sells a "sticker plotter/cutter" and a lower cost cutter/plotter (do see the model name). From what I gathered, the only difference between the two are the better rollers, the ducting fans, and perhaps DSP control. Are these making much of a difference? Or am I better off spend the money on better software and stick to a lower cost unit?

Your help would be much appreciated!

The Luthier

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