JennieDidit

oh lol .. for a second I was like .. wait, am I totally just not seeing something here haha.

I actually figured out why the SVG was layered .. for some reason my Illustrator is saving the SVG's with a white background (even though they appear transparent on screen) .. I'm more proficient in Photoshop than Illustrator .. so it's going to take some googling on my part to 100% fix that, but I did discover it's easier to delete those layers in Illustrator 1st, then no issues with the SVG later. I'm not quite sure I know what you mean about the blade holder. I only see 1 hole. Can you elaborate?

I could hug you right now .. it was the layering. I went in and turned all the "blank" layers my SVG brought in off and it works perfect. Now, I've just to figure out why my transparant background is turning white when I import my SVG's into SCAL!

The blade is perfect. I actually use a CB09 blade holder on my SIL (not the little POS blades they sell for the machine), so I know that isn't the issue. I probably do need to clean the blade off though But I'll be damned, there are 2 layers. I busted the design apart and there it was. How strange! It's a single color design .. so I am going to have to figure out why it's bringing in 2 layers with the SVG. Lots of deleting with all the small parts = going to be very aggravating. I don't mind tweaking, I tweak every time I cut on the SIL too, which is why I bought the least expensive, that and I didn't want to invest $$$ only to cut 1-2 things a year. Need to make sure I have a market before I dump a fortune into a large cutter. I mainly do t-shirts, so decals are a secondary item for me. thank you for the ideas!

I recently purchased a US Cutter MH series (I know this is the SC forum but I didn't see a section specifically for MH) and I'm used to using my Silhouette. I make my graphics in Illustrator and turn them into SVG files. Everything was going great, then I got a new cutter so I could do larger graphics. I've got the cutter set up (watched all the videos and tutorials) have the SCAL software installed, got my origen set properly and the blade is set so it isn't cutting through the paper and it's cutting cleanly .. so here is the issue Once it starts cutting .. it pulls the vinyl off the dead areas and leaves them stuck all over the decal. Not good. Yeah I can go through and tweeze them off, but it of course leaves a sticky residue all over the decal. Not good. Another thing it's doing .. is ever so often .. it's over cutting. It leaves little "hairs" of vinyl left where it retraced over a section it has already cut, leaving a sliver .. but also removing a portion of the part that should remain (sometimes it doesn't matter, other times it does, like when it's already a thin piece). I'm wondering if it's something as simple as I'm still using a 60 degree blade (came with it) and not 45 (ordered, just hasn't arrived yet). I'm still a little unconvinced I have my speed and pressure set correctly though. I can cut this same design with my SIL at a medium pressure and almost max speed (max pressure on the SIL is 33, I cut this design at 15. max speed on the SIL is 10, I cut this design at 8 ). Any help or advice is appreciated .. and I'll be honest, this is only about the 4th time I've cut something on it. It's so frustrating to work with this thing that I try my best to not have to use it .. but as much as I paid for it and how much extra I *could* make with it .. I need to get this problem sorted out so I feel comfortable advertising that I can make larger items. TIA, Jennie

Thanks. I think perhaps I'm over thinking the print/cut feature. I use it with my Silhouette (which has an optical eye) on paper products (to make stickers and greeting cards) but something tells me you aren't able to load a mat into one of these cutters like the Silhouette. So, without that feature the print/cut would be useless to me, so I would just be doing shirt graphics with this cutter, and leave the print/cut for the Silhouette. I don't do printed heat transfers, I do vinyl cut out only. I guess my biggest concern is detail cutting, but everything I've read says this cutter can cut whatever is thrown at it. I wish their online chat feature would work .. I've tried a hundred times and can't get anyone. Hard for me to make a call (at work) about my other work (that I hope to leave this job for once it takes off LOL).

I'm looking to buy the SC series cutter as my 2nd cutting plotter. Currently I'm using a Silhouette Portrait that I bought last year to do some personal wedding stuff, then I decided to start making t-shirts (heat press). I also offer decals in my Etsy shop, but what I would like is to be able to offer larger graphics on my shirts, and larger decals/stickers. Some of my shirts have some very fine detail work on them, and the silhouette handles them fairly well with the heat press vinyl, but often it gets messy with the thicker decal vinyl (so I have to go in and dumb down the design a bit to get it to cut good). I notice the SC series offers Print & cut (which is what the Silhouette does) but I need to make sure the SC can handle the intricate designs I need it too, before I buy it and find out otherwise. These are the 2 designs I'm most concerned about, as my Sugar Skull & Tribal Head designs are my most popular. Like I said the heat press vinyl is thinner and more pliable so it cuts very well (on the Silhouette) but the thicker/stiffer decal vinyl gets lost in the detail (once the design goes below 8"). I think the blade on the silhouette just isn't strong enough to handle the heavier vinyl & the detail work at the same time. The question about Print & Cut .. if I'm switching over to a different cutter, I probably won't use the Silhouette anymore, except for paper goods .. so I need to make sure the SC series works in a similar way. Another question is about the stand. I hear some people say definitely get it, others say "meh" .. what are the pro's and con's of not getting a stand vs getting one. Thanks! J