Leaderboard

This year I am walking 60 km in two days for the Weekend to End Women's Cancer in Toronto. Here's what I've come up with to help me raise my minimum commitment of $2000!! I'm hoping these will motivate people to donate! The last one is for my hubby ... he spends 90% of the summer at the ball field =)

Ack! Brandon was out of line saying anything bad about ANY co-worker, let alone Levi. I had the pleasure of working next to Levi, and he honestly was good at what he did, and he cared about helping. He was always eager to learn many of the quirks these Chinese import cutters can throw at you. With all of the different cutting programs available, different computer hardware configurations, different operating systems, etc., it is a wonder the Copam works as well as it already does with many of them. If Brandon has more knowledge and experience in the field, and he can pipe you more sunshine than Levi because of this, it still does not give him the right to down talk a counterpart. Bad bad bad. Any of us could talk someones ear off all day about crap they did not know, and sound as intelligent as hell. Does not mean everyone else around us is shitty..... Glad to hear you went with the GraphTec. That is a brand you can count on. You will not be disappointed.

A blank white corrugated panel should work fine. If you want something more durable- maybe opt for heavier plastic, or wood.

Contact SignWarehouse technical support, and they should let you know if it is possible, and if so, how to do it. They are the ones that re-brand that unit.

Probably will not be able to configure it to cut directly from CorelDraw. You could use a separate cutting program, like SignCut, to do the cutting, and CorelDraw has a built-in SignCut launcher once your cut is ready to be sent. SignBlazer is both a design and cutting program, all-in-one, and also works well. But, if you are already really good with Corel, then I would opt for SignCut so you do not need to learn a new design software. Do not recommend ArtCut at all.....garbage.

If the cutter screen is going blank, something is shorting it out. Tip the unit on its side, then remove the bottom panel to expose the motherboard. Make sure the pegs that hold it in place have not broken. They have been known to break during shipment. If that motherboard is not seated properly with the pegs, then it could be touching the metal panel causing the short.

New I/O board should fix the issue, and they are pretty simple to replace.

Rodger, if you chose not to read my entire posts then how can you judge what happened fairly, on both sides? Better yet, why did you post in this thread at all without reading the whole story? I can see you like US Cutter from your experiences, but the fact is they made mistakes that made me unhappy and cost me money. Nothing good about that. In the end they offered a solution, and as I said, I can respect them for that. That's why I posted my 'books' as you say. "Bottom line IMO , if a $700 cutter upsets this member this much , I am glad they have not experienced what I have in life" Really? You think just because an $800 cutter upsets me that I haven't experienced real hardship? Get real, that statement is plain ignorant. All of us here have experienced loss and hard times. At the time I posted my original posts in this thread I had just had spinal neurosurgery for a ruptured disk. That was my 3rd surgery in 4 years, I'm 23. I was losing money to cutters that didn't work right and the customer support couldn't solve my problems. I had to hire two contract employees to do my vinyl job for me (because I couldn't bend or sit) so I could deliver to my customers on time. Did my customers ever hear about that or receive their product late? No, because that is what real customer service is about. I lost money on all of the jobs I did during that time. That simple $800 cutter cost me more than double that in lost productivity with materials and employee wages as we had to adapt and troubleshoot constantly. Add to the fact I was quickly loosing money from the thousands of dollars in medical bills, yes, the fact that my $800 cutter didn't work as advertised was very important to me. John, I'm sure Brandon would not be happy about that being repeated, but he shouldn't have said it if he didn't want it repeated. Just like the things I've said on this forum, it shows your character and I think that is important in my experience.

Having worked in a call center myself previously as a Tier 1 Support Rep, Call Centers by nature are a terrible beast- I will say for starters it was at a local cable company (which shall remain nameless)... - As a rep we were unable to use any kind of remote tools to fix issues on machines- when it took 3x as long to talk a customer through it. BUT we were expected to maintain 7 minute call times anyways... Who of you can unplug, wait 30 seconds, replug your cable or DSL modem and reboot your computer in 7 minutes, and still have time to do much else if you're already having issues? - We were only ever given information that there was a network "outage" and never why, when or specifically where.... - Training came in the form of watching and listening to others, there was no actual informed training on anything, amen I came in with a networking and PC repair background... alot of reps did not know the differences between versions of windows and if they even knew how to turn a mac on, they didn't know how to use it. Basically saying here, that if Levi or any of the other support reps presented incorrect information, I wouldn't be so fast as to blame them- as a phone rep at the afore-mentioned company- they only paid most folks 10$/hr and got 10/$ an hour worth of work out of them and they couldn't afford to pay people that were worth a lick. Now mind you, I have had VERY good experiences with Levi, and a few others, but none of my issues were near as complicated as your own. I will note- it did take me 3 months to get a carriage backplate for my Laserpoint, and still have yet to get a cut-strip for it... which it was having issues that were never fully resolved before the warranty ran out. A cut strip was the next "step" in the troubleshooting but was unavailable. So in short, warranty is up and USC won't warranty the machine if there is a problem with it beyond that. Debating E-baying it and cutting my losses at this point. It's always tough to say too when a machine goes under a complete or even partial re-work and sadly a secondary version that isn't as good as the first makes me glad I did not order one back in July! I used my 400$ LP24 until I had made enough (which only took 8 months mind you) to upgrade to the graphtec... it really is a fabulous machine as you have found. The quality is simply unmatched to almost anything. I am sure the ZenCut and Copam make nice cuts- but build quality, and operability or in some other way there is always something the graphtec can do better IMHO. Folks with the older Copams however are mostly very happy- I do not see too many complaints on here at all about them. The ZenCut even fewer.... Just my 2cents.

there is THE SHEETER ... If they are still in business. http://weedersheeter.com/index.htm

Hey John , I would say thanks if you edited the " books " down , but I did not read past the 1rst book . Bottom line IMO , if a $700 cutter upsets this member this much , I am glad they have not experienced what I have in life . Nuke would enjoy responding with a detailed book , but he has not been around . When he drops back in , I am sure he will not disappoint me . Best & a value model does not go together... i have read the gerber is the best , so that might be what should have been bought . Not everything is for everybody . Seems the Op got what they need to do what they want , so a happy ending I was starting to offer to make a donation site so the OP could get his money back . SV26 , if you want me or most to read any more of your posts , i suggest to limit the size of the book . I am glad the problem got rresolved .

Why don't you just call Brandon in the morning and ask him what he thinks of you repeating something he said in a personal conversation.

I am trying to say that you repeated something even admitting you didn't know if it was true or not. If you don't see what's wrong with that,there's no point in saying anything else.As for bashing..you have a strange idea of what bashing is. Read your own posts if you want to see bashing. If I edited them down to what really needed to be said, they would be about 2 paragraphs.

I'm not going to have a pissing match with any of you, but I do not appreciate the personal attacks. I am forwarding what I was told as far as the Levi/Brandon comment. I was told on the phone in one of the earliest conversations that Levi was 'one of the worst' by Brandon referring to the call center people, but it was verbally on the phone and I have no way to prove that was said. That is one of the reasons I prefer email as it is in writing and cannot be contested. At the time I was not interested in WHY Levi was one of the worst, I was just interested in getting my cutter fixed. I neither know Levi or Brandon in person and can only comment on my experience and what I have been told. Brandon could have been talking out of his ass to cover himself or to avoid confrontation from me when his answer was totally different from Levi's. Or Levi could be talking out of his ass on certain aspects that he may not have been as knowledgeable about. Who knows, that is only speculation. Nobody is perfect, not any of you nor myself, and I received wrong answers from both Levi and Brandon in my experiences I posted about. However I'm not going to burn them at the stake, I wouldn't want either of those guy's jobs! Again, nobody is perfect and if any of you believe that you or others are perfect then I would be interested in knowing your reasoning behind that. I would also hope that Brandon and Levi would step in this thread and speak honestly about the situation. The fact is that some of you are focusing on the nit-picky points and not getting the big picture, or at least posting about the big picture. As I said in the end, the reality remains that I had extensive issues with US Cutter and two Copams. Nobody was able to solve all of my Copam cutting issues and there were many hours wasted on the phone chasing the wrong solutions. It's not as if I wanted to spend so much time with tech support or on this forum just to wrongly hate on US Cutter and the Copam. No, I want others to take what I have experienced and better be able to make decisions for themselves in the future. Why? Because I would have be extremely thankful if a detailed thread like mine was available for me when I was doing my research before buying a Copam. Those of you who have had good experiences with US Cutter and a Copam, by all means post up your experiences! I'm not saying every machine will exhibit the problems I faced, whether it be manufacturing flaws or the types of jobs. I can say that my experiences with the V1 Copam was very positive, my buddy's pulled my ass out of a tight spot when mine wouldn't do the job. If you feel the need to bash me for writing what I have written, BannerJohn and Rodger specifically, please take the time to think before typing something like "I call BS on what was said abvout Levi & seriously doupt that was said by Brandon" or "bad form for him to say it, and bad form for you to repeat it." Rodger, why do you call bullshit and say that I am lying about what was said? I can see that you might do that because you don't know me, but what have I posted here that would make you think I want to lie about my experience? Just as I posted the negatives, I posted positives and thanked both Levi and Brandon for taking the time to help me. And they both did sincerely help me, they were on the phone the same amount of hours I was, the only difference was that they were being paid and I was losing money. Levi even stayed after hours on one of our multi-hour phone calls. Brandon offered the upgrade path to the Graphtec. I have not personally attacked either of the men, only stated what was told to me, my experience, and offered some speculation as to why things happened. Same goes for BannerJohn, why is it bad form for me to repeat it? Yes, if Brandon said that knowing it wasn't true then shame on him. Who knows, there may be some office tension between those two that we don't know about. Office politics are constantly in play behind the scenes. But I have no responsibility for what he said, I have no idea whether it is true or not. I felt it needed to be repeated because it did have a bearing on my experience. Brandon and Levi said two different things for the same problem. Nobody will know who was right in my situation because the actual problem was not resolved, only masked over when I was offered an upgrade.

"Brandon explained that many of the the call center people like Levi actually were not very well trained " bad form for him to say it,and bad form for you to repeat it. It's not true.Levi was working on cutters before Brandon ever heard of USC.

really? Levi, I always thought your were the best informed and gave the soundest advice for what it's worth On the copam - I had excellent service from mine when I had it - was not as nice as the graphtec but was a very fine machine - and I have used 8 different cutter models to compare it too.

IF Brandon said that ........ ( I am not disrespecting the OP , just thinking his " interpitation " of what was said " might " be different than what was actualy said ) I hope Brandon & Levi comment on this , but I doupt they will ... Maybe Marcus will set the matter straight Brandon & Levi cannot be totally honest in their position IMO . I totally agree with John IF that was said & then even more " bad form " when repeated ... well I agree but I think it is much more than just " bad form " ( that is too polite & I am SURE John was holding back . Levi in my experience & reading his posts & advice is top of the line . Based on that , I call BS on what was said abvout Levi & seriously doupt that was said by Brandon . Levi , you go tiger ( I actually don't know what " tiger " is , Levi said that about me 1 time in a very humorous way ? )

thanks for the effort Draggin.... i got it that far, just dont look complete to me....guess i will start from scratch

not a problem....when i get it on the vehicle i will post pics.......... I appreciate the effort.