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Like frznfire said, try and get a better picture, You can probably get away if you just lower the camera a little. Then make a box in your program, and go in the manual size boxes(where you can automatically size it.) Make it 1 inch wide by 1/2 high. Then change the size of your picture until that box fits into a 1 inch segment on the ruler. Make sure your sizing your picture proportionally. So it enlarges or shrinks your picture in both directions at the same time. Then either get the correct font or manually trace the letters.

Font name = China cutter on high speed. Perfect Match

Just south of me... Clever this Towing company.

Thanks for the tip Jaybird. Those special printers are pricey. I already bought some Papilio white waterproof paper and Papilio UV clear I'm going to try first.

One of my neighbors coaches cheerleading and basketball at the local elementary school. I gave her a free decal, a cheerleader surrounded by her kids names, and a handful of business cards....So far iv'e sold 4 custom stickers in 1 day.

unlimited_impressions1.eps

I checked that one. The T has a backslant to the front serif that is unique and the E has a unique little heel. This is a scan from an actual Tile that has this on it already and the owner want s me to match it. You have to look past the crooked letters because I think that is a product of the install and not the font. The other notable trait is that the top and bottom of the letters bulge outward slightly rather than being flat or indented as is more common. I may not be able to get an exact match. I am almost of the opinion that this was cut with a real crappy cutter that buggered up the font to the point it just SEEMS to be unique.

your picture is not straight on, see the ruler hanging away from the bumper because it angles inward? Your camera needs to be low and angled slightly upwards. If you have photoshop you can "distort" the angle of your shot but the vinyl doesn't always come out exact. Knifeless tape would work here too.

Good morning. Looking at that photo, I immediately notice that you don't have a cutting strip. That tape I see is torn and could be the cause of the blade getting caught. Next, there is a red button on the right end of the machine which limits the carriage movement ("home position") -- sometimes this gets stuck or fails. Then, I would look at the ribbon cable that sits above the blade carriage and verify that it's intact. While you're doing that, (and since you already have the right-hand side cover off) make sure all the connections are OK -- plug and unplug them. Let us know what you discover.

Thanks Grafx. Actually, the vines were not a pain. Very few "stand alone" piece here, just the grapes I think. So peeling out the vine was one long pull. Cal

That's making your own luck! Good deal, Cal

Just completed this tonight. Mirror was etched on the back with a new batch of med-coarse sand. It just barely fit in that large Harbor Freight cabinet. Painted with acrylic craft paints. I may have to build my own cabinet after this job... Cal

I made a video of what I do in SignBlazer: http://screencast.com/t/9rDgt0Ug Measure the picture Divide the actual dimension by the measured dimension of the picture to get the scaling factor Multiply the length of the picture by the scaling factor. Change the size of the picture to that size

I'd say on both sides! mr300s for still advertising the merits of a company that had clipped his wings and SignTorch for being magnanimous. I think I'm going to buy a vector pack just to show my support. Now which one.....

Bill (I believe), We all live and learn, and since I don't have an official amnesty program I hereby explicitly forgive you and reauthorize your license to use SignTorch products. I admire your honesty and sincerity (and loyalty) and I do not wish for you to suffer a life sentence so to speak. And now you can get a discount for your previous purchases toward the super bundle if interested. sincerely, Gary DeWitt

whoever owns it those are some jacked up front legs

Sorry I just had to... lol Ill go sit in the corner now.

Take a good picture with some kind of size reference in the same picture. Say a one inch block or a ruler something that you can use to set the scale correctly. Lets say you used a ruler, now in your program open the picture and then make a box that is one inch long. And then scale your picture up or down until the one inch box fits into a one inch segment on the ruler. Now your picture is scaled correctly. Now just manually trace the GTO and cut it out. Easy Peasy.

3 Major Problems you have: 1) This is the biggest one - You are not factoring for your time to weed and mask and your machine time to actually cut 2) You are not factoring for waste. You need to factor for actual material usage versus decal size. 3) You are not factoring for complexity. Its inherent that more complex images require more labor/work and are more susceptible to errors and waste. You have a good start in factoring your cost but things are going to be low due to only factoring for 1/4 of the actual job. Here is how to figure out the true cost and essentially the billable price: 1) Calculate hard costs (Material, consumables, etc.) - Figure out actual usage of materials: Live area and Waste and multiply by cost; Calculate consumable usage: Blade Life & Cutting Strip. 2) Calculate Time/Labor - First Calculate cut time: Remember your machine can't make money when it is tied up on a job + it has to pay for itself; Now factor for time to weed and tape: I figure out the average time it takes me to weed 1 sq ft of standard vinyl and then multiply based on complexity upto 5x. Then you need to calculate the cost based on what your hourly machine value is and what you want to pay yourself per hour times 1.35 for taxes/etc. 3) This part is up to you: Multiple your hard costs by your markup factor, then multiply your labor costs by your markup factor, finally add together for final price. I think I have a couple of my old spreadsheets I can send you once I dig them up.