Biker Scout

Jerry, you need to select the items that you want to "weld" together and open your pathfinder pallet. It's the very first button on the top row, left hand side. But you need to hold the option button down when you click it. That makes the weld permanent. If you don't use the option key there's a little button on the right that's usually grayed out, and it says "Expand" You will need to hit that button to fully "lock in" your pieces. It's kind of a mini-undo that I know many people use, and can later go back and unlock those pieces later on for editing. I never bother with leaving the pieces only "half welded" because I just can't make myself do it. If I'm going to click the button, I'm going all the way through with it! Besides I can always recreate anything later on. Main reason why I insist on using the "Expand" function (with option key first time) is that I cut right out of Illustrator using MagiSign. So having unwelded pieces isn't really an option. Hope that helps.

OK, it's been a week now and I've still not been able to get the plotter to move or do anything from the computer. The on board buttons are hard to figure out. Like Mode, the up and down buttons on the bottom next to the + - arrows. When I hit the test button the cutter head came crashing down and scored the heck out of the cut strip. Another good reason to have a manual. How do you install the blade holder correctly? Our plotter at work only allows you to put the blade holder in one way. And I'm not crazy about having to bend the clamp back to get the blade holder in, only to use the thumb screw to squeeze it all back together. (Doesn't make for easy/quick blade changes) Maybe I'm doing it all wrong... but how would I know without instructions? I'm getting pretty frustrated with the lack of user support and no manual. If the thing came with a manual at least I'd be able to fudge my way through it. I've been a professional designer for 15 years now, and this is the first plotter that I've used that wasn't name brand. Everywhere I've worked in the past the things were already set-up beforehand. And any problems were quickly sorted out by referencing the owners manual. I bought it to start my own design studio, so I have a limited start-up budget. I figured that a USCutter was a good investment, because of the forum support and the fact that the company had a real website. But so far, I'm getting pretty bummed. Any suggestions?

I can't believe no one has heard of MagiSign? :- We cut out of Illustrator everyday using the MagiSign Plug-In. Sure, it's a G-Code emulator... but we've saved time and money, by not having to buy and learn a dedicated program. Just design, and cut. I may try to see if I can get my new LaserCut plotter to work in the same manner. That would be sweet!

Hello everybody... Just got my new LaserCut set-up, plugged in, driver disk installed. But the plotter didn't come with any install instructions specific to the LaserCut. Am I supposed to be using a surrogate pull-down such as the Refine or Copam? Also, does the USB cable thing work, or is it only Serial? My laptop doesn't have a serial port, but the plotter we use at work is connected via USB-to-Serial connector. But according to the install of that particular plotter software we had to use a specific brand connector. Is the LaserCut same kind of thing? Also any Sign Blazer manuals? I find the software clunky and hard to figure out. I cut directly out of Illustrator at work, but I've been using Illustrator for years so I'm pretty sure it's just more familiar. I'd like to get this thing up and running soon. How do I get the laser beam to show up... even just to test out?