thredz

You have to have even tension on the pinch rollers.If one is set tighter than the other it will cause it to grab more and feed incorrectly.You also should make sure your vinyl is stright in the roller carriage.I usuall hand feed 3 or 4 feet through the cutter and then roll it back onto the roll by hand making sure it's feeding straight.

I found that after you have installed the letters cutter driver in the windows printers and faxes folder that you can work up a design as a wireframe and click on the printer icon instead of the cutter icon,then choose letters cutter as the printer and follow the setup you want.I have posted a link below of a triquetra that I cut out as a wireframe through the printer.I don't know about plotting.I'll have to try that when I get a chance. http://route66guitarparts.com/triq1.jpg

Start a new design and In the text box,type the larger text and then hit enter.Go to the A icon in the text box and change the size or even the style of font and type it under the larger then hit enter and do the same for the next line.You have to have it set the way you want it to be centered because it will read just as you have typed it in.

I would create the larger text,and then save it as an .sc file.Then I would close it and open it back up.Then you should be able to add the smaller text without affecting the larger.

I do believe you're right about the windows domination.A lot of the software that uses windows doesn't come in a mac version.And a lot of the companies who make the hardware are slow to develop drivers for mac versions.20 plus years ago,you only found macs in a graphic enviorenment because windows 3.1 just didn't have the capability to produce anything of commercial quality.These times they are a changin'.

Go to settings and click on cutter.But this topic is for flexi,so you can't set it this way in signcut.

It's at the bottom of the job defaults tab.

I have a software program that I bought years ago when I started digitizing embroidery for myself that costs $5.000.00 .And if you price the flexisign program I bought,or any other commercial grade sign software,you will find that $350.00 is really quite cheap.And,even though I have been in the screen print - sign making - embroidery business for over 20 years,I have never used a cutter before in my life until I got R2.I had half of my wife's truck and our front door covered with vinyl the first day I got mine.And myself and others have posted pictures of our work.And even though I am a Texan,I don't sling a lot of bull!The pics show that.I guess it was easier for me to get going because I have been in graphics so long.I do know what it takes to get a design from sketch to a vector graphic.And it probably has helped me since I used to build computers,so I know the ways to check settings for conflicts.And I don't know about the other people,but when I am able to do something that nasa people have a problem with,well that just makes me feel pretty good.You should be able to use signcut in the LE mode,and go to the left side and click on the text link and type anything you want to try ,and then go to the top left and click on file,and then click on cut out.If your connections are right,it should cut.On the graphic designs.If you will use the inkscape that came with the signcut cd.You can open a graphic (preferably something like b/w clipart) and save it as an eps format,then you can open it in signcut and let it compile the graphic (which can take quite a while on large graphics).But in the eps or ai format,it should compile in a cuttable form.Then you go to file and click cut out and it should cut.

I was reading the faq at signcut and noticed that they said if you are using any version of corel 6 - or later,that you should save the files in eps format instead of ai.Just thought I would pass that along.I don't use corel,so I can't help much more than what I read.

They make a dongle version you can buy really cheap,and you don't have to be online at all to run it.Or you can run it in the LE mode with no connection.The limited edition has a few of the features missing that the PE version has.The dongle version would probably be best for what you need if you have to load up your computer to get to a connection.And if the connection you are planning on using is A dial-up,then it will take a little while just to download the program.

I've got mine set to run on an ecp printer port instead of standard printer driver.I also went to cutter options and set the resolution at 1016 with 1 pass and nothing else checked.I have the curve quality set at high.Hope that helps.

Thanks! I have tried to help in what ever way I can.I hope to get better at helping people with their cutters and signcut.And I guess I have always been a moderate kinda guy.(hehe)Thanks again.

The optical eye is actually for material measurement.You can probably cut printed heat transfers,but you would only be able to do it by manual placement.The cutter doesn't read or pick up anything other than the measurement of the paper.It cuts the designs sent to the cutter through whatever software program you use to send with.

The driver would be a roland pnc1000.I can't tell you the setup because I don't know if it's usb,serial,or lpt.

When you install the cp-2500 for signcut one of the things that helped me was to go to the printers and faxes folder in the windows control panel and install the letters cutter driver.When I ran a cut last night,I set the cutter driver options to copam - cp-2500 - and letters cutter as the device instead of using lpt1.I think the letters cutter driver acts as a spooler.I could never get it to cut right using lpt1 as the device.But after designating letters cutter,it cut smooth fast straight lines.

I run my 721 on a serial port.And it does the same thing.It has done this since I bought the machine.I just had to make a mental note to check the settings before cutting.It's actually a good thing,because it makes me slow down enough to change the settings if needed,instead of running an entire design with the wrong blade depth or cut speed.

I must say that I am very happy with R2 (mh721).It has given me hours and hours of performance with no hassles.Except the ones created by the three people who work here - Me,Myself and I .But the cp-2500 is built of much better material.The stand alone weighs as much as R2 and I really like the fact that I can stand right over it and watch it run while I'm talking on the phone.It also has a 64 meg dsp memory buffer.When I cut with R2,it shows it's cutting by percent in the software program until the job is almost done.With the cp-2500,it loads the design into memory and cuts with no percentage because the cp-2500 has it loaded into the dsp memory instead of buffering through the computer like the mh721.The feed rollers on the cp-2500 are a finer spline than the mh721.It seems to hold the material better with less pressure than the 721.When I run heat transfer vinyl on the 721,I have to take r-tape and put it on the back so the feed rollers will grab it.I haven't had to do that with the cp-2500.And the cp-2500 has a faster cutting speed for the large cuts.The cp-2500 also has optical eye material recognition,which does take some getting used too.They are both good machines,but they both have their own way that you have to run them.For the long term business,I would go with the cp-2500.I think it will hold up a lot better through months and months of continuous use.

You're right.The 60 is used for the thicker materials.When I get on the forum,I go through the questions,and usually have 15 different things running through my head,which sometimes comes through in the post.But I never realize the mistake because I'm a hunt and peck typist and never look at the monitor.

I do save them in eps,and sometimes in ai.It brings it up better in ai.I have had to wait for awhile on some of the larger eps design while signcut compiles the data.And when it's compling data I can't use my computer at all or it will freeze signcut.

In the last post I said that I was waiting on Ms. Yang to contact me with a driver upgrade.And,by measuring from the end of the first roller to the 4th roller,it's right at 15".If you're placing the vinyl where the blade is then that's where you are losing a couple of inches.If you will place the vinyl at the edge of the first roller,and then hit the measure button,it will reset the blade to the edge of the vinyl and you should be able to get 12 or 14 inch cuts,leaving you with about a half an inch on each side for the rollers.

I see no reason that you can't use a 30 degree blade.If you have work that requires a finer detail it should be no problem.I think most people use the 45's because they handle most of the vinyls used.and some people use a 60 on the high grade cast,but the blade shafts are the same,unless you go to a different blade than a roland.But I haven't seen a post where anyone has used a 30.

The mh721's are good cutters.But the copam is a better built cutter and much quieter than the mh721.If you are doing small signage a 24" will probably be enough to handle your needs.It would also be good for making 2 x 4 banners or larger to promote specials you are running.As far as service,this company has the best service of any company I have ever seen!If there's a problem,they go out of their way to fix it.They also carry the parts to service the cutters.Right now I think it's mostly refine parts,but they are getting in parts for the copams.You can go to : http://www.uscutterdirect.com to see what they offer on parts.Both cutters have about the same method of operation.It just takes a little time to figure out how to run them.But I must say that I made 3 door signs and covered half of my wife's pickup with vinyl the first day I got my 721.Most of the problems people have had were not the cutters,but installation.It should be no problem,but there are times when the cutter will not work because of irq conflicts,or improper port settings.I bought my 721 (R2D2) in august and I have ran that machine for hours and hours straight with no problems.If you are doing small jobs,or not runnning the cutter for hours a day and have a place where the noise of the cutter is not going to interfere with business,then the mh721 would be a good choice.But in my opinion the cp-2500 is a better investment in the long run.The stand of the cp-2500 weighs as much as the mh721 alltogether.And there is a noticable difference in the noise level.

The're supposed to let me know when they get a driver for flexi.If you're using flexi,have you tried the hewlet packard HPGL driver?If you don't have it you can sign in at scanvec and download their driver updates.

You probably could get corel 9 for 40,but then you still have to have cutter software.And to me that's just adding one more communication link to get screwed up before it gets to the cutter.You might also try uninstalling and then clearing the temp files out of your C:Documents and Settings*.*Local SettingsTemp.I don't know what your directory is ,so I put the *.* .If you do a bunch of installs,it fills the temp dir.up and some of the same cached files are used in the install.If one of those cached files is bad,then you are missing files needed to run the install correctly.

You must have something set wrong in the software or driver settings.I haven't had any problems at all with mine.It cuts better than R2 and much quieter.And like I said,I use 24" rolls most of the time,so I don't have that problem either.If I do use a 15" roll it's usually less than a 12" cut for lettering or a decal.I would check and make sure you don't have send arc commands checked somewhere.I know when I first got R2,I had that checked and it did the same thing lines all through the design.