thredz
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Posts posted by thredz
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If the yellow light is flashing it is in pause mode.If it's flashing,you either have to push the offline/pause button and see if that works.It sounds like it's staying in pause mode if you have the same problems with both software programs.
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I like it better myself.My wife prefers the one with just the pick and lettering.I wanted to design a logo that was just one color.It makes it easier for any use.I find a lot of businesses design their logos with multiple colors.There are just some applications where multi color does not work well.And the prices you have to pay to get a 4 to 6 color logo make it costly to market for give away promotions,like the picks I'm going to imprint.Thanks for the input!
Bill
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I think it ties in better with the name of the business.It worked out well printing on the t-shirt pocket too.It makes for easier registration.And I'm thinking of making guitar picks with the rt 66 shield to give away with the sales.I've digitized a cap logo,but I haven't sewn it out yet.
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Here is a pic of a logo I put on the west wall of my shop.Its 18 inches wide and 22.5 inches tall.It's done with matte vinyl instead of gloss.I had digitized and embroidered the 59 corvette about a year ago and thought it would fit in well on the wall beside the logo.
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I am working on a t-shirt design for Route 55 Guitar Parts.Here is the links to the t's : http://www.route66guitarparts.com/tshirts.html
I would like some input on which tee is the best.The one made up of the guitar pick and the rt66 shield was printed on the pocket of the tee itself.The lettering on that pocket logo is 3/16ths.It weeded out well,but it was really hard to weed the lettering around the r's o's and a's.Let me know what you think.I am either going to sell one logo design,or maybe both and a couple more I am working on.Thanks.
Bill
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This is a shirt I worked up for my guitar parts store.It's on a black fruit of the loom pocket t.Done on white hot mark 40.Cut at 40g's-16 i.p.s.,and printed at 280 degrees for 12 seconds on both sides.Feels like a plastisol print.When I used to be a screen printer I had to print the white,flash it off and then print and flash it 2 or 3 more times just to make it opaque.White screen prints on black are always thick to me because of the multiple prints.This vinyl feels like it's part of the shirt.Great stuff!
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I'm sure you'll have no problem with running it since you allready run a graphtec with flexisign.Let me know how it runs when you get it set up.And post some pics of the work you do.I want to see some big stuff!If you need any help,I'll give you all the info I know.Thanks.
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This isn't a very good picture but it shows the heads of two that snapped off.The other is the bolt that screws onto the collared shft that the heads were on.I don't have pics of the shafts because they fell down inside the stand when they were snapped.The bolt are the three bolts on each side of the roller tray that attaches the plates to the stand.Hope that helps.And sorry again for the lousy picture.
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I replaced my bolt with brass bolts and they seem to work fine.I don't know all the specs on the 1351 but I think the maximum cut length is 57 feet.The only down time I had was the time it took me to go to my parts drawer and grab the bolts.I think it will do the jobs you are doing with no problem.
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I have a 721,but I plan on buying a 1351 in the next few months.My cutter has very good quality cuts.And I have done 22" by 72" wall graphics with no problem.I also do pen plots that are large and run for an hour and a half or more.But it does well on small cuts too.I ran some decals on fdc 3 mil 6 year vinyl that are about 3" by 5",with quarter inch lettering.The lines were straight and the lettering was perfect.I had no trouble weeding the lettering.I set the blade when I first started running the 3 mil fdc about three months ago.I have not had to adjust the blade since I first set it.I even ran hot mark 40 heat transfer vinyl with the blade at the same depth with the same quality as the calendered vinyl.The only time I have noticed it skipping was when I did pen plots,and I think that was because I was running it 48 i.p.s. and the pen couldn't keep up with the cutter.I run most of my cuts at 24 i.p.s. unless it has small lettering.But I only slow it down to 16 for the lettering.The only problem I have had has been with the bolts that attach the plates for the roller bed.I don't know what they were made out of,but it wasn't intended for extended horizontal movement of the blade.The vibration and motion just snapped the heads off.I call my cutter R2D2,because thats what it sounds like when it's running.I do most of my work at night (musician for 36 years),and my wife says it helps lull her to sleep.I don't know if that helps in your descision,but I am pleased enough with mine to plan on buying the 1351.
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You did not say if you had it installed on usb,lpt,or com1.If it's on com1 it could be another input device is cause a conflict with the irq.Something like having a mouse,or a modem assigned to com1 as well as the cutter.You can go into the control panel in windows and click on the sysem icon and go to the hardware tab and click on device manager.Usually if there is a conflict it will show a yellow exclamation.But you can also go down to the ports and click on them and check which ever port you are using to see if there is an irq conflict.If you are using flexi and you are working with another graphics program,or browsing the web while it's cutting,it will cause problems with your memory and give you the blue screen of death.When I'm running R2 I wait untill it doesan't show "cutting *%" before I browse or use another program.I also increased the memory on my computer because it would drain a lot of it when I was working a overlap seperation in flexi.
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On using heat transfer vinyl.I have been using hot mark 40,from signwarehouse.It has a feel of plastisol ink,but it has a clear plastic backing that just wads up in the rollers when you try to cut it.The plastic just doesn't have enough texture for the bottom roller carriage to move it properly.So I took a roll of 12 inch transfer tape and taped the back of the area I wanted to cut.I also had to cut the work area off of the roll,because after it did a trace of the design,the roll just unrolled from the roll.I guess the plastic backing is so slick that it just slides off,but it rolled the whole roll off!And the hot mark 40 also has a low tack adhesive holding the vinyl to the plastic.When you weed it out you have to make sure you weed out the small areas first.If you weed the large excess around the design,you will have problems with your hands,and the small pieces sticking to the tack.It also show your fingerprints very well.So,if your a criminal,be sure to do the small areas first.Unless you want to leave your fingerprints lying around.
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I was really just pointing out that the cutters need to be checked from time to time for the bolts vibrating loose.My case is a rare exception.I'm sure that most of the people who buy these cutters are not going to run the hour and a half plots like I do.And that is what caused the heads of the bolts to snap.When you are running at 48 i.p.s.,and you have a two inch fill that's a half inch wide,you get a lot of rapid horizontal movement.And another reason was because I have noticed some posts where they say they have lines running through the lettering.If the vinyl isn't feeding straight then the lettering will be off.The cutter doesn't care where the vinyl is,how the vinyl is running,or even if there is a product to cut.It cuts the lines and arcs that are sent to the cutter.
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I had a small order of 25 of these.I ran them 4 up with 7 runs and had two from the test cuts,so I am giving them 30.These are about 5.5" x 11.3".I ran them at 16 i.p.s. with a 30g downforce.Even at the slower speed,I was averaging 5 minutes per run,including realinging the vinyl and tracing the run before each cut.It took a little less than a minute per logo to weed it out.But,being an old country ass boy,I like to take my time.I did find one problem with the cutter.Those carriage bolts for the roller beds are made out of something like hardened tin foil.I have done a lot of plotting on R2 that has ran for an hour or more.The vibration from the constant moving popped the heads off of those bolts.I put some high quality brass bolts on each side when the first couple popped out.And I had noticed a couple of the others had busted too,but I never gave it much thought.When I first ran a test cut on this logo.The F looked like it had moved upward,leaving no space at all at the top of the F and the G had no space in the top of it.I was checking the cutter and noticed that the roller bed was a little loose.So I grabbed me someone bolts and tightened the bed up.I didn't have a problem after that.I would recommend that you check the bed regularly.It might be part of the registration problems some people are having.If the bed is loose,it will cause the vinyl to feed at which ever downward angle the bed is running.Mine was to the left.And,if you are close to the end of a roll of vinyl.I recommend you go ahead and take the vinyl off of the roll.When you have the cutter moving back and forth,it will jerk at times from the taped vinyl hanging on the end of that heavy 2" roll.
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It would probably work to an extent.The program was mainly designed for the roland stika cutters,which are 8" 12" and 15".I don't know if it will allow you to go 24" on the cut width.And I'm pretty sure it won't even let you get close to the 57 foot maximum length that these cutters have.I had a friend who has one.Well,I guess he's still my friend.I just never have the time to go to his shop anymore.He has a 15" roland stika.The thing I really didn't like about the program was that it mainly works out of bitmap files.That is SO windows 3.1!If you have worked with any customers at all,you know that they like to give you a 200 x 300 graphic and tell you they want it a foot tall.When you start with a bmp and blow it up to that size,it's quite rough around the edges.But then I guess you could work it up with your graphics program and save it as a bitmap.But if you want to be competitive price wise,you can't charge the money for the time involved in working a logo up in two or three graphics programs.My assummed friend thinks it's a great program.And I guess it is.If you like working with those itty bitty cutters.Just my .02.
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I have posted a metric conversion chart that may help you.I have the same problem.I thought we founded this country to get away from all those british things.
Bill
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I don't use artcut.But I can tell you it's not the cutter.The cutter only cuts the commands that are sent to the cutter.In flexisign there are settings that allow you to overlap your cuts,and even make multiple passes with the cutter.The picture I posted shows some vinyls I cut.The lettering on the white vinyls is just a little bit less than a quarter of an inch.The lettering on the black is right at a half an inch.I wish I could tell you where to locate the advanced settings in artcut,but I am not familiar with that program at all.It could be in the modem commands.But I don't want to start telling you where to look.I have problems with small letters,but the problem is in the weeding of the inner parts of the o's,p's,r's and such.It's not because the cutter doesn't cut the letters.It's because I'm old and half blind and I tend to want to weed it faster than I should.Maybe someone on the board will post on how to find those settings.(hint,hint).
Bill
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I think it would depend on what your main size of the graphics will be.If you are doing graphics with a height of 23 inches or less you would want the mh721.If you are going to do large wrap around vinyls you would want the mh1351.The 1101 is a 40 inch cutter,which would be just about right for hood and rear deck,and you would be able to do full window tints (although I guess you don't have many windows to tint in a stock car).I think all three models have a maximum cutting length of 57 feet.You can also do tiled installations with the mh721,but if you're going big,go with the mh1351 for seamless graphics.Jm2c.Bill
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When you turn the cutter on it should boot up with 100 g downforce and 24 i.p.s. speed.Mine does this the same everytime I turn it on.The left and right keys control the downforce,which I set at 20 to 30 g's on the 3.2 mil vinyl I use.The up and down arrows control the speed.It will go up to 48 i.p.s.,and down to 8 i.p.s. .If you are new to cutting,I would run it at 12 to 16 i.p.s. .so you can watch how it runs.The uneven cutting sounds like you arew running it at 100g's,and it's too much downforce.If you have the blade holder set too low,it's pushing or moving the vinyl as it cuts,causing uneven cutting.IF you don't set the vinyl straight and flat,It will cause an uneven area for the blade to cut,and it will cut through in places and not at all in others.And if it's not straight it will run a good set of letters,then when it cuts the weed lines it will cut through the letters.Take a piece of scrap vinyl and set your blade so that when you press the test button,it will cut the test pattern all the way through the vinyl,and barely scoring the silicone liner the vinyl is on.After you set the blade you should only have to change it if you are cutting a different mil of vinyl or another type of material.It will boot to 100 g's everytime you turn the cutter on,so check that everytime!If you run the cutter at 100 g's ,when you only need 30 g's,it will not only cut the silicone liner through the vinyl,but it will cut into your cutter strip and you will have to replace it quicker than you normally should.When you load your vinyl,the best way is to load it and pull it through the cutter a little,make sure you have it square with the cutter,and roll the excess back on to the vinyl roll,checking to make sure it rolls back straight.When you set the pinch rollers,set the first one,then take your hand and slide it across the vinyl using enough pressure with your hand to make sure it is laying flat on the cutter bed with no waves then set the other two pinch rollers.The pinch rollers should be set with enough pressure to hold the vinyl to the bed,but not so much that it leaves a roller impression in the vinyl.The pinch rollers need to be the same tension,or as close as you can get it.If you have one tighter than the other,it will cause the tighter roller to feed more than the looser one making the vinyl run at an angle.One thing I do on the blade is drop it into the holder.I don't set it into the grooves of the blade holder.I find it sets too deep when set in the grooves which makes the blade actually push the vinyl because the blade is sitting down on the vinyl instead of giving a little room for the blade to move up off the vinyl when it is cutting.I hope that helps a little.
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I wish I could help you out,but I just don't know the program.You should see if you can find a cheap even basic version of flexisign.It's not just a cutter program.It's a sign program that lets you work the whole design up in the program without having to go from ps or corel,or some other graphics program.It does cost a few dollars,but if you consider the time involved in working designs up in seperate programs it really is the best deal for a cutter or plotter or a print and cut.When I first got flexi a while back,I would still work up in paint shop and photo shop,then import it to flexi.Then I found out that I would cut down on four to six steps in the process by working from flexi alone.And it has more settings for the cutter commands.Just my .02
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If you have a 15 prong port,then you are looking at a video port.You probably have a computer with an onboard video that has had another video card installed like a 3d graphics card.The lpt port is a 24 pin port.The com port is a 9 pin,as well as the usb port on the older cutters.You are right about the cable.If you don't have the right cable then the com port will really not work.Have you gone to the control panel of the usb connection you set up and changed it from com 3 to com 1?I can't tell you exactly what it's real name is,but when I tried setting mine on usb there was a panel to change the com ports.That's all I can tell you.I gave up on the usb and went with the com,so I have little knowledge on the setup.The only other option would be to have them send you the right cable so you can run it on com1.
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When I set mine up,I couldn't get it to run on the usb port or the lpt port.So I used the serial cable and set it up on com 1.I have not had any problems since.But if you have anything set up that uses com1 it could be causing a conflict with your cutter.Check and make sure you don't have a modem or mouse or anything else running on com1.But,in my personal opinion I would forget the usb and set it up on com1 with the serial cable.It's a lot less hassle.
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the settings that run the motherboard on your computer.When you restart your computer,you should see a message that syas something like "to run setup press delete".When you press the delete key,it will take you to a setup menu for your motherboard.
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Did you turn the computer off,or restart it after you set the usb port to com1?You have to clear the memory settings when you change ports because it loads up the port you had previously designated.You may also need to check your bios settings to see if com1 in enabled in the bios.
mh 1351 recieves data but does not plot
in USCutter Refine Cutting Plotter Support Requests
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The only time I see the yellow light come on with mine is when I push the button to pause it.I have had to wait for up to 30 minutes for the flexi program to generate a job file and I have never seen any of the onboard leds flash or blink.But I am using com1.If you're on an lpt port make sure your bios settings are set for ecp.And if you are using flexisign the driver you use would be the roland pnc1000 driver.When I first set mine up,I tried using the usb port,then the lpt port,and I finally used the com port because the flexi program seemed to run better with the cutter on com1.