darcshadow

If you can find a card to add the needed port to your computer that would be my personal preference. The Keyspan adapters referenced here are for the 9-pin serial port. They work quite well and are easy to setup. It doesn't look like Tripplite, the makers of the Keyspan, make one for parallel ports anymore. Finding anything parallel port related is going to be a challenge. It's hard enough finding serial stuff anymore. I would recommend going the serial route. Serial is fading away as well, but it'll be around in some form for a long time still.

There are a varieties of ways. The most straight forward way would be to node edit the image and delete all the nodes not on the bird you want. I don't remember what exactly VinylMaster calls it, but you can apart the design, then delete all the parts you don't want. Depending on the design you may need to merge the remaining parts back together to get the correct look. This is some pretty basic vector image design stuff. I find the best way for me to learn is to just start playing around with all the tools/buttons in the software to see what they do. Next option would be to google how to do something, There are videos out there on how to do anything these days.

Their computer has actual serial ports, so no need for an adapter, they can plug directly into the computer. Even has 2 ports, so could plug one cutter into port 1 and the other cutter into port 2. Just a matter of setting up the software at this point.

I would suspect the calibration of the one axis is off and needs to be adjusted.

ok, if that's the case then, yeah, you just don't have the comm settings configured correctly. I'd forget USB, and go back to using the serial cable.

Did you have the correct serial cable? Most cutters require a null modem cable.

The USB Serial Port is most likely your cutter. Right click on that and change the port number to 3 or 4. Then in Vinyl Master select the comm number you just set in the Device Manager. You have two comm ports in Device manager, do you actually have two DB9 ports on your computer? If you do, I'd recommend just getting a serial cable and go that route, no need for drivers.

What do you consider pricey? This place will custom cut panels to the size you want for $26. https://www.coremarkmetals.com/3105-h14-white-painted-aluminum-sheet?srsltid=AfmBOoqkT7ogjVsLY53wUgIrugexb28OrOaZViTT7c7wJVGY6N6FQulb

What exactly does the roller error message say?

There should also be a setting for What You See Is What You Get, WYSIWYG cutting.

If what ever you decide on doesn't work with SB, it's easy to open a file with SB, export it as an EPS then open that in what ever new software you need to use. I wouldn't try to do this for all the files I have, I'd just do it as you need them. I would also recommend getting into the habit of always saving your designs of a generic vector format such as EPS. That way in the future it won't matter what software you're using, they all can open/import EPS files.

As haumana said cutter only cut vector lines. There are two types of graphics, raster and vector. Most graphics you see are raster, ie BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG. These images are made up of tiny little blocks, each block it's own color. When viewed from a distance they blocks all merge together to become what you see. Vectors graphics are graphics created from a mathematical formula. They are nothing more than a series of lines and arcs joined together to form an image. If you create the image in your cutting software you are creating a vector image. If you create the image in photoshop you are creating a raster image. Now where it can get complicated, you can import a raster image into a vector file but it is still just a raster image. You can also trace/vector a raster image and turn it into a vector file. Most cutting programs have this ability with varying degrees of quality which largely depend on the quality of the raster image to start with. So that design you have, if you created that in your cutting software using the various shape and text tools, then yes you can hit cut and it should do it. It can help sometimes if you turn on the option to view your image as an outline or line drawing. This mode will show only the lines that make of your image and will be what the cutter cuts.

So what are you having problems with exactly? Open your software, type 1 3 5 7, load your cutter, hit cut.

Have you installed the driver? The cutter will show up as a comm device, make sure it is assigned port 1, 2, 3, or 4. If not reassign it, port 1 or 2 is recommended. Your best bet though, toss the USB and get a null modem serial cable. Much more reliable.

Could the cutting strip be worn down? Have you tried moving the cut location to a different spot on the cutter?