darcshadow

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?

have you calibrated the software to the machine? If you cut a large square, say 5"x5" does it measure precisely 5x5?

I know this may not be what you want to hear, but maybe it's time to move away from Signblazer. Your cutter is a CE6000, correct? You can download Graphtec Studio software for free from Graphtec, it is a great cutting software and decent at design. And if you really want to stay with SB, you can always use it for design and just save the files off as an EPS then open that with with the Graphtec software.

Curious, why the need for DFX files?

Gotta love the easy fixes.

You should be able to download graphtecs software for free. I use it for cutting and Inkscape for design.

How are are you going from Inkscape to SignBlazer? I did that in the past and don't remember this sort of problem. The process I used was to export/save the file off as an EPS in Inkscape then import the EPS into SignBlazer. My 2nd question, do you have your knife depth set correctly? The number of nodes shouldn't have any real effect on how it cuts, it just might slow the cutter down a little. If the vinyl is lifting there is a chance you have your blade set too far out.

Interesting, it almost looks as if the cutter is sitting on the stand backwards. If I remember right the old MH's the cutting head had the blade on the other side, so the problem you're running into would not have happened. Could be a case of they redesigned cutter but not the stand.

Could you post a photo of your stand/roller issues. Looking at the photos of the stand online I'm not clear on your problem and am curious to see it. The pinch roller, double check that it's full seated in the slides. But also, you should only really need 2 rollers.

there is a test cut button on your keypad. Does that do anything? Just turn the cutter on, load some vinyl, and press the test cut. Anything happen?

Do you have an older computer you could put an older version of windows on? The manual online says it should detect and download the drivers when you plug it in however it also says if using windows 7 or newer you need to be in admin mode. That tells me the drivers are rather old and possibly don't even exist for windows 11. On the plus side, you do have the serial option. You don't need drivers if using the serial option, you just need a functioning serial port. When you use the serial adapter you'll need to check in your device manager to see what comm port was assigned to it. Some software doesn't like the higher port numbers, so you'd be best off changing the assigned port to 1 or 2 and then setting the cutting software to match.