constricted

haha thats a pretty awesome sign man

yea i've never used inkscape either.. i use illustrator for everything then just import into my cutting software

thats a pretty simple logo, you should be able to recreate it in less than 20 minutes.. i would suggest working on your vector skills a bit

if you want the stripe going all the way down, why don't you just take the emblem off, apply the stripe, and reapply the emblem? grab some fishing line and get it behind the emblem then use a sawing motion to cut thru the adhesive.. the emblem will come off and you just need to use some bug and tar remover to get rid of the remaining adhesive on the truck.

looks cool man, size looks fine to me.. i need to order some rolls of 631 and start playing around!

nice and clean design.. not sure if its tuesday's or tuesdays but either way looks good

digging your work! i really like the stencil job on the goalie mask.. the jhl and hogs hockey shirts are awesome too, as well as the gold lettering on the sign

hmm sounds like laying the outlined text right over the off set shadow or laying the red off set shadow over the outlined text are your best options to me if you can't have a space between the off set shadow.. but i think either way you try it you are going to see a bit of an edge where layers overlap since there is no spacing between the off set shadow and the outline.

So my friend got me my first real customer. He works for a construction equipment company and his boss needs the doors on 40 trucks done. The decals will be approx 27"x30" and its a 3 color design (but I would like to be able to quote for 1 & 2 color incase they change their mind on the design). Customer is going to do the install. Should I use Oracal 651 or 751? I've done a good amount of reading and theres lots of mixed opinions. I also know about the cast/calandered, the difference in thickness and shrinking. Also take into consideration that I've never used 751. I've used 651 on 2 trucks a year ago and they've been holding up fine so far. What should I charge him? - size: 27"x30" - qty: 80 - need quotes for 1, 2 and 3 colors - how should I price 651 vs 751? (in 1 , 2 & 3 colors) This is the largest job I've got so far so I would really appreciate any help. I've been using a craftrobo for small decals I sell on ebay for around a year so I'm a semi newb. I have done my fair amount of reading and lurking on this forum. I'm going to be ordering either a 50" SC or TC cutter tomorrow, just trying to make up my mind still. I wish I could afford a Copam or Graphtec but I think the TC will be a nice upgrade from my little craftrobo.

My setup is as follows : 50" USCutter TC Series Keyspan adapter Macbook Pro running OSX 10.7.5 Sure Cuts A Lot 3 Pro So I just got my TC series, downloaded & installed the keyspan driver, installed Sure Cuts A Lot from the cd (after the install I was prompted for an update, so I ran the update, and then entered the provided serial key). I can get the cutter to do the factory test cut, which seems to work perfect and weeds out nice. My problem is when I send a file to the TC to be cut from Sure Cuts A lot , the TC's display says "Now Is Cutting…" and nothing happens.. I've tried resetting the cutter, restarting my macbook.. I'm really not sure what the problem is.. I'd like to get this bad boy up and running soon

this is what i'm trying to say.. i cut something on white vinyl, unload my vinyl, put in a different color vinyl and now want to cut a new design... i have to go through the discconnecting and reconnecting usb to get it to send new data to the plotter even if i dont unload my vinyl and just want to cut a second design thats different i have to go through the usb disconnect/reconnect ordeal or cycle the plotter off/on.. i have a small graphtec craftrobo and i can keep sending new designs to it and it never has this problem.. i know i could just unplug it or cycle the power off/on but then i need to reset my origin point (im using small vinyl right now).. it really kills my efficiency, i could be cutting twice the amount of vinyl or weeding some peices if i didn't have to do this.. shouldn't i be able to send new data to the plotter without having to do all this? you would think that the plotter would automatically dump the old data once it gets a signal to receive the new data? i got the TC because it was supposed to have a good amount of memory compared to the others, and i'm only cutting small 6-10 inch decals at a time

so my tc is cutting good, i just have a weird issue... if i cut something, then try a second cut no data is sent to the plotter. the only thing I've found to workaround this is I have to unplug the usb from my macbook and reconnect it, or unplug the usb and reconnect it to the other usb port on my macbook. I have to do this after every single cut, and sometimes it takes 2 or 3 tries for it to work.. what's the deal with this???

I agree, well said.. Also, there are plenty of youtube videos showing how to create vector graphics via many different programs (some are free, some aren't) It's really not difficult, but can be time consuming. I taught myself the ins and outs of illustrator when I was 12 years old

there is no picture...

you guys don't have difficulty weeding at those pressure settings? i have a tc series and i usually run my speed anywhere from 100-500 and pressure from 70-100g... it seems if i use any less pressure weeding becomes a bit more difficult (i use oracal 651)

cool..what kind of printer do you use?

oh ok.. nevermind then

I know how to use the keyspan adapter, I just didn't think that the keyspan adapter was functioning correctly.. that is why I was looking to use a direct serial connection. lol No offense taken-- You are correct, it is very basic decal that any cutter should be able to cut.. I simply stated that the outline of new jersey had many nodes and it cut nice.. (giving me some hope that the usb connection will suffice for larger runs) I would really appreciate if you could post up the file that you cut so I can see how the TC cuts it..

Yea I'm a little worried about how it will do on larger runs running off usb. I was going to hook it up to a PC via serial connection to be safe but none of my old computers have a serial connection, lol the nj outline in that design has a ton of nodes and it cut just fine. I'm going to buy some plotter paper and test some large runs on it.. i'll keep my fingers crossed until then

update : called customer service, and they remote controlled my mac.. they checked my settings and everything looked correct so they told me to switch over to usb... it turns out i didn't need the keyspan adapter (what a waste of 30 bucks) it's been working off usb since yesterday.. heres a decal i made quick last night (its 8 inches wide)

Ahhh awesome, thanks!

I haven't contacted tech support yet. I work until 9pm every day so I guess I'll have to wake up a little earlier than usual to give them a call I might try hooking it up to an old PC with windows XP tonight just to see if everything is working well

anyone??

I'm planning on buying a few 48" rolls of 651 and 631 soon. I've mostly been cutting small decals with my last little cutter. The largest things I've cut with it were a few 8"x36" pickup truck door signs and 500 8"x2" decals for the ski shop I work for. I want to venture into larger things like wall decals, storefronts, custom hood stripes, taillight and headlight overlay kits. Thought so with the power cable, just wanted to make sure.. Yea my workspace is my room, which I'm working on decluttering while I figure out exactly what I'm going to do with this gigantic machine, hah. I'd like to either get a piece of glass cut so I can make a light table that will cover the top of my desk (which is approx 5ft wide x 2.5ft deep) or get a piece of glass or plexi cut and mount it spaced off the wall a bit (like in a tint shop) but with some led strips behind to create a light table the wall. Not quite sure which would work best.

So I've been using a graphtec craftrobo for around a year and was sick of being limited to the 8 inch cutting width. Before reading the rest, you must know this about me - I'm a bit nit-picky and a bit OCD. I wanted something that wouldn't limit me, but didn't have the budget for a large machine with a servo motor like a roland or graphtec. From what I've been reading it seemed like the TC series would be my best bet, as it's a step above the SC series and step below the Copam cutters. So I ordered the 50" TC Series a few nights ago. All I have to say - SUPER FAST shipping! Arrived to my door 3 days after I ordered it! Yesterday, I woke up to my dad letting me know "A huge box came in the mail for you, I left it in the living room. It's real heavy". I rush to the living room in a daze to see the box. First impression - OMG, this box is effin' huge! I probably could've gotten away with the 31" model, as the 50" is pretty monsterous. I'm definitely going to have to rearrange my room now to make a usable workspace. So I put the box in my room and head off to work. Lack of instructions for putting the stand together and getting the plotter up and running is kind of lame. Considering it's an $800 machine it wouldn't kill USCutter to throw a print-out in the box with simple instructions or at least giving buyers the start.uscutter.com and support.uscutter.com URLs . If i wasn't a member on these forums or a complete newb I would have no idea where to start. -- so none of this REALLY bothered me as I knew all of this prior to my purchase... I like that it came with a dust cover. I'll probably use it as a template and try my hand at sewing a thicker cover from different material in the future. I'm also contemplating making a catch basket at the same time. The power cord is a bit shorter than I expected it to be. Not a big deal though. Does anyone know If this is a special cord or can I just find a longer one that will work? The only thing that took me a minute was figuring out how to adjust the blade in the blade holder. (My craftrobo had those stupid red yellow and blue caps that got screwed over the blade) So yesterday after work I got the cutter mounted on the stand, installed Sure Cuts A Lot Pro and the keyspan driver for my macbook. Tonight after work I'm watching the Devils game (I've been so bored waiting for the damn lockout to end!) then I'm going to test her out! I'll give a little review of the cutter when its up and running