NukleoN

It's like me with directions. I suck at directions and navigating for some reason. Language comes easily.

Ok, looks like I can push the blade down and make a tiny little mark that I can see with a flashlight. Is this what you do? Zero offset I guess since the blade is being checked directly? How do you create the registration mark? Do you use the blade for that too, or do you use the ink pen with zero offset? Thanks.

Thanks Jay. Yeah guys this is Dan, formerly known as NukleoN here. I just use 'Spacepod' these days for my new company, Spacepod Graphics. I also have a YouTube channel as 'Spacep0d' with over 17,000 subscribers. Jay, how do you align the blade? Can you see the blade well enough to align it to the reg mark? Thanks again. @Dakota: We in the sign-biz should be great spellers, eh? As soon as I can afford it I am getting a Graphtec!

Yeah the contour cuts have been dicey for a while. For some reason, everything cuts low and it's driving me mad. I end up having to guess at raising the contour, and then it still cuts some of the page low (even if some on the same page are OK). It's impossible to get a page of nice cuts. That drives me mad too. There seems to be no fix. Question, when I calibrate the laser with the pen, should I be using 0.00 offset or .25 offset? I know the 45-degree blade needs .25 offset but I could be screwing myself with the lack of pen offset. I don't see why they'd be different though, but for the blade tip not being centered like a pen is.

Should I be using the .25 offset when I use the pen to calibrate the laser? Or, should offset be at 0 with the pen?

Thanks Jay. Yeah that is a kludge but it wastes my first cut having to see how much it's off. Is this a normal thing to do with cuts that are off? Why is the cut off in the first place? 1. I calibrated the offset using the pen, with a pen offset of zero during calibration. 2. Using a 45 degree blade, I know the offset should be .25mm as recommended by Clean Cut blades, and this is just a common offset anyway for this angle of blade. I tried 0.00 offset and it's worse. 3. My pinch rollers are nice and tight, since I replaced them a couple months ago. 4. Every file seems to cut a little low, even though my registration marks are on-point. 5. If I shift the contour layer up a bit to compensate, the cutter will cut the top rows ok but the bottom row of the vinyl sheet is always offset more. What might cause this? 6. I should just get a freakin' GRAPHTEC!!

I know a lot of people don't do this...but any ideas out there? Thanks much!

Hi there! I'm at a crossroads here. I want to make shirts for my Spacep0d brand on YouTube, but I have a design in mind that will need at least one sleeve graphic for a t-shirt. I know Teespring is one good way to make shirts using a crowd-sourced funding type model, but they don't do sleeve graphics. The shirts I want will have a little text and a small logo on the front, a larger picture on the back and a small graphic on the right sleeve. Black or navy blue. How easy is it to do sleeve graphics with my own press? Also, I don't even have a press yet. Recommendations for a beginner shirt-maker for both a press and the type of transfer paper to use would be great. I have lots of experience cutting decals and have a good standard sized printer for Cobra Ink with pigment ink. My budget is really limited, so I am looking for major bang-for-the-buck here. I want to be able to do small or large shirts. What would you do? I don't want to be just another shirt that anyone can do, even though I will be making the art myself. I really want the sleeve graphic too. Cost/benefit: Teespring: They handle printing and shipping. Easy. Downside? Limited with printing areas. Potential loss of profit. DIY: Full-control, made to order, maximized profit. Downsides? Have to order wholesale shirts, labor to print/press, have to ship personally. Any advice is appreciated. I am also open to having someone else make shirts for me, or we can arrange a trade for art or something. Thanks! Spacepod

Definitely considering this option as well. Definitely want it to be local if possible, or someone from this board if I go with a full-color option. If I found someone willing to do the job with the press I want to get, it would be a great way to see the quality that is possible with the press brand I am interested-in.

Thanks to you and Jaybird for explaining this so well! I am dead-set on the Hottronix....just a matter of time now. Still paying back a few debts but after that I'll definitely order one.

Hey everyone, Need some help here. I'm contour cutting with a USC LP24. So, I am printing on vinyl, applying a cold laminate to the vinyl and then contour-cutting with SignCut ProdPro. I have one good file with an outline that I like, and I've copied that image and cutline across most of a letter-sized sheet. So, it's one file, but there might be six or eight decals I am trying to cut on one sheet. Trouble is, some parts of the letter vinyl cut ok (upper left decal) but lower down on the sheet, the cuts are progressively too 'low' or there's some kind of 'drift' being introduced. And, this seems consistent. So, the top line looks ok (left better than right) and then the middle two look worse (cuts are getting lower) and the bottom two on the sheet look terrible (most drift). Any ideas on what this could be? I'm thinking that the cutter is not physically holding the paper very well, because what else would explain the drift? I've checked the Illustrator file and because I copied the first good image and cutline, I know they're all good. All cutlines are in correct position. I am using a Clean Cut blade with .25mm offset (45 degree blade). That is all good. I am gonna try another file, but this is happening with two different designs...one is a 6-sticker per sheet design and one is an 8-sticker per sheet design. Both have drift. I've read through my manual, and nowhere does it talk about adjusting the 'set screws' for the grit rollers. Can anyone explain how to do this? I make heavy use of my cutter and have never replaced grit rollers or pinch rollers, and haven't adjusted any set screws. Any help is appreciated, customer waiting and my mental health depends on it. Thanks, Spacepod

Same thing happened with me and stickers. One sticker was so overpriced when I bought it online that I decided to get a cutter and start cutting. I joined this site around that time. Fast forward to now and I cut decals constantly. One of my wheel caps even showed up on Jay Leno's Garage (on a FIAT Abarth). Done a few celebrity decals at this point and a bunch of others. For years I've wanted to get in to shirts. I've just not been in the right situation to get a good press, but I am keen to do so. Basically, the decal biz offers me the freedom to work on my own projects instead of keeping a corporate job, but then there's the feast and famine of freelance. But, I think I can generate some income with the shirt press. I really do want a good one, even as my first press. I'm weird like that. My Chinese cutter LP24 is actually quite good though, and it does everything I need it to do (even if contour cutting isn't always perfect). I think a Graphtec would be better with contour cutting and small text but I can't justify the expense. With a good heat press, I really want that quick-change platen and the microwound heating element, and Hotronix's reputation and build-quality. Plus, the caddy looks so rugged and awesome along with those tray tables you can add-on. Maybe I'll try to finance it so I can ease the entry cost just a bit and then start taking-on shirt orders. Since I'm an artist full-time, I love the idea of making one-off shirts that I just can't easily do with a service like Teespring. I also would like to keep all of the profits instead of Teespring taking a cut (even if they offer a great service). Made-to-order shirts would be great too, with no wasted product, so the heat press would be good there too. What is this pillow method I keep hearing about for sleeves? How would this work? Do I not need a hat or sleeve platen?

I might do Teespring first just to see what happens and when I can afford the Hottronix Clam Shell I'll get that. I don't want a cheap press, but I do eventually want full-control over my designs (along with sleeve printing). At least with the Teespring thing I can see how well my shirts/designs sell and then that will give me confidence to make better shirts later. Thanks for all the great advice!

Another question, how do you all contour-cut full-color designs for use with a heat-press? Do you just contour cut on your cutters like you would anything else? Or, do you print on your transfer paper and then I am guessing anything not printed doesn't transfer?

Love that but no way I can afford that now. I did notice the Hotronix Clam Shell Auto-Open press for $850 from U.S. Cutter and other sources, and it's got the quick-change lower-platen. Really sold on that right now. So, it's a question of DIY with this press vs. online shirt printers which limits my creative-control. I do ship lots of stickers now so I am good with shipping and I use Stamps.com. I may start buying bulk mailers for shirts if I end up doing them myself.

Amazing!

Fixed the problem, thanks!

Hey everyone, I am now considering an upgrade to a Graphtec CE6000 since my decal business is doing pretty well. This is no longer just a hobby for me (but hasn't been for a while). I'm looking for better vinyl cuts but specifically, better contour-cutting with more-accuracy. Does anyone out there use their Graphtec for contour-cutting, with SignCut Productivity Pro software? How good is it? Is it better than the LP24, ya think? Basically, I'm looking to be convinced that this is gonna be the right cutter for me. Thanks a lot.

Anyone? What I've noticed is that some files cut ok, and some files do not. So, this file seems to have all kinds of issues cutting, but another file contour-cuts just fine. So, maybe the pinch rollers are not the issue. I've tried saving the outline as an Illustrator 8 file instead of relying on the SignCut plugin, and that helps a little but I am still getting a lot of drift in these particular files. Any other ways to fix this short of creating a new contour outline? I may try placing the elements in another fresh Illustrator file.

Hi there, I have the LP24 and was wondering how to tighten the pinch rollers? I am cutting 8.5 x 11 sheets of vinyl and it seems when the paper gets drawn back on the start of the cut, it hits a part of the cutter and it's throwing off the precision a bit. Also, I think my rollers are a little loose. I should know this but have never adjusted them before. Any advice is welcome. Thanks!

Finally! This was the answer I was looking-for. Only took a year and a half to get a direct answer here. Yeah, my LP24 is drifting hard. I use it a lot, and what's happening is that one part of a contour cut will be fine, but other parts are all messed up. So, I can just order new pinch rollers to try and remedy this eh? There's no rhyme or reason to it otherwise. The blade is new, offset is correct (.25) and it's a CleanCut 45-degree blade. Been contour cutting forever, but I can't control for drift. It's ruining some of my work and causing some aggravation too. Gotta be the pinch rollers, right?

HI there, I'm looking for help troubleshooting this .AI file. Every time I cut with it, my cutter seems to freak out. It'll complete the job, but I get weird cuts on certain letters, it won't cut weed lines properly, I get incomplete cuts, etc. When I cut different text, it cuts perfectly. Can someone tell me if this file is the issue? I created the logo from a font and simply added a slash through the 'O' to make a zero. Somehow, I think in the 'expand' stage of Illustrator, the file is going haywire. Thanks much, Spacep0d Graphics

Thank you! Will try those things.

Hi there, Why should I be downsaving to run anything in SignCut? I've been cutting direct from Adobe Illustrator CS6. Do you think this could be the issue? Should I downsave and just open that file from AI CS6 to cut? The problem is, from AI CS6 I just use the 'Send to Signcut' command and I am in SignCut. It works for other stuff just fine...but oddly, not for this file.

You are all AWESOME!! Thank you for helping me. Ok, so I am using Adobe Illustrator CS6 with an LP24. The LP24 cuts other text perfectly, but I just struggle with this file for some reason. I am also using SignCut to send the files over. Did anyone here use SignCut? If so, can you screenshot your settings for me? Thanks again!!! Spacepod