American And Proud

BTW fill out your user profile and Signature line so when you ask questions people will know exactly what you are using right off the bat. Saves you alot of time when asking.

Buy Oracal 651 for short term stuff and 751 for longer lasting like graphics on cars/trucks. Don't Waste your money on the cheap stuff unless you buy ONE 10 yard X 15 inch roll just to practice with.

Remove the masking tape. There is NO 871 choice in SBE so you have to choose the smaller or larger MH series cutter. (I know it Sucks that you buy a cutter brand New and have to use a different cutter than you purchased for the software they provide with it.) Next SBE is a Defunked Out of Business Software so don't bother asking for updates or upgrades. Alot do use it on here so they will help you with any problems you run into. And Welcome. Good luck with that 871.

I didn't pay much attention, I just nabbed the HUGE pic provided, brought it into photoshop took the clone stamp tool and got rid of the dark shadows on the background (working on the pic of the branches over the couch) I then cropped the image and now have it in Flexi Pro. This will be my very First try at vectorizing a color jpeg. It will take me awhile as I am watching the Training DVD for Flexi 8 as I go.

Do you know who they are?

Why don't you just freehand Draw some branches like that? You can draw something on paper and scan it in with a scanner, or even easier just draw them in whatever program you are using. That should Not be hard to do at all. If your gonna say you can't draw, find a child cause any child can draw branches like those on that etsy site. Heck grab the pic, bring it in, Zoom in on the branches and trace them with the tool of your choice depending on the program you use.

Nice looking stuff there Mader.

Sign Blazer is a DEFUNKED, OUT OF BUSINESS Software. Don't think you can get a Demo of the H.S. version fully functioning. Sign Blazer Elements is a functioning Trial Mode Version. You can't get any updates or activation codes.

One of the first concerts I ever went too was Alice Cooper. I stopped in a small Antiques shop in Indiana last year and up on their wall by the door were pictures of Alice as a customer. I guess he stops there as he is traveling through and shops. Would have been Cool had I walked in and he was there. Is that vid from a 2009 concert?

48 cars cut ready, at 20 bucks puts them at about 41.6 cents each. Plus you get 15 vintage Trucks that you can easily vectorize if you want to cut them as well. You'll be very happy with this set.

Buy the CD, it's Only $19.99. Then you can Legally use them. First one you cut you will recoup your Investment. And have all the others to work with.

http://www.classiccarclipart.com/

lol Actually I had done a Search before posting using "newbie"and this thread did not show up. I just found it funny is all. He fixed it now. The questions will still be asked no matter how many times anyone makes a plea post like these, just the way of the forums on any topic or subject matter that you go to. They all request that you use the search function First before posting, but the same questions are asked again and again. Alot of the times the search functions on forums just don't work all that well either.

I find it Funny you chose to spell newbie as "New Bie" so when someone uses the Search function typing in "Newbie" this post won't even show up in the results! LOL

I think that www.thesignexpert.com is a pretty GOOD TOOL to use when pricing. For some reason some think they come up on the high side, I am NOT one of those people. Here is a thought for those who do.- Say your Designing a Banner or 18"x24" Coroplast sign or Lettering for a door or storefront with your customer sitting there waiting/Watching over your shoulder. Have that site Open but minimized, when the layout/design work is done and it's time to Estimate a Price, Open up the site and fill everything out and get your Price, Watch the customers reaction, if they don't squeel with fright, thats your Price. (The National Average Price) IF they do start crying about the cost and you WANT the job you can then play it by ear and say something like, That's the National Average Pricing for this type work and depending on the actual job at hand here I can Deduct _ _ % off. 10%, 15%, Maybe even 20%, MAYBE 20 depending on the job. Right then and there they will See the Value of your work, and then feel you are cutting them a Deal on price, without just Guessing a price and undercutting yourself out of money you Should be getting for the job. This will give you a Consistancy to your pricing without having someone later complain, "But you did it for so and so for less last month." (Homer voice ON) DOH! (Homer voice OFF) But if your doing it without the customer there Use the site anyways, Then if you somehow feel it came up on the High side come to a sign forum and Ask for opinions either way, then you are well informed, know the going national average, and can be prepared to Justify your price if the customer asks how you came up with that price. And remember "one offs" should Always be priced HIGHER. You do ONE 18"x24" Coroplast sign for someone you should charge a Premium Price for doing just ONE. Not a Ripoff price but when doing a one off your design time is based on just ONE unit and not spread out into 25 or more units. (Unless you are charging a design Fee, in that case most likely you aren't low balling your prices to begin with.) At 15-24 you can cut a Small break in price and at 25-50 you can cut a little better price and so on. A one off little one color 5"x5" sticker you Should have a set MINIMUM Price, maybe 15.00-20.00, somewhere in that range to at the very least make it worth your while. Have a look here for some other pricing thoughts I had recently. http://forum.uscutter.com/index.php/topic,24426.msg193688.html#msg193688 I have posted others but you'll have to search my posts for them. Hope this Helps some people, undercutting prices down to nothing isn't any good for anyone doing this either as a Hobby or for a Living. Those that are doing it as a hobby only, you should still be within reason of the going rate in your area. You just never know what may happen in the future and this would have to become your only means of paying the bills and taking care of your family. Just something to think about.

This is the reason for this post. Far to many undercutting pricing so bad that it may just end up as a Hobby for everyone with a cutter. Sign shops are now having to compete with every Tom Dick and Harry who can buy a cutter and some vinyl. They do NO research and price Far too LOW. And start selling for pennies on the dollar that Should be made for their Work. It Hurts EVERYONE trying to make a living wage and even those trying to make a few extra bucks. Soon even the people giving away this Work will have to pay the person wanting it ! Glad I live in a large urban area and not out in the sticks. (even tho I would Love to move out to them and live) Gotta SELL Yourself as Best as you can, Do Better Looking Work than the next guy and hold your ground.

Nevermind, I got my answer and Fix over at signs101 forums. Getting Flexi Pro all set up to my liking here. And Liking it too.

I have been watching the training vids and searching the Help and keep trying to SAVE my settings in Flexi Pro but every time I close Flexi and reopen it , it is back to the Default settings. I have tried the Preference Manager naming my settings and try Loading MY Preferences and Flexi still opens with the Defaut settings. I have gone under Edit > Preferences and change the Maxium undo/redo from 50 to 100. I have setup another row of colors at the bottom of Flexi (Oracals 651 colors) Added Align and Combine to the Top so you don't have to look for them and as soon as I close out of Flexi and reopen it everything is Back to all the Default settings? Something I am Missing to LOCK my settings in place for good? Am I missing a step in the process? Before opening Flexi I open the Pref. Manager and highlight MY Prefs. and click on LOAD and it says its loaded them but its just the defaults.

I bought this collection. http://classiccarclipart.com/

Thats the Risk you take selling at a Auction, one may sell high, one may sell Low.

If that is the case, it is called FRAUD.

I talked about this Model a couple months ago and it was on sale then, but I didn't nab one. That is until last night, I saw this thread and it reminded me of it so I ran over to Office Depot and picked it up. The ink that comes with it can be used or do you get another kind on ink? Are there those BIG Ink kits available for this that you don't have to keep changing out cartridges? What are you using yours for? I was wondering IF I can use this to add a print to Magnetic Signs and what would be needed to do so? Also this can print on what vinyls? Indoor and Outdoors stuff, clear laminate over it for outdoors? For the price you can't go wrong , even used as a basic office printer. Sign usage would just be an added Bonus for us. What Heat Press Vinyl can this print on? Thought it best to learn some printing stuff first before looking at the real big ones. Thanks

Then here are a couple MUST HAVE Books - Mastering LAYOUT By Mike Stevens On The Art Of Eye Appeal LOGO Design For Small Business Creation-Marketing-Sales By Dan Antonelli And get his Logo Design #2 book as well.

Nice and clean looking. Good job well done.

Long known Scam. You didn't fall for it for a second did you?