BennettUA

I'm pretty sure I know the answer, but should I have recieved a one-year license for SignCut with my MH871, or am I stuck with SignBlazer? I had the trial for a week and loved it -- the interface, the simplicity, the depth, everything I wanted. I really can't stand SignBlazer -- I know lots of people swear up and down that it's a great program and easy to use, but I'm having a lot of trouble with it, and really can't stand that horrendous interface(again, my own opinion, you don't have to agree).

If I make enough money to cover it, I will gladly pay for it. Right now though, that's the price I paid for the plotter! I'm using my plotter to cut vinyl for dyeing disc golf discs. Up until now, I've been doing it all by hand, and have had great results, but I got the plotter to hopefully slash the hours and hours of time it takes to hand-cut. So I'm not making much money off of it -- maybe $10/ disc, there's a bit of a cap on what people will pay, even if you get the Cistine Chapel on there. I need to spend some time figuring out how to earn some more money from this device, maybe then I'll be able to pay for the license. Thanks for the help you guys. Here's some examples of my discs(none of these were with the plotter though):

All 200+ pages of it. I tried and tried to use SignBlazer, but I love what SignCut is by comparison. Much easier to use interface, certainly easier on the eyes! And I love the cut preview feature in SignCut, so simple, so nice. Much more like the design programs I use.

THANKS JOHN!! There it was, a bundle number right in the order confirmation. Down at the bottom, but I still should have read the whole thing, I guess :- I'll get back with you in one year --

Did you buy your cutter on eBay? I believe signcut is only included if you buy directly from uscutter. This is actually incorrect. Every one of our cutters besides Graphtec or Roland units come with SignCut Pro. I elaborated a bit in the other thread. So....since I have an MH871, I'm out of luck for SignCut, correct?

This is actually not accurate. Every one of our cutters comes with SignCut except for Roland and Graphtec units. We do not send SignCut with a Roland or a Graphtec because they come with proprietary equivalents. OP: If you are having trouble with SignBlazer and you have Illustrator I highly recommend downloading and installing SignCut Pro. SignCut integrates with adobe Illustrator extremely well and since you seem to already be proficient in Illustrator this will probably help greatly. If you would like some pointers on SignBlazer Elements just give me a call or read any of the resources that we have available. CRD has a great newbie manual that is available on this forum. We also have a support site (www.support.uscutter.com) which has a knowledge-base and a download section with manuals, guides, and all sorts of other helpful items specifically for the software and the cutter that you are trying to use. In short, the resources that you need are completely available to you. You need to choose whether or not you want to learn how to use this software this machine. I did download and install SignCut Pro, and I LOVE IT! Very easy to use, LOVE the interface. Problem is, now my one-week trial has expired. How can I get a copy? The brand new 34" plotter costs almost as much as they want to charge for the software. I did buy through ebay, but you said that doesn't matter. I really don't consider SignBlazer a "proprietary equivalent;" am I out of luck?

This software is SOOOOOOOOOO bad....but since it's the only free cutting software out there, I guess we all have to live with it. How do you center a design to cut? I have an eps file, I get it ready to cut, and then it dissappears when I enter the cutter setting, I don't see it at all! This is turning out to be the worst purchasing decision I ever made. This SHOULD be a very simple tool, and yet, between the software headaches and the "support," I feel like it's just a spacehog.

After getting a DOA plotter, they sent me a new plotter package, and lo & behold it powered up! I was so excited! Then I crashed back into Earth.... The blade carriage(which holds the blade) does NOT accept the blades! I know from installing a blade on the previous package's blade carriage that the blade should insert pretty easily, and remove when the release button is depressed and the blade can be grabbed. I have to push the blade in with WAY too much force, and the release button does absolutely nothing. Here's a youtube video I made for the support team, showing exactly what I mean: Support seems to think that new blades will be the solution.....that's right, more of the exact same blades will magically make the mechanism accept the blades cleanly and the release button to do more than NOTHING.......I'm starting to wonder how much I could pawn this hunk of junk for now.....shoulda bought that guitar instead.

Dakota/Doggy/John/ et al. -- I read back through my posts earlier, and I wanted to apologize for coming off pissy. I didn't mean to come off like a little kid who got grounded for not eating his lima beans, and I am sorry if I set you the wrong way. I fired from the hip instead of taking careful aim. I have been reading a lot on the forums and other places, now and even before I bought the plotter, and I knew some frustration was coming my way, and I let it get the best of me. I even got a great night's sleep last night, and I STILL came off like a jerk! I'm sure with enough work(and possible teeth grinding) and time that I can get this thing primed to my liking. So anyway, long rant but yeah, sorry for my tone earlier. Bennett

So do I, and I would think anyone would after seeing the video. And yet, they won't send a replacement, just more blades...."I know you have a circle hole and we sent you squares, but here's some more squares, see if they fit." And THIS is the service people are raving about? I don't know what I'm missing here, but I'm not getting the kind of service everyone here seems to want to bash me for noticing. Thanks BannerJohn, you have been a nice guy through this, at least you understand why I'm frustrated, after spending good money on a new plotter only to have problem after problem. I'm not an idiot, I can solve most hardware and software issues, and I don't have any trouble asking for help, but I am a bit surprised how people blast on me for being peeved with support.

Gotcha. So long as I have 5000+ posts, I can say whatever I want to anyone with a problem with thier new investment. 10-4.

Machine isn't working at all. Plugged into a surge protector, nothing. Plugged straight into the wall, nothing. I just bought this brand new on ebay. MH871. I'm about to jump into traffic, I feel like I just bought a dud, and now I'm gonna get screwed. No support available right now. Any ideas, or am I up the creek?

Let me guess -- you bought a top of the line plotter though, correct?

I bought it for a hobby cutter -- I can't exactly afford a $7500 cutter simply to make a few designs for side work, I'm not opening a new business here, I just wanted to buy a machine that worked. Fail.

OK, semantics aside, I took pictures and video showing EXACTLY what I was writing about, so regardless of which manual and who calls what a carriage or a holder, the pics and videos should have erased all doubt.

Ok, well the manual calls that piece a blade carriage, and I wanted to be as specific as possible. I took lots of pictures and even video for the support to see what I mean. If it's not called the blade carriage, they shouldn't say so in the (revised) manual.

I did insist on a new carriage, with no reply....It's been 3+ weeks since I bought this giant paperweight, and not one cut has been made. I wish I knew someone who could make housecalls on this....I just feel like it should be a very simple piece of hardware, and likely simple to use, but boy was I dead wrong. Research is all I've done....and all I've consistently found is that these plotters are more headaches than they're worth. Take a look at how many problem forums there are for these things! Contrary to your holier-than-thou opinion, that's NOT a good thing, too see so many people having so many problems. YES you was. research is your friend

If I had $7500 to throw around, do you think I would've bought an MH871? WOW, I hope not. Then again, you might, I don't know, that's a lot of money to someone looking to improve on a hobby, not start a business.

I did insist on a new carriage, with no reply....It's been 3+ weeks since I bought this giant paperweight, and not one cut has been made. I wish I knew someone who could make housecalls on this....I just feel like it should be a very simple piece of hardware, and likely simple to use, but boy was I dead wrong. how many support tickes and CALLS have you made in an attempt to get this fixed? Or are you relying on a user forum to make it all better? Wow, you really enjoy being an online prick, huh? Not the first post I've read of yours where your nose is up in the air. I've called, I have tickets, I took pictures, I made videos and have been very detailed with all of them. The answer I get is we'll give you new blades but not a new carriage. That's like "I know your car doesn't take deisel, so we're sending you some more deisel to see if that fixes the problem with your flat tires."

If you felt you was going to be as comfortable with the cutter out of the box as a printer then yes you should have bout the guitar. this is a new process learning to work with vectors and work within that world. on the other hand if you take the time to read the newbie manual and the software tutorials you can become proficient in a short time. There is a learning curve. alll of life has chanllenges - you can choose to overcome or be overcome I know vectors. I am very proficient with Illlustrator, Photoshop, etc. Been working with those programs for years. I read the manual. I read it a few times before I even BOUGHT the plotter. I understood there would be a learning curve, as no one seems to get a plotter and have ZERO problems, especially when it's a USCutter. I was fine with that. But I didn't expect to recieve bad equipment and worse advice. Now I'm stuck with a giant paperweight that can't do anything but drag a blade across vinyl, tearing it instead of cutting it, because I have a faulty piece that they won't replace. I am a damn good guitar player And a very good hand-cutter, I was just hoping to use a plotter to save me a lot of time and pull of more cuts, but this is a sign from the vinyl cutting gods that I should've stuck to using my hands, because this machine is going to be fun to throw off a building.

Did you buy your cutter on eBay? I believe signcut is only included if you buy directly from uscutter. I did buy it on ebay. Wow, just when I think things can't get more strange from this company...Oh well, if I've learned anything from this company, it's "you get what you pay for."

I did insist on a new carriage, with no reply....It's been 3+ weeks since I bought this giant paperweight, and not one cut has been made. I wish I knew someone who could make housecalls on this....I just feel like it should be a very simple piece of hardware, and likely simple to use, but boy was I dead wrong.

I did insist on a new carriage, with no reply....It's been 3+ weeks since I bought this giant paperweight, and not one cut has been made. I wish I knew someone who could make housecalls on this....I just feel like it should be a very simple piece of hardware, and likely simple to use, but boy was I dead wrong.

It opens at first in SB, and then when I go to cut, it dissappears, magically, as if the gods are trying to convince me that this was all a big waste of money and time. They've succeeded!

Care to share? I can't deal with SignBlazer for one minute longer, and I only have the free web trial of SignCut. I wish they'd included SignCut with my order, I don't know why they didn't.