us cutter ALSC631NOL similar to what other model ?

[signmaker 26]

Just purchased .. the oper man. on disc.. is nothing like the product I bought.. Me.. being naturally stupid got sign blazer installed and thought I'd play first and read second... ( by the way I use draw program for graphic designs ) so I'm semi-dumb.. So lt me ask a few questions before I do a full read.. 1. I'm using 12 inch wide vinyl.. what's the proper way to load and where is the right spacing in relationship to cutter side of cutter?? 2. I set all places I could find to 12"x 36" and made a couple test cuts..at start up the cutter head moves to the left to a distance that I'd assume to be the edge of 24" vinyl ( I think the blade is down and cuts into mat..after cuttng VINYL cut was real clean ... but mirrored and it was not set to mirror.. also at first turn on I couldn't find how to set up serial com 1 port.. but I'll get to that later (usb no proplems ) After a few dissapointing tries I connected to a exact model compac computer with signblazer also.. other than the cutter head travel going all the way to left.. cutiing seeme to work ok.. but this time it sounded like the cutting pressure was to much brcause it seemed to cut with a load and sounded like it was laboring... but it wasn't mirrored hope to get all setup this coming week SO ANY HELP TIPS WOULD BE APPRECIATED...