Hello from Maine

[philbe38 0]

Little insight bout me first, then about what I need to know ;o)>....My name is Phil I am 38 and out of work due to a work related injury for the last 2 years. I retreaded trailer truck tires for 10 1/2 yrs 6 days a week 50+ hrs never called out of work very dedicated to the company,I was the forklift instructor and certifier, and head of the safety commity in charge of the retread shop. I would stack by hand on pallets 8 tires high some in access of 130lbs a daily average of 175 tires. In 2007 I had severe pain and numbness in my neck, back, and down my arm found out pinched nerve and 2 slipped disks in my neck. I worked for a year and a half still full tilt and still no calling out delt with the pain cause of my dedication to the company. 2008 I had a double fusion surgery in my neck told I would be out for 6 to 8 weeks for recovery. Due to being dedicated to the company I went back to work 2 weeks to the day after surgery with no restrictions. 6 months later Jan 2009 the company that I loved so much to work for pulled me into the office and laid me off 3 hours into my shift. Could not find work for 8 months went crazy during the down time I hate not being productive. Worked for 2 months as a mill write for a contracting company after 2 months got laid off because of the seasonal job. Got called back May 2010 for the mill write job 2 days after going back I had a scheduled doctor appointment. The doctor found yet another slipped disk just below my fusion, and told me he did not want me working till we got this fixed but said we will give it time to see if it heals itself could take in upwards of 5 to 10 years. So out of work again, I decided to get back into some hobbies. I do tattooing when I can bare the pain and numbness, I airbrush, custom, temp tattoos, t-shirts, cut my own stencils with a stencil burner, glass etch with mini sandblaster, and woodburn. The last couple months my injury has gotten worse couple more disks in my back with more pinched nerves so more numbness in my hands which prevents me from cuttin my stencils and so on. So I bought a Uscutter SC 34" in hopes to keep me going in my hobbies. I am affraid to go back to work for anyone else but myself ever again after all this. I hope with this description of myself will help people understand my reasoning for getting into the cutting field . I am sorry for the drawn out description.

Now to what I need to know....EVERYTHING!!!! lol. j/k I have learned so much just by all of your posts and video's. I am having an issue with the cutter cuting thru certain texts and makeing some xtra cuts in some images. I have already posted about it with a couple replies which I have done the suggestions like welding and things like that. But somethings are still doing the xtra cutts. Should I buy the serial usb adapter I have read about? Will it benefit in any way? Is there things that should be checked on the cutting screen? I am using inkscape 0.48 into signcut pro x2 on a sony vaio laptop with windows 7 ultimate 64 bit. I thank you all in advance for any information it is all greatly appreciated.

[mabscotthandyman 1,410]

Hello and welcome Phil sounds like you have really been through it . I can sympathise with you I have back problems and neck problems from construction work for over45 years . I myself went into business out of self defense from working my ass off then being laid off for a while or having to find another job to pay the bills I have worked for my self for many years and it has been great for the most part . I wish you luck and yes the key span adapter will make your cutter run smoother .

Dan

[Rodger 527]

I became self-employed partially because I was tired of doing things i did not to want to do & or doing it the way the boss/supervisor wanted even though I knew it was doomed to failure or not be as effective as the way i wanted . The other reason is i seen my father-in-law almost get laid off from Westing House after 19 years of working there . He never had any physical problems , or any personal problems with anybody there & had made it to being an engineer . Union involved & methodically they had laid off until the 18 year people went . They got a new contract & that is the only thing that saved the 19 year people . I seen there was no security no matter how faithfull , loyal etc an employee was . There has been some hard times when recessions have hit , but I have been able to enjoy life much more while making at least as much money as i would have working as an employee .