SC equip

[Dragonduster 4]

i just finished assembling it and from what i saw in a video, it said to ground it, but i dont see any cable to ground it, i have the SC serie of 34" and there is no cable coming from the cutter or from the package to ground it, do i need to purchase a separated cable or i wont need the ground cable?

[slice&dice 2,464]

I faced this same issue just last week, and here's what I did --

First of all, there's an existing screw with a nut on the bottom of the machine, marked with the GROUND symbol. That is a contact point to attach the wire.

(Yes, you need to provide your own wire)

The other end attaches to the stand, and in order to make sure of a good ground, I scraped/scratched off some of the paint and bolted the wire at that spot using a self-tapping screw.

[Dragonduster 4]

i see, thanks

i have another question, i just powered it on and did a test with the greenstar vinyl, how much force do i need to set it to? or speed? the vinyl says its a 3.0 thickness but i dont know how much force i should set it up for that, also with my test, the lines werent straight

[slice&dice 2,464]

I'm at 1g (lowest possible force) and 600 speed.

You may have to adjust the 3 pressure-roller tensioners in order to make sure the vinyl "tracks" straight as it goes through the machine (and don't let the cutter pull the vinyl from the roll, but rather unwind a length manually and have that hanging loose in the back)

[Dragonduster 4]

well when i lock the rollers, i cant move the vinyl, so i guess thats good right? also i put the roll on those tubes and they roll easily, also i found out the box where the cutter is wasnt in the trail? i dont know how to call it, but its where it rest in the machine, there is a band that moves it and the box is on some bar, i adjusted it now tho.

how much should i let the blade out of the blade holder?

[slice&dice 2,464]

Hmmmmmmmm, yes, it's very good that you were able to re-seat the cutter head (the black box that holds the blade in position and slides back&forth and moves the blade up&down)

The blade will nearly be invisible to your eye, as it pokes out just a teensy-tiny little bit beyond the tip of the silver holder. In fact, you will swear it's not even sticking out, but if you can feel it with your fingertip, it is.

As for the 'tracking" of the vinyl, the best way to see if it's straight is to manually run the vinyl up and down and see if it remains on the same alignment mark in the front of the machine.

To manually run the vinyl, press ENTER, the display will change from "Local" and read "Origin" -- then press (and hold) the Up/Down arrows on the keypad. If you want minor adjustments, tap the keypad, don't hold the buttons. To return to cutting mode, press SELECT, display will read "Current" and then ENTER.

Yeah, this is kinda confusing, but you'll quickly get the hang of manually adjusting the position of the cutter head, and setting it to the exact place you want on the vinyl surface.

[Dragonduster 4]

than you very much for your help, one last question, in signblast, what cutter should i chose? once i connected the cutter, windows automatically detected it, i havent installed any drivers but i can see it in signblast as "Blast COM3: USB serial port" thats the one i chose as for cutter i cant see SC UScutter and my cutter doesnt have a serial number or model number

also every time i finish sending the file to cut and it finishes, the plooter stays in "now is cutting..." even tho it finished cutting.

[slice&dice 2,464]

Glad to get you going, I've also been experiencing a learning curve with this SC.

For one thing, I abandoned the USB connection and went with serial port access.

This involved the purchase of a desktop computer that had a serial port (my laptop did not)

The SC is listed as the Li-Yu HF-1202.

Try that.

[Dragonduster 4]

dam =\ i wanted to use the usb since my room doesnt have much space and the cutter only be in front of the pc, behind me and i connect it from the front usb of my desktop =\ guess i will have to make some changes, thanks for the help guys, really appreciate it.

[slice&dice 2,464]

You should be able to cut just fine with USB.

Many people do.

However, I decided to go with a serial connection because it's been proven to be more reliable and doesn't tend to give glitches.

At first I was using the USB but when cutting longer jobs (for 12-foot banners, for instance) the machine would QUIT right in the middle. That frustrated me, so I changed to a serial port.

Try working with USB and see if you experience any problems, you may not have any, and can just stay with USB.

As for your room not having much space, believe me, you'll want to explore ways to increase the available working area, as you start doing banners that are 8' to 12' long and putting together signs on 4'x8' sheets of substrate.

Best of luck, and let us know how you do....

[jhelms 5]

I hav e adifferent machine a creation pcut but I ran usb and larger images was having problems but now I use usb to serial adapter uscutters sells I believe (I found mine on line before they did ) its called KEYSPAN I believe but I have no probs. now using laptop hope this could help Good luck jhelms

[slice&dice 2,464]

A while ago I bought a KEYSPAN adapter, but since then, I've gone ahead and set things up with this Dell Optiplex desktop that has a serial port, so I don't require the USB/Serial adapter anymore, and I'm selling it.

If anyone wants it, send me a PM and we'll arrange the transaction.

[Dragonduster 4]

i will try it with the Li-Yu HF-1202 driver and use the serial cable, my pc has it so i will just test it.

EDIT: dammig!! my pc doesnt have serial anymore lol