How do you do vinyl wider than your cutter?

[NateL 8]

Easiest example I can think of is a tree decal.  Seem pretty popular now days.  If I wanted a 6ft tall tree with branches spanning out to 6+ ft and I only have 24" rolls, what should my process be to properly set up the vinyl and cutter to do this correctly?

 

Thanks

[security802 686]

It's called tiling, if you search for tiling you will find a ton of help on here

 

http://forum.uscutter.com/index.php?/topic/44144-large-cut-for-wall/?hl=tiling

 

This one was the biggest help for me personally

[pshawny 410]

Auto tiling will work for some designs. Personally, I like to break up the design myself into cutter friendly pieces. That way I can decide exactly where the seams will be.

[Wildgoose 4,199]

You're probably using SCALP to cut and I have not heard if it has upgraded to have tiling or not. The benefit of using an auto tiling interface (Like SignCut Pro that I use) is that it will also give you a used defined overlap. I use 1/4" and it's about right. If you do it your self you can cut it up in the sizes you want but you really should drag the pieces a touch so they overlap and still line up. A tree is somewhat forgiving but other graphics aren't going to work out very good without getting that part right. Id SignCut the program uses the width of the vinyl to determine the size OR you can drag the lines around to where they make more sense to you. Not sure what options you have with SCALP and you may be forced to go manual. 

[101LEDs 100]

 Here is Scalp and VMP 4. You can set the tiles to any size or layout needed and make the overlap as big or little as required and even more with VMP 4. I would use paper to try any design for the first time. Could save a ton of vinyl if something isn't quite right.

[Wildgoose 4,199]

Glad to see they finally came through with the tiling lines in SCALP. 

[djque 246]

I hadnt updated mines and did yesterday and saw that.but i use cut master 3 and it has it already in it. But scalp is steping up a little

[NateL 8]

Thanks for the info so far!

 

I do have SCALP but I've been using SignCut Pro, primarily. I will  play with tiling and see if I can get it figured out!

[Wildgoose 4,199]

SignCut Pro is way better in IMO. Just input the size your vinyl is (measure between the rollers and type it in if your machine does not allow the program to poll the plotter) you will then see lines appear that show the areas that will be tiled. There is a specific tiling tool button that opens up some options to add lines or you can move them around to your liking. Also somewhere on there it will let you input how much overlap you want. 

[Wildgoose 4,199]

On a side note this feature is great for fixing screw-ups too. If I screw up an install and have just a letter or something that is a mess I go back into the file and draw tiling lines around the piece I want to fix and then X out the rest of the tiles and it will just cut the one live tile and it's ready to go apply. Also handy for some multi color designs that have a lot of unneeded space between some elements. You can tile off the open space and it will just cut the pieces that you want and save a lot of vinyl. I use the later variant with HTV fairly often. 

[NateL 8]

Thanks. I'm having a weird quirk with SignCut Pro right now...not to mention I need to re-up my subscription.

 

When I hit "cut", the window that used to pop up and show me the status as well as the pause/cancel cut options is completely gone. So I can't cancel a cut unless I shut the machine off or disconnect the USB cable.   Furthermore when the cut gets done, for some reason it's sending the blade carriage to the left side instead of finishing up on the right. 

 

I got SCALP for free with one of the packages I bought and gave it a go last night.  Other than a few things I haven't learned yet and am having trouble with, it seems to be working fine...so I will keep using both for now, as they both do what I need them to do.  More experience will eventually help me figure it all out.

 

Thanks again.

[THEJTINS 29]

In SCAL I keep having a problem with where it wants to start cutting the tile.  It tries to start wider than my material where the tile is on the workspace.  Any idea of what I am doing wrong?

[skener 11]

Well thanks for that info never ever used tiling, but going to give it a go, that bit about using it to re-do a letter or part of a design is really helpful just shows its worth reading all the topics on here, you can learn something !!!!

 

cheers,

John

[slice&dice 2,442]

I also have never touched the tiling feature (in SBE) ---  when requiring a replacement letter or number in text, I'll simply do the following:

 

1. SELECT the text block

2. DUPLICATE

3. Assign a color (one that is not already in use)

4. Delete all the other text except the letters being replaced

5. Send to cutter, choosing the new color

[Wildgoose 4,199]

That works too slice. One advantage of the tiling is it will work on small parts of a large graphic. Like if you had a 36" all one piece fancy design and messed up part of it. You can build a patch and save your bacon.