Hands on training

[Jimmy1212 5]

I'm new and in Georgia and I'm wondering if their are group classes or get togethers for learning. I have read sooooooo much material and watched endless videos. I swear it makes me wonder will I ever get it

[TauntDevil 19]

Would love to offer help over skype but the downside is I am unfamilular with the Titan and may not be able to answer all your questions. I apologize but hopefully someone here is local and willing to help. Best of luck.

[Jimmy1212 5]

I would be extremely helpful even if I could talk with some experienced folk. Would really like to hear from you if you have some spare time 678-300-8380

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

Most anything can be done right thru here....What's your problem?   I was a clueless 56 year old lady,  in 2006. who cannot draw a stick figure..  NO ONE taught me...I taught myself..  No forums... No one to ask.  I started with a cheap Chinese cutter.. in small town USA... Don't make it rocket science...it is not....All cutters are basically the same and do the same functions.   They all have SPEED AND FORCE, functions  They all cut vinyl.  Just the button names are different.  Higher end cutters, take a lot of headaches away...You pay extra not to have those headaches.

[Jimmy1212 5]

I'm struggling to understand the common terminology in the industry. Example, I literally can not find what my appropriate speed and whatever my down force should be. I have 2 commercial embroidery machines and the learning curve on that was quite expensive and I really want to avoid that and get a good solid start from experience people who can even help me avoid the common mistakes that I haven't even come across yet.

[Sue2 920]

I'm with MZ. Skeeter, I learned the ins & outs by reading everything here

(and other forums) then asking questions when I got stuck.

 

If you had no experience, how did you expect to get it in the first place?

If you have managed to learn embroidery, you can handle this.

 

Helpful Hint #1...remember to MIRROR Heat press vinyl.

 

Sue2

 

BTW...Not a wise idea to post your phone number on a public forum....

you really don't know who all is reading this.

 

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

I have posted this a zillion times on here..  How to set your blade depth..which is also how to set the correct force..  Speed,, start slow until you know your machine  Even all these years,  I still don't run my cutter fast and my cuts are perfect.

 

To start with, you should set your blade depth correctly, by taking the blade holder out of the machine, and firmly cut across a piece of scrap vinyl, you will be cutting. You should only be cutting the vinyl and barely a mark on wax paper backing, Adjust blade to get there, Then put the blade holder back in machine, and use the force of the machine to get there, same results, only cutting the vinyl and barely a mark in wax paper backing.

[Jimmy1212 5]

I had an opportunity to train 2 people with my same single head, 15 needle embroidery machines as mine and without a doubt has made a huge impact on their business. Would love to find that person in the cutter industry. I will admit my personality is very black and white Making me a perfectionist. I want anything that has my name attached to it to be exceptional in quality. Check out my website, it's kinda speaks for itself.

Jakesandjills.com

[Jimmy1212 5]

It's my business contact number.

I do have the the blade set correctly or at least I think I do. It's trying to understand why on the dos and donts and take in any expert help I can get. I gain so much from group,or hand on style training so I thought just maybe I could find some folks in my area.

[Jimmy1212 5]

Sue as far as how I thought I would get experience, I thought the machine would have come with a lot more for learning. I knew there would be a learning curve and I have been reading and watching endless videos. Yes I learned how to embroider but it came with a very costly learning curve. I'm trying to avoid that with this.

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

Also the EXPERT help is written here hundreds upon hundreds of times...  What question could you possibly have that has never been answered here? Shoot it out here...  EVERY possible question has been already answered, many, many times    There is even a Newbie Manual .    Do and don'ts come from running the machine, and working with the machine and software.. it's comes from experience...that's how you learn.  It's a pretty simple machine to run....

 

http://forum.uscutter.com/index.php?/topic/16167-manual-for-new-bie-how-to-start-from-nothing-to-your-first-cut/

[Jimmy1212 5]

I will continue to search the forum. I think we've gotten off track from what I was asking by my post. I'm looking for fellow cutter folks in my area who would be willing to get together.

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

2 Don'ts that I can think of.

 

DON'T train your competition   (It cuts your sales and income)  It doesn't matter where they live. The world.

DON'T  post your website up here....(you will find all of your great designs up on something else's website under another name, at lower prices.)  The world.

[Jimmy1212 5]

Well actually myself and 2 other embroidery business both less than 10 miles apart all share with each other and back each other up. Not everyone is out to screw someone over. Heard a great quote and I strive to live by it "The way to be successful is to help others succeed" I hope my work does inspire other to create and design.

Guess I just see things very differently.

Hopefully I can come across others in my area who share the same views.

[busterbay 326]

I agree with Mz Skeeter, the world of sign producers is filled with competitors and someone is always willing to work cheaper. On this or all most any forum you will get basic help if you get stuck. However most will not help you become a competitor. There are no borders, 1 mile away or 10,000 you are still a competitor.

 

I have the same machine you have and it works great. I also have a MH and a SC and all three produce the same quality. By your consumables from the same supplier to reduce your variation and all you will ever have to change is force once you figure it out.

 

Good luck

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

I think you missed  my point....... I said you will find "YOUR DESIGNS",,, up on someone else's website...NOT INSPIRE.to create...... to someone else's website.   Too many thieves out there,  trying to make a buck...,,,too many tracing softwares ..,   I had several of my original designs stolen from here by a fellow forum member and posted to their websites..  My camera photos, ad, and everything.... I NEVER post my site here again... even though people ask.. It hasn't just been 1 person either.. I look for my designs, online as well as my ads..  And your phone number takes them right to yours.

[Jimmy1212 5]

The point of a business website is for people to go it. My gallery is show my quality of work. Other people's work have definitely contributed to some of my best ideas.

I retired a year and a half ago from the fire department as a firefighter for 24 years due to a very bad injury. I guess helping and fixing problems is just in my make up. I don't concentrate on my "competitors" I just focus on the quality of my work and happy customers. The majority of all my business is referral based.

But, if anyone comes across this and is new to or considering embroidery I would love to share all that I have learned that has made me successful and keep you from making many of my mistakes and losing money when I started.

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

Good luck with your thoughts.   

[Jimmy1212 5]

I want to share a really cool story about my business and maybe it is meant to be for someone who happens to read. Months after I started my business I had a technician come out to do a maintenance on my two commercial machines. While he was here he was telling me he just left a job where a lady who only had one machine was going to be out of service for FIVE WEEKS due to a part that had to be special ordered. I knew nothing about her but I asked him to give her my number to see if she would like to utilize one of my machines when I wasn't using it. Well, she called and offered to pay for the use of machine time and I declined any money. The outcome was amazing. She lived alone and only family was a son in Chicago and recently lost her husband to suicide. Little did she know my dad had just hung himself. Just by me offering a kind gesture I have become a great friend and source of strength to her and she has to me as well. Her machine eventually got running again and to this day we meet weekly for lunch or dinner. What's really cool is she still to this day comes over sometimes with her own orders and we each work on our own customer since I have 2 machines and just to enjoy working around each other. She ended up having 12 years of experience in the industry and has been instrumental in my success and all I did was reach out to someone who needed a hand up it a HAND OUT!!

[Wildgoose 4,200]

I'm betting those embroidery machines are several levels above cutters in complexity of set-up. You WILL have to learn the lingo but that will come over time. Did you decide what design program you are going to delve into? 

 

Here are a few newbie tips. Most of the cutters are similar but use different names or scales to define things. In general almost all cutters use grams of force for down pressure but every band of cutter varies in what it considers a gram of force. (and on chinese cutters probably most of the cutters within the same brand and model probably vary) So on your cutter, which sounds like they are pretty good but are not mainstream as far as servo cutters go, your cutting force number will be different than mine. I watched a guy on the forum who posted a good youtube video with a Titan (can remember which one) and he was cutting with about 100 grams of force, I think, on vinyl that I cut at 60 or 65. So for downforce it truly is a matter of guessing at first and working up the pressure doing small test cuts until you are perfect. MOST of the time once you get it right you won't change it much except when changing vinyl types and brands. I cut almost all calendared vinyl and HTV at 65g. When I switch to cast vinyl I drop down to 55 or 60 depending on the brand. This can also change with blade wear or a broken tip. Speaking of broken tips, work up from a lighter setting rather than punching through the carrier if you can avoid it Most cutters have some sort of test option that will do a small test cut to determine the correct pressure and probably blade offset.  Mine has one for each need. You can make a very small file like a square box with an x in the middle and just cut that little bit if yours doesn't have a test cut feature. 

 

For speed, My recommendation is to look at the slowest and the fastest available speeds your cutter can run and cut about 30% to start with. Mine runs from 50mm/sec to 800 and I generally cut at 200. Watching that same video of the titan, he was cutting at 400 (I think, can't remember for sure) but it was probably slower than mine does at 200 or very close to the same so you can't always count on what someone says but if they have the same cutter exactly then you would be close. Doesn't really matter because in the end you will figure out what you like best anyway. Cutter speed is probably similar to sewing. You CAN go wild fast if you want to but there will likely be bad results and at the very least more wear and tear on things. My Summa shoots stuff so fast even at 600 that I have had it mess up rolls throwing the vinyl around so aggressively that it folded bad in the material catcher. Just not in that big a hurry. 

 

Cutters aren't rocket science. Blade depth, then pressure. Most common mistake is too much blade out. Once you think it's right, start a cut and while it's running bend over and make sure you can see just a very little bit of light between the blade holder and the vinyl. Almost nothing but not quite touching. You'll probably see the glint of the blade too if you are using a flashlight. If your blade is set right you won't need to change it for normal vinyl. Cast is usually 2mil and the cheap stuff is 2.5 or 3mil so it's minute difference and you can ignore it. If you go to thicker products you will need to reset your blade but most of us don't. Printed vinyl is often 10 mil and some glitter HTV is thick but I rarely have to worry about it. You just adjust your pressure to push on through the 3 mil as opposed to 2 mil etc...

 

Hope some of this will help you out. You sound like a nice person and welcome to the forum. I don't know if you will find any takers on a training session but there will be plenty willing to help with the advice. I came here with no knowledge at all and these people helped me so I stuck around to help others out and have made a lot of friends in the process. You will get this figured out before you know it so don't sweat it. Vinyl is actually pretty affordable so you won't go broke in the learning process. 

[Jimmy1212 5]

Thank you for the help. My cutter came with "sure cuts a lot pro 3 software" and I watching quite a few great videos about that on you tube. Do you have a brand preference far as vinyl goes? Not sure what cast is but will check it out. Thanks again

[Wildgoose 4,200]

If you are a regular shopper at USCutter I love Oracal (now changing to Orafol). They have a great calendared product number 651 which is wonderful and I use a lot of 751 cast vinyl for automobile decals and once in a blue moon I use 951. 

 

Calendared vinyl is made at the factory basically like a giant tube of toothpaste squirted out then rolled until its at the specified thickness and cut into the final product. Cast is mixed up in a polymer like state and sprayed out onto the carrier. The calendared has a natural tendency to want to shrink back to it's original state and some brands are worse than others. Cast has no memory in it so it's much less susceptible to shrink issues. You'd be surprised how much a plate glass window or the side of a car expands and contracts and the cast is superior at dealing with this type of thing. Cast is also more adept at flexing around curved surfaces. IF you get into major curves then the 951 comes into play. Most of my regular vinyl work is fairly simple vehicle graphics or flat signage.  Calendared works fine on semi-permanent signage and small decal applications. 

 

I'm no expert but I've picked a little of this stuff over time. I started out with a cheaper cutter and my wife talked me into a heat press so we could make shirts for the kids (I have 7, all girls). The market I thought I would find was hard to break into and cut throat. Over time and word of mouth I shifted more toward shirts and work garments. Everyone want a t-shirt it seems. So now at the business I do 85%-90% shirts with HTV (Heat Transfer Vinyl) and an occasional vehicle or sign. My business is a weekends and evenings type of thing I run out of my house. By day I manage a road construction business, graphics gives me a good break from the daily grind. 

[busterbay 326]

The amount of force depends upon how you have your blade setup and what type of blade. If I would run my machines at 100 or 65 I will have a very expensive paper cutter. I run my  Titan at 28 when I hit 36 I change blades. My SC starts out at 12 and my MH 10. 

 

Follow Mz Skeeters advice for setting up a blade that's how I learned. Cut a bunch of shapes out of scrap, once you have it set you will be good to go. All of these machines I mentioned need a 1mm overcut the offset should be on your blade package.

 

It took me about 2 weeks to figure it out  mainly because my SC came with the cutter head off track and I didn't know it. Once I figured out where the variation was coming from I was on my way. Soon after you get into this and you become good at it you should be able to look at an image and see if it can be cut. I would assume this is the same thing with embroidery. 

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

I want to share a really cool story about my business and maybe it is meant to be for someone who happens to read. Months after I started my business I had a technician come out to do a maintenance on my two commercial machines. While he was here he was telling me he just left a job where a lady who only had one machine was going to be out of service for FIVE WEEKS due to a part that had to be special ordered. I knew nothing about her but I asked him to give her my number to see if she would like to utilize one of my machines when I wasn't using it. Well, she called and offered to pay for the use of machine time and I declined any money. The outcome was amazing. She lived alone and only family was a son in Chicago and recently lost her husband to suicide. Little did she know my dad had just hung himself. Just by me offering a kind gesture I have become a great friend and source of strength to her and she has to me as well. Her machine eventually got running again and to this day we meet weekly for lunch or dinner. What's really cool is she still to this day comes over sometimes with her own orders and we each work on our own customer since I have 2 machines and just to enjoy working around each other. She ended up having 12 years of experience in the industry and has been instrumental in my success and all I did was reach out to someone who needed a hand up it a HAND OUT!!

That kind of help is done here all the time...people help each other and make things for each other all the time.  And we are many miles apart.  I have never met 1 person on here. and only know what a couple look like...but I have over 11,000 posts helping people..  Only 1 time did  I ask for a graphic.. I don't get paid for it. I also run  full time online businesses. And many times I have helped with cutters that I have never owned..... You haven't been on here long enough to know and read that. We are many thousands friends deep here......    Jaybird loaned out an extra machine to a shop in his town, not long ago.  That is the kinda guy he is.. Because their's broke. We look in our areas for machines for people, or great deals on supplies etc...We help on here all the time when people are stuck with something...All you have to do is ask..and somebody will answer your question.. You may not like the answer,  but it will get answered if someone knows the answer...

[Jimmy1212 5]

I have 2 girls but SEVEN!!!!!! I hope you have a man cave when they are all hormonal and moody I will admit girls come with drama, just how we tick. Lol. Thank you for the info!!