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Hello,

I was offered a used 28" Titan 2 for $500 but my friend knows nothing about it like how old it is, if software comes with it, if any blades are with it, when his uncle bought it or anything. My question for everyone is are there any issues I need to be concerned about or can I plug it in and get it running? Is this a durable machine that normal wear and tear won't affect it's reliability no matter the age? Is the machine easy to fix if there is a problem? Does USCutter still provide phone support for secondhand users? Also, I am a MAC user and plan to design in Illustrator. I have no problem buying new software if needed. I just want to know if I should be worried about a used machine and not knowing it's history. Is $500 even a good price? Sorry for all the questions but any feedback is much appreciated. Thank you

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Hi Sam, Feedback as follows. That machine is worth $500, sure, it's running, probably has blade installed (you can fine-tune that with instructions offered in these Forums consistently). The TITAN series 2 is durable and fully supportable in USCutter's current parts bins. You shouldn't have problems anyway.

The MAC designs will be exported from illy as .eps/then imported into a cutting software available for a few bucks from USCutter --  SureCutsALotPro and run from that.

Titan should just click in when you "send to Cut" from the cutting app.

 

 

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I owned a titan2 for a while and it was a solid machine and has the best usb chipset of any of the chinese plotters - if I saw it work I would think it would be a good purchase - if they deactivate their vinylmaster software too I believe you will be able to install it on your machine with the password and user codes which make the deal even better

 

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If you end up getting the cutter, download a trial of the cutting software first. That will let you get the cutter all tested out. If all is good, then you can opt for the full purchase.

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Trial versions don't allow cutting. (unregistered SCAL will run a line across & through your design).

VinylMaster doesn't run on a mac, dakota.

Sam can do what he intended -- buy the $39.95 mac version of SCAL and that should be fine. He'll continue to design in Illustrator, export as .eps and import to SCAL for the cuts.

 

 

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you are correct slice - I missed the mac version -  with mac and scalp I am otta here as I am not user friendly with either platform - will leave it to our mac people

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That being said, dakota, it might be possible to deploy a WINDOWS session within the MacOSx environment (Parallels or Bootcamp emulation) and get VinylMaster or even SignBlazer to run, but like you, I'm not well-versed in the mechanics of doing it.

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33 minutes ago, slice&dice said:

That being said, dakota, it might be possible to deploy a WINDOWS session within the MacOSx environment (Parallels or Bootcamp emulation) and get VinylMaster or even SignBlazer to run, but like you, I'm not well-versed in the mechanics of doing it.

and the reason I am bowing out 

 

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9 hours ago, slice&dice said:

Trial versions don't allow cutting. (unregistered SCAL will run a line across & through your design).

If it runs a line through the design, it's still cutting, right?

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Yes, haumana, it cuts and then destroys the finished product, leaving you with wasted vinyl. But yes, it cuts, if only to confirm that the cutter works.

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53 minutes ago, slice&dice said:

Yes, haumana, it cuts and then destroys the finished product, leaving you with wasted vinyl. But yes, it cuts, if only to confirm that the cutter works.

Yah, so rather than just sinking money, right off the bat, at least the OP can download and test cut the trial versions of the programs. SCALP isn't the only cutting software option for Mac, it's just the only one that USC offers. Either way, there's a small learning curve, but if you can test drive and see how well it actually works with the machine first, then a better informed decision can be made.

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Be sure and try out the free week of SignCut Pro. it is a FULLY Functional trial so you can actually use your cutter without any issues. You can rent it by the week or month if you like it or buy a lifetime dongle. Either way it's a good option to test stuff and totally mac compatible. It's what I use on my mac AND my pc laptop because it will run on both. I design on my iMac and usually cut over on my windows 7 laptop when it will stay running. I know some people run a partition and run a windows environment in order to cut from their macs. I guess if you are real handy with computers thats an option. I am not that awesome and bought my mac to use because it just works. I just find mac compatible programs and don't have so much worry. I have the old pc laptop but the stupid thing gives me a blue screen literally every other time I open it up. I have had the same iMac since 2010 and just finally had a hard drive wear out about a year ago. Dropped a SSD in and back up and running as good or better than new. I love my mac. 

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Sounds like you're getting really great mileage out of your iMac! I've upgraded and hobbled my (Early 2009) MacPro now and again to keep this beast running. Every time I pull it out, and open it up for a deep (physical) cleaning, it's never the same and gets progressively worse. I guess it likes all the dust bunnies it accumulates and really hates to be dust free <_<

I ended up dropping in an additional HD for the sole purpose of running Win7 on it, so I could do my invoicing with Quicken on the Windows side. I tried Quickbooks for Mac and I can honestly say it epically sucks, hence the Windows. The added bonus for running Win7 on it was that I got to run the cutter on it too, so YEA! Now it's time is coming to an end and it's dying a very slow death. I have a 2019 MBP to replace it. I find myself working more in the living room rather than in my office now ... I can't figure out if that's a good thing or not :P

 

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I had heard that the mac version of quick books was lacking. I'm glad to hear it's true because that is why I bought the laptop in the first place, just for the books. It has turned into a good workflow to use it over at the cutter so I can still have use of my mac for other work while the cutter is busy. I bought my wife a macbook pro 15" last year as a tax write off. That thing is sweet. She doesn't let me play with it much. 

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