r/VinylCutters

do anyone have experience with cutter that can be integrated through custom API's that are affordable for hobby usage?

e.g. cricut maker and silhuette cameo 5 can't be controlled from an API.

what im looking for is me having a program on my pc - i print a file with my art in, that art file would have an generated cut file from my program that gets pushed to the cutter, and i just move the paper and click cut - without having to do print then cut from their propriatery software designers?

I have been using Cricut for quite a few years and just got a deal on a US cutter. I'm wondering what software would be easiest for me since I'm used to design space for the Cricut. I have a project I have been putting off because I'm nervous about the software.

I have the above vinyl cutter that I CANNOT get my letters to come out correctly! The horizontal tops and bottoms of the letters are always cut at a slant rather than perfectly horizontal.

I have adjusted the step pass parameters, I have turned off tangent emulation, I have put everything back to the factory settings (according to the manual), I have even tried different fonts but nothing seems to work.

For example, when attempting to cut Times New Roman, the tops of the letters are supposed to be horizontal and the middle of the capitals (like an H) is supposed to be horizontal, but the are instead at a skewed angle.

I have about burned my 71-year old brain out and pulled out what little hair I have left!! Nothing I have tried seems to make the problem any better....or worse yet it doesn't make it any worse either! I have run all of the calibration tests and they don't seem to make any difference either.

The unit is connected via USB and my software (Vinyl Master Pro) is running on Windows 10.

I am certainly open to any viable suggestions at this point (short of throwing this thing out the window!)

-DON-

****UPDATE****

First, thank you folks for all of your help and suggestions.

Second, I have discovered the problem. The issue was the BLADE OFFSET setting in my software. I had not thought to take a look at that, thinking the issue was with the plotter itself.

I had switched from a 45-degree blade to a 60-degree blade and then my ignorance kicked in! I had not even thought of checking the offset setting in my software, I was so focused on having the issue with the plotter itself. Dummy me!

After searching and searching I finally found a TikTok video in which the guys from Vinyl Express spoke about setting the blade offset. Then the bells began to ring and the lights started to flash. A few test cuts later and I am in business.

I hope this may help someone else who is having a similar issue save a few grey hairs.

Thanks again

-DON

Hey guys, I just wanted to ask and kinda compare what others' settings are for making die-cut vinyl laminated stickers. The issue is my die-cut settings aren't going all the way through the sticker paper backing. I'm pretty new to the hobby and am using a Portrait 4 (3 months old) with autoblade, Silhouette mat and software.

I've tried several different vinyl sticker papers and laminates off amazon and other places and I'm trying to figure out the minimum settings for die-cut laminated stickers. Right now, I'm at Blade Depth 6, Passes 7, Speed 1, Force 36, Accel 1, Line Segment overcut and Track enhancing both ON, and still am not getting a clean full cut through the sticker backing, which results in me trying to finish cutting them out manually and unfortunately leaving sticker paper backing fibers still showing around the edges of the die-cut stickers.

I've started wondering if laminated die-cut settings are supposed to be this high and if maybe there could be an issue with my machine or if this is normal with die-cuts. In y'alls experience, are these settings around the expected range for die-cuts?

I'd really appreciate any feedback. Please and thank you.

Hi all,

I have a functional cutter that works fine, usually we use A4 decals with crop marks.

However I wanted to try my hand at using it as a plotter for large schematic type things on paper. I managed to 3D print a little pen holder and did a few samples on A4 which went fine (with crop marks I believe) Then I tried a larger scale roll of paper without crop marks and it's not having it, I managed to get one go out of it but it only acted like half the page existed, now I've come back to try again and when I hit cut it just makes a noise pretending to work for a second then does nothing (no error). The cutter works fine generally so it's not a cutter or communication issue.

I can't see much help via the user manual for "cutting" without crop marks. Do I use tool mode? Or another? I tried tool mode and the best I eventually got was an error saying it was out of bounds or something so maybe I've entered a larger cutting area than it can handle but not sure how to proceed.

Any help would be appreciated 😊