Plotter

[Marco]

hi Jimmy,

i would like to know wich plotter and masking film you use.
would a little plotter from hp do the job? they already cost as much as 2 yoke bx's. and hey... the shell for the x6 you made is quite one of the nicest looking shells i seen so far *Thumbs up*
oh yeah... the name of th program you use to design what the plotter is cutting later would be of interest to.

thanks for the help,

Greets Marco

[BenG]

I think he uses Adobe Illustrator 10 CS2?

[Marco]

hi there,

ok thanks!

[jimmy]

Hi Marco, I use a graphtec plotter, its expensive I think but mine is a bit old so wasnt too expensive.
I use vinyls from graffityP mostly, I use some low-tack stuff for windows and for the window masks I sell..
But for really nice lines and the best detail, I use CAST vinyl. it isnt meant for masks but it is really good - it just needs to be heated (hair dryer) to remove it since it can be hard to remove.

I use Adobe Illustrator CS2 now, which is illustrator 13 I think. Let me know if you need any help when you get your plotter - I am no expert but I will help where I can.

[BenG]

What are these like Jimmy?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-700mm-CREA...QQcmdZViewItem

[Marco]

That's a similar plotter like i bought yesterday but mine has got 6Mb Ram.
I payed 600 Schweizer Franken = 253.966 Britisches Pfund.
thats a pretty tiny prize in comparsion to a make like hp or so.
And i thought it's cutting well, when i seen it in action. so... i will find the real issues later when i'm growing into the materia .

first of all i have to setup my pc newly cuz it's full bugs. then i'll get that coreldraw and install the plotter to give it a try.

@Jimmy

What colors did u use for the x-6 hood? Spazstix?
I'm trying to get SpazStix but no one sells them here in switzerland.

i report when i got first efforts with the plotter .

Greetings Marco

[Tony Gray]

I got one of these Chinese 'Rabbit' ones off ebay, paid just over $400 Aus for it. And..its bloody brilliant.... Can't fault the thing and seems to cut anything with precision and quite quickly.
Compared to my Brother-In-Laws Roland its actually better!

Came with its own software (Artcut) which I use to do the actual cutting, but I do my originals in Corel Designer.

Tony

[jimmy]

not bad prices, my graphtec is a real quality item and is supposed to go forever..


I use createx and faskolor (createx rebranded) paints, I just like to work with them.

[Marco]

Hi Tony!

I got the same one! well i have the lil bro of it (360)
with that artcut software.

but...um... when i vectorize a .bmp and click on "cut/plot" the programm crashes and the machine wont do any moves at all.

my biggest effort till now is to cut the test-square

I'm a total plotter-newb and i beg for Help.

i'll contact the guy who sold it to me now.

Greets Marco

[jimmy]

try cut my oople logo, see if that works. I never really vectorised anything from a bitmap for cutting so I'm not sure what sort of lines it produces for that. but I have Illustrator and eps vector formats for download in my download secion - maybe worth a try ?

[ashleyb4]

I use my schools laser cutter. hehe I want to have a got with there CNC milling machine see if i can make some custom parts.

A

[Tony Gray]

Marco, I vectorize my bmp (or jpegs) in Corel Trace and then export that trace as a hpgl (plt) file.

For me anyway, this works pretty well.

Tony

[Marco]

Thank you guy's!!

I'll try that this evening... as soon as i get a corel.

[Marco]

OMG!!!
I just can't get that plotter to work dammit!

in the devicemanager it always shows that ugly,well-hated "?-sign" from hell.

Windows cannot load the driver for the rabbit-plotter (error-code 31).

i'll gonna smoke a cig now, then i'll copy all i need from my hd and provide a format c.

[Tony Gray]

Dont give up Marco.... Mine took a few goes to get the software loaded but now its as sweet as..

[jimmy]

hmmm, I am sorry I can't really help marco. Have you looked for the latest drivers on the net ? maybe there are newer / better ones ?

Another idea is to check out a forum maybe where other people might have the plotter like you have. The only one I have used before is uksignboards (google it), there seem to be a few forums with a lot of sign people who will maybe be able to help.

[Marco]

Hey ppl

i got my pc newly installed and everything, now the artcut-software doesent crash anymore it just doesent plot lol.

i am registered in a forum wich is dedicated to exactly this plotter-make but they do not have any ideas.

that sucks bad

Greets

[craigosh]

http://www.signmaster.co.uk/craftrobo/CRAFTROBO.htm
what ya think to these jimmy? any experience?

what do you use to make the name stickers? a wax thermal printer?

[Marco]

my plotter works i can't believe it myself but yeah... god came to earth and saved me from delirium.

i installed the soundcard-driver newly cuz it had a yellow shout-symbol in the device-manager. after that i tryed the plotter again and it worked right away

don't ask me what a plotter has in common with a soundcard... i'm just happy now.

suddenly after some test plot's... i found out that i'm a complete dork with designing-software . so i'll must learn "how to"

btw: do you guy's have snow over there?

[jimmy]

haha, no snow! just misserable weather!

Glad you got it working.
I use Illustrator myself for designing things.