MH721 Vinyl cutter - Is it functioning / Can I be inducted?

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#25

I have also tamed it.

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#26

ok, an afternoon to play with the beast is a great idea - when?

#27

Using the cutter now, and it’s working using the steps on the Wiki Page and some faffing converting files produced in Illustrator!

One query: the rollers that control the movement of the vinyl exert enough force to make what could be permanent marks. For my use (using the vinyls as paint stencils) this is unimportant, but others may need to do tests to make sure it’s optimum for them.

#28

Side note: welcome to the issues of everyone who uses the laser cutter with inkscape from Illustrator.

#29

I think you can reduce the pressure of the rollers with some knob or another somewhere.

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#30

Yes, I’m just not messing with at as it’s working for my needs right now!

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#31

I have started a new thread Vinyl Cutter - Connectivity and technical aspects to keep this separate from more practical aspects.

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#32

@frasco I think I’ve worn out the blade (it started to cut poorly after cutting well, with no physical adjustments made to the cutter)

Should I buy some more blades? Roland comparable, it says on Wiki page?

EDIT: quite a range of blades: 30/45/60 degree…and ideas?

#33

Well @Dermot Google says: click

So 45° blades seems right

EDIT: ordered!

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#34

Talking to yourself again, @Dermot

#35

It was probably the shock of discovering that I’m not a member, and perhaps never have been?

#36

@frasco I took the brave step of changing the blade…

I used a piece of paper folded 4x to approximate 0.4mm

If I could have seen any feeler gauges I’d have used them!

NOTE: it now needs much less cutting force: 50g where the same vinyl needed 110g before.

Can you check this over next time you’re in?

Also: we need storage for vinyl-related stuff. I have some some transfer tape, and vinyl offcuts, plus two new spare blades.

#37

Might well be in tomorrow.

I measuring 80gsm paper folded 4x and got to 0.4mm, so I expect that you’re close enough.

Using a 60deg blade ( supposedly better for fine detail) I find I only need 40g and a slow speed to avoid tearing.

I don’t think the space has a set of feeler gauges. I always bring a set in. Perhaps the Space could afford to buy a set?

Could we buy a swing bin to store vinyl offcuts etc.?

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#38

Would be nice to keep them together and findable.

I have lent a USB extension cable so you can cut with the laptop on the social area table.

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#39

@frasco or @andrewdblack – I have this cutting by piping HPGL. I get the right shape at the wrong scale. Have you encountered this?

(It’s too late now for me to investigate further, I guess I’ll be back tomorrow to continue.)

#40

If using Inkscape find the measure tool and check that it didn’t alter dims when imported.

EDIT: then calculate the proportion and rescale…speaking from bitter experience…

#41

Yeah. I resized in Inkscape… but probably need to go back and re-check and inspect further the HPGL itself. I had a quick look and it didn’t seem to have a unit of dimension, so my immediate thought was that the plotter is set to some scale (ie. mm vs. inch or somesuch)

#42

The HPGL native plotter unit is 0.025mm.

You can set up user units with the SCALE command. There are several different ways of doing this, but you probably want

SC xmin,xfactor,ymin, yfactor , 2

Assuming that you have set up your inkscape plot in mm with a 0,0 origin. Insert after the IN; instruction -

SC0,40,0,40,2;

I haven’t tried this but this is taken from HP’s official HP-GL/2 Reference Guide

#43

Thanks! That sounds just the ticket. I’ve got back to the space and am about to start investigating…

#44

Belated reply: Inkscape sets the scale correctly in it’s export (it’s the funny DPI value, 25.4mm / 0.025 = 1016), but only exports correctly if the document size is the bounds of your drawing. I’ve updated the wiki page with all I learnt.

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