Vinyl Cutter I've never used it

#35

More vinyl adventures. Managed to get it cutting again but with some realisations about getting a good result.

It’s not happy cutting small shapes and I was getting some very rounded edges. Googling suggests this is the result of blade offsets but that seems to only apply to using the official software, which looks a bit crap and I don’t think we still have the serial that would get us an install of it anyway.

It’s also cutting slightly undersize, which is a slight problem when I’m trying to hit dimensions. Not entirely sure how small just yet, my next step is going to be cutting some tests so I can at least suggest a scaling factor to get things right.

Still haven’t worked out how the hell it works out a zero point or what, if anything, the laser pointer dot in it lines up with. The instructions leave a lot to be desired.

2 Likes
#36

So it’s cutting everything at 90% of full size. There’s doubtless some primary school maths I’m forgetting to get it back but scaling by 1.1 got it close enough for me.

The zero point seems to be, confusingly, the bottom right of your design. Still can’t work out what the laser pointer is for other than if you put it at the edge of the vinyl it gives you a margin of error.

Still no luck cutting small letters or sharp corners though.

#37

Sounds like one of those things where they intentionally give you vague support for the machines so you have to get official support for lots of pennies.

Really annoying that the scaling is off. I hat it when I get this problem when I’m printing printing. Guessing this equally off in both directions? If it is only off in one direction, then it might not be picking up the material thickness properly or something.

I’m popping down about half 12 if you are still about?

#38

It’s 90% in both, not a material movement thing. Possibly the official software would help but that seems unlikely to me.

#39

Do you have a simple test hpgl file? I assume the scaling happens inside the plotter but it would be nice to confirm.

#40

I just drew a 100mm square and measured it. Came out 90mm on each side.

#41

Perfect! Can you upload it?

#42

Yes sorry, just checked discourse. Will re-generate a copy and upload it tomorrow.

1 Like
#43

Here you go, a 100x100mm square to try out, as run through hpgl distiller.
10x10output.hpgl.zip (265 Bytes)

#44

Here’s your file:

IN;PU;
IN;
PA1143,6;
PD;
PA4722,6,4722,3585,1143,3585,1143,6;
PU;
PA1143,6;
PD;
PA4722,6,4722,3585,1143,3585,1143,6;
PU;
PA0,0;
PG0;

Not sure why the double init IN or double plotting the same shape but the first plot is a vertical line from (4722, 6) to (4722, 3585) which is (3585-6)*0.025=89.475mm long

#45

Weird. That was just a 100x100 square as drawn in illustrator.

#46

Can you try the output phase via Inkscape?

#47

I can try and compare output from a few things and see if the .eps to .hpgl step is getting garbled somehow.

#48

So I just tried it from Affinity Designer because I’m lazy and had it installed already and tried a similar .eps to .hpgl to .hpgl without the extra stuff and got exactly the same 89mm square as output or, skipping the hpgl-distiller step total garbage.

I’m guessing this means something is up with the .eps translation?

#49

I think that’s probably the case.

I spent a few hours last night getting an web assembly binary of https://www.ghostscript.com/ working in browser so you could do encapsulated post script -> HPGL v1 in a single step without installing anything but I’m honestly stuck on figuring out which “device” flag to pass to it. My google abilities are failing me. If you figure out which device it should be, I’m happy to finish that up and host it.

#50

Hi vinyl fans!

@kyle and I went in and replaced the 5v power supply for the raspberry pi in the vinyl cutter, also had to re-flow the USB connector as it had gotten loose on the board from being hit sideways. The vinyl cutter is in a bit of a precarious place right now, but will get better as we expand, but for now be sure to disconnect the USB cable for storage so it doesn’t get bent again!

image
72CD7CD9-9DC4-42E8-BB53-8C75A96AAB48.jpeg4032×3024 3.05 MB

Thanks!
Andy

3 Likes
#51

Hi all, I tried using the vinyl cutter the other week, but the http://slmsvinyl.ddns.net/ address didn’t work with the cutter powered up, maybe the Pi isn’t getting power again?

Should I try opening the cutter to check? Or is this best left to someone who actually knows what they’re doing? :wink:

I’m in the space this evening (26/03/24) laser cutting, so I could give it another go.

Thanks!

#52

Feel free to poke! We were using a dynamic DNS service to get it working before we had access to DNS but I have since added a record for vinyl.space.southlondonmakerspace.org to point to the right IP. I have updated the tool page to reflect that change. Let me know if its all working this evening, appreciate it!

Note that the IP address is internal to the space and so will only work on the network there.

3 Likes
Vinyl cutting
#53

Yay that link works, thanks Kyle! I’ve run out of time tonight, but I’ll be testing it soon :slight_smile:

I’ll post an update on here once I’ve done a successful print

3 Likes
#54

It’s worth nothing that someone in another thread (that i now can’t find) suggested there is a bug with illustrator that I ran into with everything scaled wrong. There’s some export parameter that needs setting for it to work at the right size so if your prints are off also that might explain it.

I’ll have a dig later and try to find the post. I never did get it cutting right.