Studio V4.1 How do I Resize/Scale?

[Mick_c]

Thanks Girls,

your comments are reassuring. It's not so much the volume of the noise that concerned me, so much as the sounds themselves. They really do sound torturous. I discovered too that I had positioned my blade incorrectly, with the fin positioned at "quarter past three". I read this somewhere on this site but it was making reference to variant of my machine, and I made a wrong assumption. I've since learnt that the fin should be positioned so that it faces the user. This might make a difference, although I hope I haven't done any lasting damage to my blade.

I think the comments about exporting my Illustrator files as DXF files are especially pertinent, because that's precisely what I've been doing. It kind of makes sense to me that a smoother motion of the blade will only improve the quality of the cut (and possibly the life span of the bade too). I think the next thing I should do is get a copy of the Silhouette software. If memory serves, I think someone made the same recommendation to me in an earlier post and mentioned that it was free.

Thanks again,

Mick

[DJG]

It's here Mick https://www.silhouetteamerica.com/so...egacy-software

[Mick_c]

Oh, thank you, DJC. I'm really glad I joined this forum. I'd probably have given up by now without everyones' help and advice! There might be one other thing you could help me with. My cuts look O.K. (although I'm still fine tuning my machine) but I find that when I'm weeding text, the bowls of each letter are too readily displaced. I was given my machine for free, along with several sheets of vinyl and I suspect they're donkey's years old, so the tack has probably degraded. I want to buy some more, but I figured it would probably be better if I purchased a known and trusted brand. Does such a thing exist? Is there a proprietary vinyl which might perform better than the rest or are they all pretty much the same?

Thanks

Mick

[DJG]

I don't use vinyl Mick but I belong to a Facebook group and one site that's been mentioned a lot (apart from Graphtec who supply the UK machine's) is MDP supplies. We're not allowed to add links but Google will find it for you

[Tootsie]

I have used them before and found them fine with quick delivery etc.

[Mick_c]

You know, I've just left their website before logging on here! That's where I got my new blade from, and I don't live too far from one of their outlets. If I call in personally I'll be able to pick their brains a bit too. Thanks.

[DJG]

That's a bit of luck...... you will save on postage too

[Jampot]

You may save on postage as Doreen says, but you will spend a lot more buying things you didn't know you needed. At least that's what I find when I go to my local branch! They are really helpful though.

[Mick_c]

It's always the way, isn't it, Sue. However, I'm only using my cutter for one thing: to make templates for glass etching. Saying that, though, now that I've seen the cutter at work, I've started toying with the idea of purchasing a bigger machine in order to make my own postal and gift boxes. I'm selling my own mugs online, and I was thinking that if I could source my own corrugated cardboard, I could bring down the cost of my stuff slightly. I'm heading over to their store as soon as I've finished writing this. While I'm there, I might just ask them about bigger machines!

A quick quick word for DJC, I downloaded Silhouette, and it sounds much better! Do you have any thoughts about the Double Cut feature in the Cutting Settings? I was having trouble weeding smaller text and I was going to give this feature a try, just to see if it makes any difference.

[DJG]

I haven't needed to use the double cut so far Mick even though I cut card. If you're using vinyl it might cut thorough the vinyl AND the backing with a double cut

[Mick_c]

Thanks, DJG. Just got back from the store. I asked for 10 pieces of vinyl thinking they were A4 size, but they're much bigger (longer). Cheap as chips!

[DJG]

Well worth the trip them Mick

[Shirley Anne]

A quick quick word for DJC, I downloaded Silhouette, and it sounds much better! Do you have any thoughts about the Double Cut feature in the Cutting Settings? I was having trouble weeding smaller text and I was going to give this feature a try, just to see if it makes any difference.

Mick, have you thought about giving your smaller text a small offset, that may make weeding a bit easier. You definitely don't need a double cut for vinyl, try increasing the thickness/force setting of your blade in cut settings. To cut corrugated cardboard on a regular basis I would think you would need a flatbed plotter or laser cutter which I imagine don't come cheap !!

[Mick_c]

Hi Shirley Anne, I need to do something, because after buying new vinyl I'm still faced with the same problem: the cutter does its job, you can see all the cuts, but when it comes to weeding, the bowls of each letter (as in those letters like A, B, D and so on) just lift away as I pull off the surrounding vinyl. I've tried holding them down with a second weeding tool, but even the act of lifting this away afterwards displaces them. They come away far too easily. Increasing the size of the text helps, but its still problematic. Also, I wanted to etch champagne flutes, but with them being so narrow there isn't enough space to accommodate the larger text.

I suspect that the real problem lies in the tolerances of the technique itself. I don't think making masks from vinyl, which includes small text, actually lends itself to glass etching. I think I need to look at some other method. It's frustrating, because my designs, thus far, have included some fairly intricate curlicues, so you think that if there was going to be a problem it would be with them, but these are fine! The mind boggles.

What do you mean by offsetting the text? Are you talking about increasing the line width of each letter then outlining it?

[DJG]

Offset means making another of same image around the original but a little bit larger the line width will stay the same. This video shows how to do it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vMGl3ml4OU but as it's in an earlier version of studio I've added a screenshot to show where it is in version 4. I've read that some people
add a box around the text which seems to make the weeding easier and there's less waste.
offset.jpg




Just a thought but are you saying the center of some of the letters "fall out" like in the top image in the screenshot below if you are you can either use a stencil font or place a tiny rectangle over the letter like in the second image then select both and do subtract then it will look the third image to keep them from falling out

Screenshot_5.png