what would be the ideal vinyl start up kit?

[EricSmith]

Hi Mike

I like you am new to the computerised signmaking lark ( I am a traditional brush!) and I found it a right minefield – I used the 751 on my first van and it was ok but I shopped around and find the KPMF material to be the best to use – for me anyhow. Might be worth a try – ring 0870 121 1285 for full catalogue and they did me a starter pack with accessories etc.

Eric

[Robert Lambie]

hi eric, i just got some samples i requested from KPMF at sign uk the other day but have yet to try.
what did you find better with KPMF than 751?
also what range of vinyl from KPMF did you compare with?

i would be interested to know as i am always looking for improvements with vinyls & products.

regarding start up kits. i think you will find most if not all good suppliers will offer one.
persoanly i think your better buying what you think you will use/need.

[EricSmith]

Hi Robert,

Nice to chat with you again! About the 751/KPMF comparison – as you know I am new to this game but when I got my plotter from Roland I was advised by them to shop around for various vinyls as some are better than others. I did so and found that Hexis and KPMF were the easiest to weed and handle generally. I found some to be brittle and some I even had to increase the pressure on my blade which is inconvenient every time you use a different material.

At the moment I find the KPMF 50000 range – 5-8yr the best for me and the price is good. I find the service second to none and the staff there seem to be really informative. As an added bonus the material is only made in South Wales so I find it reassuring that they are never out of stock because they will deliver to me straight from the factory if needed. I tried one mactac distributor and the colour I wanted was out of stock and they wanted me to wait a fortnight until their delivery arrives!

The KPMF material seems softer than the 751 although its slightly thicker. I did actually put some yellow 751 on a dark green florist van and you could see the green through the vinyl.

Perhaps its just down to personal preference! If youve read my previous post you will see I got into some bother doing window graphics – turns out that the material I used (not kpmf) had a water based adhesive on instead of a solvent acrylic one hence why it went milky – had to re-do job in the finish with normal kpmf stuff and its ok.

Good luck with your samples from kpmf – Im sure they will be fine mate – by the way did you get your free squeegees from them in the end??? if not let me know and Ill mention it next time Im on to them.!!

Eric

[Mike.Smith]

the vinyl corperation is the brochure i just got with my cutter.
i called them and asked for some prices, they are selling by the metre oracal 751 for £2.00.
651 for £1.50 per metre. is this cheap or not??
im trying to set the machine up now .
ive installed this signblazer 5 pro software and it looks like a nasa spaceshuttle would be easier to fly to be honest.
atleast it found out the cutter was plugged into the pc .
thats a start i guess.
its going to be a long night 😮

[Lorraine Buchan]

Mike, Your best bet if your set on using oracal vinyls is to speak to rob about upgrading your membership to a full UKSG memebrship where you will amoung other things get great discounts on oracal vinyls

[Mike.Smith]

thanks gorgeous 😀
will do 🙂

[Mike.Smith]

im having a right mare setting up.
i got no instructions on how to do anything.
well not true but it might as well all be in japaneese
ive managed to install the signblazer pro software..
… this has found the machine ok .
but when you click on cut it says

can not open the output device. error initializing cutter.

is this just because there is no vinyl in the cutter.
i need to call tech support 😥
there was also a disc in the box.
this has ;
for windows 98
New star cutting plotter
Omega series
driver for cas-mate, Flexi

sign-lab and master
written on it.
but my pc wont open this up.
as there are files missing on my pc apparently 😥 .0
Im not a very happy bunny
and im out of beer 😥

[Nicola McIntosh]

have you installed the plotter driver?

Nik

[Mike.Smith]

The disc, well not really. as it wont install.
it says its for windows 98 and i have ME.
should still install though shouldnt it?
all it does is asks what id like to open it with.

i have no idea what to open it with.
thats the computers job lol, i just switch it on and off *hair*

[Nicola McIntosh]

go to my computers right click the drive the disc is in usually D, then right click explore, find setup then double click to install.

if that does not work try, control panel, add and remove programmes, make sure the disk is in and click select recommended drivers!!

if this does not work pm and i will try something else!!

i am not a fan of me!! but there are ways of getting round things!!

Nik

[J. Hulme]

Have you assigned the port to the plotter in the setup or preferences / options / plotting defaults of the sign program
I don’t know the software, but you almost certainly have to tell the software where you’ve plugged the plotter into.
I also assume its the LPT or printer port, make sure its LPT 1
unless of course its a USB device.
Select the driver / machine in plotting defaults and enable knife

Me, 98 etc shouldn’t make any difference

You may have to install drivers through the sign software, put the driver disc in and find your plotter (again in the setup) when it asks for driver location point it to your CD drive ( and folder containing your make plotter if necessary)

I’d either get 98 or XP because ME was a half baked attempt as an OS
you’ll lose lots of work and vinyl when it crashes. I’d recommend XP which is derived from NT so a hell of alot more stable.

Its just a case of telling the software whats plugged in , what its to do and where it is etc

[Mike.Smith]

I tried that nik.
i couldnt find a setup anywhere,
there was a cas file
and a flexi one
and sign lab.
none of them would open,
when i double clicked on the cas one, more came up and they were all the different machines that there are.
omega ones that is.
om 40 , om 60 , om 70 etc.
i clicked on the om 60 cause thats what ive got.
and it tried to open in adobe and said that it couldnt open cause it was not a supported file or it was corrupted.

the signblazer software once opened says that the cutter is plugged into Lpt3 ?? i just plugged it where the 9 pin plug fitted. which was straight into the front of the pc tower.

[Nicola McIntosh]

so what i have read the disk has loaded!! fab, next step go with outlines suggestions, it’s all to do with ports!! you’ll get there!!

nik

[J. Hulme]

Have you got a printer cable and a printer input socket to the plotter?

That doesn’t sound like a printer port to me, LPT is a printer or parallel port.
The software may tell you LPT 3 but you’ll have to try all if you don’t know where it is, one will work.

USB port wont be under LPT, neither will any other.
Once you find the port you’re plugged into and enable it through the software to take information to the plotter it will work.
You may still have to install driver for plotter though, you’ll get there !!

Also have you plugged your dongle in!!!!

[Mike.Smith]

yeah outline is right. i beleive that its a case of letting it know what port its plugged into.
the problem is that i dont know what port its plugged into lol.
like i said i just plugged it in the front

[J. Hulme]

What shape is the connection on the front of the PC?
15mm wide x 7mm high?

[Mike.Smith]

yeah thats it , its like an old zx spectrum joystick plug.

[J. Hulme]

Hi
its not an LPT port its looks like its on the USB / serial port/ bus
try selecting the com ports, one by one and cutting some (small) text
Yep, just had my spectrum out, honestly!
Also irrelevant to the ports but set the width (on the box on the pic) to the width of vinyl you’re using or you’ll get incorrect info on how much vinyl
width you can use

[Mike.Smith]

Im having no luck with it , ive tried all the ports that it lists.
it says its sending the info to the cutter, and a loading bar pops up.
but it doesnt move the cutter.
i will wait till i get some vinyl as it could be that it wont let it move unless its loaded?? ive no idea.

[J. Hulme]

Hi
you have to have vinyl in and setup the vinyl in the plotter
the cut head will move and measure the vinyl either by roll, where it just measures the width or by sheet/leaf where it measures width and length.

Sorry I assumed it was loaded up with vinyl.

You may have to also set the plotter manually to receive data as on my mimaki you have to put it on line, whereas my rolands do it automatically

[Mike.Smith]

lol 😳 that would be the problem then.
like i said there is no instruction book to tell you that.
so its all guess work 🙄
i will have to wait till the vinyl gets here then. as none came with the machine 😥 a metre would’nt have broken the bank lol
thanks for all your help
i will update you as soon as i get some vinyl 😀

[Gordon Forbes]

Look for a PDF file or Html file on the disk and it should at least tell you some info about how to set things up if not go to the web site as mentioned there should be something there.

Look in support or FAQ on the web site.

Goop

[Mike.Smith]

I tried to install the machine on my lap top today,
this time i didnt insert the signblazer pro software as it cant run on the laptop. so i put in the floppy and tried to install the driver.
it seemed to think that the driver needed upgrading and it also had a yellow exclamation mark next to the port lead on the connection picture?
what does this mean? anyone please

[J. Hulme]

Means theres a problem as its not configured correctly.

The plotter will not work without sign making software to control it
if the software does not install onto your laptop, the laptop will not run your plotter. 😉

[Mike.Smith]

Oh. ok well i will forget that idea,
i will leave it all alone until the vinyl arrives monday with a bit of luck.
ive spent about 200 quid on some bits im going to need.
i just hope that its going to work soon and start to earn me some money lol.
i will no doubt be back on here monday evening asking for more help lol.
thanks for the advice and info to date, its very much appreciated. 😀

[Mike.Smith]

Well …
i got the vinyl. which is a start.
but the pc is not operating it.
i called the company i got it off, they just said connect the printer lead into the cutter.

but the lead wont fit as its different,
i cant find which port im plugged into either 😳

[Lorraine Buchan]

Hi Mike,

Sorry to hear your having such problems with your cutter.

Something that might help is if you let everyone know what cutter your trying to install – maybe you have mentioned it somewhere but i can’t for the life of me see anything that tells me what cutter you have – maybe easier to sort your problems if we knew.

The lead you discribe as ‘like an old spectrum joystick lead’ sounds to me like it is a serial cable, but these are rarely found on the front of PC’s (mostly USB ports on the front also most new laptops don’t have serial ports) Is it possible you can take a pic?

As Outline says, If it is a serial cable then it will be a comm port you will need to select, your modem is usually on one then you usually have 2 others – the yellow exlamation mark means it’s not installed properly if you right click on my computer > properties > click hardware tab > device manager open up the ports and right click on the one with the yellow exlamation mark and select update then browse your CD rom for the file, it should only show you the available drivers, select the one to match your cutter. If this doesn’t work uninstall it and re-install.
note: these instructions are on XP but will be similar on 98, just think ahead

All versions of signblazer 5 are compatable with Windows ME and 98SE

oh and after care should be provided by the company who sold you the cutter/software they should be bending over backwards to help you get up and runing. If all they are telling you is plug it in – I’d be sending it back, after all if they are like this when the product is new, whats going to happen 6 months down the line if something goes wrong?? will they tell you to get a screw driver out and sort it out yourself??

[Mike.Smith]

Thanks for your help.
here is a few pics
front of the pc

the cable from the cutter that fits into the front of my pc

this is the ports on the cutter

im off to a shop in a minute to buy an ordinary printer lead that will go from my printer port to the cutter port as shown in the above picture.
thats what the company told me to do.
and it was at 8pm last night that i spoke to them.
oh yeah , and its a DGI omega 60 24" cutter

[Lorraine Buchan]

Well, I can’t help with the cutter as to be honest with you i haven’t heard of it.

But its definately the serial port your connected upto, and you should select it as one of the com ports either 1, 2 or 3, a bit of trial and error to be honest, but as i say your modem is normally on one com port, either 1 or 3, you can see this if you go into control panel and modems, this will eliminate that com port, then your left with the other two give them both a go!

[J. Hulme]

Use a standard printer lead connected to the other one, the one with the spring loaded clip (parallel), this is the printer connection. Plug this into your printer port on the back of the PC, select LPT 1 in setup and away you go.

[Mike.Smith]

😀 yippie all sorted i called the company and they sorted it.
thanks guys for all your help. it turned out to be something silly.
in the bios the required port was set to bio whatever. basically it was set to 2 way communication.
as my printer was a scanner , printer and copier. it had a 2 way communication and the omega cutter does’nt need 2 way coms.
so i changed it and away it went.
its running on the 9pin serial port thats at the front of my pc.
😀 weird .
hope its all up hill from now on lol
thanks for your help again.

[Lorraine Buchan]

Well done Mike, good on you for sticking it out.

Now i’m excited to see some of your work comming off that cutter