[Barney Sollars]

Hello All,

Sorry to have belly ached about a lack of response and then not responded!

Chris: Great to have practical advice, I see how that relates to the actuality but not sure how to relate to to your advice on the envelope tool? Do you reckon to do the practical app paper exercise and then make an envelope that shape in your software package before designing?

Alex, pictures attached but my enquiry is pretty general, obviously we are often placing vinyls on surfaces that aren’t flat so I am looking for newbie advice on how to make vinyls that look all wrong until they are applied and then look right! Especially in the case of one of these buoys which is cylindrical shaped with a half dome top!

Thanks for responses, look forward to hearing more, Barney.

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[Barney Sollars]

18 Months on and I am still wondering, any ‘proper’ makers out there with any thoughts?

All the best! 🙂

[Barney Sollars]

Great job, well done!

A few hours work there!

Barney

[Barney Sollars]

Fancy posting a pic of the result?sounds brilliant.

All the best!

[Barney Sollars]

Hello All,

I would like to thank you all for your input and thoughts on my options and for offering me your advice and guidance even though I am a hobbyist/ start up.

In the end, I managed to secure the Graftec 3000-60 for £450 which I though was reasonable, it came along with a roll of vinyl to practice on and a spare blade.

The issue was always going to be that the graphtec design software would not work with a plotter of this age but I have managed to sort a solution.

A cheapy home build PC, drowningas it was in the modern world has been stripped right back and is now running Windows 7 and a Vinylcut master HLT from Ebay only.

We are therefore up and running for £550. the Serif software will save and export to the Vinyl master software but being as I am keeping it simple I don’t think it will be needed.

So, thanks to all, now cutting ad weeding in the shed!

All the best,

Barney

[Barney Sollars]

Thanks everybody for taking the time to read and reply, much appreciated and my apologies for not getting back to you all sooner.

As a bit of a round up in reply and maybe a supplementary question or two……..:

The machine… none of you have condemned a machine of this age out of hand and since it has a USB port and I have the offer of help to not only see it working but to set it up and try it with my laptop it begins to look like a serious contender. I see the sense in going for new but there is a significant difference between £500 and £1200, the difference will set me up with all the start up ancillaries and materials in fact.

Software, design…. I like the serif package, I have been used to its predecessors for years and though it doesn’t have huge distribution it is cheap enough to ditch if I don’t like it and I am sure sophisticated enough to output vector graphics of the correct quality for most of the cutting programs.

Cutting software…. how vital is this, it is the most difficult wood to see amoungst the trees. I have tried the demos of Signlab, Flexisign and Vinylmaster. They all appear to be able to drive the CE 3000 60. after that it is difficult for me to judge but the vinylmaster cut basic seems to offer enough features to make things work but I have no idea what the extra bucks buy me in this area?

Let me know what you think and the pitfalls I am missing!

Thanks all over again! Barney

[Barney Sollars]

quote Robert Lambie:

I would prefer to buy a well looked after second hand reputable branded machine than any found on ebay and the like.

As long as you are working in a vector format, i am sure you will be able to export to another cuttable format compatible with your machine. but i would suggest checking first.

Signlab would be my first suggestion over any other. If you have design software then you will only need the “cut only” version of signlab. this will give you basic options and give you the ability to import, cut etc. once you feel like taking the next move, you simply add/upgrade the signlab module to the next level and so on. so you grow your business with the software step by step. hopefully you can ditch the other software you use and have a stand alone design and cut platform by signlab.

best of luck!

Robert, thanks for that, a couple of things to come back to you on….

I totally agree on the kit and have no problems with second hand, only concern is that with the CE 3000 being so old has it been completely superseded, what will I miss out on, though as a layman reading the manual: http://www.graphtecamerica.com/docs/Sup … Manual.pdf I cannot see much.

On the SignLab, also agree, would like to be in with not only a known make but and expandable software solution, I believe that SignLab supports the cutter, does that mean that I don’t need to worry about additional windows drivers?

Who have you found to be the best value supplier, Harry at Mathias’ who I happen upon when phoning round? (he seems to have quite a name for himself!)and does the cut only module have to be from signlab 10 or can I drop back a version or two with and old cutter?

In terms of formats, Serif Drawplus will export in DXF format and that seems acceptable to SignLab, any comment on it as a format?

Thanks for taking the time to read and reply.

All the best, Barney.