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Post by berneart76 on Nov 1, 2017 13:07:28 GMT -9
So, while doing some house cleaning today, found 2 Joann Fabrics gift cards I'd gotten as presents in the past, and decided to take the step and expand my capabilities...
I broke down and bought a Silhouette Cameo...
Now for the funny part of the story, the store i bought it from said they had two, so they brought one out ( based on their display space they don't even have enough room to put one on display).
I got home, opened the box, went to start setting it up and....
No cutting mat... No power cord... No usb printer cord...
Took a closer look... no control module, not even any place on the right hand side to make any connections, just a big empty space where the electronics module should be. ... Fortunately the store is close by, so i ran back and showed them, and the manager on duty stated she was wondering where their display model was.
Anyways, no muss, no fuss, they got me a complete machine, and we made sure to open the box before I left the store to make sure it had everything. Will be setting up and experimenting with it later tonight.
This will make me more confident about making cutfiles!
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Post by berneart76 on Nov 2, 2017 8:38:16 GMT -9
1st impressions so far, The Silhouette software has gotten more user friendly than the last time i tried it. Mostly, it no longer drops the cursor when I go off screen to scroll the window.
1st cutting job underway, a set of my 1 1/2 inch side attach pilings from my Wharves set.
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Post by berneart76 on Nov 5, 2017 14:42:43 GMT -9
Well, had a few problems with setting up the cameo and trying it out, so I managed to cut through my first mat and I've had to purchase some new ones but so far I am liking the way that it works and we'll be updating everything with cut files as soon as I can
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Post by berneart76 on Nov 6, 2017 7:41:44 GMT -9
Achievement unlocked, managed to get Bluetooth connectivity working, no more dragging the laptop between rooms to do cutting!
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Post by oldschooldm on Nov 6, 2017 7:55:59 GMT -9
I managed to cut through my first mat Yeah. Cut slow and as shallow as possible - twice (checkbox) sometimes that helps.
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Post by berneart76 on Nov 6, 2017 7:59:05 GMT -9
I managed to cut through my first mat Yeah. Cut slow and as shallow as possible - twice (checkbox) sometimes that helps. At some point I bumped my mouse and changed a setting to "Chipboard" for the cut lines, and 'Cardstock-Adhesive backed" for the score lines...
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Post by Dominic on Nov 7, 2017 23:21:26 GMT -9
It has been a while since I used mine (old CraftRobo), but at some point I switched to cardstock folder separatosr sprayed with the kind of spray adhesive that turns stick-and-remove if you let it dry. Works well as a mat and is completely sacrificial.
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Post by berneart76 on Nov 8, 2017 10:56:14 GMT -9
Looking into some issues with the Cameo3, when i go to cut the walls for the roundhouse in a vertical orientation on paper, it is stretching the cuts out 1/8" to 1/4" longer than the cutlines and actual print is.. trying tthem in a horizontal configurtion, thy JUST fit within the minimum side offset for 81'2 x 11 inch paper...
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Post by Dominic on Nov 8, 2017 23:56:29 GMT -9
Again, not much recent experience here, but have you checked the paper settings? I recall that once I had set the format wrong and it somehow altered the cut lines. Maybe that helps.
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Post by oldschooldm on Nov 9, 2017 16:05:51 GMT -9
Looking into some issues with the Cameo3, when i go to cut the walls for the roundhouse in a vertical orientation on paper, it is stretching the cuts out 1/8" to 1/4" longer than the cutlines and actual print is.. trying tthem in a horizontal configurtion, thy JUST fit within the minimum side offset for 81'2 x 11 inch paper... Some common problems that manifest these symptoms: The print and the cutfile aren't agreeing with each other about the position of the registration marks (lots of reasons this could happen.) Solution: Make them agree. If everything else is cutting fine, this is likely your problem. The mat is slipping (clean everything, try another mat.) The the cutter needs clalibration (rare, but I've had to do it at least once, early in the life of each cutter I've owned.) Good luck!
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Post by berneart76 on Nov 9, 2017 17:18:47 GMT -9
Looking into some issues with the Cameo3, when i go to cut the walls for the roundhouse in a vertical orientation on paper, it is stretching the cuts out 1/8" to 1/4" longer than the cutlines and actual print is.. trying tthem in a horizontal configurtion, thy JUST fit within the minimum side offset for 81'2 x 11 inch paper... Some common problems that manifest these symptoms: The print and the cutfile aren't agreeing with each other about the position of the registration marks (lots of reasons this could happen.) Solution: Make them agree. If everything else is cutting fine, this is likely your problem. Width wise across the paper is cutting fine and lining up, it is only happening on the long axis of the paper. The cutting is getting stretched beyond the printed/cutfile outline.The mat is slipping (clean everything, try another mat.) I've cleaned the mat, tried 2 different ones, including a brand new oneThe the cutter needs clalibration (rare, but I've had to do it at least once, early in the life of each cutter I've owned.) Going to try some basic boxes of different lengths on the long axis as a test to see if I need to perform a calibration. Also going to try it with direct connection from the computer to the cutter, adn with a usb file. see if it is an issue with the bluetooth connection.Good luck!
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Post by berneart76 on Nov 9, 2017 18:40:50 GMT -9
You can see in these pictures how the cut outline is stretched along the long axis of the paper and the design:
Here is how it looks in Silhouette Studio:
If anyone else would like to try this out and see if they get the same issue, here is a JPG image of the design, and a combined Silhouette cutfile with the design and the cutting outline on it.
Cutfile Link
JPG image
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Nov 10, 2017 7:12:45 GMT -9
I'd be afraid that the reg marks were read, but the page was printed with some scaling or something.
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Post by oldschooldm on Nov 10, 2017 7:21:20 GMT -9
Hmm. I'm trying that, but expect it to work, I'm sorry to say that there is one more thing that is possibly happening.
You'll need a ruler. You see, some printers don't print true - and that's heartbreaking for us. Are you using a new printer? Do you have access to another? Can you try it there?
With a precise ruler, measure the distance between registration marks, or the length of one of your longer pieces. Does it match the on screen original?
Sigh. I hope this isn't it. When I had this it really upset me, quite a bit. I literally pitched my cheapass printer off a staircase (outside.)
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Post by oldschooldm on Nov 10, 2017 7:27:45 GMT -9
I am confused by the cuts you are showing. Aren't the object tabs at the "top" - first-in-the-cutter side? That's how the file shows that you uploaded? Are you loading this upsidedown? I'm very confused.
The Black Box is always supposed to be on the edge loaded first, right? That's what my Curio wants...
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Post by oldschooldm on Nov 10, 2017 7:35:27 GMT -9
Oh, wait. Yeah, you print it LOGO up, so that's another smoking gun for stretching. :-(
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Post by oldschooldm on Nov 10, 2017 7:45:36 GMT -9
I had a problem with the file - for some reason my cutter was ignoring the cutlines and just cutting out the regmarks. :-P
Not sure if it's a little corrupt or something. You can try cutting all of the contents into a new file - that's what I did to get it to work properly.
Perhaps we could discuss on the Discord channel..
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Post by oldschooldm on Nov 10, 2017 7:52:01 GMT -9
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Post by oldschooldm on Nov 10, 2017 10:02:25 GMT -9
How I diagnosed stretching: I printed a ruler from www.vendian.org/mncharity/dir3/paper_rulers/and measured it against a known metal ruler I had access to. Found a cheap printer I had was stretching .2" over a page! That was the same measurement in "drift" I was seeing. If you can determine the drift, you can temporarily "cheat" by moving the bottom registration mark AFTER YOU PRINT IN THE CORRECT POSITION, in effect compensating for the drift. Just don't ship your cutfiles that way. :-P This is a way to get your model cut today without having to buy a new printer (which you will need to do to generate cutfiles that you want to share...)
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Post by Papercraft Warrior on Nov 10, 2017 10:15:34 GMT -9
Is there anywhere a big list of stratch-happy pinters to avoid? While I will not buy one in many years, it would be a valuable info for other members.
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Post by berneart76 on Nov 10, 2017 11:11:44 GMT -9
Printer does not seam to be drifting... A little offset here due to the picture taking, but 9" on the print is 9" on the ruler. Back to experimentation I guess.
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Post by Punkrabbitt on Nov 10, 2017 13:23:41 GMT -9
Every HP that I have had has compressed vertically by 1/16". While not a big deal individually, if you are putting down tiles on a board, eight tiles in you can have up to a 1/2" offset, particularly if you rotate them in relation to one another to make them look more natural.
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Post by berneart76 on Nov 10, 2017 13:53:11 GMT -9
I think I got it figured out, when Iprint frm Photoshop, in "centered" format, it defaults to a "top" and "Left" .125" offset, and the "top" of the page is the feed side for the cutfile. the "bottom" as i am working on the pic on screen.
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Post by oldschooldm on Nov 10, 2017 15:20:54 GMT -9
Look more closely! Those don't match at all! Assuming your ruler is good (double check with another, or print a horizontal one and use that as a second source.) You are off by at least 1/16". The only inch marker I see that is "aligned" is the 4". Also, measure over as much of the 11" as you can to get the full drift value. Can you try printing the ruler on another printer as well so you can compare those?
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Post by jeffgeorge on Nov 10, 2017 15:55:36 GMT -9
Look more closely! Those don't match at all! Assuming your ruler is good (double check with another, or print a horizontal one and use that as a second source.) You are off by at least 1/16". The only inch marker I see that is "aligned" is the 4". Also, measure over as much of the 11" as you can to get the full drift value. Can you try printing the ruler on another printer as well so you can compare those? Looking at the picture, it seems that the marks on the physical ruler are both a fraction of an inch outside the marks on the printed ruler, but this may be due to the fact that the physical ruler may be almost an eighth of an inch closer to the camera than the printed one. If it's a metal ruler with a cork backing, it's probably pretty thick, and the camera is probably no more than a foot or two off the table. Since the camera is centered over the rulers, it's going to make the nearer one--the physical one--look just a bit longer on each end due to perspective. The only way to accurately compare the marks on the two rulers with a camera would be to use two separate photos, each one centered over the mark at each end--but then you can't be sure the ruler didn't move between the two shots. Incidentally, the reason that the 4" marks match is because they are at the center of the image, where the camera is viewing both rulers at the exact same angle. At the ends, the camera's angle of view of the physical ruler is wider than its angle of view of the printed one, so the marks wouldn't align, even if the two rulers were precisely the same length. What I'm saying doesn't prove that the two rulers match--just that the photo as set up doesn't disprove it.
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Post by oldschooldm on Nov 10, 2017 16:22:30 GMT -9
Take the picture further back and confirm.
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Post by berneart76 on Nov 10, 2017 16:25:35 GMT -9
Think I got my scaling/printing issues straightened out on the walls.. going to test it printing from a PDF later.
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Post by berneart76 on Nov 11, 2017 18:47:36 GMT -9
After 33 hours, got the new laptop set up and programs installed, updates doen... YAY! Dual monitors! We will see how the larger RAM and faster CPU help me with my designing. It will be nice not having things lock up due to memory and cache overflows!
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Post by oldschooldm on Nov 12, 2017 6:41:12 GMT -9
Think I got my scaling/printing issues straightened out on the walls.. going to test it printing from a PDF later. What was the issue? Consider it sharing as a lesson for other new cutter users...
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Post by berneart76 on Nov 12, 2017 9:58:27 GMT -9
Think I got my scaling/printing issues straightened out on the walls.. going to test it printing from a PDF later. What was the issue? Consider it sharing as a lesson for other new cutter users... Printing from Photoshop even at 100% scaling in "Centered" mode compressed the image 1/8" off the "Top" and "Left" sides of the paper. From how my printer prints, the "top" actually turns out to be the feed edge into the Cameo which as I am designing is the "bottom" When I turned off "Centered" and set the offset for "top" and "left" in photoshop to "0", it prints, registers, and cuts correctly. It only affected pages with long continuous cuts on the vertical (long) axis of the paper.
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