Ok, it’s my turn.
(In keeping with the flow of the original post, I have stolen Rodney’s format to keep everything in line for everyone’s ease of viewing)

I setup my new Master XY-380 32" (800 mm) Cutter/plotter (32" cutting width, 36" width media capacity.) with floor stand, cutting knife, plotting pen and dust cover.

My purchase came with SignGo professional sign making software (w/dongle), not just a "starter" or partial version. It also came with 4,500 vector clipart images on 2-CDs, 1-CD with 8,000 royalty free images and Inkscape vectorization program, 2-dvd set sign making tutorial and 8 rolls of sign vinyl, 2 squeegees, etc.

I did the first test cut and had to scramble to the reset button to stop the cutter. My blade was set way too deep and was cutting all the way through the vinyl. It took me 4-5 attempts before I was satisfied that the configuration was correct, and that I wasn’t going to be chewing up the under strip. My Spectra Cut II vinyl had not arrived, yet (I placed the order after purchasing the cutter, and ordered it on a weekend. The cutter had a two day head start). Since I had sign vinyl and 12-16,000 royalty free images, I decided to jump in with that, and get the feel of the new software.

INTRO

The setup was outlined in the paperwork I received and the drivers installed to SignGo without issue. I have never used a vinyl cutter, but my computer repair business has several sign shops as clients. I have seen the systems in action and had a pretty good idea of how they worked. Since I was using the orange sign vinyl for my test, I decided to leave it in and make my new sign cut from that (Unlike Rodney, orange is not my favorite color, but I figured Halloween is a ways off, and the stuff will probably sit in the closet until then so I might as well use some of it) (Look, I even stole Rodney’s smilies)

LOADING THE VINYL INTO THE CUTTER

Not an issue. I just made sure that orange side was up (later in this, I used Rodney’s advice and knew that the dull side faced up for shirt vinyl)


MY FIRST PROBLEM

Hey, manual-shmanual, who reads those things anyway. If you are going to learn anything it will happen while you are working on it (Kids, don’t try this at home, I am a “prupheshunul”)

I learned quickly that the rollers need to be close to the starting edge if you’re starting at the edge of the vinyl. My first image to the cutter immediately started on the corner, and quickly turned the side up and began chewing into nothing but the under strip. Quick hit of the reset button, readjust the roller and begin again… now we are “cooking with Pam”… up until the image was larger than the vinyl. I was watching closely to make sure I didn’t screw things up on the first attempt, and realized that the image was going to be about 60” wide. Unfortunately, I only had 30” vinyl in the cutter. I quickly hit the reset button (realizing, of course, that I had screwed up this first attempt)

Ok, let’s see where the problem lies… Ok, my software was showing me how many sheets my image was going to need, and also showed the width in inches. I should have seen those things in the first place, and would have if I had started with the manual.

I spent some time with the manual (Kids, DO try this at home and you will be a “professional”)

CREATING THE DESIGN

I preface this with the same warning quoted from Rodney, “Warning! Warning! I am not a graphic designer. I repeat, I am not a graphic designer. I don't play one on TV, I'm not even going to try to pretend.” But, I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night!

I had 12-16,000 images (I also own the 800,000 image Art Explosion). So, with over 800,000 vector images to choose from, I didn’t need the Internet to find what I can’t design on my own. I just grabbed one at random to see what it would do (I didn't even preview it, just put in a CD and imported one at random). Here is what I grabbed:




Just my luck, something I will end up putting on t-shirts. Orange doesn’t seem appropriate. I would also apply this to a vehicle. I pulled off the Orange, and (Thinking of this article) chose to use black instead of white. I will use this same image for a shirt print when the Spectra Cut II arrives.

I did not have my CorelDraw X3 software yet, and the ex has kept my previous version. So, I chose to edit the font and wording for the sign vinyl, and will add additional wording to the shirt.

CUTTING THE DESIGN

My SignGo Pro offers a weed border straight from the cut software, so I didn’t need to draw a border around the image. I just tell it if I want one, and how big it should be.



The wizard walked me through it’s settings for printing:



All four panels offered the logistics of the cut:
Layout:
Width and Height
Scaling & Mirroring
Flipping and rotating for vinyl use optimization
Positioning (Home or to the head position)
Number of copies to layout
Reading the available width of the vinyl for more cutting alternatives

Color/Markers:
Enable Registration Marks (Add/Edit/Delete)
Enable Panel Markers
Weed boarder Enable
Which layers to print

Panels:
Panel settings for
Papers size
Solid rows & columns
Solid rows
Solid Columns
(all of these for slicing images that are larger than a single width of vinyl)

And if the roll is on flatbed cutter

Cut:
Current Cutter: Setup
Sheets displayed for additional layout
Plotting instead of cutting
Optimize head movement to speed printing
Pre-feed
Start Cutting

After all this setup, I chose to print a sticker at 8” wide and 8" high
Clicked “Start” to hear the whirr of the cutter

Here is the cut image



Notice all the intricate small cuts (white) that rose away from the page. In all, there were only two that were part of the design to keep. All the rest are from areas that are to be weeded out. I just looked over the image and used the back end of my Exacto to press the two smaller point back in. This is not a factor when cutting t-shirt vinyl (Later I found that this was most likely caused by vinyl that was more than a year old and probably took on moisture during that time. I have not purchased additional sign vinyl to test that theory. The information came from one of my sign accounts)

WEEDING THE DESIGN

I purchased a cloth cutter (24” long) at my local dmf-Mart. And use it to trim away the base design from the larger (leftover) pieces that I will make into stickers later. My cutter can use pieces as small as 1.25” to make a cut (save all the scraps for smaller cuts).



At this point, I need to note the differences between sign vinyl and shirt vinyl. Sign vinyl is NOT cut mirror. You will use a transfer tape to take it off its backing and apply it to the substrate. Also, when weeding sign vinyl the removed pieces are very sticky. If you lay the “weed” on a piece that is not to be weeded, you are in for a big surprise. The glue on sign vinyl is made to be permanent from the first application.

Here is the finished weed of my first vinyl sticker


Notice Parley is spelled incorrectly (NOTE: Always use spell checker)

Next comes the transfer tape. I have two types, clear and not clear. The clear is for stickers that are to be sold. The not clear is for items that I will install. I don’t need to be impressed by the image, I know what it looks like. For the purposes of this report, I decided to use the clear tape. I have a tape application roller for larger signs, but for stickers, I usually roll out the tape and place the sticker onto the tape.


Next, I use a squeegee to remove any air bubbles


Then, Trim off the excess tape (placing the largest piece back on the roll)

Here is a sticker ready for sale, or application



Application
Normally, your substrate (whatever you are placing the sticker onto) determines the cleaning method. In this case, I am applying it to a piece of poster board, so I didn’t do any cleaning


The process is; clean the area, line up the sticker, clean the area again, peel the sticker, apply the sticker from one side (top, bottom, left or right) and stay with that side. If you start from the top, all motions will start from the top. Use your squeegee to take out any bubbles from whatever side you started from directly across to the opposite side…

Hey, my Spectra Cut II arrived!


MY SECOND PROBLEM

I received my Spectra Cut II and went back to the original design that I saved. “Mr. Big shot” here added another phrase above the image and set it to cut a 12” x 12” design on white vinyl for a black t-shirt. I calculated the amount of vinyl needed, because I had a run of shirts that would be taking most, if not all of this Spectra Cut II order. I had enough for one shot in white vinyl, setup the cut and went to town… It was only during the weeding process that I realized I forgot to mirror the image for t-shirt transfer (Yeah, whose da man? It sure isn’t me!)

So, the plan changed slightly…
Instead of white on black, you get to see a black on white t-shirt application (Not the affect I was going for, but one must make due when experimenting with different technology.


THE T-SHIRT

The shirt is Haines Heavyweight 100% Cotton Pre-Shrunk. I purchased some different sizes (all white) as test shirts from BestBlanks

THE VINYL IMAGE
My experience after the “missing mirror” incident was much like Rodney’s by taking out the boarder, weeding the image and double-checking to be sure all the little pieces were gone. I will say this:

Weeding the Spectra Cut II vinyl is much easier than sign vinyl (the damp, old stuff I have been testing at least). Starting it off is a small bit tougher, but once it gets going, it’s really easy. I have increased the yardage for the order I have in now and took advantage of some of their closeout vinyl (great deals over at Imprintables)

Here is the weeded design with the changes I made. I changed the original font from TimesNewRoman to “Black beard” TTF, changed the “Scurvy Dog” to “ Parley’ and added the famous line from that little seen pirate movie with Mr. Depp… lol



HEAT PRESSING THE SHIRT

As Rodney did in his report, I followed the instructions for Spectra Cut II, preheat at 302 degrees Fahrenheit for 4 seconds, apply designs to substrate for 10-15 seconds at 302 degrees Fahrenheit using light pressure, peel after garment has completely cooled, remove Mylar backing from Spectra Cut II and for a soft finish, Cover with Kraft paper or Teflon and apply heat for 3-5 seconds.

I fired up the Phoenix Phire


QUICK NOTE: I am in Florida. There is always moisture in the air. There are very few times during the year when I have noted that anything feels dry after the first applying heat, I believed prepressing would be no exception. In total, I prepressed 5 times for a total of 20-25 seconds until I was satisfied that the shirt was dry

Then I lined up my transfer


I am using a square and 3” wide fabric ruler (from the craft store). I don’t trust my eyes to line them up any more. This method is single hand to hold the square and ruler and the other hand sets the design. When set, remove the items that do not need to be pressed. It works for me

I then pressed for 12 seconds, and felt that it needed more. I held the lever down for another 4 seconds and let it pop up (I really like the magnetic release on this unit). I have a Lexan cover on a desk in the room and laid the shirt there to cool. It seems to cool them really fast. This is a “cold peel” process, so I waited for it to really cool down. Then I peeled off the Mylar, set the shirt back on the press, covered it with wax paper (my Teflon sheet hadn’t arrived yet), and pressed for another 4-5 seconds for that really soft hand


That little curl toward the top is wax paper. You can see the dispenser next to the heat press (use it only once, then dispose of it and it will work like the Teflon sheet)


Here's the completed shot:



And, here is the “Money” shot



A closer, but bad picture attempting to show the soft hand




VINYL TRANSFER WASH TEST

I had the same results with the wash test that Rodney reported. Everything stood up to the wash just fine.

First Impressions
I love working with the cutter! If you had told me I could create this on a budget, just a few years ago, I would have thought you were trying to sell me a bag of goods. This was my first shirt, and it looks like it could have come from the store!