# vinyl cutter



## signitgirl (Feb 10, 2009)

I recently purchased a 24'' vinyl cutter from Master Warehouse. I tried to set up my cutter but i kept getting a error when installing the usb. I called the company and they informed me that i need to purchase a different usb cabel for my 64bit computer. On their site they gurantee all cutters are compatible. When ordering they failed to tell me i need to upgrade my usb that comes with the cutter to make it compatible. I had to pay $54.95 Canadian, for the cable and $19.99 shipping for this cable. The cable they sent me is no good to me. VERY UPSET WITH THIS COMPANY, WOULD'T RECOMMEND!!!!


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## allhamps (Mar 15, 2007)

Sorry about your experience. Hope you get your cutter working soon. I have actually NEVER heard of this company.


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## selanac (Jan 8, 2007)

Couldn't you go down to your local computer store, or office supply? We have Staples, officemax, and for a short time, office depot. Many computer stores carry USB cables. 

I do understand your frustration, we have a new cutter, and expected to have this problem. I work on computers so we have spare USB cables.


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## signitgirl (Feb 10, 2009)

I hope so too, I never imagined such an experience. I wish i would have done some checking on this company before ordering. It seems like once they got my money it did't matter.


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## signitgirl (Feb 10, 2009)

When i was told i needed a different cable, i told them i could just go pick one up at the store. They told me i needed a special one from them and if i bought one else where it wouldn't be compatible with the cutter.


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## selanac (Jan 8, 2007)

In the forum.uscutter.com many people say the bought the usb cable from the store, or had an extra one laying around. I guess I'll have to re-read the post before I try to finish the install. 

I did read in there so called manual that it requires a certain USB to Serial Converter, but who knows.


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## signitgirl (Feb 10, 2009)

I really don't know a whole lot about that kind of stuff, i am wondering if they just told me that so i would buy it from them...


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## Invizzible (Feb 5, 2009)

Your Master cutter should have shipped with a 9-pin serial cable. As long as you have a free serial port on your computer you're in good shape. The USB cable needed to run a Master cutter is actually an adapter that has the USB connection on the computer end and a 9-pin serial connection for the cutter. That's why it's difficult to find the USB cable you need at an Office Depot or Circuit City. 

Does your computer not have a free serial port? Did MasterWarehouse not ship you the standard serial cable? 

I have the 30" Master XY-380P and didn't have any problems as far as cabling goes. I have, however, gotten around other little glitches particular to Master cutters and if you need help with anything else I may be able to be of some help. I've been using this cutter for about a year now and I've learned it pretty well.


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## signitgirl (Feb 10, 2009)

THANK YOU INVIZZABLE!! I got a serial cable and i just went to check it. I have a male and female end, to make that work i would need two male ends. I have a 64 bit laptop and i also would have no place to screw the ends of the serial cable, but a big thanks. 
You mentioned you had a few glitches with the cutter, are they very hard to use?


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## Invizzible (Feb 5, 2009)

No, they aren't difficult to use or to figure out. The USB flash drive that came with the cutter has all of the help files and the 'manual', which has more to do with the sign making software than the actual cutter.

Have you gotten your cutter up and running yet? Did the USB adapter you bought ever work for you?


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## selanac (Jan 8, 2007)

Sign Girl, do you actually have a cabling problem or is it that the cutter doesn't see the computer? I installed the little small cd that came with my MH-871 and the drivers on it didn't work. I then went to US Cutter's website and downloaded a newer driver that seemed to work. I won't know exactly until we print something. We're trying to learn the software now. 

Invissible mentioned a non-standard 9 pin serial to a usb adapter. If you don't have those, ask for the pin outs and I can make you one. I worked in IT my whole life and have made hundreds if not thousands of cables. The difference is the device to device which is abnormal. Usually a computer would hook up to a modem which is a Data device (computer), and a communications device (modem) on serial. In this case it's a plotter or printer which can be considered a data device, which is then connected to another data device (computer), and the cables have to connect by crossing the transmit and receive and sometimes clocking. 

Anyways, you probably have all the cables, you just don't have a serial port on the laptop. Do you have a desk top computer you can use? If you hook the plotter/cutter to a laptop and go out of town with the laptop, no body can plot or cut if you're not there. 

You can probable get a free one on www.craigslist.com and look in the barter section, and Free section. If no ones giving one away, post and ad asking for one. It has to be someone in Canada or someone sending you one in the states, would have to pay a tarif tax. 

We just finished putting our cutter/plotter together and connecting to the computer. We're so excited, cause we have three customers, and now need to make the signs. 

Hope you're up soon, Where do you live in Canada? Maybe we can start a t-shirt forum convention, on in Canada East, West, US East, and US West, and we could all meet and tell our stories. 

Are you going to any of the sign shows coming up?


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## Invizzible (Feb 5, 2009)

Selanac, (Canales?)
I remember when I was learning the ins and outs of my cutter (Master), I wanted to try cutting directly from CorelDraw. For THAT it was necessary to have the USB to serial cable, and the computer would see the plotter as a printer, even appearing as a printer on my list of printer devices from the Windows control panel. I found that it didn't work very well...maybe I set it up wrong or something but I would get random cuts where they weren't supposed to be and sometimes the blade wouldn't lift when moving between cuts. So I understand the problem of the computer not 'seeing' the cutter and vice versa.

After trying several things I found that I could do the design work and layout in Corel and import the finished design into my cutting program. This works like a charm! (Maybe not the most efficient way to do things but Corel is infinitely better for DESIGN purposes than the program that came with my cutter, and the cut program CONTROLS the plotter perfectly.)

I followed what you were saying about the cables and you brought up a great point. Even if the USB cable is correct, if SignItGirl takes the laptop to another location nobody else back in the shop can use it. That opens up a whole new can of worms! I was going to help her with some other issues but haven't heard back yet to see if she has things working yet.


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## selanac (Jan 8, 2007)

I hear you. Did I mention that the little CD didn't have the right driver for our machine. I had to go on line and download a newer driver. This is very common for computer equipment so I as ready for that. Still haven't test printed, will probably do that tomorrow. I also teach and repair computers. I gave a class to an attorney, and fixed some of his Internet issues. 

Someone suggested hooking up with a real estate company, one of the companies that contacted me today is a real estate office. Yahoooooo! Perfect time to pitch our business along with my networking companies. I'm going to put ad's on the back of the lesson plan.


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