# Contour cut without optical eye



## SaB (May 15, 2007)

Hi guys. Short video i made couple of days a go to show that contour cut is possible even in cheap chinese cutters with useless red light point or with out them. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hoIbsoqAqI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Sent from my GT-S5830 using T-Shirt Forums


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## jasonsmith (Mar 30, 2011)

SaB said:


> Hi guys. Short video i made couple of days a go to show that contour cut is possible even in cheap chinese cutters with useless red light point or with out them.
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hoIbsoqAqI&feature=youtube_gdata_player
> 
> Sent from my GT-S5830 using T-Shirt Forums


Can this be done with a GCC Expert?

Any more instruction as to what you are doing?


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## Lnfortun (Feb 18, 2006)

SaB said:


> Hi guys. Short video i made couple of days a go to show that contour cut is possible even in cheap chinese cutters with useless red light point or with out them.
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hoIbsoqAqI&feature=youtube_gdata_player
> 
> Sent from my GT-S5830 using T-Shirt Forums


 What cutting software are you using? Software that does not use registration mark will be off anytime the blade is moved to align one point then move it again for the rest of the marks. In other words the alignment will not be retained for each point. Unless the software keeps track of each point.


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## SaB (May 15, 2007)

Flexi 10. Yu need reg marks to cut it properly. But you dont need laser point to allighn your knife.


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## jasonsmith (Mar 30, 2011)

SaB said:


> Flexi 10. Yu need reg marks to cut it properly. But you dont need laser point to allighn your knife.


Looks like you need special software. In Great Cut, there isn't anything for you to align reg marks with.

You just set your starting point.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

You can contour manually without laser and without registration mark......But it does take some time to figure out.....Basically you need to position your material so the blade starting point is in the right place to start you cut....I would not want to do this for quantities but I do it for 1 off stickers every so often.....


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## SaB (May 15, 2007)

jasonsmith said:


> Looks like you need special software. In Great Cut, there isn't anything for you to align reg marks with.
> 
> You just set your starting point.


you dont need any fancy software but half descent one will let you to contour cut or place reg marks.


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## Lnfortun (Feb 18, 2006)

SaB said:


> Flexi 10. Yu need reg marks to cut it properly. But you dont need laser point to allighn your knife.


Flexi 10 is not cheap. Unless that came with your cutter that is added cost. I have Craft Robo Pro and the siftware came with the cutter. In addition there is a plug in available for CorelDRAW that is free.


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## SaB (May 15, 2007)

Flexi Starter 10 i should say. and is cheap in places. I have my from here: FlexiSTARTER 10 Retail PC Version with Dongle (Free Shipping) - $395.00 : SeikiTech!, Sign Making Store
worth to check it regularly as it often cost about $80.


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## jasonsmith (Mar 30, 2011)

SaB said:


> you dont need any fancy software but half descent one will let you to contour cut or place reg marks.


I've got Greatcut that came with my cutter. I didn't get the model with the optical eye. What software that is free will allow you to set reg marks with the Expert 24?

But I don't think the cutter cuts accurate anyways. I print out a series of squares. Then I use that same file to cut squares in vinyl. I hold the print out to the cut out squares over a light, and the squares don't line up. Almost like the cutter spaced the squares a little too far apart or something. They should line up perfect.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

jasonsmith said:


> I've got Greatcut that came with my cutter. I didn't get the model with the optical eye. What software that is free will allow you to set reg marks with the Expert 24?
> 
> But I don't think the cutter cuts accurate anyways. I print out a series of squares. Then I use that same file to cut squares in vinyl. I hold the print out to the cut out squares over a light, and the squares don't line up. Almost like the cutter spaced the squares a little too far apart or something. They should line up perfect.


Registration marks are no use for an Expert 24 as an Expert 24 has no way to see them even if they were there...


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## jasonsmith (Mar 30, 2011)

royster13 said:


> Registration marks are no use for an Expert 24 as an Expert 24 has no way to see them even if they were there...


So what's the point of this thread? I thought it was about contour cutting without optical eye?


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

You can "contour cut" without an optical eye......You just have to do it manually and without registration marks.....You just have to know where the cut starts and line up the material where is needs to be......And I must say it is far "easier said than done".....It takes some experimenting and practice.....


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## SaB (May 15, 2007)

royster13 said:


> Registration marks are no use for an Expert 24 as an Expert 24 has no way to see them even if they were there...


is all about software you use. not machine. No need for optical sensor to contour cut. but to do it you need software that will allow you to place reg marks. than you manually align the knife on reg mark and software will do the rest.


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## Lnfortun (Feb 18, 2006)

SaB said:


> Flexi Starter 10 i should say. and is cheap in places. I have my from here: FlexiSTARTER 10 Retail PC Version with Dongle (Free Shipping) - $395.00 : SeikiTech!, Sign Making Store
> worth to check it regularly as it often cost about $80.


$395.00 is still too much in addition to your cutter. I don't know how much you paid for the cutter. I paid $950.00 for the Craft Robo Pro with Cut Master plug in for CorelDRAW that is free. I suppose you have to do what you have to do to be able to cut without registration sensor since you already purchased the cutter. It is a good idea though for others who have cutter without registration sensor if the are willing to pork out $395.00.

What I am trying point out is not to lead people to beleive on buying cutter without registration mark sensor then spend additional money for extra software. On top of that still have to manually align each time you cut. Heck you can buy Cameo Silhouette or Protrait for less than $300.00 and less than $200.00 respectively. Both have registration mark sensors. Silhouette is 12" cutter and Portrait is 9" cutter. For 8 X 11 transfer both cutter will suffice.


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## jasonsmith (Mar 30, 2011)

royster13 said:


> You can "contour cut" without an optical eye......You just have to do it manually and without registration marks.....You just have to know where the cut starts and line up the material where is needs to be......And I must say it is far "easier said than done".....It takes some experimenting and practice.....


Didn't work for me. Had a printed line run left and right, and up and down outside the image. So I could move it to make sure it tracked correctly which was a pain. Cut it, and it didn't track correctly as it cut into the image for the most part, and cut too short at the bottom point of the image.

The starting point was dead on, but was off in the cut and it cut too short at the bottom of the image. Almost like it was cutting a shorter version of the image as the cut length was shorter than the printed length.


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## jasonsmith (Mar 30, 2011)

SaB said:


> is all about software you use. not machine. No need for optical sensor to contour cut. but to do it you need software that will allow you to place reg marks. than you manually align the knife on reg mark and software will do the rest.


Know of any free software that let you manually read the registration marks?

One thing I tried on mine when messing with it is put the blade in backwards since the opposite end of the Roland blades come to a point. Then use that to line it up as the cutting end of the blade is offset and can't be used for alignment I'd guess.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

It never occurred to me that when printing out a sheet to contour cut, that I could print something extra as registration marks......But as that is the case, I could just use Illustrator to print the marks just like I do for the graphic and the cut line......No extra software required.....


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## jasonsmith (Mar 30, 2011)

royster13 said:


> It never occurred to me that when printing out a sheet to contour cut, that I could print something extra as registration marks......But as that is the case, I could just use Illustrator to print the marks just like I do for the graphic and the cut line......No extra software required.....


The special software is so you can manually set the registration points. My understanding is it's a manual version of the auto optical eye.

It's tricky even knowing if your matrial is straight doing it without registration marks and the software I guess. As I believe the registration marks take into account if say the material is a little crooked. So then it would cut the design crooked to match. Full on manual and I'd guess you'd have to be dead on straight with no tracking issues.

I tried it full on manual without special software, and it didn't work. Though maybe my cutter doesn't cut acurately.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

How would software help with registration?........I just load the sheet in my cutter knowing where my cutter starts the cut.....And away it goes.....So long as I get the material square, I am good.....Now if I printed some extra lines on my material it might help me line it up better or maybe not as I use a paper cutter to get a square edge on my sheet anyway.....


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## jasonsmith (Mar 30, 2011)

royster13 said:


> How would software help with registration?........I just load the sheet in my cutter knowing where my cutter starts the cut.....And away it goes.....So long as I get the material square, I am good.....Now if I printed some extra lines on my material it might help me line it up better or maybe not as I use a paper cutter to get a square edge on my sheet anyway.....


It's supposed to let you manually set each registration point. i.e. the same thing an optical eye does except you manually line up each point and set it.

Going all manual didn't work for me. But it could just be my cutter doesn't cut exactly the same as the graphic.


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## Amek47 (Aug 19, 2012)

Here's my video how to make a contour cut without optical eye.
Contour cut without laser eye - YouTube


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## jasonsmith (Mar 30, 2011)

Amek47 said:


> Here's my video how to make a contour cut without optical eye.
> Contour cut without laser eye - YouTube


I watched the video a couple of times but never could figure out what you were doing.


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## Amek47 (Aug 19, 2012)

Maybe you are the only one who will never figure out.


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## jasonsmith (Mar 30, 2011)

Amek47 said:


> Maybe you are the only one who will never figure out.


How about remove the music and explain in the video what you are doing while you are doing it instead of music and random text here and there?


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## SaB (May 15, 2007)

i got my flexi from hem for $79 and this is cheapest option for cheap cutters. you can get Sign Blazer but flexi is best paid software. I am not sure what price policy they got but price for flexi starter is much lower. if you check they web site from time to time then you will find out that you can get it much cheaper. also ebay is another option.


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## SaB (May 15, 2007)

royster13 said:


> It never occurred to me that when printing out a sheet to contour cut, that I could print something extra as registration marks......But as that is the case, I could just use Illustrator to print the marks just like I do for the graphic and the cut line......No extra software required.....


its not about software hat allow you to print reg marks. is about software that can read them. 

so as you dont need optical eye to contour cut, but you will need software that will allow you to do that.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

If a cutter no no eye to line up to registration mark, what does the software have to do with anything?...If the machine can not read the marks it can not read the marks no matter how you make them....


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## SaB (May 15, 2007)

royster13 said:


> If a cutter no no eye to line up to registration mark, what does the software have to do with anything?...If the machine can not read the marks it can not read the marks no matter how you make them....


You wrong on this one. Only coz machine can not read reg marks not means they are not there. Flexi starter 10 has function of reading reg marks. if there is no optical eye you need to show flexi some how they are there. so if you watch my video you will see i align the knife manually above each reg mark.
have a look. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hoIbsoqAqI&feature=youtube_gdata_player


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

So are you saying there is a function in Flexi that allows you to read registration marks with a cutter that does not have an optic eye?.....


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## SaB (May 15, 2007)

royster13 said:


> So are you saying there is a function in Flexi that allows you to read registration marks with a cutter that does not have an optic eye?.....


Yes.
flexi starter 10 has this option. when you you start reg mark reading you will have a choice. bomb shell or manual.

i linked old video in my last post. please see this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnlN9r5XqU4

you can see more there.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Ok fine.......Now I get you.......But I do just fine cutting manually without Flexi....I have learned to line up my sheets with just my eyes.....It just takes time practice and patience......


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## SaB (May 15, 2007)

royster13 said:


> Ok fine.......Now I get you.......But I do just fine cutting manually without Flexi....I have learned to line up my sheets with just my eyes.....It just takes time practice and patience......


that's cool! I am not trying to deny that there is no other way. i just wanted to show one i use. And _*main*_ purpose of this video was that to help save few $$$ as some people pay that bit extra for cutters just to get optical eye. There is no need for that as optical eye DOES NOT EXIST in cheap chinese cutters. so is better of to get cheaper version without red led then with it


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## Lnfortun (Feb 18, 2006)

royster13 said:


> So are you saying there is a function in Flexi that allows you to read registration marks with a cutter that does not have an optic eye?.....


What the OP is trying to tell you as shown in his video that Flexi allows him to move the knife over the area where each registration marks are. Align the knife to each mark and the software keeps track where the marks were. Then Flexi use them as reference when cutting the contour of the image. Which makes since. The software does not actually read the registration marks but you tell it where they are by aligning over the marks. It is a bit longer process than cutting with optic sensor. I have Craft Robo Pro with with optic sensor. Sure it does read the marks but it can be off by few millimeters. So I compensate for the error. Sometimes it cannot find the marks. So it is not fool proof.

Without looking up close in real life it seems the cut was pretty accurate from the OP's video. 

$79.00 for Flexi 10 starter sounds reasonable. I have another Graphtec without optic sensor. I may look into investing in the software. Had I known about it I would have not purchased the Craft Robo Pro.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Where does one get Flexi Starter for 79.00?.....US Cutter is 395.00
FlexiSTARTER v10 - Dongle / All Driver Edition


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## SaB (May 15, 2007)

I used to had craft robo II. the one does A4 size. I loved this little machine and it had real optical eye. but as you said it was not perfect. you needed to place your transfer perfectly straight so optical could read reg marks. sometimes not much faster then manual method iam using now


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## Lnfortun (Feb 18, 2006)

So far I have not seen it being sold for $79.00. The lowest I saw was $119.00 from ebay.


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## SaB (May 15, 2007)

Keep looking on site i linked. They comeup qujte often for low price. But tbh 119 is not bad for descent soft.


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## Lnfortun (Feb 18, 2006)

SaB said:


> Keep looking on site i linked. They comeup qujte often for low price. But tbh 119 is not bad for descent soft.


You were right. Here it is : FlexiSTARTER 10 OEM PC Version with Dongle (Free Shipping) - $74.99 : SeikiTech!, Sign Making Store

It is even cheaper ($74.99). According to the website there are 499 units in stock. Just bougth one.

Thanks.


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## SaB (May 15, 2007)

but are you aware this is seiki cutters only? and it wont work with NON seiki cutter? I got seiki myself and i am very happy with it but just saying


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