Creating almost automatic detailed vinyl weeding lines

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Louise-Paisley
Posts: 287
Joined: Sat Jun 16, 2012 4:36 pm

Creating almost automatic detailed vinyl weeding lines

Post by Louise-Paisley »

For me weeding lines are essential as I do a lot of vinyl cutting and without them weeding large and intricate cuts is near on impossible, for this reason (mostly) I do not use SCAL very much and stick with the ridiculously expensive Signcut Pro.

However, that is set to change, I have finally found a way to quickly and easily create detailed weeding lines in Inkscape which can be saved along with the file. Now I can create the file and incorporate the weeding lines into it so cutting is a simple matter of opening the file and sending to cut - in Signcut pro I have to add the weeding lines every time and you can bet that 2 out of 5 times I forget to add them!

If you do not know what weeding lines are or why they are important this picture should illustrate, this is only a small part of the entire file and i think you should be able to see how the weeding lines make it much easier to remove the scrap vinyl in strips rather than one 700 x 500mm lump!
Capture6.JPG
Capture6.JPG (91.75 KiB) Viewed 9526 times
If you wish to download or view the PDF tutorial you can find it on my blog at http://www.bratpack.org.uk/2012/09/inks ... -mtc-scal/

Enjoy
Software: Windows 7 (64 bit) - SCAL 3 - Inkscape - Illustrator CS4 - Signcut Pro
Cutter 1: Blackcat Cougar 24" connected via Keyspan/ serial
Cutter 2: Phoenix Silver Bullet Pro 24" connected via Keyspan/ serial
gj1
Posts: 4465
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2009 5:01 am

Re: Creating almost automatic detailed vinyl weeding lines

Post by gj1 »

You are just sooooo smart, Louise! AND, I am so happy to see your post here...thank you!
My pictures and files are available for a limited time only.
Louise-Paisley
Posts: 287
Joined: Sat Jun 16, 2012 4:36 pm

Re: Creating almost automatic detailed vinyl weeding lines

Post by Louise-Paisley »

gj1 wrote:You are just sooooo smart, Louise! AND, I am so happy to see your post here...thank you!
I have been up to my neck in it, absolutely not a free minute to myself! I should be working now but I have taken a couple of hours out to do something more interesting instead before I go completely mad!
Software: Windows 7 (64 bit) - SCAL 3 - Inkscape - Illustrator CS4 - Signcut Pro
Cutter 1: Blackcat Cougar 24" connected via Keyspan/ serial
Cutter 2: Phoenix Silver Bullet Pro 24" connected via Keyspan/ serial
firstcut
Posts: 1822
Joined: Sun Dec 21, 2008 6:19 pm
Location: FL; SCAL1, SCAL2; Mac; Ink .47, AI CS4
Contact:

Re: Creating almost automatic detailed vinyl weeding lines

Post by firstcut »

Bravo, Louise!
I am able to use this same technique in Silhouette Studio Design Edition using the sketch tool to create the hatching. A great timesaver!
angel
Posts: 238
Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:36 am

Re: Creating almost automatic detailed vinyl weeding lines

Post by angel »

Very neat!! I always use my xacto knife for this, thanks for sharing!!
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