Page 1 of 3

ecal & Eclips

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 3:37 pm
by cktoo
Hi All,
I'm a Super newbie just starting to use the ecal software and the eclips - one thing that keeps happening is that when i'm trying to cut some letters say using curly font the letters tear... it seems like round and intricate/ fine letters do not cut well - am I missing something or is there a particular way to get these letters to cut without wrecking my projects? (besides not cutting these letters..? :D )

Thanks

I added a picture of what is happening... Im trying to cut vinyl, this also happens with cardstock..
cktoo.jpg
cktoo.jpg (196.26 KiB) Viewed 3945 times

Re: ecal & Eclips

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 4:56 pm
by papasue
Hi, WELCOME

A few questions: what is the name of the font, are you cutting on paper, card stock, and letter size? It might make a difference in the answer.

Hope to hear from you, then we can help you.

Re: ecal & Eclips

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 6:32 pm
by papasue
ck, I took the liberty of resizing your photo since it was so big and cutting off your description.

I'm thinking about your issue and going to do a little investigation before I answer. Who knows who will come along with a suggestion before I get here and after too for sure. This is a great group.

I am assuming that you are specifying vinyl in the cut menu option right? And you have eclips vs 1.002, and the material size is what? 12x12, 12x24, or ??? I can't tell from the picture how small or large you are working with.

There are reported issues with the blade housing on some eclips, let's hope this is not the problem Look at this post and see if any thing there sounds familiar.

viewtopic.php?f=84&t=26778

Back asap.

Re: ecal & Eclips

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 6:38 pm
by gj1
Turn down the pressure and speed maybe, make sure there is nothing stuck in the blade housing, have a sharp blade...although I don't have the machine and software you do...maybe you can still do these things...
Try beefing up the letters 'slightly' by using shadow at it lowest. Be sure to Union or Weld the letters together if you want to.
That is all I can think of...but as I said, I don't have your software and maybe not the same settings.

Re: ecal & Eclips

Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 1:31 am
by alliellis
I think I would do what gj1 would do. Manually adjust the presurre and/or the speed. Maybe particularly the speed as with more intricate cuts this is recommended. Both gj1 and papasue are experienced at helping on this forum. Papasue has helped me a lot with my eclips when I first got it. Stick with it, it's a great machine.

Re: ecal & Eclips

Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 7:18 am
by cktoo
papasue wrote:ck, I took the liberty of resizing your photo since it was so big and cutting off your description.

I'm thinking about your issue and going to do a little investigation before I answer. Who knows who will come along with a suggestion before I get here and after too for sure. This is a great group.

I am assuming that you are specifying vinyl in the cut menu option right? And you have eclips vs 1.002, and the material size is what? 12x12, 12x24, or ??? I can't tell from the picture how small or large you are working with.

There are reported issues with the blade housing on some eclips, let's hope this is not the problem Look at this post and see if any thing there sounds familiar.

viewtopic.php?f=84&t=26778

Back asap.
Thank you sorry for the large file (i posted from my phone)- I appreciate everyone's help! I have set the cut option to vinyl and yes i have eclips1.002 the material size i have tried both 12 x 12 & 12 x 24 Right now in this picture it was set to 12 X 24. the letters are .45 in this picture - i also bolded the font to make it thicker... without losing the look i was trying for. I cut out a split letter from paperpastime.com called regal split letters for the most part 98% of the letter came out really nice - i'll switch out the blade although i have only cut out 3 card stock images. I'll also adjust the speed down - the pressure was fine it didn't cut thru the backing so i think i'm ok there... One of the fonts i tried was Brock script. I'm probably doing something silly but - i'm stumped!
And... - i did review the other post and i'm not experiencing any dragging of the blade at the end of cutting - but i'll cut more to make sure this isn't the case. Thanks!

Thank you all again - what a great forum!!

Re: ecal & Eclips

Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 9:43 am
by sstehman
Are you able to post the actual file you are cutting? If so, I'll grab it and cut it on mine and see what happens.

Re: ecal & Eclips

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 1:44 pm
by cktoo
Here is the file - I hope i did this correctly.

Thanks in advance again!!

Re: ecal & Eclips

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 3:50 pm
by sstehman
Just cut your file....but only on card stock as I'm running out of time and wanted to test cuts this way first.

These are settings I used after playing around and it turned out well. The toughest cuts are the words "Established 2002". You might want to choose another font as it is quite small and the letters are close together and I think that is part of the issue there, but I did get it to cut nicely. Make sure your paper is down good and firm on the mat.

Settings:

Go to eCal - Preferences -- then the eClips tab.
Change pressure to 2
Click on the Advanced Settings tab - set the communication speed to slow and I changed the curve resolution to low

Set your blade housing to 2 (for blade depth) - that is what worked best for me.

When you tell it to cut:
set the cutting speed to 2 and the pressure to 2


See if this works any better. Sometimes it's trial and error.

Let me know how you make out.

Re: ecal & Eclips

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 4:02 pm
by cktoo
Thank you so much for taking the time - i will recut this again using your suggestions I'll let you know how it works out! (fingers crossed!)