Silhouette SD with MTC cutting funny

pixelpusherpat

My machine got a new white cap blade installed. I double checked the holder to see if it had swarf pcs in it after cutting a few sheets. My settings were 7 strength and 6 on speed using Oracal631.  All this to set the stage.  I was trying the fancy Nativity from the one who did Swirly Santa face, (Sorry for memory burp on name.)  Anyway, all of my cut lines look kind of like semi-joined dashes with a little jag point before doing the next dash move.  Most of the
tight corner changes were flicked up and some lines were not even thru the paper. I have never had to go by number from a Click blade before, so, being conservative I chose #2.  Can anyone give me a pointer as to what I may have done incorrectly?  Thanks. 

Di-lite

I think you need to take a closer look at the file and make sure they are flat lines and not dashed.  Some of the files that are out there are less then good in respect of cutting lines.  I have just help someone resolve such a file and I am ashamed to say it was British.  The products she produces are exquisite but the cutting files are not up to scratch for KNK machines.

Crazy_Mr_Zing

A photo of the cut may help identify the cause 

little tags on corners maybe a sign of incorrect blade offset
too much blade exposed can cause vinyl lifting at corners

pixelpusherpat

Back as soon as I can get a good pix.  Thanks @Crazy_Mr_Zing

pixelpusherpat

Here's what the cut was like.   AND  Thanks @Di-lite, I enlarged the file over 200+ and Yes, it is also wavery.

pixelpusherpat

Still can't remember the gals name!  Has anyone got and is willing to share a Good file of the Fancy Nativity? It's for a set I'm doing  - due November 20th. Yikes!  Always a Gremlin in the works throwing spanners!  Thanks.

Di-lite

Those lines look seriously dash - dotty.  All I can think of to save the day is to print it out to size and then scan in from the print that might remove the staccato of the lines.  Definitely an ouch.

Di-lite

The problem is that such a file would work on silhouette/cricut as it is not so fussy about accuracy as the KNK machines.  They then put the files out thinking that they are OK for all machines but they are not.  If you want to pm the file to me I can see if there is anything I can do but it could be a lost cause unless I redo the whole thing in Serif for you.

pixelpusherpat

@Di-lite ; Thanks a lot for your gracious offer. This is a fantastically ornate file.  It would be beaucoup time consuming.  I'll try to shrink it to compact it, then pick it up in PS and see if I can simplify , enlarge and re-do a png.  LOL Always a hitch.  But, something new to learn!  Crossed fingers and wish me good luck. 

pixelpusherpat

@Di-lite What is 'doing it in Serif'?

Crazy_Mr_Zing

Did you trace this in or was is ready made cutting file ?
its hard to tell really but it some places it appear there may be double lines (fat paths) or even paths doubling back and forth on each other

Are you cutting vinyl ?

can show a screen shot of the full image now really sure what this patern look like to offer an alternative ?

Di-lite

Doing it in Serif is the same as doing it in MTC except I can manage nodes so much better in Serif then I can in MTC.  If you drop the file on me or on Crazy either of us will have a go at making it a file you can use.

Di-lite

A small question - is this a Tina Fitch project?  If it is then I am not surprised by what you have there.

Gabe

@pixelpusherpat, I believe you are referring to Kim Bright.  Her files are not "dashy" so you can rule that out.  As a test, please replace the new blade in the cutter with a pen tool, if you have one, and try the cut path again using plain copy paper.  I'm not familiar with the Silhouette machines, but I assume there must be a way to set the blade offset.  If so, set it to 0 for the pen tool.  And, of course, make sure the offset is correct for the new blade.

Liz_A

@pixelpusherpat - the file and the cut look very much like it was traced from a very pixelated Pixel Trace. Go back to the original image that was brought into MTC and look at the size, eg 90 x 45 pixels in size, and then look at the physical file size. If the numbers are low, then the image likely isn't the best candidate for Pixel Tracing. If the pixel traced result is wavery, the cut will be wavery, LOL

Kim Bright was the one that scanned images of copyright stamps and was asked by the owners of the stamps to stop. There are still a lot of her files floating around on the internet. I did run across one that was just like the above issue, very bad pixelated image that did not make a good svg file for cutting. It takes a lot of work and patience to fix files like that.

If cutting to a Silhouette from MTC you set the offset in the MTC Silhouette plugin, if I recall correctly.

Crazy_Mr_Zing

That something that always puzzle me ? the silhouette plugin doesn't seem to allow for setting offset apart for a check box ?
I'm guess maybe all genuine Silhouette blade have the same offset so is only an issue for 3rd party supplied blades and or holders

Di-lite

found a pic and traced it - does this help

Liz_A

@Crazy_Mr_Zing click the tools icon:



Choose the paper type, the colors represent the original blade holders that the Silhouette SD had. conversion charts are out there for what to choose on the click blade holders.