Makers' Alliance Wiki

Current Status: Fully Functional

Specifications:

• Material size: up to 24“ x arbitrarily long.
• Material type: vinyl, cardstock, paper (may need a cardstock back?)
• tooling: cutting tools. There may be a pen plotting attachment as well?

How to use: i3 has some details on their wiki that might be helpful: https://www.i3detroit.org/wiki/Vinyl_Cutter-US_Cutter_Refine_MH-720

The original Windows software that came with it should be on the Windows workstation.

We've had some limited success using InkCut on the Linux workstation, while using a USB to serial adapter and the 9-pin serial cable that came with the cutter. We'll get it added to the OS's launcher (and add the Inkcut plugin for Inkscape), but in the meantime “python3 -m inkcut” will get you started. You'll want to design your thing-to-cut in Inkscape and make sure to convert the objects to paths before saving it and then loading it in Inkcut.

I attempted using Inkcut on my old Macbook Pro, but the cutter setup dialog wanted to be taller than my display's height, so I could never save the cutter config. It may work better now, and may work better on the space's Mac minis.

We keep a limited amount of vinyl on hand (currently: white, black, and a special sandblast resist). If you need something specific (certain color, heat transfer vinyl, etc.), you can source material at the following places:

• USCutter
• the usual online suspects (ebay, amazon, etc.)
• Michael's (retail)

Retail stores typically just have 12” rolls/sheets for Silhouettes/Cricuts/etc. If you want 24“ material you'll probably have to go online.