Vinyl Cutter
We have a 4 ft wide Rabbit 1360K vinyl cutter. You may use shop vinyl or bring your own. We do not provide transfer paper for the vinyl. The vinyl cutter is connected to a shop computer.
| Paper feed width | 1360mm (53.5 inch) |
|---|---|
| Max cutting width: | 1250mm (49.2 inch) |
| Cutting force | 20-800g |
| Cutting speed | 25mm/s-800mm/s |
| Port | USB 2.0 and RS232 (works over USB 2.0) |
Setup
Vector designs can be made with Inkscape. Keep in mind that these are just lines you're telling the machine to cut! Interfacing with the vinyl cutter itself can be done with Inkcut. Specific settings are below, in the "Details" section. The vinyl cutter must have its power cable plugged in and turned on, and must be connected to via its USB port, not its serial port. This requires an A-to-A cable, which we have and should be with the vinyl cutter.
Our public-use computer running Ubuntu can connect to the vinyl cutter just fine without drivers, and has this software already installed and ready to use, so you can use it to create designs, and cut them.
Details
Here is some more detailed info on the vinyl cutter, and how to use it. Use this for troubleshooting or improving your setup. If you find settings that work more correctly, please update this entry!
Serial Communication Settings
These are the Inkcut settings which have worked for us. Access these in Inkcut under Device > Setup (Ctrl+Alt+P)
| Type | Serial Port |
|---|---|
| Port | /dev/ttyUSB0 (connect over USB) |
| Baud rate | 9600 |
| Byte size | 8 |
| Parity bit | No |
| Stop bits | 1 |
| Flow Control | XON/XOFF |
| Protocol | HPGL |
TODO
Here's some things we still need to figure out and document here
- Add pictures! This can make things easier to understand.
- basic how-to of using inkscape to create a design, and using inkcut to cut the design.
- verify whether or not DMPL or HPGL are the correct protocols to use.
- how do you go about making a multi-color design, which requires multiple layers of vinyl which have to be aligned? (requires transfer paper) (maybe just link to a tutorial online)