Help I am lost!!! Cricut double cutting

Post about using Inkscape with cutters or plotters.
jead619
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:44 am

Help I am lost!!! Cricut double cutting

Postby jead619 » Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:53 am

I am supposed to be cutting these for VBS, but they are double cutting!! The beach ball is not a big deal, but the other take so long and I have to cut about 100!! Please let me know what I am doing wrong...I am trying to do them to cut them using Cricut.
Attachments
Beach Ball Bag Patterns.jpg
Beach Ball Bag Patterns.jpg (155.16 KiB) Viewed 14037 times
Last edited by brynn on Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: edit title

User avatar
brynn
Posts: 10309
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 4:34 pm
Location: western USA
Contact:

Re: Help I am lost!!! Desparate!

Postby brynn » Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:36 am

Image
Welcome jead619!

Ok, the first thing we need is more info, lol.
I looked up VBS, since it's not familiar to me. Of the several definitions I found, I'm guessing "vacation bible school"? That's the only one where urgency might be a factor....although there's a VBS television network, they probably can handle the cutting in-house.

The beach ball is not a big deal, but the other take so long and I have to cut about 100

Are the others similar in size to the ball that you've shown us? How many nodes? (select with Selection tool and look at the info/status area)(bottom of window in the middle).

I'm not terribly familiar with cutting machines, so forgive if this is obvious. What does "double cutting" mean? If it was cutting 2 copies, that would probably actually be helpful, lol. So I'm guessing it means that it's going over the lines twice?? If it's going over the lines twice, I'm thinking there may be 2 lines on top of each other....or close to each other.

How were the images created? Did you draw them yourself? Vectorized using Trace Bitmap? Downloaded? From a purchased CD?

Does the machine's documentation (user guide, e.g.) have any troubleshooting steps?

[I'm moving this topic to the Cutters/Plotters forum, where it may get the attention of those more familiar with this ;) ][also editing the title for same reason]

jead619
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:44 am

Re: Help I am lost!!! Cricut double cutting

Postby jead619 » Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:53 am

Thank you for the quick response. Yes, VBS is vacation Bible school and the problem is it is cutting the image and the outline...so taking twice as long. The image is just a simple three panel shape I got from the kit they get for the program.

User avatar
brynn
Posts: 10309
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 4:34 pm
Location: western USA
Contact:

Re: Help I am lost!!! Cricut double cutting

Postby brynn » Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:16 pm

Is it taking twice as long because it's double cutting? Or is it just taking twice as long? Twice as long as what?

HeatherM
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2009 6:25 am

Re: Help I am lost!!! Cricut double cutting

Postby HeatherM » Tue Jun 28, 2011 12:35 am

It's cutting twice because Inkscape traces both sides (the thickness) of a line rather than the centerline. You will need to break apart your trace and delete the extra lines (with the traced artwork selected use Path/Break apart). A good check for what will cut is to view your file in Outline mode (View/Display Mode/Outline).

Your traces will probably benefit from simplification too (Control L with the traced artwork selected). The default is generally too high and results in corner distortions, so I usually use a default of 0.0001-0.0004. You need to go to File/Inkscape preferences/Misc and change the numbers for"Simplification Threshold".

I have a tutorial on tracing line art for use with SCAL here and more on the Path operations including Simplify here.

User avatar
flamingolady
Posts: 687
Joined: Wed Jun 10, 2009 1:40 pm

Re: Help I am lost!!! Cricut double cutting

Postby flamingolady » Tue Jun 28, 2011 5:40 am

I wonder if it would also help to use Path/Simplify first, that cuts down on the number of nodes.

User avatar
brynn
Posts: 10309
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 4:34 pm
Location: western USA
Contact:

Re: Help I am lost!!! Cricut double cutting

Postby brynn » Tue Jun 28, 2011 6:56 am

Thanks for your input HeatherM. :D
[img="HeatherM"]It's cutting twice because Inkscape traces both sides (the thickness) of a line rather than the centerline. [/img]
Yes, that's one of the potential reasons for double cutting. But jead619 said they got it from the kit that came with the program. I would be surprised if it had been vectorized with Inkscape's Trace Bitmap.

I think we're still not sure about what's causing the "twice as long" yet. If a machine malfunction or misconfiguration can be ruled out, I would invite jead619 to upload the SVG file as an attachment to a reply, then we can download and examine the file :D


Return to “Inkscape & Cutters/Plotters”