¶ Overview
Our PixMax vinyl cutter is the model PME1350 (1350mm). It is located in our machine room and may only be used after personal instructions by an authorised member. Please read the space rules first.
You can use inkscape to create your design as a *.svg file. Load it into inkcut and connect to the plotter via USB cable. Use inkcut to send the plot to the plotter.
¶ Inkcut
You can use inkcut on the Windows-PC in the machine room or run it in the Ubuntu-VM on the host computer. Either way:
- Open a terminal in the Ubuntu-VM, type in
inkcutand hit enter.
Alternatively you can install it on your laptop. If you are not using the vanilla Ubuntu distribution, the installation instructions below may or may not work for you. Have fun debugging.
¶ Installation
Plotting can be done using the inkcut software.
- follow the official installation instructions from the incut link above.
- run inkcut by typing it into a terminal:
$ inkcut - if inkcut throws an error message, try rebooting and/or installing the following and then reboot:
$ pip3 install -U --user PyQt5 PyQt5_sip
¶ Configuring Inkcut
- Switch the units to mm in Setting > Settings > Default Units > mm
- Configure the plotter device in inkcut as follows:
- Device > Setup >
¶ Using Inkcut
- Load your *.svg file. (File > Open)
- Resize with keeping aspect ratio locked
- Position and/or rotate to fit onto material
Note: The origin is the bottom left corner, meaning you may wish to rotate your drawing by -90° (anti-clockwise)!
The material will be fed moving from right to left (not up and down).
- Before plotting, make sure you first test the physical settings (position of plotter knife) on your material (e.g. plot a small rectangle in a corner).
- Use ctrl+p or Device > Send to device to begin plotting your design.
¶ Operating the plotter
Uncover the plotter, connect the USB cable and switch the machine on. When you're done, make sure to disconnect the USB cable again and replace the cover.
Always remove the USB cable when done! The USB socket has been damaged before and had to be replaced, because the USB cable was left inside it and got knocked into a wall.
Instead of a knife you can also use a pen for plotting.
Loosen the clamps to insert the material you want to use from the back. Pull the black handles up:
Insert the material from the back and align it along a straight edge at the front. The laserpointer next to the knife will indicate the top left corner (in inkcut this will be the bottom left corner, since it is rotated by 90°). Make sure the laser is on the material.
You can now slide the clamps left and right to match the size and position of your material. If the pressure on the material is too strong and leaves marks, you can adjust the strength with the springs (golden screws) to your liking. When the material is in the correct position, fasten the clamps by lowering the black handles:
You are now ready for a test plot to check the knife for its cutting depth. See more info below for correct cutting depths on different materials.
¶ Adjusting the plotter knife
The depth the knife will cut into the material needs to be adjusted to match the material you use. Test it first before starting the real plot e.g. use a 1cm rectangle in a corner as shown in the pictures.
To adjust the knife, unscrew the fastening screw and pull out the knife.
You can see the knife protrude a tiny bit at the bottom. You can check the knife by pushing in the metal pin at the top, the knife will be pushed out at the bottom. Release the pin.
To adjust the knife, turn the screw (silver) by a tiny bit in or out, e.g. a quarter or half a revolution. Fix the new position by adjusting the golden screw.
Put the knife back in the holder and fasten the holder-screw. Check the new knife position with another test plot.
¶ Plotting on different materials
¶ Plotting on vinyl
Vinyl consists of two layers:
- top layer: colour is on the top, it's sticky at the back
- bottom layer: must not be cut! protects sticky side of vinyl
Feed the material with the front or "nice" side up into the plotter. The knife needs to cut through the top layer, but leave the bottom layer intact. Make sure the knife doesn't cut through both layers!
Since vinyl thickness varies, it is suggested to test print a circle to ensure the front vinyl layer is cut and the bottom layer remains uncut. A good place to start would be 50 grams for pressure and 100 mm/s for speed, and increase pressure from there.
First, use tweezers to carefully remove all the parts of the plot you don't want to stick to the surface of your object. You may need a cutter knife to correct some sections.
Next, apply some transfer material ("Transferfolie", Orafol) to the front of your vinyl. Make sure to rub the plot into the transfer material. Turn it upside down and carefully remove the bottom layer to expose the sticky side of the vinyl.
You can now stick it onto your surface. Again, rub the plot into the surface before removing the transfer material. Carefully peel it back at a 180° angle.
¶ Plotting on heat transfer for T-shirts
Heat transfer material consists of 3 layers:
- bottom layer: needs to be removed before plotting! transparent, protects the heat reactive "sticky" side that will later stick to your T-shirt
- middle layer: the layer that will end up on your shirt
- top layer: must not be cut! transparent, protects the top or "nice" side of the middle layer and acts as a transfer material in the heat press
Note: You will want to remove the bottom layer, cut the middle layer and leave the top layer intact!
To do this you must plot upside down from the bottom and therefore mirror your design!
For the material used in the picture, to successfully cut through the middle layer (from the bottom), I had to adjust the knife to cut a little deeper than for cutting vinyl.
This image shows the top, middle and bottom layer (left to right):
This image shows how the (shiny) transparent top layer has been left intact, while the middle layer has been cut (from the bottom).
After cutting, remove the unwanted bits of the middle layer from the bottom. Use tweezers and a cutter knife.
Do not forget to remove the bottom layer before plotting!
If you didn't remove the protective bottom layer, your plot will look like this:
You now need to remove all the tiny bottom layer bits using tweezers. Also, the middle layer may not be fully cut which means you have now ruined your material and need to start over.
You can now apply the design to your 100% cotton t-shirt using a heat transfer press. Alternatively you can iron it on. Carefully remove the transparent transfer material when done.
¶ Examples
¶ Vinyl Logo
¶ Vinyl Stencils
¶ with green paint and green glitter
¶ with pink spraypaint
¶ with white paint and different glitter
¶ with transparent clear spray and red glitter
¶ Heat Transfer on Fabric
Make sure you use 100% cotton only. The example below was not and has been slightly scorched by the hot iron. Synthetic materials will melt.
The below images show the heat transfer plot before application, ironing from the top with a cotton cloth in between for protection, and after removal of the transparent top layer:
