Skycut EV24 with SignMaster Pro, Manual

Page 1: ...It s a waste of paper and ink if you only ever need certain sections The live links to videos and web sites in the manual will not work This manual will be updated from time to time You cannot search...

Page 2: ...2 1 1 Installing SignMaster from a Download 15 2 1 2 Installing SignMaster from a CD 15 2 2 CONNECTING THE SKYCUT TO YOUR COMPUTER 18 2 2 1 USB Connection 19 2 2 2 Connecting the EV24 to a Wi Fi Netwo...

Page 3: ...THE ORIGIN BEFORE CUTTING 53 3 6 OTHER CUT SETTING FUNCTIONS 53 3 6 1 Mirror 53 3 6 2 Weeding Options 54 3 6 3 Weld Text 55 3 7 IMPORTANT CHECKLIST BEFORE YOU CUT 56 3 8 SCALE CALIBRATION 57 3 8 1 Sca...

Page 4: ...ou have mechanical issues with your Skycut please contact your dealer as soon as possible You can also contact Skycut directly using this email address skycut skycut cn For additional information and...

Page 5: ...e you ever need to ship your Skycut 1 4 Unpacking Verify that you have received all contents There is a checklist in Section 1 05 Please notify your Skycut supplier immediately if anything is missing...

Page 6: ...cutting backed materials without using a cutting mat Grit Shafts 5 in total on EV24 allow the pinch wheels to grip the mat or material so they can be moved in and out of the cutter during cutting Pin...

Page 7: ...B Port option to connect computer to Skycut with included USB cable Reset Button used to reset Skycut s cutting buffer does not reset calibrations Power Port plug power cable into this port On Off Swi...

Page 8: ...small piece of wax needs to be removed from the pen s nib before use You may also wish to cut off the very top of the pen refill so that it more easily fits into your EV24 1 7 3 Skycut Blades There ar...

Page 9: ...l to the mat so that you can more accurately set the length to match the thickness of the material For very thin materials like vinyl and thin paper just the very tip of the blade will be protruding f...

Page 10: ...lastic sooner shortening the useful life of the cutting mat Cleaning and Replenishing the Cutting Mat When mats begin to lose their stickiness they can be washed Use a mild dishwashing detergent warm...

Page 11: ...wheels and the grit shafts may be cleaned with isopropyl alcohol or Un Du Apply the cleaner to a clean lint free rag and rub the entire wheel and or grit shaft until free of adhesive 1 8 Pinch Wheels...

Page 12: ...nd the SPEED and FORCE settings will light up indicating you are in FS set mode The X and X buttons can now be used to change the SPEED The Y and Y buttons can be used to change the FORCE See Sections...

Page 13: ...This screen offers a choice of three languages Mandarin English and Spanish You can choose one of these for the language in which all settings and menu communication are displayed System This screen d...

Page 14: ...erial 2 for draw and cut applications Old Fluffy Bath Towel 1 to dry a washed mat 2 to apply an invisible layer of lint onto an overly sticky mat Dishwashing Soap 1 to remove visible and invisible fib...

Page 15: ...a safe place https signmaster software smc htm Note where the file will be saved on your computer so that you can later browse to that folder and launch the exe file which has been downloaded Follow...

Page 16: ...y time you update the software keep it in a safe place 7 Read and accept a second license agreement and then verify the destination for installing SignMaster Enter the 20 digit PSN provided when you p...

Page 17: ...cut EV24 or the model you have purchased from the drop down menu 10 In the next window you ll have the option to create a desktop icon and install a thumbnail previewer Both are recommended Select pre...

Page 18: ...front and the back for the mat to extend during cutting Powering On Plug the power cord into a wall outlet or power strip Connect the power cord to the Skycut on the left side end cap Turn on the powe...

Page 19: ...same time Requires more steps to set up Some routers may require setting changes in order to work with the Skycut Computer is now connected to the Skycut thus no wireless access to the Internet or to...

Page 20: ...ars Select the network you wish to use should match what your computer is using and press OK 2 Use the Y button to move down to PassWord and press OK A screen resembling a keyboard will appear Use the...

Page 21: ...the network used for the EV24 setup and if needed enter the network password Wait a bit for the connection to be made and the menu should indicate you are now connected to that network 9 In SignMaster...

Page 22: ...d try again Additional troubleshooting for Wi Fi connections can be found in Appendix A1 12 Once Port OK is displayed click on OK and then click on Apply 13 The IP Address should now appear in the Vin...

Page 23: ...design click on the Cut Plot Engrave Tools icon 6th from the left on the upper middle task bar and select Send to Cutter The following window opens Click on the Properties button to open the Vinyl Sp...

Page 24: ...t from the drop down menu Under Port Type select Windows Port Mark the option for Port and then select U_Disk from the drop down menu Uncheck all three of these settings Pen drawing select Pen Tool Cu...

Page 25: ..._Disk Browse to locate the USB flash drive you plan to use and name your PLT file Once the file is saved eject the flash drive from your computer Proceed to the next section 2 2 4 Loading and Cutting...

Page 26: ...u to do some testing with the pen tool But note that the following steps are for DRAWING not cutting Before inserting the blade holder into your cutter please read the following Sections 1 7 4 1 7 5 3...

Page 27: ...to lock in the test pen Be careful not to push down on the blade holder seat while tightening The arrow keys on the Skycut s control panel will always be used to set the origin for cutting Click on t...

Page 28: ...the selected arrow or in the settings above the Drawing Area change the Width or Height if desired At this point if you plan to export this file to a USB flash drive rather than cut directly to the S...

Page 29: ...asses and the Blade Settings Library opens To switch to the test pen click the down arrow to the right of Description and select Pen Tool Note where design will cut relative to where the blade holder...

Page 30: ...window and choose a different origin Practice moving the origin to different locations If you want to have the arrow draw in a Landscape orientation then mark the Rotate option You will see the arrow...

Page 31: ...u have it located on the Drawing Area in SignMaster s main screen versus at the origin then you need to mark the option called Absolute position in the same Send to be Cut window Check Rotate Note arr...

Page 32: ...correspond to where the shape is positioned in SignMaster Refer to Section 3 2 2 for more details on controlling where images will cut IMPORTANT Please read Section 3 1 before cutting Check Absolute...

Page 33: ...re not working refer to Section 3 1 5 and 3 9 Not practicing enough with the test pen and paper shapes are not cutting in the correct locations refer to Section 3 2 2 3 1 What You Need to Understand A...

Page 34: ...ing a spacer on top of the material A stack of 35 Post It notes or 35 sheets of regular copy paper work well The recommended method for loading the test pen or another accessory o Place the spacer on...

Page 35: ...ssing the material after cutting can greatly aid in weeding the cut shapes from the waste When necessary tape thicker materials to the mat to keep them from slipping during the cut If you cut a range...

Page 36: ...an for example mark Red to be selected Then the Preview will only have Skycut the red circle and the red star present o Along the same lines you can select all objects of type and only have those shap...

Page 37: ...tab of the Page Thumbnail Viewer o To access the Objects tab click on the small icon to the left of the palette o Select a shape such as the arrow On the Object tab it can then be set not to cut Clic...

Page 38: ...d a drop down menu will appear o In the Preview window shapes with the current color from the menu appear Also the color is selected at the top Arrow is selected Arrow will not cut Click this icon to...

Page 39: ...the colors in the Vinyl Spooler window o In the Send to be Cut window again click on the Separate by Color option Then click on Spool All Black is selected in the drop down menu Black is outlined here...

Page 40: ...ow to cut those shapes Otherwise click on either Blue or Black o After the red shapes are cut it will no longer be in the menu The next color Blue will be selected and you can again choose to cut that...

Page 41: ...olute position options were introduced Default Moves the shapes to align with the origin you have set based on the blade tip Absolute position Cuts the shapes where they are positioned on the Drawing...

Page 42: ...when you then send this project to the Preview window you will observe that it is too wide to cut from left to right on your Skycut Marking the option for Rotate will then rotate the design and allow...

Page 43: ...the Open Blade Settings Library icon The Blade Settings Library window will open Click on the down arrow to the right of Description where you can access a drop down menu for the Blade Type The black...

Page 44: ...tions tab Send to be Cut General Use this location when you need to assign different settings to different layers of your project For example let s say you wanted to use the embossing tool to score li...

Page 45: ...over time Note the prior screenshot shows the section number to go to for more information 3 3 Cut Settings Before presenting the various settings note that the Force and Speed settings can be set on...

Page 46: ...pressing OK or the FS button again 3 3 2 Cut Speed and Up Speed Cut Speed also called Down Speed is how fast the blade travels while it is in the down or cutting position Up Speed also called Travel...

Page 47: ...l for blades to be slightly off spec Based on cutting a rectangle or square increase or decrease the Blade Offset in increments of 0 1 or smaller until the shape has perfectly square corners Alternati...

Page 48: ...00 mm 3 3 5 Passes The Passes setting causes each individual path to be cut the set number of passes before the blade moves to the next path to cut This is better than just repeating the entire cut a...

Page 49: ...Color is not activated o You will find a Passes setting in the Send to be Cut window under the Cutter Control tab Using Assign Tools by Color o As noted in Section 3 2 4 Assign Tools by Color allows y...

Page 50: ...To save this setting as a preset use the following steps Go to the Send to be Cut Cutter Control window and click on the icon to the right of Blade Offset to open the Blade Settings Library In the Bl...

Page 51: ...iption menu and click on the icon to the right 3 4 2 Saving a Preset for a Material SignMaster allows you to save settings with a custom name for quicker access in the future Go to the Vinyl Spooler w...

Page 52: ...e with the saved settings displayed Click on Done to close the Vinyl Spooler window or Edit Presets if you wish to add more at this time 1 Enter all desired settings 2 Click the icon 3 Enter a name 4...

Page 53: ...tions There are other functions and features available in the Send to be Cut window that may be useful depending on your application Some have already been covered Some will be covered in this section...

Page 54: ...ffset of the weed box around the design click on the Settings tab and adjust as desired Auto Speed Weed Marking this option places a single weed box around the entire project with an additional horizo...

Page 55: ...letters so that a word will cut as one object For example if you go to View Wireframe you can see the overlap that will be cut when a script font is used Before applying Auto Speed Weed After applying...

Page 56: ...e cutting mat or material if not using the mat Are the pinch wheels in use centered over grit shafts located below the white rectangle labels Have you set the blade length exposure based on the thickn...

Page 57: ...l set to 1 0 and 1 0 On the control panel go to MENU Scale The following window opens where you can verify that the current X and Y Scale values are both set to 1 0000 Return to the main screen Then p...

Page 58: ...orner of the paper Make sure you have proper settings for drawing and click on Cut Test to have the shape drawn Using a mm ruler carefully measure the Width left to right and the Length top to bottom...

Page 59: ...y calculated Click on Update and a prompt window will ask if you want to Apply Scale Adjustment Click on Yes and you ll be back in the Vinyl Spooler window To verify the scaling again click on Cutter...

Page 60: ...s of a square or rectangle to draw with the test pen It is highly recommended that the dimensions be at least 8 inches Load a sheet of paper and insert the test pen Move the test pen to the lower righ...

Page 61: ...imals and enter these values into the same Width and Length fields After entering each number the scaling percentage is automatically calculated Width X Height Y Feed the mat this direction into the S...

Page 62: ...e back in the Vinyl Spooler window To verify the scaling again click on Cutter Scale and repeat the same steps Make sure you leave your new scale factors in place by having the following option marked...

Page 63: ...63 3 9 Test Cutting Flow Chart for the Skycut...

Page 64: ...64 3 10 Settings Form for Cutting Materials Material Material Brand or Source Blade Force Speed Blade Offset Passes Other Comments 2009 2022 Sandy McCauley All Rights Reserved...

Page 65: ...board 0 03 0 76mm B 2 95 5 Chipboard 0 06 1 5mm B left R right 3 on both 75 on both 1 on both Duplicated image right side cut half blade exposure left side cut at required blade exposure Blade tip ht...

Page 66: ...passes makes it easier to weed also slight scratch cut in the backing layer Vinyl Heat Transfer Siser Glitter Gold with the mat R 2 45 50 7 2 passes makes it easier to weed also slight scratch cut in...

Page 67: ...Make sure your computer is connected to the same router as your Skycut Verify that SignMaster is the selected software on the control panel under Set Sys Information If the number you see on the cont...

Page 68: ...t When you first drop the pinch wheels use the arrow keys to feed the vinyl for the length of the cut to make sure it is feeding straight If not then about half way through the length of the vinyl nee...

Page 69: ...ters here are some possible causes to check Bad or defective USB cable Cutter is plugged into a power strip that isn t rated highly Static electricity many vinyl pros recommend grounding cutters to pr...

Page 70: ...tting Try increasing the Force by 5 10 ____________________ My cut is clean in some places but not in others Why am I not getting consistent cutting Make sure your material is pressed firmly onto a cl...

Page 71: ...g the correct Blade Offset Try slowing down the cut Small lettering needs slower speed ____________________ My cut shapes are not the same dimensions as what they are set to in SignMaster Perform the...

Page 72: ...or Cutter followed by some alphanumeric characters and then the IP Address 192 168 16 254 If something else is shown there proceed to Section B On your computer open your list of available networks I...

Page 73: ...d the Default button for 3 seconds Release and you should see then see the Apply button displaying Wait In a minute the Apply should return and you can then proceed back to A and use the same procedur...