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i purchased an Ioline cutter/plotter because it has a pounce tool. now i'm finding out that none of the software i'm looking at can drive the pounce tool. with two of the software companies, nobody had ever even inquired about doing it. So, the question is: is it worth the effort? it seemed like a really good idea when i got it, but now i'm feeling like the only guy in the world to want to do it.
------------------ :: Scooter Marriner :: :: Coyote Signs :: :: San Francisco :: :: don't blame me... i'm just a beginner ::
Posts: 1356 | From: Oakland (and San Francisco) | Registered: Mar 2001
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Yeah, me too. I thought the ability was in the plotter, not the software. Our graphtec has it's own internal program to make the plotter pounce.
------------------ St.Marie Graphics & Makin' Tracks Sound Studio Kalispell, Montana stmariegraphics@centurytel.net http://www.stmariegraphics.com 800 735-8026 We're chiseling every day of the week! :^)
READ THE IOLINE INSTRUCTION MANUAL, YOU HAVE TO GO INTO THE IOLINE CONTROL CENTER AND SLECT THE POUNCE MODE AS A TEMPERORY SETTING. THEN GO BACK TO YOUR SIGNMAKING SOFTWARE AN SLECT WHATEVER YOU WANT TO POUNCE. I DO IT ALL THE TIME WITH MY IOLINE SUPER 88 AND IT WORKS GREAT I'D BE LOST WITHOUT THAT FEATURE. GOOD LUCK.
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Posts: 21 | From: ANOKA, MN. USA | Registered: Dec 2000
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We use our Graphtec for making pounce patterns more than anything else. I was recently visiting Ron Percell and he demonstrated how he made puonce patterns with his old cam 1 and Corel. He selected his drawing and went in and changed the lines in Corel from solids to these little dashes, then gave the cut command. The plotter walked around each little dash, tearing the paper plenty large enough for charcoal to penetrate. I was amazed!
------------------ The SignShop Mendocino, California "Where the Redwoods meet the Surf"
Oh, for the faith of a spider! He begins his web without any thread.
Posts: 6713 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Though our Graphtec will make pounce patterns, we still use the 750 for virtually all of them. I've never seen a pattern more precise or clean as a 750 pattern.
------------------ St.Marie Graphics & Makin' Tracks Sound Studio Kalispell, Montana stmariegraphics@centurytel.net http://www.stmariegraphics.com 800 735-8026 We're chiseling every day of the week! :^)
posted
i got a roland ..and i just pen draw(felt tip pens and i add food coloring to em, red, green, blue....same ones i got with the plotter in 92)then i get a piece of cardboard and select the pounce wheel of my choice, gotem from 1" to 1/4 wheel....and i can do it faster then the plotter.....sandpapaer the back..and i use black tempra paint powder or baby powder for white pounce..
------------------ joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-944-5060 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND
Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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Hey Paint..... Thats a cool idea....black tempera.....Whats up with what does that do as far as messin up yer hands? Put the charcoal in the closet with Bluto!
posted
I remember the Gerber pounce wheel as faster than the bounce up and down types. They had two different coarseness for wheels. With the Graphtec, I can adjust the hole spacing and size of hole. Sometimes I'd preffer the speed and other times the versatility. Both get the job done.
------------------ The SignShop Mendocino, California "Where the Redwoods meet the Surf"
Oh, for the faith of a spider! He begins his web without any thread.
Posts: 6713 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I went yesterday to our local store to get some Dark pounce powder(all I had was white) low and behold they were out of the dark. Just my luck, anyway I walk around this art store looking for something that will work and I came across these "Charcol Stix". Had them in various dia., I chose the #4 brought it back to the shop. Hand punce my pattern,sand the back, put it in place and start rubbing a stick over the tiny holes. Worked GREAT!!!!! I was going to by another pad,just for the dark powder but now I will just use the stix from now on.
Another note, my plotter had pounce option when I bought it and I chose not to get it, thinking I could add it later. Instead of doing that I will probably buy an electric pounce, the last shop I worked in had one and it was great. I think it is a little less $$$$ than adding the pounce option to a plotter too.
------------------ Troy Haas "Metal_Leg" on mIRC
SAM Signs & RPM Auto Graphix 931 W. Columbia street Evansville,Indiana 47710 812-437-5367 Home of the: "Brush Fire at the Hose House" Letterhead Meet April 27-29th,2001
"Chaos, panic, disorder - my work here is done."
Posts: 1100 | From: Evansville,Indiana, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Hi, all-- Amy, to answer your ? a pounce pattern is a full-size drawing, either plotter-drawn or hand-drawn that is perforated along the edges of the letters or graphic, then lightly sanded on the back to open up the holes to allow powder to go thru, and leave a paint-by- numbers print on your surface. Powdered charcoal, or blue carpenters chalkline powder works well on a light surface--white chalkline or even baby powder for dark surfaces. I load up an old sock with whichever powder and rubber band it closed, and when not in use keep it -or them-in a plastic sandwich bag. Concerning Ioline plotters and whether they will pounce or not; I guess some will and some wont. My own is a classic24, and according to Iolines national sales manager, that particular model is not set up to pounce. He didn't say why, but I think it has to do with the thickness of the tape on the platen (striker plate)-- thicker stuff being probably more suitable for pouncing than what is on there. The funny part is that I didn't have a pounce option in Signlab until I got rev.6.3 Yes, it was there in Iolines control panel, but given what I was told, I never tried it. I have tried it only once, and it wasn't too succesful, I think because the tape on the platen wasn't thick enough to allow much of a hole to be punched. The other thing is, if the tape gets too beat up, you will get skips in your vinyl cutting, and end up replacing the platen tape. Fact is, I've found that replacing the tape is sometimes almost as good as putting in a new sharp blade. I just let the plotter draw whatever by substituting a ball point pen for the blade, and then use OP's method of cutting with a hand held pounce wheel. One other thought on pounce patterns-- If you have several lines of copy, it is pretty easy to wipe off the one below the one you are lettering. That is where the mahl stick comes in handy. I don't use a stick, so I just tear off a strip of masking paper-- the kind with masking tape on one edge--and cover the area I don't want wipe off. Sorry this is so long-winded, but at least one pretty basic ? was asked. It's time to go back to work now.
------------------ Bill Preston Fly Creek, N.Y. USA wpreston2@stny.rr.com
[This message has been edited by Bill Preston (edited April 12, 2001).]
Posts: 943 | From: Fly Creek, N.Y. USA | Registered: Jan 2000
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just as messy as charcoal....but washes off real easy.....and the one i think was really gay was whimpy....would do anything for hamburger........
------------------ joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-944-5060 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND
Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
i always feel a little foolish posting these stupid questions, but then a lot of people chime in and i learn a ton, so i'm glad i did it. My Ioline is a "Classic Plus" (but it doesn't say ANYWHERE that its a "plus" - you have to decipher the serial number to find out). the "plus" means i can add the pounce tool, which was less than $75 (don't remember exactly), and i think that's less than electropounce. the pounce tool makes little pinpricks and can be adjusted (so i'm told!) for fine to coarse spacing (some how). when i got the cutter, some folks here suggested that using the cutter to pounce was faster/easier than plotting, and then pouncing by hand. that's why i went for it. Ioline's tech support guy (George) says i can disreguard their "control panel" software, and that the pounce instructions is supposed to come from the plotting software. everything i hear sends me in conflicting directions. if i had any hair left, i'd pull it out. sigh. i guess i'll just have to experiment (once i receive the software and the new USB adapter plug and then buy some 24" paper - punched or plain? - and ...).
------------------ :: Scooter Marriner :: :: Coyote Signs :: :: San Francisco :: :: don't blame me... i'm just a beginner ::
Posts: 1356 | From: Oakland (and San Francisco) | Registered: Mar 2001
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Hi, scooterx We've got the classic plus too and the problems I had starting out (never having used a plotter before) was:
Stalling when using 50 yd rolls. The control center came with the Auto Loop feature off so it was trying to drag all that vinyl as it cut till they told me what it was for.
Also, I seem to have to use the "small letter" settings on just about everything except really big block letters to get clean enough cuts to weed without swearing.
Fine print: as all manufacturers will tell you, the above is all operator error and I'm sure it's a very fine machine.
------------------ Rick Cooper Sierra Sign & Award Lake Tahoe, USA www.engrave.pctrader.com $$$Letterheads Website Supporter$$$
"The early bird gets the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese."
Posts: 135 | From: Incline Village, NV, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
The proble is that Ioline has not fixed from monthes their Control center for Mac, so this software crashes when you try to use it on an iMac (at least the version available on the Ioline website).
The problem could be fixed by adding the corresponding command directly into the sign software.
I would do it myself inside NCS MagiSign for example,… but I'm still awaiting that Ioline support answer to some of my technical questions.
Once again, a question of time…
------------------ Philippe JACQUES info@magisign.com
Want to produce signs in 4 steps directly from Adobe Illustrator ? Take a look at www.magisign.com…
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