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add information about proper sizing of material
Put simply, the vinyl cutter is a computer-numeric-controlled (CNC) blade. It’s capable of making many exact cuts into a sheet of vinyl very rapidly. This makes the vinyl cutter most useful for cutting designs into vinyl stickers and heat transfers.
== Sizing Material ==
After loading stock into the machine, we need to properly measure the dimensions of the material so that the CAM software knows what it has available to cut. It is important to note that the material should always be within the front and back sensors. There are 3 methods for sizing material:
# Roll (Left arrow)
# Edge (Down arrow)
# Single (Right arrow)
The "Roll" option will spool out the entire roll of material and measure the length on what is the x-axis. "Edge" serves as the complement as it will only measure the width of the material using the y-axis across the front of the machine. The last option, "Single" will do both; it measures both the length and width of the material on both axes. Options 2 and 3 find frequent use on this machine while option 1 does not. Using "Edge" is great for spools of vinyl as it will measure just the width. However, it will spool out about a meter when cutting just as a calibration test so keep this in mind. "Single" is effective in using smaller scrap pieces that have arbitrary dimensions. We currently do not have a use for "Roll" so it is best to not use that option.
==CAM==
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== CAD ==
To learn how to use Inkscape to design items to cut, see [[Introduction to 2D CAD (with Inkscape)]]. Inkscape is a free and open-source software similar to illustrator. You can also google "[My Design] svg" to try and get a design for your needs. The svg, or Scalable Vector Graphic is an XML-based vector image format for two-dimensional graphics. SVG files are needed to use on the vinyl cutter.
