ToolDocs/Vinyl Cutter

A Foison C24. With a 610mm/24Inch cutting width.

= Linux =

The cutter shows up as a standard USB<->RS-232 converter cable, and talks HP-GL.

The best software for printing (From Linux at least) is InkCut an InkScape extension. Simple convert stroke to paths, select what you want, and `Extensions->Cutter / Plotter->InkCut`. Click the 'Properties' top-right to set the correct serial port (probably /dev/ttyUSB0) and speed (defaults to 38400, but you can set it via the menu button and LCD on the cutter).

= Windows = 01-JUNE-2013

As yet we don't have a reliable method for running the cutter from Windows.

There are two physical interfaces on the cutter;

This requires a standards compliant serial interface. Most USB-Serial adapters are 5v whereas the Foison requires one operating at 12v minimum
 * RS-232

Windows requires the "CH341SER" driver to be installed. After much coaxing, unplugging and plugging in, a Windows Vista laptop found and installed the driver which then appears as a COM port. This can be driven programmatically using Python and the PySerial package but we have yet to find a printer setup that will recognise and drive this interface.
 * USB

This Python snippet worked for the Cutter's USB interface set up in Windows as COM 7;

>>import serial

>>ser = serial.Serial(6)

>>ser.baudrate = 38400

>>ser.isOpen

TRUE

>>ser.write("IN;SP1;PU80,80;PD160,80;PU0,0;")

30L