Well then, let's try posting this again...
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Hi...
I'm new to the list, was wondering about those who are interested in or
have done work on a Linux driver or any such program to control the
Graphtec plotters that go by the name WishBlade, RoboCraft or CraftRobo.
Actually, these are small USB interface home use "paper cutters" that
cost hundreds of dollars by Graphtec. A company who's primary product
involves vinyl sign cutters that cost thousands of dollars.
Their primary use is for cutting out paper figures for scrap booking.
However, they can probably be used to cut small vinyl signs. An
imaginative use of such a cutter (which might appeal more to this list)
might be to cut a printed circuit out of vinyl to be used as an etch
resistant pattern.
It occurs to me that these small cutters may use the same protocol as
their larger cousins. And, that there may already exist Linux based
software to control the larger vinyl sign cutters. Does anyone know
more about this?
The two features that these small cutters have over normal X-Y pen
plotters are (1) the larger mechanical force (which apparently can be
varied by printer command) exerted by the cutting solenoid and (2)
optical scanning of the media to be cut such that the cutting pattern
can be autonomously registered with an image previously printed on the
media.
Several versions of these cutters exist. I am interested in what I
think is the first generation (blue WishBlade) cutter. Apparently this
generation is no longer supported as the software to control it is not
upgradable to Vista. In contrast the next generation (pink WishBlade)
software has a patch which makes it compatible with Vista. Also,
apparently, the controlling software for these two generations of
cutters are not cross compatible. I am making this point in case the
Linux drivers have to be uniquely designed for each generation.
