Equipment Guide
Vinyl Cutter
Located in Wearables
The Vinyl Cutter is a tool that is used to create decals that can be applied to various surfaces such as: laptops, bottles, cars, shirts, and more!
Guide Last Updated: Fall 2022Example Projects Setup/Cleanup Materials Software Warnings Instructions Troubleshooting
Equipment Setup & Cleanup
Setup Pieces Needed
- Supdger
- Weed Pick
Clean Up
- Clean up vinyl scraps
- Set Vinyl Cutter pressure settings back to 20g
- Put picks in the pick bucket
- Make sure Heat Press is turned off
Usable Materials
When using this piece of equipment, please use materials from this list below:
Materials
*The links to find these products are not the only place you can buy material from, just a reference*
- Adhesive Vinyl Shopping Link
- Transfer Paper Shopping Link
- Heat Transfer Vinyl Shopping Link
Helpful Software
These applications are often used to help create a project with this piece of equipment:
Resources
Software
- SureCutsALot (Cutting Software - Installed on Vinyl Cutter Computer)
- Inkscape (A design creation tool)
Websites
- Noun Project (A free website for finding SVG designs)
If you need help setting up or using software, please ask a Lab Assistant for help!
Tool Warnings
If any of these things occur, take precaution and get a lab director:
Dangerous Signs
- Vinyl Cutter jams
- Turn off machine
- Heat Press burns fabric
- Turn off and unplug Heat Press
- If material is burning, put out fire and take material outside
- Heat Press closed for too long
- If not in use, the Heat Press should be opened and off
- While preheating, leave the Heat Press open or else the mat will burn
Equipment Instructions
If you have already used this piece of equipment before, below is a short guide to get you ready to create.
If this is your first time using this piece of equipment, please ask a Lab Assisant for supervision and advice!
Quickstart Guide
Adhesive Vinyl
- Step 1: Prepare your design and vinyl
- Step 1: Save your design as an SVG file
- Step 2: Insert your design into the software SureCutsALot
- Step 3: Put scaled design into the bottom right corner of the cutting space
- Step 4: Put your vinyl (shiny side up) into the Vinyl Cutter, with excess in the back of the machine
- Step 5: Click the "Cut With Cutter" icon
- Step 6: Click the "Cut" button to begin cutting
- Step 2: Prepare your decal
- Step 1: Remove your cut design from the Vinyl Cutter
- Step 2: Use a pick to weed out and remove any vinyl not to be included in your final design.
- Step 3: When all excess is gone, press transfer paper over your design
- Step 3: Stick to object
- Step 1: Remove vinyl backing (leaving transfer paper)
- Step 2: Press vinyl to desired surface using spudger
- Step 3: Slowly peel transfer paper away from decal
- Step 4: Reduce Vinyl Cutter cutting force back to 20g



Heat Transfer Vinyl
- Step 1: Prepare your design
- Step 1: Save your design as an SVG file
- Step 2: Insert your design into the software SureCutsALot
- Step 3: Put scaled design into the bottom right corner of the cutting space
- Make sure your design is horizontally flipped if you want it to be oriented correctly on the end result
- Step 4: Put your vinyl (dull side up) into the Vinyl Cutter, with excess in the back of the machine.
- Step 5: Click "Cut With Cutter"
- Step 2: Prepare your vinyl
- Step 1: Remove your cut design from the Vinyl Cutter
- Step 2: Use a pick to weed out and remove any vinyl not to be included in your final design.
- Step 3: Stick to fabric
- Step 1: Open the Heat Press
- Step 2: While opened, turn on the Heat Press to let it Preheat
- Step 3: Place garment on Heat Press
- Step 4: Place vinyl on fabric (shiny side up) and smooth with spudger
- Step 5: One Heat Press is at 305 Degress, close the lid
- Step 6: A 30 second timer will start. Open once finished
- Step 7: Leave garment on Heat Press and slowly peel shiny side from garment
- If the vinyl peels up, place back down, and close Heat Press for 15 seconds. Repeat until fully adheared
- Step 8: Turn off Heat Press and leave open
- Step 9: Remove garment from Heat Press
- Step 10: Reduce Vinyl Cutter cutting force back to 20g


Helpful Videos
Heat Transfer Tutorial
Simple Troubleshooting
If something is not working, here are a few things to check:
- Vinyl not cutting all the way through?
- Make sure you are cutting on the correct side
- Adhesive vinyl (Cut with shiny side face up, white side face down)
- Heat transfer vinyl (Cut with dull side face up, plastic/shiny side face down)
- Check the force of the Vinyl Cutter (Baseline is 20g for adhesive and 50g for heat transfer)
- Increase the force by pressing "F+" on the machine ("F-" to decrease force)
- Increase the force by small increments of 10-20g, doing a small test cut after each increase
- If force is greater than 120g and it will not cut, ask a lab assistant for help. The blade may need cleaning or replacement
- Heat Transfer design is backwards on shirt?
- Make sure you horizontally flip your design in SureCutsALot or Inkscape BEFORE you cut
- Design will not load?
- Make sure that your design is saved as an SVG file before importing it into the cutting software