I’m so excited, I’m finally far enough in my CAD training that I’ve put out my first plot. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen one of these plotters run (mine is a 72″ Ioline, that model gets consistently rave reviews) but it’s a trip. Only a video camera will capture the full effect. For now, you’ll have to settle for a photo. By the way, this is what I’ve been working on most of the day. I have another training session tomorrow, so posting will again be sparse.
Now I have to figure out how to get it off the take up roll…
Oh, the pattern I plotted was this one. All that’s left is to do one final sew by, write some instructions and then send it out to some pattern testers that I’ve yet to recruit…
When I moved my factory from the US to the Dominican Republic we got very tired of sending markers by FEDEX. We bought a Gerber infinty inkjet 72″ plotter and its been pretty reliable. Let us know how you make out with the Optiplex. Is the optiplex compatible with both Gerber and Lectra?
Ooh, can I test the pattern?
Hi Alan, Optitex is the CAD software so I doubt it’s compatible with Gerber/Lectra :). The plotter is an Ioline. Ioline basically has the reputation of being the workhorse plotter in the industry. Run forever, hard to break and easy to fix if they do. I think Ioline can help you configure their plotter to run under Gerber/Lectra but the latter two won’t of course, because they want you to buy their proprietary unit.
Hi Kathleen, Thanks for the clarification. We don’t do the pattern work, grading or marking; just the plotting. A funny story: we ended up buying the premium maintenance plan ($205/month) because we had two $600 repair bills in three months. I guess a family of mice liked to nest in the electrical panel and short out the circuit boards. The Gerber salesman was right however, there are no moving parts to fail with the inkjet plotter.
Hip hip Hurray! I’m so happy for you Kathleen! Can’t wait to see a video. With sound I hope- I’m such a geek, I know it’ll make my heart tremble!
Personaly I always hated gerber, dont know why. But I have to admit it is a good way to get exact and very compleat patterns. I give u props K. for taking the leap and learning, its not an easy thing to do, ( it took me 3 CAD classes to finally master the thing myself), I’d love to see more pic.s of the pattern and finished product.
Hi Alan,
OptiTex can send a direct plot/cut file to to any Gerber or Lectra machines. through a set of converters, OptiTex can also read all Lectra/Gerber files.
Did you ever get this pattern ready for sale?
ha ha, you know me. I had to fiddle with it some more for whatever trivial reason and then I got distracted by something else and forgot all about it. That’s my problem, I solve a tricky engineering problem (what really interests and motivates me) and once done, lose interest and go on to the next one. They would make nice holiday gifts, I could send you one.
Send me a pattern? Yes, that would be ducky! And peachy! Yay!