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Author Archives: tcarlson@carlsondesign.com

Decorator Industries: Ultra-Sonic Success

The Carlson Design Ultra-Sonic Cutting Head is world’s simplest sealed-edge cutting solution when speed and accuracy are essential. We ensure a standardized and easily supported system by integrating a JTE Machine Ultra-Sonic cutting tool onto our rigid Pro PTi-132″ gantry. At 132″ wide, we can Plot/Cut up to 120″ (3m) wide material. The system rides on a 11’x16′ Phillocraft vacuum table, with a custom-drilled metal cutting surface and is driven by our Plotmaster Software suite — including autonesting.

JPC in Elkhart, IN: Executing the Dream

We saved days, not hours on our first cuts with the Plotter/Cutter. And while Greg was right, it did take him a little time to cut his first boat cover, it didn’t take THAT much time. He cut his first cover in less than 3 months after automating – mainly because they were so busy taking advantage of the other unexpected advantages of their new Plotter/Cutter system!

Cushion Cafe: Made to Order, with Carlson!

To maintain their quality guarantee they heat seal all of their acrylic and upholstery fabrics with a hot knife. By hand, this process is tedious, time intensive, and takes a skilled operator to maintain accuracy, speed, and a consistent sealed edge. Using the Carlson Design Plotter/Cutter with Hot Knife tool attachment they can produce the perfect sealed edge, to the exact size, with the least amount of material waste — all at the click of a button.

Abram’s Bed – Fun with The Safety Sleeper

Jeff and Rose own and operate Abrams Bed, LLC – Maker of The Safety Sleeper™ in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania creating custom bed enclosures for special needs individuals. The tent-like mattress enclosure was created for their autistic son Abram to keep him safe at night without his parents worrying. From www.thesafetysleeper.com: The Safety Sleeper™ is a fullyContinue reading “Abram’s Bed – Fun with The Safety Sleeper”

Abram’s Bed : Sleeping Safely

Installation Details Customer Abram’s Bed LLC – The Safety Sleeper http://www.thesafetysleeper.com Pittsburgh, PA USA Plotter Cutter Model PT-72 Cutting Attachments 1. Hot Knife 2. 28mm Steel Rotary Blade Plotter Cutter Width 72 Inches Maximum Material Size Maximum Cut Width 63 Inches Table Length 16 Feet Vacuum Blowers 2 x 1.5 HP Radial Blowers (120V AC)Continue reading “Abram’s Bed : Sleeping Safely”

Strong Enterprises: 20 Years of Trust

Strong Enterprises, located in Orlando, Florida, was founded in the 1960s by Ted Strong — the man who penned their motto, “a parachute company with an imagination”. There are few products where quality production is more important than when making parachutes.  That’s why, in 1994, Strong purchased their first Carlson Design Pro-78 Plotter/Cutter, with aContinue reading “Strong Enterprises: 20 Years of Trust”

Len’s Awning – Getting Started Smart

Len’s Awning wanted a Plotting/Cutting/Patterning solution simple enough to automate basic projects TODAY, but advanced enough to allow them to start building a digital pattern library, designing awnings and canvas in CAD, and eventually integrating 3D Digitizing over the course of the next year. They found that simple and affordable solution with the Carlson Design Pro PT-72″ Plotter/Cutter and T-Bar Pattern Digitizer.

Maxair Trampolines – “Life is going to be so much better.”

MaxAir Trampolines‘ New Year’s resolution is, “No more hand cutting!”.  In January 2015 we installed our WT-174″ Plotter/Cutter at their manufacturing facility in Grand Rapids, MI to help cut trampoline mesh and PVC gymnasium pads.  We knew this was going to significantly improve their work-flow and grow production — what we didn’t expect was by how much!Continue reading “Maxair Trampolines – “Life is going to be so much better.””

Oshkosh Tent and Awning – 138 Years of Quality

Founded in 1876, Oshkosh Tent and Awning has been around only 100 fewer years than the United States.  A lot has changed at OTA over the last 138 years, but not their commitment to providing quality custom canvas products.  The company has a diverse product offering ranging from agricultural canvas to awnings to athletic gear,Continue reading “Oshkosh Tent and Awning – 138 Years of Quality”

Isavela – Passionate About Textiles

Jaime Muriel, president of Isavela Compression Garments is passionate about textiles. He is using a Carlson Design Plotter/Cutter to expand opportunities in the custom medical garment business. They will be saving time by digitizing physical patterns, saving material with autonesting, and improving quality and repeatability by computer cutting.

TLC Kanvas – Saving With Every Cut

For 30 years their motto has been — no job is too small, or too big, we do it all! To help with their thriving business they wanted a cutter that was as simple, reliable, and affordable. They chose the Carlson Design PT-108″ Plotter/Cutter on a home built 40′ long table. This system will help them more accurately cut wider material, decrease plot/cut time, and improve sewing time. They estimated a one year ROI!

Undercover Canvas is Over-the-top-excited

Undercover Canvas, in Barbados, is the island’s premiere awning and canvas shop. Owner and founder, Nigel Richigings, has patiently waited since 2006 to automate his shop. Now he CAN’T wait to show up in the morning, ready to take on bigger and more impressive projects than ever before!

Columbus Canvas Products – American Made Growth

Columbus Canvas Products manufactures high quality canvas and vinyl products in Columbus, Ohio. With demand growing for their American made sewn goods, they needed an in-house solution for quickly, accurately, and very repeatably marking and cutting their fabrics. The Carlson Design PT-84″ plotter/cutter was the perfect cost effective solution for increasing production, decreasing waste, and turning marking and cutting into an entry level position.

Our Plotter/Cutter is Wider than Yours.

Go big or go home. Bydesign, a luxury safari tent making company in Nairobi, Kenya, purchased the widest Carlson Design plotter/cutter to date at 14.5′ (4.41m). They knew they needed to automate to meet the growing demand for their amazing products. To accurately cut their tent panels from pvc, ripstop, and mesh, they needed a 4m wide working area. We provided a turn-key 14.5’x28′ system to shave weeks off their cutting time.

Rolly Tasker Sails – “Same Same, But Different”.

“Same Same, but Different”. This common Thai expression perfectly sums-up the installation of our SECOND Pro PT plotter/cutter at Rolly Tasker. For one week in March, 2014 we updated their 2007 PT-78” plotter/cutter AND installed a new 2014 PT-72” plotter/cutter. We also introduced NEW autonesting software and best-practice training.

Taco Metals – Sitting Pretty

Taco Metals, one of the most trusted name in marine hardware, also fabricates beautiful marine pedestals, seats, and benches. They offer premium upholstered products, and with the help of a Carlson Design Digitizer and Plotter/Cutter, they will be able to offer better quality, higher repeatability, and increased capacity to service larger boat OEM’s and dealers.

Chair Care Patio – “Let’s cut everything!”

Chair Care Patio started in the late 80’s out of Deb and Steve Martz garage. They have since grown and evolved the company to meet a wide variety of industry demands. Their shop is filled with lots of fabric, patterns, sewing machines, and one web-savy serial entrepreneur. Add our Carlson Plotter/Cutter and T-Bar Digitizer to the mix and they are looking to cut everything they can! To start, we examine how they automate cutting samples, patio slings, chairs, and marine upholstery.

3Form – Rolling Forward with Carlson

3Form uses A LOT of different interlayer laminates. They were looking for a CNC cutting system they could roll in front of their existing roll racks. The cutter needed to be light enough to roll, robust enough to run two shifts, simple enough for anyone to operate, with custom modifications to work in their existing environment. Oh, and at an affordable price! What does all of this spell? CARLSON. After the first month they reported: “The cutter is working awesome. Everyone, from the guys cutting the material, to the guys using the material loves it.”

Oldcastle BE Atlanta – 60 day ROI

After six months of productive, waste reducing, and problem free cutting in LA — we were contacted by Paul Johnson, the CFM of Oldcastle BE’s Atlanta, GA glass plant. As their finance manager, Paul saw a clear opportunity in the numbers. They were spending, on average, $150,000 a month for laminate with a 60% yield. The new nesting package their ERP software provider, PMC Software, was offering, called “Lamimate”, was promising 88-95% yields for their glass laminate. If they could achieve even a conservative 20% decrease in material usage it could save $30,000/month. That’s 2-3 month ROI!!

Laurel Awning: System’s for Success

Laurel Awning, located in Apollo, PA — a suburb just outside of Pittsburgh — has made over 25 miles of cuts after only three months with their Carlson Design PT-96″ plotter/cutter. That’s a lot! President Greg Schmieler reports, “We’re down to 1.25hr to 1.5hr to process, draw, and cut a canopy job. That used to take us on average 6-8 hours”. The speed at which they adopted this new technology is not only a testament to the simplicity of our hardware and software, but the value of establishing a good system. It’s also just the beginning…

Tiger Cruise on the John C Stennis CVN 74 Aircraft Carrier

This is the story of my tiger cruise in April 2013. It is an account of my six days on the John C. Stennis CVN 74 aircraft carrier, riding fromHawaiitoSan Diego. We were given access to the entire boat, save a few classified areas like the reactor department. Most, if not all, of the details in this account are from memory, which hopefully explains why I use so many approximations and generalizations. If you find aircraft carriers interesting – which they are – then you may enjoy some of the details I teased out during my trip.

Automating OldcastleBE L.A.’s Glass Lamination Room

Oldcastle BE has the glass industries largest national foot print of manufacturing locations, which is why we were so excited to automate one of their premier plants lamination rooms with our PTi-108″ plotter/cutter. Our system will be cutting thousands of feet of PVB and SGP.

PM32 Setup

Plotmaster32 (PM32) was in final release in 2002-2003.  It was the plotmaster/control software version from 1998-2003.  Registered legacy users can download PM32 here:  https://carlsondesign.com/software/updates-and-downloads/pm32 The following are detailed instructions for running PM32 on a Windows XP, 32bit PC. Use the PM32 Installer, making sure to install in c:\nest.  Then paste the contents of the UpdateContinue reading “PM32 Setup”

Alan Julian shares kayaks

Hello Gregg Have used your Hull Designer to build several kayaks. Been a lot of…  “fun” isn’t the right word – satisfying, challenging, frustrating… You’ve been there, done that. Been meaning to put back into the Hulls community, so attached is the .hul file for the best & most recent of them. Build blog at http://www.woodworkforums.com/f32/clayton-bay-144lv-12ft-plywood-kayak-87199/ ifContinue reading “Alan Julian shares kayaks”

Kenneth Able sends pictures of his Students work…

Attachment: 1.  Example2 is your 8chine file   2.  Example1 is after conversion to sea kayak file   3.  The photo shows the two student kayaks in my shop.  The smaller one near the top of the photo is basically chine-built over molds from plywood sheets, the larger one is a strip-plank using poplar, blackContinue reading “Kenneth Able sends pictures of his Students work…”

Exporting From CAD to Plotmaster

Table of Contents HPGL Print Driver Windows HPGL Driver (Windows ME, 98, 95) Mutoh HPGL Driver (Windows XP, 2000, NT) Exporting from Adobe Illustrator Exporting from AutoCad with HPGL Driver Exporting *.DXF CAD files Exporting from Draftsight Exporting from Rhino Exporting from Inkscape Converting a JPG to UC in Inkscape Carlson Design plotter/cutter controller, Plotmaster,Continue reading “Exporting From CAD to Plotmaster”

Choosing a Cutting Suface

Whether you purchase a Phillocraft vacuum table from Carlson Design or build your own vacuum table, you will need to place a disposable cutting surface to prevent cutting into your table top.  There are a variety of different cutting surfaces that range in price and application.  We will go over those in this post. HowContinue reading “Choosing a Cutting Suface”

Breathing Systems, Training and Service

Carlson Design visited Pensacola, FL the beginning of 2011 to provide training and service for Breathing Systems. Breathing Systems is using the PT-72 for prototyping a new medical device. They installed their own system Jan. 2010 and now familiar with the system, asked us to visit for advanced training.

Hull Designer

Download our free Hull Designer , a simple, interactive, visual 3-d hull design Windows program for modeling and developing panels for hard chine construction. Find Center of Boyancy, Center of Lateral Area, Length Waterline, and righting moment (pitched or heeled) among other calculations. Create patterns for stem, stern, bulkheads, up to 10 chines, and up to 8 frames for construction.