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Sunday, May 23, 2010

You CAN use your "Blue" Wishblade with Vista or Windows 7!

(*** you might want to see the UPDATED version HERE *** )

I've managed to figure out a way that you CAN use your blue wishblade with Windows Vista or Windows 7 machines (both 32 and 64 bit OS). And, you can do it without purchasing additional software. To start with, all you need is the original software your blue WB came with (wishblade advanced and the Wishblade controller) and the tutorial I have linked to below. The only other thing you need is a little patience, some computer knowledge, and a "restore point" set on your machine (just in case something goes awry)!

I've tried to make the tut fairly detailed, with screen-shots to help you along the way.

Oh, and please understand that you must accept my terms of use...the fine point is that you can't redistribute this tutorial without my express permission, so please link others to my blog if they are interested in downloading it themselves. It will asked a password for the download...it's
iagreetotou

Click on the green button to download the tutorial!


Please leave me a comment and let me know if you found this helpful! Thanks!

28 comments:

  1. Just a quick note to let you know that a link to this post will be placed on CraftCrave in the Cutting category today [23 May 02:00pm GMT]. Thanks, Maria

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  2. WOW! How did you figure this out? I haven't read it, but I am at my END with Xyron.

    I have a pink one from early 2007...so I have Create and Cut software, but ALSO the original software I think came with the blue (two pieces of software).

    Do you think this tutorial would work for me with the pink one???

    Someone else on another website suggested since Graphtec made these machines (and the Silhouette) that I could get something from them to make it work with Windows 7. Do you think the drivers for the other machines (Silhouette, etc) would work with this Wishblade thing?

    I may have to try it.

    I don't mind paying for updates...but I think $100 is a TAD steep for a machine that was $400 to begin with. We need DRIVERS not new SOFTWARE! LOL!

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  3. I think this same method would work with the pink wishblade and the original robomaster/wishblade advanced software. I don't think it will work with create & cut, but if it has a "print option" for printing cutlines, it might be worth a shot.

    I have tried using this method with the craftrobo/silhouette, but even though the driver is installed the same way, the software just "knows" that the driver should be for a cutter and not a printer, so it shows up only in the output to plotter/cutter list, not the printer options.

    I have used this method to output successfully from illustrator as well as word (to the blue wb).

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  4. Thanks so much--I was just about to give up and give my blue wishblade away. Now I can keep it--I really appreciate all your work!

    Nikki

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  5. I am going to give this a whirl later on and see if it works:) THANK YOU! I just don't know if I know how to use the other software....Create and Cut has been SO easy! Guess I better learn, huh?

    In the meantime, I did get a CC of email from the person at Graphtec who forwarded my email to someone else and it asked that person to help me out!

    OMG...would't it be a hoot if they were able to give us the drivers we need and bypass what Xyron is trying to do?? HAHAHAA....good gracious! That would completely make my day!

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  6. This is very helpful! I have given my blue WB away, but still have my pink and the lady I gave the blue one to will be very happy to have a link to your blog.

    Thanks for taking the time to create this!

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  7. Really? you can use the blue wishblade in windows vista? This is a good news for me!

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  8. I just found this! And I am about to download and I am SO EXCITED!! :) Thank you!!!! I'll let you know how it works out!

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  9. Hey Jen :) My computer doesn't even seem to be installing the driver.. I'm googling it but to no avail... :( wah. I hate to be a bother.. but any hints for me? :)

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  10. Hi Emily!
    I can't seem to find an email associated with your Blogger ID...shoot me an email at:
    MyScrappingRoom (at) gmail (dot) com

    (Take out the spaces and replace (at) & dot with symbols! :)

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  11. What exactly is "restore point" and what does it do? I want to try this but I don't want to do anything that will mess up my machine.

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  12. Kelley,
    A restore point is kind of like a bookmark you can set on your windows machine to "roll back to" if anything doesn't work correctly with the installation. Usually the machine automatically does this when new software is installed, but this is just a way to manually make sure that you have a recent roll back spot.

    If you go to the "help" on your start up menu and type in "restore point" it should walk you through setting one step-by-step.

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  13. Okay, that makes sense. Thanks for the explanation. :) Here is another question, after step 8, why am I going to Word? Does it actually open the Wishblade software to cut? And, if this is successful, should I be able to use the software like I always have? Thanks in advance! I just want to make sure I'm clear on everything.

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  14. Sorry for the confusion Kelley! The point is that you can cut unwelded letters directly from word since the ttf fonts are vector based. In other words, you could type out the alphabet, go to "print" from word, choose to "print" to the craftrobo driver, and it would cut the letters out on your wishblade.

    Now, you can use the wishblade software just as you have previously, except there is no way to do print and cuts...as you are "printing" to the wishblade via the craftrobo driver (as if the wishblade were the printer).

    Let me know if you have any other questions!

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  15. Interesting, I would have never thought you could cut from Word. That stinks that I won't be able to do print/cut anymore but I didn't do that often anyway. Thanks so much for the info. and help!

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  16. I can cut from Windows 7 now but I have a question about selecting media. Since the machine acts as a printer now, the "cut" button isn't enabled anymore. This allowed me to choose what I was cutting, pressure and cutting speed. It also told me which cap to use. How do you handle this now?

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  17. Kelley,

    I'm not sure there really will be a way to change the speed and pressure. You can always change the cap yourself, simply use yellow for thin, blue for normal, pink for thick. I know that I have accessed the wishblade controller (using the old original wishblade drivers to "print" from illustrator). Let me see if I can get to them via the craftrobo controller or not.

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  18. I've owned this blue wishblade for since January - and thanks to you I can at least cut out text now. It's not too happy with shapes yet - but I'll keep playing with the settings.
    There is a vista patch for the blue on the xyron site now,(very hard to find - had to get the link from a yahoo group). It allows you to cut text from the CnC software, but not the advanced wb software.
    If you or anyone has tips/links for cutting shapes while using the vista(64) OS - I'm open to new ideas.
    Thanks again for your original post:)

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  19. Okay, so with this fix I can only print text? Is that what is being said in a few of the comments. I was trying to cut out a cut file this way and the wishblade doesn't do anything. Is that because I can only do text?

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  20. jayme, you can cut the complete file this way. Just make sure that "print cut lines" is selected in your output and that you change the line color of each piece to black as you wish to "print" it.

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  21. Hi Jen. I did everything according to the tut. When I installed wishblade software it goes through everything and then says there's a kernal problem with the driver not being compatible with my version of windows (vista 32 bit) and to see manufacturer. I tried to cut my last name from the software and it brings up a thing where I have to click okay to cut but when I do nothing happens, except that the same 'click okay' thing pops up constantly unless I click cancel. HELP!

    melissaoblander (AT)yahoo (DOT) de

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  22. Are you able to use the silhouette designs now?

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  23. Jen, I thank you so much for the original post and this tutorial. I have referred dozens of people to your blog for this help. I know this has been a great help to many people. God bless you for your generosity and willingness to help people along with their cutters.

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  24. I can not IN ANY WORDS tell you how much I appreciate your instructions to get the Wishblade working. I feel like it has been months of aggravation trying to figure this out!!!!!!! I really have been miserable and frustrated. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, so much! I can't say it enough to you.

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  25. Jen,

    Thanks for posting this information. I had used previously and wanted to share with others but I was unable to get the link to the pdf to work tonight. Am I doing something wrong?

    Thanks again.

    Thelma

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  26. Hi! I'm coming late to this party..I found you through a search to see if I can use my blue Wishblade with Windows 7. The link to the tutorial "is not valid". If this site is still active, can someone tell me if there is a current link? I would love to be able to use my Wishblade again!

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  27. I would love this tutorial too. I purchased the create & cut software, but still can't use my blue wishblade. Is this tutorial posted anywhere else?
    Thanks, Jill

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