Contour cutting reflective!!HELP

[DIGITAL DESIGNS]

Hi I am printing 3M IJ680 and am having a hell of a time getting the contour cut right. I am using a vinyl express Q54 plotter and flexi software. I am all but certain that it is an issue with the media and not equipment. Here are some things I have tried.

I am laminating it as well so I have tried sanding the reg marks some after laminating to knock the gloss off

I have stuck a small square of standard white media on the reflective while it was printing the reg marks so it print the marks on it instead of the reflective.

I have tried placing white vinyl over the reg marks and retracing them

I have tried turning off lights

any help is greatly appreciated. Was wondering as well if anyone has used the light pointer on a graphtec to find reg marks on reflective? I have a graphttec as well so if that method works I could go that route?

thanks guys!

 

[brycesteiner]

I don't know if I missed it or not, but what is the problem?

 

[DIGITAL DESIGNS]

I don't know if I missed it or not, but what is the problem?

The contour cut is off. Most of the time it will read all the marks fine but the cut is still off

 

[letterman7]

That's not helping. Off how? In one direction, both directions? Smaller, larger, what? Off by how much - 1mm, more?

 

[Snydo]

Was wondering as well if anyone has used the light pointer on a graphtec to find reg marks on reflective? I have a graphttec as well so if that method works I could go that route?

thanks guys!

If by light pointer you mean A.R.M.S then yes it will.(most of the time)

Watch for the media buckling slightly while cutting, if it is your cuts will be off. Cut as slow as possible and a good blade is a must.

Good Luck

 

[Chairman44]

am nt sure if am getting U right but it can be that the media is light and the roller cant pull it evenly.
What I do when cutting lighter media is by pasting it on a SAV before cutting.

 

[SightLine]

Slow the cutter way down. It is probably slipping some trying to pull that heavy material back and forth for one. If it is a mark detection problem sometimes just putting a small piece of plain scotch (frosted, not transparent) tape over the marks will allow certain cutters to detect the marks properly. We regularly print/cut 3M 680 with no problem at all. Even logos that are 15 feet long in one piece (with lots of smaller stuff thrown around the waste areas just to reduce the waste) cut with no problem. We do all of this from Flexi as well but using a top of the line Summa S160T cutter with the cutter slowed way down. It takes it a lot long with the speed down so low but with it running very fast (especially with very long runs like those huge 15 foot logos) even a top of the line cutter can slip some trying to move all the weight of that material back and forth so fast.

 

[gabagoo]

to cut the gloss and silvering down so that the cutter can read the reg marks correctly, I have actually found that rubbing the mark with an eraser not only dulls the surface but creates a bit of heat eliminating the silvering around the mark.

 

[PRS Bryan]

I have had intermittent problems finding reflective registration marks on my Roland VS-540. The contour cut will be .25" off in a random direction.

The only way to I have found to get consistently good cuts is my manually setting setting the registration marks. Time consuming, but works for me.