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Cut graphics workflow cut, weed, mask, perfcut with transfer tape??

Joel golden

New Member
Workflow kerfuffle! Ok guys, I know I’ve seen it before and think I can do it someway with what I have. I need to make a few thousand cut decals that need to be weeded, then premasked but then perfcut (radiused perfcut like examples to save material and it’s what the customer wants).

Anyway, I have at my disposal a summa s2-tangential Corel draw, and flexi. What will work???
 

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cmoist

New Member
Before I had a printer and was working with cut-vinyl, I would add registration marks to the artwork, expand their shape, then cut them out with the vinyl design. The cutter read them fine most of the time. So in your example above, the registration marks would be cut out of the vinyl color. Also, depending on the color of the vinyl, your cutter may read the registration marks through the transfer paper ok. Worst case scenario, just trace the reg marks on top of the transfer paper with a marker so the cutter can read them easier.
 

Signarama Jockey

New Member
Workflow kerfuffle! Ok guys, I know I’ve seen it before and think I can do it someway with what I have. I need to make a few thousand cut decals that need to be weeded, then premasked but then perfcut (radiused perfcut like examples to save material and it’s what the customer wants).
So, you're wanting to print, maybe laminate, then cut to the edge of the green, weed, mask, then perf cut along the red outline? Am I hearing this right?
 

Signarama Jockey

New Member
I can get that part figured out but I’m wanting to do it with just cut vinyl.
Oh... well, hmm...The trick is going to be the second cut, isn't it. I mean, you'll load up the machine with vinyl and then run it through the plotter. Then you'll take it to the table and weed it, then tape it... and then you'll need a way to get it back in the plotter so that it cuts right.

Okay, here is how I would do it. First, I'd set up the file so that I was cutting the vinyl in manageable chunks, not all at once (so when something goes wrong, it isn't a gigantic waste of time and material). I would add some objects into the 4 corners and send these objects to cut with everything else - this will give you a predictable finished size, because the green stuff will justify differently than the perf outline unless you have something consistent defining the space for both cuts.

approach.jpg

Now you'll need to put a long strip of vinyl (I'm using app tape to illustrate) on your plotter where the media feeds out. Make sure it is not going to snag or curl or peel off. Load the vinyl, and when it was ready to go I would set the origin point and mark the edges of the vinyl on the tape.

marks.jpg
Cut the green, weed and tape it. The important part here is that you have to remember not to cut the backing paper. You'll need the edges to be identical when you re-load the media.

Load the material back in and line up the edges with the marks you made on the tape. Set your origin point. Send the perf cut file through.

That should accomplish what you need, yes?
 

Christian @ 2CT Media

Active Member
You will struggle with flexcutting mask... it will snag and tear. You will have a better shot with high tack mask but it still happens. Your best bet would be a flatbed digital cutter or out sourcing the cut outs
 

Signarama Jockey

New Member
Yeah, dialing the right settings to perf the mask and the backing paper might be tricky. And come to think of it, rolling in a taped chunk of shapes might start working everything off of the backing paper.

It'll be tricky.
 

DL Signs

Never go against the family
How big are they?
I'm with Weyandsign on this, why even mask it? It's a single simple shape, no lettering or anything complex, no multiple pieces that need to be held together.
 

Joel golden

New Member
How big are they?
I'm with Weyandsign on this, why even mask it? It's a single simple shape, no lettering or anything complex, no multiple pieces that need to be held together.
It is actually multiple pieces, sorry the sample image didn’t depict that. They do need to be held togetger
 

Joel golden

New Member
I’m thinking I’ll take a combo of your suggestions and do the initial cuts on the summa roll cutter then weed and premask and make a template or jig for the graphtec where I can line up some kind of registration for it. Maybe just print one with registration marks and cut out where the premasked sets can go that are maybe on a 20x30” sheet.

I am using a high tac premask, I’ve got a few to try
 
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