Cut vinyl question

[jason_hamilton]

Quick question that I am hoping to get some help with. I am cutting a few signs that are going to be mounted directly to my customers wall. We are using 3M Scothcal Marking Film and a Graphtec FC8000 to cut. Parts of the design are very small letters. I have a total of 4 pieces. One of them is very large, 4'x4'. It cut perfect, and weeding it out was a dream. However, on the smaller pieces, the cutter tore the vinyl to shreds on the small lettering. I reduced the pressure I was cutting with and that solved the issue. However it is all but impossible to weed out. Some of the lettering is so small that I can't even use a needle to hold it down while I try to weed it out, the needle is wider than the letter. SOOOOO... Does anyone have any suggestions on where I may be going wrong on my cutter settings? (i.e. since I reduced pressure on my cut, would it be okay to bring my blade out a bit more). I also have been trying to do some research to find out if my cutter has any type of limitations as far as a minimum font size that it can cut without trouble.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. This issue is making my Friday feel more like a Monday!!!!!
Thanks to all,
Jason L. Hamilton
Hamilton

 

[J Hill Designs]

how small?

 

[jason_hamilton]

Sorry, I don't know the exact font size. I throw my caliper on it though..... Letters are 0.112 inches tall.

 

[J Hill Designs]

thats small. anyway it can be edge printed on clear?

 

[idsignsil]

Sounds like your letters are just too small. We try not to do anything that has a letter height smaller than 3/8" and the stroke width must be at least 1/16".

 

[jason_hamilton]

This text is part of a logo that it right in the middle of the print. I had some other text that is right under 3/8 and even that was a beast to get out. idsignsil, when you say the stroke width must be at least 1/16", I'm a little unsure. Forgive me if my ignorance is showing, but do you mean the cut length on the down stroke of the blade. If so, I'm doing this as a kiss cut and have taken my up stroke out all together.

 

[J Hill Designs]

he means the width of the strokes of the individual characters - not a stroke or outline, but the thickness of the letters parts

 

[jason_hamilton]

GOTCHA!!!!!! I'm not anywhere close to that.... .024.....

 

[Fred Weiss]

GOTCHA!!!!!! I'm not anywhere close to that.... .024.....

That is too small. You've reached a point where the vinyl with adhesive is thicker than the amount of adhesive that will hold the letter in place when applied. This will fail even if you manage to get it cut. You either need to enlarge the small text, print it to be applied separately or print the entire piece.

 

[jason_hamilton]

I was finally able to get the client on the phone. He is willing to resize that portion of the art. Any suggestions as to a minimum size we should tell him to shoot for? Is the 3/8" that idsignsil mentioned a good starting point? And last but not least....Graphtec recommends we use a CB15UB blade instead of the CB09UB we are using now. The overall size of the piece is 1.5' x 8.5' with most of the text being around 2" tall. The small print is just in a logo. Would this blade be OK to cut the whole job with???
Thanks again to each of you for your help on this!!!!!

 

[shoresigns]

Rules of thumb for cutting small text:

1. Serif fonts (Times New Roman, Garamond, etc.) will be more difficult to weed than sans-serif (Helvetica, Arial).
2. Anything smaller than 1" is where you should probably double check that your quote will account for the extra labour required - the probability of screwing up and having to re-cut is high so take that into account.
3. 3/8" letter height (height of a capital letter "X") and 1/16" stroke width is generally the absolute minimum, and I would say 1/2" for serif fonts. If a customer wants smaller, simply tell them it's not possible and even if it was, the letters wouldn't last long on whatever you stick them to. Make them bigger or print the job.
4. None of these rules apply for grungy/decorative/intricate fonts. Use your judgement, and if you've already given a quote before seeing the difficult artwork, inform the customer that your quote was based on the information you were given and there will be extra labour charges required, but also that their intricate artwork will look fantastic in cut vinyl.