Cutting laminated vinyl - Graphtec FC7000

[robsonr]

Hi everybody,


I have been struggling for some time with a print to cut work flow which requires lamination. The problem is a weeding part. Even the shapes are cut out but they still partially hang to the vinyl to be removed and therefore when I lift the vinyl to be removed it lifts parts that should stay and I need to press each cut element back to backing paper which makes weeding slow and cumbersome. I played with cutter pressure setting and even I cut through the backing paper, the problem was still there. I changed also blade, but no improvement.

I believe the problem is related to cutting through thicker material (vinyl + overlaminate) but I don’t know what the solution is. Is there a way to eliminate the issue, or it is a common issue?

 

[eahicks]

We do tons of it. Sometimes it's an issue, and usually required a new blade. Cutting thru all that laminate wears the blades pretty quick I have found. If you changed the blade and still have this issue, it's gotta be pressure setting and depth of the blade.

 

[tbullo]

We cut lots of ij180 with 8518 on it. Here is what we use.
Blue blade holder
23
15
4
0
If we cut cal. vinyl I bump to 25.

 

[eahicks]

Wow.... my force numbers are 32 for Cast and 35 for Cal. Then again, I barely have any blade showing in the holder....just the tiniest tip.

 

[rcook99]

LOL I have mine set at 20-21 depending on how old the blade it and can cut Cast, Calendared and Thermoflex for shirts.

For IJ35c with 210 lam I use 26-27 depending on how old the blade is.

Blue Blade Holder with Clean Cut Blades from Ross.

Its amazing how everyone has different pressures with a similar machine. LOL

 

[CreatedDesigns]

I just did a bunch of 3M 40C with 8510Lam was at 26,35,3,0.weeded great. using blue holder with a 45degree Cleancut blade.

Straight cast vinyl no Lam I am at 16-18,35,3,0

 

[robsonr]

Thank you for all your posts. I figured out that my problem is a speed setting. I had it set to 60 which resulted in behaviour I observed. When I lowered it to 26, ease of weeding improved significantly. I still need to play a little with those settings to find the best setting for specific laminated vinyls.

 

[Tel]

We have no problem cutting laminated vinyl, I change the blade holder and use a 0.15 blade which is thicker than the normal 0.09 blade obviously and I change the cutting condition. I have our ce 5000 120 set up with different conditions for normal vinyl with a 0.09 blade through to several different conditions for a 0.15 blade. I haven't changed a blade in maybe a year in either of the blade holders as this system works excellently, and we are cutting laminated prints, reflective, etc etc.
Someone mentioned just having a tiny tip of blade showing, this is not the way I set up my blades. I will put some blade out then try it, once I have it cutting I will make sure I can see a bit of daylight between the blade holder and the substrate and that the pressure is controlling the depth of cut.
There is a lot of confusion about blade angles, when these machines were first used as cutters they were developed from plotters that drew for architecs and so forth and only had small motors nowadays with the powerful motors used in the cutters it doesn't make much of a difference as the blade can push through any thickness. Although in saying this if you are doing very small detailed work a 60 degree may give you better results.
When setting up blades it is important that the condition is set to either .19 or .15 for the blades and pen for pen as this sets the offset which allows for the point of the blade not being at the center of the blade but on the outer edge, the offset and quality settings in set up are minimal. Obviously a pen has no offset at all as it is centered.
Hope this helps and doesn't confuse anyone.
regards
Tel