cutting through paper liner - anyone does it a lot?

[Quark]

Hello, we have a Summa S160 with tangential head cutter (a real horse). It is capable of cutting all the way through the paper liner to make individual knock out pieces (cut through vinyl and liner). I been told it's a nice feature but it don't really work and not to use it on anything other than few large pieces of rectangular shapes.

My question is - is anyone having real success and high volume with cutting through liner? I'm taking about 100's of pcs of custom shapes and forms. I'm ok with changing strips and knifes as often as it takes as long as it is able to do it in high volume / complicated shape setting

thanks all

 

[PHILJOHNSON]

Hello Quark,

I have a document that I can email you which I think will be useful as you try and flex cut(die cut) more complex shapes than just squares and rectangles. There are two variables to consider when setting up a flex cut on your Summa; the tab width(flex pressure length/pressure) and the gap distance between tabs(full pressure length/pressure). As a general rule the full pressure force and length will always exceed those for the flex pressure and length.

The default setting for your cutter should be a 7.5mm full pressure length and a flex pressure length of 1mm, meaning your gaps between tabs will be 7.5mm and your tabs will be 1mm wide. The default setting is really only good for cutting basic shapes like squares and rectangles and would explain why you are having difficulty flex cutting more complex shapes. If you need to flex cut a more complex shape, like a curve for example, you will want to shorten the gap distances between the tabs(full pressure length) and also reduce the tab width(flex pressure length) to avoid the "connect the dots" effect. By reducing the gap distances and tab widths you can smooth out your curves and get a much cleaner cut. I usually shorten my full pressure length to 1mm(which should be the minimum) and my flex pressure length to 0.25mm when cutting curves and usually get good results(assuming my cut pressure settings are setup correctly).

Also, another option for die-cutting stickers would be to avoid doing a perforation at all. Essentially what you would be doing is a deep scoring where you cut nearly all the way through the vinyl and the liner without actually completing the cut. If you get the depth just right you can get a nice clean edge even if the shape is fairly complex. This is also sometimes preferred over a perforation when your materials have a craft(paper) liner because you won't get the tearing at the tabbed portions like you can sometimes when doing a perforation cut without the proper settings.

If you PM me your email, or send me an email to philj@summa.us I can email you the flex cut setup document I mentioned.

I hope this information is helpful for you and other Summa users!

Best regards,

Phil Johnson
Summa Inc.

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

Are you saying you want to fully cut the whole thing out. or you are trying to perf cut a sticker so afterwards you can just punch them out easy. We do perf with our FC8600 Here is my problem with it.

It takes forever compared to a vinyl cut. So after you vinyl cut you have to load again and run the perf cut. We only do it if the customer absolutely needs the diecut backing. And for extra charge. I believe we do a .5"full cut with a .05" tab.

 

[Jester1167]

I would offer hand cut square or rectangle decals, or quote them http://stouse.com/Products/CustomDecals/CustomVinylDecals.html die cut price (Decals plus a die charge). If your not busy I could see trying to do this in house but I wouldn't do it for less than Stouse and would probably charge even more.

 

[TSC1985]

Are you saying you want to fully cut the whole thing out. or you are trying to perf cut a sticker so afterwards you can just punch them out easy. We do perf with our FC8600 Here is my problem with it.

It takes forever compared to a vinyl cut. So after you vinyl cut you have to load again and run the perf cut. We only do it if the customer absolutely needs the diecut backing. And for extra charge. I believe we do a .5"full cut with a .05" tab.

We have been trying this a lot lately with our FC8000 running flexi v 8.6. Any tips or tricks on how to make it work? We just cannot get it to cut anything out what so ever. Also is it able to do this with omega?

 

[Ditchmiester]

We do this all day long in our shop with our Summa S2 T140 Cutter. We use the method of cutting all the way through the linear of our print and cut decals. It takes a little time to fine tune the depth and pressure but once its on the money you can't beat watching your decals fall out as they come out of the cutter. Its a wonderful time saver compared to hand cutting decals. It can be done just need to fine tune it. Also I have tried about 4-5 different vinyls and Oracal is the best for this because the backing paper is the perfect thickness/stiffness.