Cutting & Weeding Controltac 180

[zillion29]

Our shop cuts a ton of Controltac 180. Usually just stripes and letters. Occasionally, we'll have to cut hundreds of 2'' and 3'' numbers. The guys weeding constantly complain that my plotter settings have to be bad because it's such a chore to weed. I argue that the liner on that material makes rip weeding small text completely impossible and they should lower their expectations.
I set up a test where I gave 13 different force settings from kiss cut to through the paper. They all weeded like garbage, even though the letters were perfectly cut on all 13. No jaggies, no hangnails, no consistency issues.
Does anyone out there cut this material for smaller text and weed it easily?

 

[unclebun]

It's not meant for cutting letters out of. It's meant for wrapping. Your test proved that. When cutting letters, use regular vinyl meant for cutting letters, and it will weed great.

 

[GB2]

I agree it's not really meant for cutting but then what cast material is a good material for print and cut? It depends on your printing method too, how are you printing? I've tried latex printing 3M 7125 and although it printed very well, the liner had some issues with the heat of the latex and it stuck to the vinyl in spots so that turned out to not be a good material for print and cut.

 

[zillion29]

In this case, not printing it at all. Just out of the box IJ180 and IJ180mc. It cuts perfectly. It just doesn't weed very well. I mean, nothing weeds well since the late 2000s when they got stingy on oil, but this is just the pits.

 

[rjssigns]

I've found the easiest to weed is the 3M ElectroCut with poly liner. YMMV.

 

[tbullo]

I happen to have the cutting sheet from 3M on this. It says 3'' .25 stroke is the min. letter size for what its worth. Bulletin 4.1 film cutting.

 

[OADesign]

zillion29 We print and cut a bunch of this stuff also. This stuff is not designed to "rip weed". The adhesive is just too gummy for it to work that way, IMO . Now you can "fast" weed if that makes sense. Just choose the direction/angels of your pull according to what works best for the art. If you are doing hundreds of parts, you may need to adjust how things are ganged up in a run. Then burn 1 extra part so your guys can figure out the best direction/angels of to pull. Then rinse and repeat. But 180 is NEVER going to rip weed. At least in my experience. Not sure what system you are using to cut, but consider if possible adding some weed lines and split lines. That is if your software supports it. Or draw them in manually. It will add a little time and complexity to the cut process but you will gain that time back once it hits the production table.

Good luck!

 

[Glavin_ID]

We have had the same issue. Car dealership customer wanted lettering to put on their courtesy loaner cars that was easy to install and remove. No great way to solve the problem as everyone else has stated, the material just isn't made for cut lettering. Along the lines of what OADesign mentioned, we ended up using what we have always referred to as "power weeding" where we put a horizontal line through everything so we could weed the top half and the bottom half separately. Worked a little better but still not great. I just work the extra time into the price.

 

[Cory Marcin]

We have had good results with Gerber 220 for small cut letters. Rip weeding 0.5" letters. No problems here.

 

[SheBeau]

Just a thought, if you’re applying the text also, it’s often easier to weed out the inside after applying.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Can you not just use regular vinyl like 751?

 

[Jb1983]

3m 180mc (previously 180c) is made for cut lettering. It’s a 2mil cast film, not for wrapping.

Your description doesn’t say which 180 your using?

Oh now I see your using ij180, and that’s a print film.... there is a reason they call them cut vinyls eh

 

[jman]

Its the gray adhesive and plus air egress backer sucks too. Either use cal/cast CUT VINYL or clear acrylic adhesive vinyl which wouldn't be for anything long term.

 

[jman]

The 180mc is air egress cut vinyl by the color btw

 

[wildside]

We have the same issue when you try to weed immediately. It is weird, but I have found if you cut it and roll it up and let it sit until the next day.... it weeds just fine all a sudden. You can't just RIP it off but it goes tremendously faster if you have the time to let it sit first.