Fc9000. What brand Vinyl does everyone use to produce clean perf-cuts ?

[Shawnclift]

I got a new FC9000 and I'm trying to do a clean perf cuts . I've tried everything that is on this group, and I just keep getting fuzzy backing paper. Currently, using Grafityp vinyl and I think it's this. What vinyl is everyone using to get a good clean cut ( including backing paper) ?

Thanks in advance

 

[Saturn]

I don't use a Graphtec, but I assume anything with a 90# stayflat liner should work more or less the same across the board. There's some liners that definitely cut better than others. I know the GF-203 I use has two liners they use interchangeably for production, but one has a stiffer grain and doesn't cut as clean. Just keep trying different brands—Look for 2.5 to 3.5 mil, 2-7 year durability, calendared vinyl and you should find plenty of options.

I wouldn't give up on finetuning your settings though either. I feel like a lot of folks think it's gonna be plug and play doing die-cuts, but getting really nice ones can take a lot of effort.

 

[Boudica]

I got a new FC9000 and I'm trying to do a clean perf cuts . I've tried everything that is on this group, and I just keep getting fuzzy backing paper. Currently, using Grafityp vinyl and I think it's this. What vinyl is everyone using to get a good clean cut ( including backing paper) ?

Thanks in advance

I don't know the answer to your question, but +1 for... It takes a LOT of trial & error dialing that in. Trust me I've spent a lot of time on this. In the end... Even though I would find a "sweet spot" in the settings, it was never clean or good enough (overall) for an easy and clean solution. Vs just cutting it by hand with a straight edge. It's just a question of your quality standards on the finished product. And volume.

 

[ikarasu]

I don't know the answer to your question, but +1 for... It takes a LOT of trial & error dialing that in. Trust me I've spent a lot of time on this. In the end... Even though I would find a "sweet spot" in the settings, it was never clean or good enough (overall) for an easy and clean solution. Vs just cutting it by hand with a straight edge. It's just a question of your quality standards on the finished product. And volume.

You need to play with it more! I've got my Graphtec to cut just as clean as our $80,000 multicam does.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/kRFiAFKjZGrJTwyb9 You'll see some fuzzy edges... thats usually when I know the blades really dull, or before I learned how to dial it in properly.. but these days 99% of my cuts are perfectly smooth.

There are still times when I get fuzzy edges...when I use a material or overlam I dont normally use so my blade isnt dialed in 100%... Or if I'm lazy and havent swapped out blades. The good part about cheap blades and swapping them before they have a chance to get dull is you never need to re-adjust the blade. I swap it everyday, or every 50-100 ft of cutting small stickers. You can buy 2000 blades for $500 usd... Theyre perfect for perf cutting, I wouldnt use them for kiss cutting..or at least I havent because Ive heard some blades have bad tips, and it can cause crappy intricate cuts. I just pop in a cleancut blade for my kiss cuts, and it lasts me months...so not worth it using a cheap one for kiss cuts. I've gotten so used to my graphtec I print a roll of signage and have my graphtec pounce out the sign at the crops so I dont have to manually unwind / hand cut them into seperate sheets... lazyness ftw, haha. The only thing I hand cut with a straight edge anymore is banner, and reflective vinyls. I know graphtecs a bit slow compared to a Summa flatbed for finishing... so I cant wait until I get a summa flatbed... but for now, the graphtec works!

I have 3 blade holders dedicated to perf cutting... 1 for Calandered, 1 for cast, and one for unlaminated. at $10 a holder on Amazon (Again... wouldnt use these for kiss cutting, too much play) dialing in your settings and not having to mess around is worth having a few holders on hand.



I've used $1000 3M rolls and $100 generic rolls. all will cut cleanly.. You just need to adjust your blade for different thickness's. The cheap stuff will curl a bit... As mentioned above, anything with a #90LB stayflat liner is the best for cutting... The last thing you want to do is send a bunch of curled up stickers to your client.

 

[Magman]

I don't use a Graphtec, but I assume anything with a 90# stayflat liner should work more or less the same across the board. There's some liners that definitely cut better than others. I know the GF-203 I use has two liners they use interchangeably for production, but one has a stiffer grain and doesn't cut as clean. Just keep trying different brands—Look for 2.5 to 3.5 mil, 2-7 year durability, calendared vinyl and you should find plenty of options.

I wouldn't give up on finetuning your settings though either. I feel like a lot of folks think it's gonna be plug and play doing die-cuts, but getting really nice ones can take a lot of effort.

We use the inexpensive oracal, cal vinyl. They do okay. The trick is you need to remember to use condition 8 , and then setup your graphtec properly for the perf cut settings. tweak in the force setting for vinyl you are using until the product punches out with ease and yet stays in place while cutting out the decals. Then figure out new setttings for vinyl + lamination (with the force). Naturally once you set the force for vinyl-- you will a little more force to cut out vinyl+Lam. Keep that vinyl and lam setting in a spreadsheet. keep track of your force setting with and without lam in a worksheet.

 

[Shawnclift]

We use the inexpensive oracal, cal vinyl. They do okay. The trick is you need to remember to use condition 8 , and then setup your graphtec properly for the perf cut settings. tweak in the force setting for vinyl you are using until the product punches out with ease and yet stays in place while cutting out the decals. Then figure out new setttings for vinyl + lamination (with the force). Naturally once you set the force for vinyl-- you will a little more force to cut out vinyl+Lam. Keep that vinyl and lam setting in a spreadsheet. keep track of your force setting with and without lam in a worksheet.

That's pretty much the solution I come up with as well . I make a row of circles and slow it down to 1 speed, then adjust the blade length, so it's just piercing the vinyl and backing.
My only issue is the fluffy edges. I've just purchased a cb15 blade holder and the 1.5 mm blade should make a cleaner cut on the baking paper...... Hopefully!

 

[Saturn]

Any chance you can post a photo of just how bad they are? I know edges usually look worse in a close-up photo, but it might get more opinions too.

 

[BigNate]

I second Ikarasu - you need to play with it more.... I can get the blade set low enough to perf cut scrim banners to where it will release cleanly with a slight flick, or pop (though everyone tells me cutting scrim banners is not what perf cutting was for... it works well.) For stickers. when we have it dialed in, you cannot tell the difference between an edge that was perf-cut vs an edge we cut on the guillotine cutter (except one may be contoured....). You should be able to set a sharp blade to only leave a few paper fibers when it lifts up - don't have it pull out completely for the skips... and maybe only have a skip every 1" or 1.5".... just take some time and remember how fun it is to actually play with this level of equipment - we need to run jobs to make money but play will give skills and needed stress relief! (of course this advice comes from a guy who used to run 4/4 on a chute delivery A.B. Dick 360....)

 

[Joseph44708]

I run five graftec 8600-130, one 8600-160 and a 9000-140 and only do straight through and kiss cuts all in the channel not on the strip. So there is no need to stop the cutting and change the blade position to do different style cuts on the same job.
Every style/brand, laminated or not laminated of media I cut has its own settings. Trial and error as Boudica said.
I cut everything at the same speed 25.
Find a vinyl that fits your market (bumper stickers, window graphics, outdoor signs, car wraps and miscellaneous stuff) and stick with it.
If it's more expensive, it doesn't mean it's better for your needs.
Ask your supplier for suggestions based on your needs.

 

[Jason1]

I watched a youtube video and the guy suggested a 60 degree blade. I now run in conditon 8 and set it to cut almost through but leave enough to stay on the roll. It is not pounce cut just setting the blade depth, force etc correctly. The holder and 15 blades are around $15 on amazon. I have done circles, squares etc. It is faster than the ponce cut feature. I run a fc9000. Now if I could get the barcode feature to work with flexi 21..

 

[Joseph44708]

I'm using flexi 21 with the 9000, it has some hiccups.
I now make the barcode large on the roll setting and make sure the right side pinch roller does not touch the black bar portion of the barcode.

 

[Magman]

You need to play with it more! I've got my Graphtec to cut just as clean as our $80,000 multicam does.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/kRFiAFKjZGrJTwyb9 You'll see some fuzzy edges... thats usually when I know the blades really dull, or before I learned how to dial it in properly.. but these days 99% of my cuts are perfectly smooth.

There are still times when I get fuzzy edges...when I use a material or overlam I dont normally use so my blade isnt dialed in 100%... Or if I'm lazy and havent swapped out blades. The good part about cheap blades and swapping them before they have a chance to get dull is you never need to re-adjust the blade. I swap it everyday, or every 50-100 ft of cutting small stickers. You can buy 2000 blades for $500 usd... Theyre perfect for perf cutting, I wouldnt use them for kiss cutting..or at least I havent because Ive heard some blades have bad tips, and it can cause crappy intricate cuts. I just pop in a cleancut blade for my kiss cuts, and it lasts me months...so not worth it using a cheap one for kiss cuts. I've gotten so used to my graphtec I print a roll of signage and have my graphtec pounce out the sign at the crops so I dont have to manually unwind / hand cut them into seperate sheets... lazyness ftw, haha. The only thing I hand cut with a straight edge anymore is banner, and reflective vinyls. I know graphtecs a bit slow compared to a Summa flatbed for finishing... so I cant wait until I get a summa flatbed... but for now, the graphtec works!

I have 3 blade holders dedicated to perf cutting... 1 for Calandered, 1 for cast, and one for unlaminated. at $10 a holder on Amazon (Again... wouldnt use these for kiss cutting, too much play) dialing in your settings and not having to mess around is worth having a few holders on hand.



I've used $1000 3M rolls and $100 generic rolls. all will cut cleanly.. You just need to adjust your blade for different thickness's. The cheap stuff will curl a bit... As mentioned above, anything with a #90LB stayflat liner is the best for cutting... The last thing you want to do is send a bunch of curled up stickers to your client.

Also, remember the fuzzy paper edges don't really matter. What matters is the vinyl is cut cleanly. Everyone is going to throw away the backing paper.

 

[ikarasu]

Also, remember the fuzzy paper edges don't really matter. What matters is the vinyl is cut cleanly. Everyone is going to throw away the backing paper.

Tell that to my customers that say fuzzy edges look like garbage... For the most part it's not noticeable. But if it's a full black print, I've had people want to send them back because it doesn't look good.

 

[Saturn]

Yeah, clean edges are a huge deal to me as well. The majority of my stickers are going back to the actual artists, or for sale in a retail store or merch/con table.

 

[Neil]

You need to play with it more! I've got my Graphtec to cut just as clean as our $80,000 multicam does.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/kRFiAFKjZGrJTwyb9 You'll see some fuzzy edges... thats usually when I know the blades really dull, or before I learned how to dial it in properly.. but these days 99% of my cuts are perfectly smooth.

There are still times when I get fuzzy edges...when I use a material or overlam I dont normally use so my blade isnt dialed in 100%... Or if I'm lazy and havent swapped out blades. The good part about cheap blades and swapping them before they have a chance to get dull is you never need to re-adjust the blade. I swap it everyday, or every 50-100 ft of cutting small stickers. You can buy 2000 blades for $500 usd... Theyre perfect for perf cutting, I wouldnt use them for kiss cutting..or at least I havent because Ive heard some blades have bad tips, and it can cause crappy intricate cuts. I just pop in a cleancut blade for my kiss cuts, and it lasts me months...so not worth it using a cheap one for kiss cuts. I've gotten so used to my graphtec I print a roll of signage and have my graphtec pounce out the sign at the crops so I dont have to manually unwind / hand cut them into seperate sheets... lazyness ftw, haha. The only thing I hand cut with a straight edge anymore is banner, and reflective vinyls. I know graphtecs a bit slow compared to a Summa flatbed for finishing... so I cant wait until I get a summa flatbed... but for now, the graphtec works!

I have 3 blade holders dedicated to perf cutting... 1 for Calandered, 1 for cast, and one for unlaminated. at $10 a holder on Amazon (Again... wouldnt use these for kiss cutting, too much play) dialing in your settings and not having to mess around is worth having a few holders on hand.



I've used $1000 3M rolls and $100 generic rolls. all will cut cleanly.. You just need to adjust your blade for different thickness's. The cheap stuff will curl a bit... As mentioned above, anything with a #90LB stayflat liner is the best for cutting... The last thing you want to do is send a bunch of curled up stickers to your client.

ikarasu do you switch the blade to the front tool position for your perf cuts?

 

[ikarasu]

ikarasu do you switch the blade to the front tool position for your perf cuts?

I do perf over the channel - sometimes kiss as well if I'm lazy and it's a small run.

I barcode it - untick everything perf from cutting... run it through roll to roll with kiss cut... pull the roll out, then run it through everything with perf over the channel. If its small and I cant do that, I sometimes just use the channel so I dont have to constantly swap the blade holder position

 

[Magman]

You just have to play with the force, and follow the graphtech product for perf cut video. Sometimes you need to tweek the force by hand in 1/4 turn increments. Also correct make sure your blade is good. We also use Flexi to set the cut order so that the machine isn't jumping forward and backward. We set our cut order to zig and zag from right to left and that way any pieces that are almost cut through don't fall out and create a potential jam.

 

[Neil]

We also use Flexi to set the cut order so that the machine isn't jumping forward and backward. We set our cut order to zig and zag from right to left and that way any pieces that are almost cut through don't fall out and create a potential jam.

That's a good idea. Thanks for that.
I can set the "sorting" in Signlab to be either Nearest, Horzontal or Vertical.
I've always used Nearest, but I'll change it to Vertical now so it cuts up the Y axis first, then steps the material out and then cuts another "column" of perf cut decals.

 

[ikarasu]

The fc9000 has a sort option built-in - you just have to turn it on in the settings. I forget exactly where it is... But you can make it sort everything to cut with the least movement, don't think it was in the previous generation graphtecs though

 

[Bill DiStasio]

I got a new FC9000 and I'm trying to do a clean perf cuts . I've tried everything that is on this group, and I just keep getting fuzzy backing paper. Currently, using Grafityp vinyl and I think it's this. What vinyl is everyone using to get a good clean cut ( including backing paper) ?

Thanks in advance

I really get a good cut most of the time regardless of the vinyl, but it took me a while to get the pressure settings right and now i found I can just change the pressure settings in the software. Sometimes I still test it if the cut is part of the art. Hope this helps.