Heat Gun for Weeding

[rdm01]

Hello,
I started in the sign business over 10 years ago. In our area, printing was scarce and cut vinyl was king. As a result, the first 4 or so years of my career were mainly weeding vinyl (first 6 months was removal, have to pay your dues). I am fairly proficient at weeding. Pretty much if you are able to cut it, I can weed it.

We have some newer people in my shop who hate cut vinyl, and hate weeding. One has a million ways to weed, everything from mask it unweeded, peel the backing, and weed it backwards, to setting it in the cold for a long period of time. Most of these I have heard before, but I find take longer than just buckling down and doing it.

One I haven't seen before is to hit the vinyl with a heat gun prior to weeding. In theory I think it is supposed to shrink the vinyl up a bit to prevent letters from lifting. Again I find this to take longer than just weeding it. However, if it is faster for them, more power to them.

I guess my main questions is, since I have never heard of this technique, is it a suitable approach, or is there a downside to doing this that I am unaware of?

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[Billct2]

Downside is ruining the vinyl.
The only technique that ever worked for me was to cut things ahead of time and the vinyl will shrink a bit overnight.

 

[Gino]

Never really heard of it myself, either. I think your first inclination is the best, just buckle down and do it.

I've heard of many ways of doing it, but in the end, it all boils down to just getting it down with as few mistakes as possible.

Personally, I like weeding left to right and with a tweezers. It's how I started back in the early 80's and it's stuck with me all these years. I've seen/heard of xacto knives, fingers, pulling upside down, machines doing it, to making it cold, but I think the way the English alphabet was created, basically for right-handers, it's easiest to go left to right.... because all the openings are after the initial contact of a main stroke, which decreases ripping into corners.

 

[Solventinkjet]

If your blade is sharp and the settings on your cutter are set properly, there should be no need to get fancy with weeding. I would put more time into training your employees to set the machine properly so they understand why some jobs weed better than others. Once you have good cuts, the weeding should be an after thought. The only thing that should be hard to weed is really small text and you should be printing those jobs anyway.

 

[James Burke]

Make good use of a cutting program that allows you to set weed lines and weed borders. Beyond that, it's a no-brainer.

Two minutes spent setting weed lines can prevent a lot of ruined vinyl.

 

[ddarlak]

The only thing that should be hard to weed is really small text and you should be printing those jobs anyway.

I sell miles and miles of 3/4" cut text paragraphs for application onto walls, no printing allowed...

setting the machine right is the key, but not always perfect.

I test cut allot and still get head bangers.

I have a CX500 and have been contemplating upgrading.

 

[OldPaint]

BEING LEFT HANDED... i have always found it easier to weed TEXT.........pulling up on the right and moving left.......is the easiest. letters like E, F G, P,R, Q, have easier wedding this way.
numbers..........i prefer left to right..........cause 2, 3, 5, 7 release easier this way..........4, 6, 9.........sometimes works better right to left.
i agree with ......cutting the nite before........and let it shrink a little on its own, specially with SERIFED letters.