Help! Graphtec CE5000-60

[SignPainter]

I used my Ioline plotter for 13 years and almost never had this problem. With the new Graphtec I got problems applying vinyl. The backing paper will tear in half on some parts of some letters and I have to pluck them off with my fingernail before I squeegee them down. Would I need less or more knife force or would it be some other setting? Thanks for info anyone.

 

[OADesign]

you are using too much force. You need to back off just a bit. The blade should cut only through the vinyl and the adhesive and just score the liner enough for you to see the cut lines. try bringing down the force. Calendared vinyl on my CE5000-60 usually cuts great with about 13g of force (with a good sharp blade).

 

[rcook99]

I agree with OADsign on turning down the pressure, As far as what pressure will work on yours will depend on what type of vinyl you are using. You will even find that what may work on Oracal will almost cut through Avery at least on my FC-7000. I use about 17-19 on my FC fro Oracal 651 or 751. Hope this give you some help.

 

[SignPainter]

I appreciate the help. My Ioline for almost 13 years never done this but a few times maybe. I love that plotter but it has gotten to were it will not cut tiny letters anymore w/o chewing them up. Thanks again folks.

 

[SignPainter]

I had force set at 14g and changed it to 13g. Seems letters do not weed as easy on 13g as 14g. I just got this plotter a week ago and started with 10g and worked my way to 14 before getting an easy weed. I have the blade holder depth set to the 3rd notch (3mil) does setting it at 3.5 actually make the cut deeper? Thanks for info.

 

[JAMEY]

I appreciate the help. My Ioline for almost 13 years never done this but a few times maybe. I love that plotter but it has gotten to were it will not cut tiny letters anymore w/o chewing them up. Thanks again folks.

First of all...now you have a better cutter, Gratz on that. Of course the blade height makes a difference. Once you get this all nailed down...you'll be "my Ioline" no more....hehehe.

 

[bob]

I had force set at 14g and changed it to 13g. Seems letters do not weed as easy on 13g as 14g. I just got this plotter a week ago and started with 10g and worked my way to 14 before getting an easy weed. I have the blade holder depth set to the 3rd notch (3mil) does setting it at 3.5 actually make the cut deeper? Thanks for info.

First off, the downforce setting on a Graphtec is not in grams or anything else for that matter. They're just numbers. Moreover it's not a linear scale, 20 is far more than twice as much as 10. Figure it out, the plotter goes from 20 to 600 grams yet the force numbers only go from 1 to 48. The best setting for vanilla vinyl is 18-20. This media is best cut somewhere in the neighborhood of 70-90 grams. Thus if 20 represents 90 grams and 48 represents 600 grams then the scale is nowhere near linear.

Not only is this intuitively obvious but has been confirmed after a lengthy conversation with the cognoscenti at Graphtec. They don't really know just what the actual setting represent, they're just numbers.

Secondly, one does not set blade depth by relying on the notches on the blade holder. You either remove the blade holder and manual run it over a scrap of vinyl or you do a bunch of test cuts to get it right. In theory if you have the downforce correctly set the blade depth shouldn't matter all that much. At least that's the theory. In actual use that is nonsense.

First set the blade depth so that it cuts through the media and slightly into the backing. Then set the downforce so that the blade just barely leaves an indentation on the backing without actually cutting the backing. At this point you should be somewhere in the ballpark.