Laminate Cutting Force?

[ABPGraphics]

Alright, So today we decided to start playing with laminate. So we made a sample with crop marks and printed it then laminated it and put it back in. Our printer did a good job finding the crop marks and attempted to cut it but our force was WAY to low. I was just wondering if anybody with experience in this can tell me what force you use. I had to crank it up to 300 gf in versaworks to get it to do anything. On top of that what is a GF? Gravity Force? And what is the maximum the SP 300v will do and can I damage anything by turning it up to high?

 

[Sideline]

I've got a SP300 and I bring mine up to 185 for laminated things and set it at 145 for just plain vinyl. Seems to work fine....the blade depth, just like a plotter/cutter makes a huge difference.

 

[joeshaul]

GF=Grams of Force. I roughly double my cutting force on laminate.

Using too much force could cause one of the following:
Damage your blade
Damage the "cutter protector strip", which is the piece of plastic underneath your material that the cutter actually cuts on. Gouges in this could cause other cutting issues/errors.
Material gets jammed, haven't had this happen to me yet, but if you go too deep, you will start cutting through the backing paper, when this happens the material could mess/pile up as it's being fed in and out.

As Pat said, you may also need to adjust your blade depth (how far the plade comes out from the holder).

 

[KetchikanSignpro]

On our sp-540v with a standard vinyl and lam i cut around 185 with thicker reflective and lam up to 225 to cut the lam and vinyl... Check your plotting blade on your printer might be dull...

 

[threeputt]

Wow, some of you cats might want to put a new blade in every once in a while.

We print 3651 everyday and lam with 210. Speed 30, 135 GF.

 

[Malkin]

I use 65-70 with a cast vinyl/lam combo

 

[AllSquare Jason]

....the blade depth, just like a plotter/cutter makes a huge difference.

Your blade only needs to stick out about the thickness of a credit card.

And as those above stated a new blade can really make a difference. 45 degree is standard - good for everyday cutting, a 60 degree is better for thicker/tougher materials.

And if your cut gets off for no reason, change our your blade holder (it is a consumable).

 

[ZsVinylInc]

My first question after reading your post would be how is your software setup? Do you know if it is setup to adjust the cutting pressure with the software or at the machine? We always run ours so that you have to set it at the machine. This way when you put a new material in and you are not really sure what the blade pressure should be you can do a test cut and adjust as you need to.

 

[strypguy]

SP300V here.

I use mostly Oracal products and cut at 85gf non lam and 185gf with 210 lam. Mostly on 3651 and 3165RA.

I have a fairly new 60 deg blade in now at those settings. Works for me.

John

 

[scarface]

I have a SP300-i which is the newest model of the versacamm's.

On 3651 w/210 lam im at 155 force and w/o lame i'm at 85.

On cast vinyl and 651 vinyl (stripes) i'm at 95 force

Took me forever to dial it in but those are what i use. Now these will vary depending on how much your blades sticking out. Mines just a hair out.

 

[ABPGraphics]

Wow, Thanks for all the quick/useful responses guys. For those asking about our software setup. We use Versaworks and it does change the actual settings on the machine. I'll try changing the blade and see if it works. It cuts normal vinyl just fine but when we ran that lam through it acted like it was trying to cut a piece of steel with a pocket knife.