need a hand here

[dmeehan31]

Alright... i have been pretty much been thrown in a shark tank with making signs and i am trying to swim to safety.

i am working pretty much by myself and teaching myself flexi and cutting.

i have a roll of vinyl that is brand new and i am trying to maxamize my cuts. i am breaking the sign down.

this is the biggest sign i have done (second sign i have ever done) the roll is 30 inches wide and i have the cutter set to cut 29.75 wide and 100 inches long.

i am cutting on a seiki sk 870t if that matters

now the problem i am seem to be having is the roll is to heavy for the machine to pull what it needs.

now the newbieness comes into play...

do i have to insert any kind of supports in the core of the tube maybe to help the roll rotate better?

i have tried to give it some slack but since it is 100 inches long the slack seems to just crinkle and bind up.

please give a hand here and if you really do not understand what im getting at and would love to help feel free to call 843.260.6680 i need some support or some captain morgan but id rather have the support to help me get this job done!

thanks!! :U Rock:

 

[thmooch]

you will need to roll out the vinyl. hard to pull off a 30x50 roll. See if you can slow the cutter down as that is a long cut. I would also check in your settings to maximize cutting order(not as many back & forth motions). Lastly, cross your fingers & hope your tracking doesn't go astray.

 

[MikePro]

no supports needed, sounds like any crinkling is a plotter issue. try operating at the lowest speed possible.

I usually unwind the roll to the length I need to feed through, and square it to the machine at the midway point. give your roller pinches some room too, as you'll most likely shift .25-.5" over a 10' span...

I, however, can feed 20' through my mimaki cutter with only a .125" shift (if any at all). no big deal

 

[Tovis]

worse comes to worse could you cut and apply with multiple panels?

 

[iSign]

worse comes to worse could you cut and apply with multiple panels?

ditto

I've been cutting vinyl a long time & I still avoid 100" cuts whenever possible...

suggestion: get a moderate sized .jpg image of your sign layout & reply with the advanced tab.. then scroll down below the reply box & find the "manage attachments' button. From there you can upload the image into this post.

Breaking up a layout makes sense for a number of reasons. You normally wouldn't apply it in one large 30x100 sheet, and laying that much application tape is no beginner task either... plus, you can weed parts as they come off & by the time the last part is cut, the weed & mask part is almost done.

Show us exactly what you are doing, and you may get far more beneficial suggestions to apply to many future jobs, and keep the Captain at bay (or get to him quicker?)

 

[gnemmas]

Unwind 10' as others suggested. Please note that for 30" vinyl, the max you can cut maybe 29.25", and if your plotter has tracking problem, reduce the width to give the pinch rollers more room for veering.

 

[dmeehan31]

thanks for all the great insight!! i did run into the vinyl walking on the plotter and holy cow that sucks!

 

[CentralSigns]

Don't know if your still around but you could pull the first 50 inches through the plotter, align it then suck it into the plotter using the plotters controls. Then when you start the cut you know the plotter will still be aligned halfway through and at the other end of the 50 inches. If your plotter is in a stand the 50 inches should just about be on the floor. When the plotter gets to or near the half mark pull about the same amount off the back roller towards the floor behind the plotter. This allows the plotter to suck the material in without the weight of the roll on it.

Sometimes a roll may be just out of alignment on the rollers this will cause the plotter to put pressure on the one side of the roll causing it to suck in material crocked. Avoid this by loading the roll straight. Hope this is easy to understand.

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

one of the easiest ways to align vinyl that many noobs & veterans haven't discovered is like an old typewriter. Pull a few feet of vinyl yhrough the machine with the rollers up and pitch the material in the front to the meterial in the back making sure that the edges of the material are in alifnment...when they are lower your rollers. Quickest easiest as well as the most accurate way way I have ever found for friction fed.machines especially for long cuts where drifting can ruin the job.

 

[Gino]

one of the easiest ways to align vinyl that many noobs & veterans haven't discovered is like an old typewriter. Pull a few feet of vinyl yhrough the machine with the rollers up and pitch the material in the front to the meterial in the back making sure that the edges of the material are in alifnment...when they are lower your rollers. Quickest easiest as well as the most accurate way way I have ever found for friction fed.machines especially for long cuts where drifting can ruin the job.

Actually, I thought that's how everyone already did it. This about the only way that I know of. Anything less is probably just a hit and miss method.

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

oh Gino...sometimes the simplest solutions are overlooked. I have seen people with a strip of tape on one side of their plotter to butt the vinyl up against,i have seen ppl with strips of tapeon both sides of their plotter for each width of vinyl they use & essentially placing the vinyl in the channel that they created, I have seen ppl pull vinyl through after setting their plotter square to their floor tile and then pulling vinyl through and aligning it with the tile on the floor...i ve seen someone put a cheap laser level on their plotter to create a line of light to line up....and i've even encountered someone who took their plotter apart and had a machine shop use their water jet to create a straight line because the tape they had been using for yrs just kept.falling off. Ishowed up at that particular franchise about 2 weeks after they had made their 'unique' modification & showed them how I had always done it...they were a little embarrassed that they had overlooked such a simple solution.

but often the simple solutions that we take for granted some ppl have simply never seen & just didn't enter their thought process when trying to find a solution to their issue.

 

[davidcarr87]

hmm this brings up a memory, when i first started selling car stickers i outsourced everything, anywho...he had his plotter at the end of his work table..and had a straight edge mounted to the side of his table, he also had a 4'x5' custom light box on the other side of his cutter...with a straight edge..he would pull material off and line it up..and then just let it go onto the lightbox..and be sure it was always lined up..seemed to work good for him...i guess seems like this takes up a lot of room to me..and you can only use part of lightbox and worktable while cutting..
but..what ever worked for him i guess....