Print & Cut or Cut & Print ?

[kwwong]

I have posted this on the CNC Routing forum as well, as I am not sure whether this question is more appropriate under the Flatbed forum or the CNC Routing forum or both. Moderator, can you please help to delete one if double posting is not allowed. Thanks.


I am considering between:

1) Direct Printing on large piece of substrates (say 4ft x 8ft) using Flatbed UV Printer, then perform contour cutting to cut out individual small signage from the printout by using digital flatbed cutter or CNC Router with Vision recognition (e.g. iCut) system.

Versus

2) Cut the blank 4ft x 8ft substrate into individual small pieces using CNC Router, then only place the small pieces of substrates on Flatbed UV Printer for direct printing.


Which method is more advisable which will have less problem, higher productivity, etc.?
If you are also doing something similar now, which method are you using, and why?

 

[player]

I don't have a flatbed but I would have to say print then cut. The extra labour to place each piece on the printer, the dust etc from the cutting, registration issues when printing on multiple pieces hand placed, the problems with keeping a vacuum seal vs sealing a 4' x 8' sheet...

 

[cmwpmm]

Its much easier to print first in my opinion. We do this all the time with our flatbed and router/zund. With a full sheet its easy to place it at your zero point using the printers guides and then you can control exactly where your art is on the table top. When cutting first, if you have any irregular shapes or sizes its quite possible to line them up incorrectly for the printer. Then its printing off the edge or at an angle. Print first, cut second.

 

[cmwpmm]

Also, I want to add that it's more efficient to print the whole sheet. As I'm typing this I am printing 46"x18" signs. I have 5 on a 4x8 sheet. It takes me about 12 minutes to print each sheet. If I had cut them first, it would take a little over 2 minutes per sign, so I'd basically need to stand over the printer the whole time changing out material, which would take away from the time I have to type this In all seriousness, it does give me time to work with the other printers in the room or set up artwork which = more efficiency.

 

[J Hill Designs]

agreed print then cut

 

[ChrisN]

I alternate between the two. Printing first is great for most things, but sometimes I'll cut first. Cutting first works better, though, if your cutting process could scratch completed prints, especially double-sided prints. But a router table, if set up and used properly, should not scratch the print. Also, if you want perfect double-sided prints on a substrate such as coroplast with wavy edges, cutting first will give you good, square edges to register off of.

The substrates you'll be printing & cutting will make a difference if you want a flatbed cutter or a router. Flatbed cutters such as Zund and Esko are a lot faster than a router - they can accelerate faster, and their top speed is higher. They work great for cutting thin (< 0.25") plastic substrates with knives, but are not as good at routing out heavier thicker materials such as aluminum, since they are not built as heavy as a router. When routing, I have to slow my Kongsberg down to maintain a good line quality, whereas with a router, since it is more rigid, could route faster and still maintain a good line quality.

 

[bertquan]

What I do

I don't have a large format router just a small one. So i order most of my materials pre-cut. I put vacubond on my OCE and print a template as a guild then lay down my pieces. Prints like a charm.

 

[deadline]

Its much easier to print first in my opinion. We do this all the time with our flatbed and router/zund. With a full sheet its easy to place it at your zero point using the printers guides and then you can control exactly where your art is on the table top. When cutting first, if you have any irregular shapes or sizes its quite possible to line them up incorrectly for the printer. Then its printing off the edge or at an angle. Print first, cut second.

What are you running as your flatbed printer? Are you happy with it's speed?

 

[cmwpmm]

What are you running as your flatbed printer? Are you happy with it's speed?

We use a CET and as funny as it is, I kind of wish it was slower. It generally takes me about 4 minutes to unload/reload material, wipe it down with iso, pull up the next file, adjust my margins and header, bring the gantry forward and start to print. It then takes about 8 minutes or so to run. Hence the 12 minute figure I mentioned before. The owner of the company I work for has never worked in production, but since he is the boss he feels like he needs to have an opinion anyway. So long story short, he has decided that my flatbed should never be idle. If my two Seiko's, laminator, Zund and CNC router are all running but the CET isn't, he loses his mind. However if the CET is the only machine running he's happy as can be. The point is, if the machine ran a little slower, I'd have more than these 8 minute windows to do the plethora of other responsibilities I have. Now isn't that ridiculous?

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

We use a CET and as funny as it is, I kind of wish it was slower. It generally takes me about 4 minutes to unload/reload material, wipe it down with iso, pull up the next file, adjust my margins and header, bring the gantry forward and start to print. It then takes about 8 minutes or so to run. Hence the 12 minute figure I mentioned before. The owner of the company I work for has never worked in production, but since he is the boss he feels like he needs to have an opinion anyway. So long story short, he has decided that my flatbed should never be idle. If my two Seiko's, laminator, Zund and CNC router are all running but the CET isn't, he loses his mind. However if the CET is the only machine running he's happy as can be. The point is, if the machine ran a little slower, I'd have more than these 8 minute windows to do the plethora of other responsibilities I have. Now isn't that ridiculous?

Production life. It's like nobody has ever heard of prepress.

It'll be faster and you'll probably end up with less waste if you print first and then cut. Plus, you won't have to worry about taping off areas of your bed so you don't print on it or lose vacuum pressure.

That's not always an option, but in general, I feel like you should always print first and then cut when you have the capability to do so.