Roland XC-540 blade not cutting

[Signturesigns]

So I am trying to countour cut my stickers on 3m sticky backing vinyl. The blade is visually out to the size of a credit card and the blade force on the printer I've continued to UP and UP to now Im at 200g force.

But still I am not making a deep enough cut in the vinyl. What other functions should I be adjusting?
The 3m sticky backing is thin material so I dont need too much force but at this stage it is not cutting even the top layer. Any suggestions?

 

[Signturesigns]

So now I am noticing that the cutter is not even cutting the cut marks. The alignment is totally off. And I dont know what to set the numbers below to. This is the current setting
F:-0.10 -0.10mm
S:+0.10 +0.10mm

 

[Signturesigns]

So now I am noticing that the cutter is not even cutting the cut marks. The alignment is totally off. And I dont know what to set the numbers below to. This is the current setting
F:-0.10 -0.10mm
S:+0.10 +0.10mm

I can see now that the blade is not coming down low enough to even touch the vinyl. How do I get it to go lower down?>

 

[JulieS]

I'm sure you checked to make sure the blade holder is pushed all the way down...? I have had the situation where the blade/carriage would go through the motions of cutting but not lower the blade to the material. That required a technician to fix, so I can't really help if that's the case. Just saying that's a possibility.

 

[Joe House]

Like Julie said, Make sure the blade holder is all the way down to the flange and the screw is snugged up tight (don't over tighten it). If it still doesn't come down, try turning off the printer and unplugging it for a while. While it's off, manually press the blade holder down and make sure that it moves freely all the way down.
As for alignment issues, once you get it to where it will cut properly perform the print/cut alignment and crop cut alignment from the menu. Current settings don't mean a thing without seeing the test print/cut. And that won't mean a thing till you can cut properly. For 3m material I would have the force somewhere around 75 - 100, speed at 30 and offset at .250.

If this doesn't work, then you may need a new cut carriage cable, board or cut head.

 

[Signturesigns]

I'm sure you checked to make sure the blade holder is pushed all the way down...? I have had the situation where the blade/carriage would go through the motions of cutting but not lower the blade to the material. That required a technician to fix, so I can't really help if that's the case. Just saying that's a possibility.

Julie... omg it must have been a rough night... turned out the blade was not ALL the way pressed down into the holder... .my goodness! thank you!

 

[Signturesigns]

Like Julie said, Make sure the blade holder is all the way down to the flange and the screw is snugged up tight (don't over tighten it). If it still doesn't come down, try turning off the printer and unplugging it for a while. While it's off, manually press the blade holder down and make sure that it moves freely all the way down.
As for alignment issues, once you get it to where it will cut properly perform the print/cut alignment and crop cut alignment from the menu. Current settings don't mean a thing without seeing the test print/cut. And that won't mean a thing till you can cut properly. For 3m material I would have the force somewhere around 75 - 100, speed at 30 and offset at .250.

If this doesn't work, then you may need a new cut carriage cable, board or cut head.

Thank you! like julie said it was the issue that my blade was not all the way pressed down in the holder... good grief THANK YOU!

 

[JulieS]

Glad to help! I only thought to mention that because I've often overlooked such minor things myself!

 

[Joe House]

Don't feel too bad. Probably every 3rd or 4th install that I do, I'll get distracted and forget to put the knifeholder in at all till after I spend a couple of minutes looking for the test cut to weed it out.

 

[Signturesigns]

Don't feel too bad. Probably every 3rd or 4th install that I do, I'll get distracted and forget to put the knifeholder in at all till after I spend a couple of minutes looking for the test cut to weed it out.

Thank you!