S160 blade issue while cutting laminated vinyl

[Derin88]

Upon first trying to cut a 48"x48" piece of laminated vinyl, I noticed that adjusting the knife pressure to compensate for the laminate's thickness causes it to drag itself along bits of the sign, creating unwanted sort of scratch marks. Is there an easy way to avoid this? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

 

[miltecnico]

Don't know if you could try to just use a new blade and lessen the pressure... or try to set the pressure by the settings rather than tightening the blade depth.

 

[gabagoo]

How far out is your knife blade extended?

 

[Asuma01]

Scratching the sign? I'm not following. How are you cutting laminated vinyl already applied to a sign? Ive never heard of doing it that way. Why not cut the vinyl first then apply it?

 

[studebaker]

The knife is not set to the proper depth... run the knife out from the knife holder an extra 1/4 turn.

 

[Derin88]

Scratching the sign? I'm not following. How are you cutting laminated vinyl already applied to a sign? Ive never heard of doing it that way. Why not cut the vinyl first then apply it?

The vinyl isn't applied to the sign, I'm just trying to cut a laminated piece of it and the blade depth seems to be a bit screwy.

 

[Derin88]

The knife is not set to the proper depth... run the knife out from the knife holder an extra 1/4 turn.

I'll try this and report back with results. Thanks!

 

[PHILJOHNSON]

As suggested, this is probably an issue where you have too much blade exposed. Typically you just want the tip of the blade exposed outside of the blade holder, and then make small pressure adjustments(5-10 grams) until you have your cutting depth dialed in. If you post a picture of your blade holder, and also the cut piece of vinyl I can tell you for sure.

 

[gabagoo]

As suggested, this is probably an issue where you have too much blade exposed. Typically you just want the tip of the blade exposed outside of the blade holder, and then make small pressure adjustments(5-10 grams) until you have your cutting depth dialed in. If you post a picture of your blade holder, and also the cut piece of vinyl I can tell you for sure.

Look at that!!!! you see what I was saying...man the technical gurus even scour the boards to help you..... I can't think I would ever buy anything else but a Summa from now on!!! Good work Phil

 

[handbrake]

I think I know what the problem is as I have the same issue. Once you laminate your film it becomes thick and much harder for the vacuum system to pull it down.
The scratches then occur whilst the knife is travelling in the up position as it comes in contact with the overlaminate.

There are a couple of ways to fix this:
Use thinner vinyl material and overlaminate
or install extra pinch rollers which will help push down on the media in the raised areas, generally between the standard pinch rollers.

The way I overcome this is by pushing down on the raised areas with my hands NOT FROM THE FRONT but from behind the gantry.

See how you go

Cheers

Dan