Setting for window perf contour cutting

[jester2kx]

I am working with contour cutting some window perf...actualy a lot of window perf, and am having trouble with my printer/cutter cutting all the way through the perf.

I am using a roland Soljet 545ex, and have to cut before i print (because if i do it the other way, it gets ink on the rollers and then spreads it on the print).

Should I slow it way down? Speed it way up? Anyone else have issues with this? I have resorted to ltting my machine make the cutpath with the knife, then i go back by hand and cut it out with a scissors.

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

Maybe if you let your perf. dry overnight you wouldn't run into these problems your having with your grit rollers. I never heard of anyone cutting vinyl first and then printing it, sounds backwards to me. And to think how many misprints your gonna have doing it that way.

 

[GK]

I cannot see how you will successfully get proper registration if its precut and then you try to print on top of it. If you are having trying issues is your machine calibrated properly? are you using the correct profiles for the perf? (just because you downloaded them online for your machine, doesn't mean they will work the same for every printer), have you tried using any kind of external drying devices such as infrared heaters?

I only ask these questions because I can touch our prints as soon as they are coming off the printer with no problems, but all our media has custom profiles because of problems in the past with OEM canned profiles.

 

[jester2kx]

Well we arent really having trouble with the registration. I just set it to go back to the begining of the print when its done cutting, then print. It works rather slick. However its the cutting that i am having troubles with.

Its not cutting all the way through the window perf. Some spots it gets to a point where its almost cutting paper, however most of it just barely makes a score where the cutline is.

The prints look great. I would rather not print first. The issue only seems to be in the cutting portion of the job.

 

[Graphics2u]

I can't imagine even being able to cut perf material that way. The holes would cause all kinds of trouble with blade pressure and depth of cut. the knife would be constantly carching all those holes.

 

[jester2kx]

Thats pretty much my problem. I was just wondering if anyone has come up with a good way of doing it, that I wouldnt have to stuff by hand afterwards.

 

[ChiknNutz]

Why are you cutting it all all? Normally, window perf is simply trimmed on install...what are you doing?

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

He might be doing small window perf. decals with an odd shape to them. You can allways get them die cutted or find a company that has a flatbed cutter. I'm not sure with the Roland print & cut machines, but maybe your teflon stip is bad.

 

[jester2kx]

I am doing a graphic for a few buses and it calls for an image of a person with a white border around them. but they want them contour cut kind of like a stroke of white around the images.

We are not doing anything that small, these are like 36x35 images.

I will look into the teflon strip. I didnt think of that.

Thanks.

 

[woolly]

Its not cutting all the way through the window perf. Some spots it gets to a point where its almost cutting paper, however most of it just barely makes a score where the cutline is.

that suggests your cutting to fast. i have a sc540ex and can understand your work flow and it is probably the best way to go about it.
are you aware that you can disable the middle two pinch rollers.
but for cutting difficult materials you should be using all the rollers.

new blade and slow it up to about 15cm/sec cant see why it wont work

woolly

 

[Checkers]

As Chicago suggested, die cutting will work. However, hand trimming would be the only predictable and practical solution for a small quantity.

Checkers

 

[OADesign]

I just got a 60 degree blade and it cut just fine. I also bought a new blade holder so i didn't have to reset every time. I just swapped holders and tweak setting to match. cut like normal vinyl. bumping up the speed a bit helps. thought it will sound like the machine is destroying it self (blade jumping across holes) it works just fine.