• I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...

Question Summa D series: Cutting magnet sheets?

R

Rayd8

New Member
Hi All, As my subject implies: does anyone (has success) cut(ting) magnetic sheets with a Summa? I have seen some YT movies showing this for other cutters so my gutt tells me it might be possible?
Thanks for any help with this one.
Ray
 
G

GamecockGrafx

New Member
Great question Rayd8 - I have been wanting to know the "how-to" myself. The only thing I have been TOLD is that I have to use a "sandblasting" blade to do this and can't have overly complex cut paths. I have not tried it, rather just tell clients I can cut rectangles, squares, and other polygonal shapes. I have a Summa(HP) cutter myself....a colleague of mine has a Gerber and he said he can do it, but with a blade change.
 
K

KH t's n Signs

New Member
I have had some luck. depends on what shape. what I have typically noticed is I need to slow it WAAAAAY down and make sure when you print, it doesn't shrink the film on top at all. My settings are typically set at 200g for cutting it, although you will need to test yourself and velocity at about 40. have to make sure it still will slide and not magnetize to the cutter.
 
PHILJOHNSON

PHILJOHNSON

Sales Manager
Cutting magnetic material is challenging from a tracking/feeding perspective, especially with the thicker magnetic materials. Assuming you are using something 15-20 mil, I would use a table on the front and rear of the cutter to reduce the sag weight, slow the velocity(cutting speed) down, and use a thick materials blade(55 degree for your cutter model and the part number is 391-163). What you will be doing is scoring the material about 95% of the way through and then you can bend and punch out the cut shapes. I would not suggest cutting this material in high volumes with the machine you have, as it is not designed for this type of application, but for short runs and one-offs you can use the tips I mentioned to get the best possible results.

Best regards,

Phil Johnson
Airmark Corporation
(800)527-7778, ext. 112
philj@airmark.com
 
R

Rayd8

New Member
PHILJOHNSON said:
Cutting magnetic material is challenging from a tracking/feeding perspective, especially with the thicker magnetic materials. Assuming you are using something 15-20 mil, I would use a table on the front and rear of the cutter to reduce the sag weight, slow the velocity(cutting speed) down, and use a thick materials blade(55 degree for your cutter model and the part number is 391-163). What you will be doing is scoring the material about 95% of the way through and then you can bend and punch out the cut shapes. I would not suggest cutting this material in high volumes with the machine you have, as it is not designed for this type of application, but for short runs and one-offs you can use the tips I mentioned to get the best possible results.

Best regards,

Phil Johnson
Airmark Corporation
(800)527-7778, ext. 112
philj@airmark.com
Click to expand...
Very helpfull thx!
 
R

Rayd8

New Member
KH t's n Signs said:
I have had some luck. depends on what shape. what I have typically noticed is I need to slow it WAAAAAY down and make sure when you print, it doesn't shrink the film on top at all. My settings are typically set at 200g for cutting it, although you will need to test yourself and velocity at about 40. have to make sure it still will slide and not magnetize to the cutter.
Click to expand...
Very helpfull. Now my next quest would be if someone knows a good place to buy such blades and bladeholders (may be low’ish quality as it would be for testing this). Thx all for the help and advice.
 
N

netsol

Active Member
i would think trying for low quality blades dooms you to failure (more than this project otherwise would)

i would expect that the magnetic adhering to the plotter would also be an issue.
 
R

Rayd8

New Member
netsol said:
i would think trying for low quality blades dooms you to failure (more than this project otherwise would)

i would expect that the magnetic adhering to the plotter would also be an issue.
Click to expand...
Yeah, i'm thinking too that magnetic could be an issue, but then again that YT movie shows that it could maybe be doable. I'd love to test it but I'm hoping that i may find an alternative holder and blade so i at least would be able to test it, knowing that quality or blade wear will most likely kick in fast, but then again it's merely for POC.
 
N

netsol

Active Member
i really do not do very much magnetics, but I LOVE REDESIGNING EQUIPMENT.
i considered removing the platen (or whatever you call it) from one of mine & duplicating it with aluminum
 
R

Rayd8

New Member
Hi all, just for followup: I managed to find a metal blad holder and it seems that i have allready bought the summa 60° blades so i hope once that blade holder gets delivered and i find some spare time (which is becomming really scarse right now... Is it me or is it when the sun appears and it get's warmer that customers tend to kickstart print&sign projects or am i finally getting popular in my neighbourhood? :p).
I ordered this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/154603285240
Please note that this is NOT the genuine one, merely for testing this case. I'll keep you guys posted once i have made any usefull steps, which i'm far from certain, because the cutting blade and the blad holder are metal, i'm interested to see how this will work out with a magnet sheet...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top