Question Summa S Cutting Path

[Blaster]

Quick question, I use Flexi w a Summa S Drag Knife cutter. I would like the cutting path to be continuous as its cuts lets say a page full of circles. I want it to cut each circle out rather than skip around like it does. Not sure if this is a product of using flexcut accurate or flexcut fast. Any input greatly appreciated. Ive tried adjusting optimize cutting order as well. Seems to jump all over the place.

 

[P Wagner]

There are tools in the Flexi Editor for previewing and reordering cut sequences. In the standard interface, the tools are located under the Arrange Menu > Cut Order > Reorder/ Preview. Note that not all versions of Flexi have these tools, but if yours does, they are terrific for speeding up cutter throughput as well as cutter accuracy in print cut jobs. See attached screen grabs that show cut order before and after.

Note that this is for kiss cuts, and will not change the behavior of flex cuts.

 

[Blaster]

There are tools in the Flexi Editor for previewing and reordering cut sequences. In the standard interface, the tools are located under the Arrange Menu > Cut Order > Reorder/ Preview. Note that not all versions of Flexi have these tools, but if yours does, they are terrific for speeding up cutter throughput as well as cutter accuracy in print cut jobs. See attached screen grabs that show cut order before and after.

Note that this is for kiss cuts, and will not change the behavior of flex cuts.

Hey, thanks for that. I do have that option and thanks. Much better. I guess the next question is for flex cuts, lets say im cutting circles as i said before. Rather than the printer cutting the complete circle, it cuts half way around the circle and then jumps to the other half rather than continuing all the way around the circle. If im cutting something complex lex say a gear shape, it jumps back and forth all over the place when flex cutting.

 

[PHILJOHNSON]

Hello Blaster,

Flex cutting is really designed to cut straight lines, not curves, and there isn't a different way to cut the circles as you described. Flex cut will cut the vertical lines first and horizontal lines second and that is what is happening when the cutter cuts the half moon shapes. That is also why the cutter is jumping around when cutting the more complex gear shapes as well. Using a sorting function as described by P Wagner above can dictate the order of output for kiss cuts and reduce the unnecessary movements but it won't help when flex cutting.

There are some users here on the site who like to set their knife depth really deep and double cut shapes that have curves in them to get better results. Basically you would be cutting almost all the way through the vinyl and liner without completing the cuts so the shapes stay in the material during the cutting process but can be easily punched out when the cutting is complete. That is still an imperfect science, but your results on curves and circles will likely be better than trying to flex cut.

Best regards,

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

 

[Blaster]

Hello Blaster,

Flex cutting is really designed to cut straight lines, not curves, and there isn't a different way to cut the circles as you described. Flex cut will cut the vertical lines first and horizontal lines second and that is what is happening when the cutter cuts the half moon shapes. That is also why the cutter is jumping around when cutting the more complex gear shapes as well. Using a sorting function as described by P Wagner above can dictate the order of output for kiss cuts and reduce the unnecessary movements but it won't help when flex cutting.

There are some users here on the site who like to set their knife depth really deep and double cut shapes that have curves in them to get better results. Basically you would be cutting almost all the way through the vinyl and liner without completing the cuts so the shapes stay in the material during the cutting process but can be easily punched out when the cutting is complete. That is still an imperfect science, but your results on curves and circles will likely be better than trying to flex cut.

Best regards,

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

Hey Phil, thanks for that. Makes sense now. So when you say double cut you mean go over them twice as in 2 pass?

 

[Goatshaver]

What Phil said is something I've found myself doing. I setup double contour cuts, just duplicating the same path but naming then slightly different like CutContour for one and ContourCut for the other and making sure my RIP is able to detect the cut names. I had to extend my blade slightly and just increase the pressure slightly but it's been working great.

 

[PHILJOHNSON]

Hey Phil, thanks for that. Makes sense now. So when you say double cut you mean go over them twice as in 2 pass?

Yes, that is correct. You may need to increase your blade depth and pressure(which you may need to adjust as your blade wears) to get the right combination where you can punch the finished cuts out without them falling out while the job is still being cut. Once you get a feel for the right combination of depth and pressure it isn't too difficult to get things dialed in after blade and material changes.

Let me know if I can answer any other questions for you.

Best regards,

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

 

[PrintItBig]

2 cuts in the same place? Why 2? Don’t get it.

 

[PHILJOHNSON]

2 cuts in the same place? Why 2? Don’t get it.

This allows you to cut each pass with less pressure which usually leads to a cleaner end result and can help extend the blade life sometimes as well.

Best regards,

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

 

[Blaster]

Got it, Worked perfectly. Thanks everyone for the advice.
Adam

 

[RICHARD SIMMONS]

There are tools in the Flexi Editor for previewing and reordering cut sequences. In the standard interface, the tools are located under the Arrange Menu > Cut Order > Reorder/ Preview. Note that not all versions of Flexi have these tools, but if yours does, they are terrific for speeding up cutter throughput as well as cutter accuracy in print cut jobs. See attached screen grabs that show cut order before and after.

Note that this is for kiss cuts, and will not change the behavior of flex cuts.

Yeah !! That's crazy !!