Tangential?

[njelsmom]

I'm learning slowly .. but I AM learning.

So help me -

How important is tangential vs the other 'drag' type?

I think I'd like to have a cutter with a tangential blade and also that does the registration marks -- what would be a good suggestion?

What machine would you NOT buy?

 

[WOODBS]

ummm, did you say genital and "drag" in the same sentence?? lol

 

[chopper]

tangential picks up the blade and turns it at the corners, I have not had one I use a drag knife machine, most of the machines will be drag type the tangential works better on thicker materials I do not know if there is an advantage on thinner materials, not that you shouldnt have one, summa, graphtech, are a couple of good machines,//chopper

 

[Fred Weiss]

Summa would be the current top dog in a tangential tool head.

Advantages

• Cuts thicker materials with greater ease.
• Inherently more accurate because it follows the cutpath with no offset as required by swivel knives.

Disadvantages

• Slower than a swivel knife because knife lifts and turns or sharp corners.
• More expensive than a swivel knife.
• Corners are sometimes not fully cut making weeding more difficult.

 

[jdb]

I have a tangential and it has allways cut perfect. Great for thick materials such as sand blast rubber. It's an anagraph, built like a tank and weighs a ton.

 

[bob]

...[*]Inherently more accurate because it follows the cutpath with no offset as required by swivel knives...

Offset is a product of not having the blade tip centered on the blade's axis of rotation, not whether or not the blade is turned via some specific mechanism or merely turns itself in the direction of travel.

I realize that it's the offset the makes the blade turn itself but lack of offset is not necessary to a true tangential machine, only coincidental.

Regardless, the accuracy factor is trivial, somewhere on the order of the thickness of the media. We're doing cut vinyl here, not neurosurgery.

 

[Steve Prince]

I've had tangential and drag knife. Four different brands and would reccommend checking out the Summa D60 which is a 24" drag knife.

I have a couple of them and never a problem. Customer Service and Tech Support has always been good when I had questions.

Good Luck

 

[jdb]

I have a summa also which is really all I use, but cutting rubber is hard on it. So when I need to cut rubber the tangential works best because it does'nt put any unessesary stress on my summa, that's all.

 

[njelsmom]

Now - tell me ... you wizards of signery ...

Tangential - is it an ACTUAL function on some machines? I see some that say the emulate tangential ...

Can you clarify?

 

[Mike Paul]

Now - tell me ... you wizards of signery ...

Tangential - is it an ACTUAL function on some machines? I see some that say the emulate tangential ...

Can you clarify?

True tangential picks up the blade and rotates it from inside the carriage assembly.

Tangential emulation will pick up the swivel blade and put it back down without rotating it in the head because there is no mechanism to do that. It helps improve corner quality when cutting thick material and small letters.
.

 

[ChiknNutz]

Summa T-series cutters...

http://www.summausa.com/product_main.php?category_id=13&sess_id=6f16219854106643e76464bc71f70697

 

[Greg Landers]

I have always heard that there is a tremendous quality and sharpness difference when cutting tiny details with a tangential cutter ... is this true?

 

[KR3signguy]

I've heard Summa has the only true tangential, all others are the simulations. Can anyone clearify this?

 

[Mike Paul]

Many Gerber Plotters are true Tangential.

 

[eforer]

Unless you're doing alot of sandmask or something of the like, a drag knife machine is fine.

 

[jdb]

KR3, tangential has been around many years before summa was even an idea.