Very Fine Cutting on Mimaki CJV

[jrpaceys]

We are currently trying to cut a customer decal and having no luck. The decals are small, approximately 1.5x3" with some rather intricate cuts and small text. We have had no issues per say with regards to the actual cut, but lots of problems when weeding, we cannot get the cut material to stay with the backer. The cutting is seems to be good. If we double the size of the logo, its cuts fine, but cannot recreate it at the customers requested size. We have tried it on many different vinyls without any luck. We have adjusted knife speed, and even the changed the knife itself, again without any luck. I suppose my question is, Has anyone encountered such issues? Is this something that should be expected from a combo unit? Or any I just out to lunch with materials? (have tried IJ180, Avery, Oracal and even heat transfer materials)

 

[dmfahie]

Yes, we did.... after no luck, we sold our plotter and got a Graphitek... we also had other friends with similar issues, went with graphitek or summa's. wish I had an better answer that resolved your issues.

 

[lodcomm]

We are currently trying to cut a customer decal and having no luck. The decals are small, approximately 1.5x3" with some rather intricate cuts and small text. We have had no issues per say with regards to the actual cut, but lots of problems when weeding, we cannot get the cut material to stay with the backer. The cutting is seems to be good. If we double the size of the logo, its cuts fine, but cannot recreate it at the customers requested size. We have tried it on many different vinyls without any luck. We have adjusted knife speed, and even the changed the knife itself, again without any luck. I suppose my question is, Has anyone encountered such issues? Is this something that should be expected from a combo unit? Or any I just out to lunch with materials? (have tried IJ180, Avery, Oracal and even heat transfer materials)

Hi Folks,

Couple things you can try before ditching your combo unit.

1) Double check that the blade holder is not worn.. If you have a spare unit try that.
2) For detail & small letters, Use a 60 Degree "Clean Cut" blade.
3) Double Check your offsets & Use exactly enough blade pressure to cut only the vinyl with NO marking of the backer.
4) Experiment with your "Overcut" setting. I am using .100 overcut on my SC500.

I use the above setup on my old Roland SC500 and am able to cut and weed down to .25" letters. (even smaller with sans serif fonts).

-t

 

[Laz0924]

Get rid of as many nodes as you can when they bunch up together makes it tough for the cutter, I have cut some very intricate designs but have to go in and clean up the vector with as few nodes as possible.
I have the same machine.

 

[AF]

Try cooling the vinyl to get it to shrink, like putting it in an ice box or inverting a can of dust off and spraying it. For tiny letters you can draw boxes around each letter that the plotter will cut so you can tediously weed each letter with little chance of failure. The specs on most vinyls say .25" is the smallest distance between two cuts for it to weed correctly, you are probably trying to cut too small of a detail so you will need to work extra hard to get it done. You will get killed on labor if you didn't bid the job correctly.

 

[jrpaceys]

Thank you all very much. I'll be experimenting with all of your suggestions shortly. Appreciate the feed bad and advice. Thanks Again

 

[Neil]

I have a CJV but I cut any small stuff on my Graphtec 7000. It just works so much better.

Having said that, a workaround for small stuff is to cut weed borders, take out anything you can then put app paper on.
Flip it over, remove the backing paper and weed the vinyl off the app paper. Do half at a time and tape it down to the table.

 

[Zx360]

I have a CJV but I cut any small stuff on my Graphtec 7000. It just works so much better.

Having said that, a workaround for small stuff is to cut weed borders, take out anything you can then put app paper on.
Flip it over, remove the backing paper and weed the vinyl off the app paper. Do half at a time and tape it down to the table.

^^ive done that in a pinch! it's a last ditch effort but effective.