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Vinyl Cutter - trouble with small text

eccs19

New Member
My Roland PNC-960 seems to have trouble cutting small text. It's got a new blade, and new cutting strip. Any cuts that are larger are not an issue, it's just very small text. Is that just nature of the beast for text that small, or perhaps it's just more a problem with my old tired Roland cutter.
 

Mosh

New Member
Hit print, AAAHH. 1/4" is as small as I would ever go. Since we got our printes around 5 years ago I have not cut anything under 3/4". Can't pay me enough.

Here is a trick, duplicate your letters right on top of each other. Then when you cut use super light weight. That way the cutter will make two light passes over the letters. Make sure you have a new blade in. Done some super small detailed stuff this way back in "the day of vinyl"
 

TheSellOut

New Member
I have only had my printer for 3 months, and man am I glad to never have to weed the small intricate stuff ever again!!

Make sure your speed is as slow as it can go too!
 

eccs19

New Member
My biggest reason for cutting something this small, is for a paint mask, and one section has very small letters. (prob 1/4") It was for my own use, so not terribly concerned if I couldn't get it right. I may try the idea of slow cut, light weight & double pass, just to see what happens. Thanks for the ideas / tips.
 

mtmdesigns

New Member
Hit print, AAAHH. 1/4" is as small as I would ever go. Since we got our printes around 5 years ago I have not cut anything under 3/4". Can't pay me enough.

Here is a trick, duplicate your letters right on top of each other. Then when you cut use super light weight. That way the cutter will make two light passes over the letters. Make sure you have a new blade in. Done some super small detailed stuff this way back in "the day of vinyl"

Never thought of that good call.

In the day we did all the La Salsa menu boards long story short we made the slats that go on the menu board out of non glare plex, painted the back and had to apply white vinyl texy on the face about the same size. We would build a square around the text(or if your familiar with the easy weed function) take all the inside part of the O's, A's etc. leave the rest alone transfer it and then apply the vinyl to the plex, then heat gun and peal sometimes spraying it with denatured alch seemed to work and peel the square back and the text will stay stuck to the plex where it was cut.
We started screening them after about doing easily over 10,000 slats, so we had a couple guys who would do that all day long.
 

signcorr

New Member
Just did a bunch of baseball logos for the kids batting helmets. Very tiny details. I have a graphtec plotter. Used a 60 degree blade, force was at 12, speed at 6, quality at 1. The trick was adjusting the blade way down. Stuck out about 1/8" to 3/16", then adjusted the force by trial and error. BE CAREFUL! You have to sneak up on the blade depth and force so you don't cut into your cutting strip. It cut the smallest details without any problems. Did a couple dozen.

Also heard about putting vinyl in refrig before weeding, but I really didn't need to.

Once again, be careful, hope this helps.
 

signguy 55

New Member
I use the same plotter. Just did some decals for a used car dealer, very small text but doable. Couple of tricks - cut your vinyl, stick in fridge for a day or overnight or leave unweeded over the weekend.

If vinyl is going on a substrate tape the unweeded vinyl and apply to substrate, then weed out the small, intricate parts, much less stressful. I've done it that way for years.
 

schramm

New Member
When I have something to cut with small text I just switch to a 60 degree blade and for the most part there is no issue. I have also switched with much luck to Clean Cut blades and they have made smaller things much easier.
 

Jayemart

New Member
I have found that if you follow a few guidelines you can successfully cut small text. first select a font with rounded serifs ex. Arial Rounded MT Bold next set your cut speed down to 25 cm (or 1/4 speed) also must use high quality vinyl 2-3 mm. thickness the thiner the better. good luck... it works for my Roland Camm-1!
Signs: Jayemart
 
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