VS-540 Cutting Problems

[SteveHem]

Hi there,

Over the last few weeks ive been unable to get a nice cut on my VS-540. Im perf cutting laminated vinyl stickers and using a new 60 degree blade. The problem is mainly happening on curved cuts like circles although squares are not perfect either. Ive never got an excellent cut on this machine but certainly not as bad as the jagged cuts im getting now.

Here is a pic of the jagged cut and another of the settings get the best result from:

Any ideas or suggestions would be most appreciated!

 

[S4mxdotcom]

I've noticed that Roland brand blades work better when I'm using a 60 degree blade. Almost like some of the non Roland branded blades where shorter. You must go through cut protection strips often if you do a lot of Perf cutting, is the protection strip in good shape? Is the temperature in your shop different? new roll of material? Have you tried slowing down the cutting speed? I've never used the perf cut , but I cut a lot of thick MX graphics. I've noticed that the material can lift up so there is a gap between the backing and the cut strip as the sheet feeds out and drops down towards the floor or take up . And that can cause rough cuts. With thinner materials its never been an issue , but I could see it being a problem when doing perf cuts. I might also try one of the other blades and see if it might have just been a bad blade.

How often do you have to change the cutter strips when doing the perf cuts? I feel like I change mine often just cutting the thick material I cut, I've wondered how bad it would be if I started doing perf cuts . I guess it would save time on trimming stuff out so it may be worth it, and it might have cleaner finished look to them too. My tech that setup the printer when new had told me that it puts a lot much more stress on the printer than the regular style cutting. So I figured I would just keep using it the way I had been. But maybe I'll give it a try. The perf cut option has been out long enough now that the real world impact on the printer should be known by now. I got mine new in 2012 or so (a VS-640) and I never really thought about the perf cut after the tech told me what he did back then ,until now.

 

[cornholio]

Look at the knife holder. Most of the time, they are the problem. You can try to lubricate, or replace it.

 

[S4mxdotcom]

Yah the blade holder , That can cause issues . I've had better results with the cheap ebay blade holders than the all aluminium Roland branded holders when cutting thicker stuff with a 60 degree blade. Maybe I am missing something on the Roland holders, but it seems like the aftermarket ones can be adjusted to have more of the blade exposed and the Roland one can not. The Roland holder that came with my VS640 is the same style the ebay holders are , but its plastic. I have a bunch of the holders I keep around. I have one that I do not use that I know cuts perfectly that I can swap out to test and see if the holder is causing my issue or not. I've gotten some of the Ebay holders that were junk from the beginning. So after that I decided to keep a fresh one around just to make sure I had one I knew was good to compare cuts to. It's an easy way to check and gives me a backup holder if I really need one. But I try and have a few spares on hand anyway since they are cheap, and the lifespan seems to vary.

 

[autoexebat]

The VS Roland printers pretty much SUCK for cutting any type of thick material , I should know as I make SXS graphics for a living and I lost tons of money. I finally went to a Summa D75 , ripped it apart , added a 3rd pinch roller ( Summa said it couldn't be done ) , Then I added a heated aluminum plate in front of the cutter and I cut 15mil lamination daily.

You problem isn't the blade holder , its the machine itself struggling with the thicker material.

 

[vondegroot]

The VS Roland printers pretty much SUCK for cutting any type of thick material , I should know as I make SXS graphics for a living and I lost tons of money. I finally went to a Summa D75 , ripped it apart , added a 3rd pinch roller ( Summa said it couldn't be done ) , Then I added a heated aluminum plate in front of the cutter and I cut 15mil lamination daily.

You problem isn't the blade holder , its the machine itself struggling with the thicker material.

Deadly modding!