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Weeding 101 on Signs 101

MikeSTK

MikeSTK

Dawns Vinyl Designs
Yes we are scourge of the earth newbies. Thats out of the way, lol.

We have only been working with cut vinyl for two years. Anybody swell enough out there to offer any tricks for weeding tiny items?

I searched here and the only thing I found was letting it stand overnight in the hopes a bit of shrinkage may occur. ( good thought )

We do small promotional decals, sometimes pushing the limit of how small the cutter will even produce items. I've built a backlit translucent picking table and that helps with some colors.

I know patience is the primary tool, just thought I'd ask. Maybe heat / cooling? We've tried things and we are OK with doing it as we understand it's part of the process.

Thank you all for posting, it's addicting reading how much advice is shared.

:iamwithstupid
 
natedawg9640

natedawg9640

New Member
hmm. just the usual, if you can round the corners just slightly so you minimize tear points, and make sure you're blade is sharp and at the optimal depth, there aren't many more shortcuts i know of. hire cheap labor. LOL
 
Border

Border

New Member
I've used a heat gun to warm up the vinyl after it's cut and then let it cool down/shrink just a bit.
 
saktrnch

saktrnch

New Member
I grew weary of all of the microscopic weeding too, so I stated printing them. Print, laminate, contour cut ovals or rectangles, cut into strips, ship, and deposit.

I filed a set of tweezers to a point, that helped grab some of it.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Pull the centers out and then apply the entire piece onto your substrate and weed directly from there.
 
G

GypsyGraphics

New Member
MikeSTK said:
Anybody swell enough out there to offer any tricks for weeding tiny items?
Click to expand...

Mike... do you mean tiny... like this?

attachment.php


Love-gg-tin.jpg
 
MikeSTK

MikeSTK

Dawns Vinyl Designs
Nice thoughts! We have every tool type out there but never filed the tweezers to a knife point thought, gonna try that. Never tried the heat gun either, hmmmm.

We do test cuts constantly as that seems to have the biggest impact.

The heat transfer stuff is even worse as the backer is pretty tacky, those pesky iddy bitty pieces don't want to cooperate.

THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH! I know its a silly question but I was sure some people here had some tricks, and sorry for posting but I did try to search I really did.......

:thankyou::signs101:
 
AUTO-FX

AUTO-FX

New Member
Some people weed off the transfer tape. Just pull the big stuff off first before you put the transfer tape on.
 
O

ova

New Member
If what you are making are something like 6"x6" window stickers, you weed the large stuff, than apply your application tape. Cut the decals (stickers) into sizes. Remove the image from the release liner, weed the small stuff off of the app. tape and re-apply the image to the release liner.

This way is a pain, but it works.

Dave
 
G

GypsyGraphics

New Member
mike: how ever do you do that gg?

gg: well mike, i cheat of course.

attachment.php


weed-cheat.jpg

okay, i'm done... back to "proper weight/force and depth" discussion
 
Malkin

Malkin

New Member
In addition to sharp blade, proper weight/force and depth (amount the blade stick down below the holder) and everything else mentioned, the brand of vinyl you choose can have a significant effect on weeding as well.
 
natedawg9640

natedawg9640

New Member
that's decently small, but we've got you beat. one of our customers uses sheets of animal silhouettes. They are all gold leaf guilded onto vinyl and fit into the size of the end of a pencil eraser as she puts them inside rings and bracelets. luckily... we don't have to weed them. But i do need to make sure they are weedable. Takes over 2 hours to cut an 8.5 x 11 sheet
(selected object is in the 3rd row from the bottom in the second column)
 

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CanuckSigns

Active Member
depending on the program you are using, some offer a "power weed" function which comes in handy. if your program doesn't offer it, it's pretty easy to do yourself
 
MikeSTK

MikeSTK

Dawns Vinyl Designs
GG, the first thing my eye fell on was that tiny piece between the gs.

As far as allowing me to play a part in your created discussion -- thanks. Maybe seek some professional help??? lmao

As far as the tiny animals go, well maybe book a double appointment with GG. Unbelievable! I actually have a colt in my old class ring, very old classring, that I never even wondered how they made it.

NEVER considered the different temp thing. Just tried heating then freezing, heat only and freezing only. Nothing crazy noticeable but maybe with some of the other vinyl we use. I will try that idea again.

I will try to post what we are working on but it is far from as crazy as the items shown. Just a 3 1/2" circle of a forest fire fighter patch. This order is only 30 pcs but it does get tedious. Thankfully Dawn (my lovely wife) enjoys it to a degree.

At the risk of repeating myself thank you all so very much for taking your valuable time to respond to such a kindergarden question.

Now can I offer a trick about keeping scraps????? rotflmao
 
Baz

Baz

New Member
Weed out centers first, Use 2 mil cast vinyl, Weed 1/2 at a time (top half then bottom half) <---- To do this it is best to weed with a #11 blade. As you weed you cut along the center height of your text. Then remove the second half. It is time consuming but you will have a greater succes rate and less repositioning of small letters.
 
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