what degree blade is preferred 1-4 mil vinyl?

[danno]

I think my old age is getting me now. We have a S2 t-160 series cutter and the blade we have been using needs changing. I see where Airmark recommends a 45° blade as standard, a 36° for reflective and a 60° for sandblast medias. I was under the impression a 36° would be the best for universal purposes. Can I receive some feedback on what y'all are using for most cast & calendared vinyl's with good results?

 

[Boudica]

I don't have a Summa ( we have Roland GR & a GX) Though I usually use a 45° blade. If I'm cutting something thicker than your average vinyl, like reflective vinyl or .020 HIPS then I'll use a 60° blade.

 

[VonsGraphix1969]

i run Graphtecs all day long.. 8600-130's and 30' plotters as well and i run a 45 degree blade all day long on cast vinyl, calendared vinyl, vinyl paint mask & printed & laminated contour cut graphics.... I get years out of a Graphtec 45 blade.... If im cutting reflective a lot, ill swap out another dedicated 45 degree blade but i never use a 60 blade... I even cut this small on my plotters...

 

[Boudica]

dang that is small!

 

[XtremeXccessories]

This is from Summa, but it's a few years old so maybe they've changed it. We've always used a 36° blade for standard vinyl.

 

[Saturn]

Another vote for the OEM 45° blade as an all around great choice. I use it for all my 2-6 mil vinyl, laminated or not, kiss or all the way through. This is also on an S2 tangential.

 

[danno]

Thank y'all for your input. 45° it is. I'm also impressed with Von's small cuts on his Graphtec.

 

[wes70]

36 or 45 degree for regular vinyl and 60 for reflective

 

[ikarasu]

i run Graphtecs all day long.. 8600-130's and 30' plotters as well and i run a 45 degree blade all day long on cast vinyl, calendared vinyl, vinyl paint mask & printed & laminated contour cut graphics.... I get years out of a Graphtec 45 blade.... If im cutting reflective a lot, ill swap out another dedicated 45 degree blade but i never use a 60 blade... I even cut this small on my plotters...

The 30 for reflective isn't your typical reflective. They're talking about road reflective.... Such as diamond EGP/HI/DG - the ones with a hard shell and prismatic beads. While you can use a 45 with it... It'll likely snap the blade, or dull it really fast. For those you need a k30 blade that's made out of a different stronger steel.

60 degree is meant for super thin stuff like window tint and really small letters. You don't seem to have an issue cutting small stuff on a 45 degree blade! You should give the 60 a try if you.do that a lot though... It does give it a more.consistant cut, which makes weeding easier (small letters are always a pain).

And just a note - summa and graphtec do things differently... For the graphtec a 30 is for thick, 45 is for regular, and 60 is for really small thin stuff. On summa it goes 60/45/36.... Complete reversal. So if someone's reading this and confused about the blade degrees.... Just know it's different for different echosystems!