levy4u

Members
  • Content Count

    77
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by levy4u

  1. Purchased a CE7000-60 sept 2020 and contour cut a lot of 651 no problem. I use the blue holder with 60 degree blade, set depth the appropriate method of slowly lengthening the blade until it barely cuts into the backing by hand. Then putting into tool position 1 and using force until it's the same. I've recently tried perf cutting some printed window decals(3M IJ35C) and it will not cut the same depth while feeding -X (towards the front), cutting +X direction. Imagine cutting a rectangle with the long sides being vertical... So the short ends, Y (left and right) cuts are perf cut perfect, just enough backing left to hold shape, but easy enough to pop out. Cutting -X (media is feeding out the back) is near perfect. In this case the left side of the rectangle is cut this way. Cutting +X (media is feeding towards you/front) is where the problem is. Right side of the rectangle. Accuracy is perfect, cuts exactly where it should, but the depth is off probably about 25% of the -X direction. Basically if I adjust the force so the left side of the rectangle correctly perf cuts, the right side is only a contour cut and the decals cannot pop out since only 3/4 sides are actually cut through. I did initially try using my blue blade holder setup but didn't want to adjust it for perf cutting so I can have 2 separate tools to swap in and out (contour then perf). With the Red blade holder, I tried setting it up the traditional way of cutting into the backing by hand, but could never get the machine force to perf cut. So i took it out and did the hand depth adjustment but this time adjusted the blade length to completely cut out a shape by hand, then put it back in the graphtec and used cut tests to match. Here is what I am currently using for perf cut settings: Brass Red Blade Holder Clean Cut CB15U 60 Degree Blade Tool Position 3 Acceleration 3 Force 14 (cuts completely through all sides, no "hanging chads", no structure left, media feeding fails) Force 13 (cuts completely through all sides but barely hanging on, no structure left, media feeding fails) Force 12 (cuts completely through Y and -X direction, +X direction takes force to pop off, , no structure left on -X, media feeding fails) Force 11 (just barely making it through Y and -X, too deep contour cutting +X side, media feeding fine) Force 10 (contour cutting all sides, media feeding fine) Cut Length 0.500" UP Length 0.010" UP Mode F 10 Anything shorter blade depth wise, no matter what force I use, it never cuts through completely. Always in tool position 3 for perf cuts (for this project). EDIT: I tried cutting out some random shapes on a few sheets that were ruined, and anything cutting straight up (media feeding towards the front) or anything cutting up and to the right, were noticeably harder to remove the perf cut. In most cases not releasing at all while all other directions basically fall right out. Overall I need to lower the force as it's way too hard 75% of the time, but I need it as high to even get the problem side to a point were i can remove it without having to manually cut.
  2. I have an acceptable cut now. After a good nights sleep I realized I never tried perf cutting using the blue blade holder, but also extending the blade length slightly to account for the material thickness. I've only ever set it at the "just barely mark the backing by hand" setting. So now I have the result I was expecting with the red holder which leads me to believe the tool holder is off somehow... guess i'll be purchasing the plastic red holder for my 60 degree blades.
  3. Sure is! I have a lot of car club customers that make some unique "slap" stickers. I just downloaded it but don't see what it does any better than Adobe Illustrator. I only use CM4 to send the job to the cutter, designing and all that is done in non Graphtec software. The Graphtec Pro Studio Plus looks nice with the nesting, cut paths, etc but it's an extra $500... and my issue is with the actual cutter not operating correctly while cutting in one direction. No response from Graphtec support yet. This is the print and cut file I'm using if it helps.
  4. Pretty sure I've watched every single video on the internet about this now. Spent all day trying to get it adjusted, new blades, different holders, different blade depths set by the hand scoring method, using the magnifier gauge. The only thing that's different from the videos I've watched is the tool holder has always been plastic, and i'm using brass. I don't have a 60 degree plastic red holder. At this point i'm certain there is an issue with the cutter one way or another. I'm going to have to scissor finish everything now. These photos show what has been happening all day. 3 sides pretty clean, 1 side absolute s***. The 3 i set aside show the decal after I scissor finish. If I set the force any higher, 3 sides get completely cut out then the media feeding fails. If i set it any lower, then it becomes a contour cut only. If i set the up length to be longer, or shorten the cut length, there are a ton of nubs left over. Next order i'm going to try having all the designs be at 45 degrees to the media and see if that helps. Don't think it has been brought up but i'm using illustrator 2020 and sending it to CM4. Windows 10.
  5. Another thing. The blade holder collar lock looks to be angling the blade holder once tightened. I can easily fit vinyl under the front side of the collar, the back is tight. So the tool is being pushed back at the top, angling the blade up slightly towards the front. Maybe the angle is there to cut toward the front, but isn't good cutting away....going to try and get the tool to tighten flat somehow. EDIT: Added photos where I matched up photos of the holder loose and tight and how it changed the blade angle.
  6. Two more samples to explain my issue for anyone that reads this, and for future debugging... Both of these rectangles were set to perf cut at a force where the right side would release. The right side is being cut as the media is feeding toward the front of the machine. The blade sharp edge would be facing away from you if you were in front of the machine. The black letters rectangle had the force 1 less than the pink letters cut. It stayed connected to the media while cutting. Look at how jagged the right side is, this is just the backing paper but I want a clean cut all the way around. The pink letters rectangle was 1 force higher to not have the backing paper residual when removing, but these settings just about had it fall out while cutting. I also noted, if you look close on the right side, the cut has "ripple" marks all the way along the cut line. I tried to have the light catch these ripples. Look near the pink letter S that's cut off, by the backing paper fuzz. This effect isn't there on any other cuts. Only when cutting straight backwards (media feeding toward front). Don't know if this helps anything. But if this issue ever has a final conclusion, maybe it will help someone in the future.
  7. It does tend to bunch the media while rolling yes. Don't have that plastic piece, emailed them as well. I have a ce6000-60 in storage but the whole reason for the 7000 was the perf cutting channel. Going to try using the blue holder with a 45 blade and see if maybe the red holder is malfunctioning somehow. My normal cut job is a 6' x 2' printed sheet with many bumper stickers and i have been only contour cutting then trimming with a slice cutter because of this issue. Once it messes up perf cutting, i can never register it accurately and am screwed.
  8. Yes, looks good and I'm using tool position 3, which is over the perf cutting channel so this is a nonissue right? Plus it's happening on the same spots across the vinyl, far left or far right, or middle.
  9. I thought of that too so I tried just sending one rectangle to get cut, same result. Entire right side, straight cut while media is feeding toward me, doesn't go deeper than a contour cut while all the other sides are perf cut. :/ There currently is .25 between all cuts, maybe it needs to be more. But it does seem that there is a cutting force/depth difference on cuts when the media is feeding toward you/the front. Sent a support email through Graphtec website... we will see. Appreciate the help, will report back with any resolution.
  10. Not really. They are setting up the different cut conditions. I can contour cut with no issues. The idea is you change the tool position and up the force to perf cut. If I can't perf cut with any amount of force, the blade length is too short? No? So I back off the force, increase the blade depth slightly and do test cuts (square with triangle). Ended up with Contour force of 10 and perf cut force of 15ish. These decals I'm perf cutting only, final shape right away and it either: - completely cuts through the entire border, messing up on media feed - only perf cuts one side and contour cuts the other - contour cuts it all Video shows what happens when I set blade length by testing off the cutter then matching the result by using the appropriate force settings. Most of the decals just falls out while a whole side is completely attached. Which is my 1st post issue/explanation. I tried different blade lengths, optimal and extended, and the cuts are not the same depending on cut direction. IMG_8943.MOV
  11. I use the blue holder for contour cutting, no issue. I bought the red one for perf cutting, to use 60 degree blades and keep the length a little longer to get through the material (my thinking at the time). I understand I could use the same holder and blade, but the contour cut blade length of the blue or red holder can never have enough force to perf cut. This is where the red one comes in play, i can keep the blade length longer and switch to it when i want to perf cut. This is my issue, should the contour cut setting/blade length etc, be what I use for perf cutting (except a much higher force)? These last few photos I sent, contour cut at 9 force, would not perf cut 10-38 force. Solution is to increase blade length right? What force should be perf cutting? 15? 20? I have no frame of reference since I guess i've never had perf cutting correct.
  12. I bought this holder specifically for perf cutting. My main question is does the traditional blade depth setting by hand, still account for Perf cutting (just with a much higher force on the machine)? Or should I be able to "hand perf cut" with the tool before placing it in the machine? Loupe shows about 4 lines and tip looks good i believe.
  13. This is a cut force of 9. Test cuts remove cleanly, barely scoring backing. This blade length (see photo) is going to completely cut through the media for perf cutting?
  14. Even for perf cutting? I've spent the last 3 hours searching this forum and saw your reply about length sooo many times but figured it would have to be longer to go all the way through.. I'll try resetting the length again but I did this already and force was up to 25, not cutting through and figured the length would need to be increased as clean cut blades shouldn't need this high of a force. Let me do some tests and get back to you before using more of your valuable time.
  15. Graphtec CE6000-60 can perf cut no problem. See my work below, Graphics -> Print -> Cut
  16. I had some clear plastic cups laying around so I decided to mock up a superbowl cup. Nothing fancy, just the two teams' logo and a super bowl logo. The graphtec can cut some fine details, my camera not so much...
  17. 3 Month old Graphtec CE6000-60, 90% of jobs cut and weed perfectly, but then there are a few that have troublespots, and it's usually with anything smaller than .75". I've attached the design (cutting at 7 inches wide) if anyone wants to give it a try. My problem areas are the first 2 letters in the website and the left side "leg" of the logo dude. Normally I can weed from any position at any speed and it rips out perfect. With this, and other small items, it's becoming a pain no matter how fast or slow I weed. Arlon 5000 white vinyl Clean cut 45 blade, blue blade holder (blade is 2 weeks old) Offset 0 Speed 30 Accel 2 Force 7 I would have blamed the problems on the vinyl but all other aspects of the designs weed right out. It seems that these pointy bits stay attached no matter what I do... overcut, faster(50) slower(5), more force( less force(6), less blade depth etc etc. Corners of letters are cutting fine, it's just these spots.. Check out this video to see what I mean. ------------- https://youtu.be/hgyCmQby27A LKNathleticClub2.ai
  18. I have the weed lines per section (horizontally) but not per letter. That would be insane to me. My cutter is 2 feet from my computer desk so i've been cutting 2 rows at a time, then weeding right away while the next 2 cut. No problems at all.
  19. Does the time from cut to weed matter? I changed the settings on the cut until I had a row of 3 cutting to my liking. Went ahead and cut out 100, about 33 rows, and had it pause every 4 rows so I could it off and not have a long piece to work with. Now, 4 hours later I start weeding and it's worse than before I messed with the settings. Different letters are pulling up no matter what I do and it's different from cut to cut. One design weeds fine, then the next would pull ALL the design up... I don't think i'll be able to salvage anything.
  20. I'm going to go back on what I said and say it IS the vinyl... check out this video using a different vinyl: https://youtu.be/lV8Aohn9RiU
  21. I have had a few customers want quick quotes on vehicle decals. Mainly on f150 truck doors and rear lift gate. I don't know the size of these things until I physically measure them. Is there a site that has all these measurements for vehicles so I can look it up in the future?
  22. levy4u

    Something different!

    Great. Another thing I will be spending money on... what setup you have to do that?
  23. Can we start this thread and use it to post what everyone charges for various types of jobs? Maybe include an image and price preferably in a format that can be expanding upon such as (L+W)/2 or $0.11/sq inch and include an example so we know when to use each formula: Retail Differences for 4"w x 6"h Single Color Vinyl Decal 4"w x 6"h Single Color Vinyl Decal (L+W)/2 = (6+4)/2 = 10/2 = $5/decal 4"w x 6"h $0.11/sq inch Single Color Vinyl Decal (4 x 6) x 0.11 = 24 x 0.11 = $2.64/decal 4"w x 6"h $1/linear inch of 24" vinyl Single Color Vinyl Decal 6" h = $6 for 5 Decals ( 5 across with weed border) $1.20/decal Single Color Vinyl "I charge $1 an inch based on the longest measurement. 4x6 is $6. If it's a really long skinny design I adjust it down accordingly for example I do windshield banners for $20-$25 all the time and they usually cap at 4" x 60 max." - jaybird Notes: "There are as many pricing calculators as there are people doing this - it all changes depending on the job - you can calculate all the above variables in but when that weeding gets more complicated the price goes up as labor cost goes up...500 circles are much different than cutting 500 spider webs for example" -dakotagrafx
  24. levy4u

    Heat Press Accessories

    Paypal Credit and/or Amazon Store Card 12+ months of interest free payments. I try to use them both equally then ask for credit increases every 6 months so I have it if I need it. I actually use them alot. Needed new brakes (rotors, pads) and suspension components and it's nice to spread it out and not "lose" a few hundred dollars right away.
  25. levy4u

    Heat Press Accessories

    Hey guys, I'm pretty set on getting the Hotronix Fusion as I like the empty space underneath for excess material and the draw to give me working room. What are the essential accessories I need? I see there are pillows, pads, Teflon sheets, platen covers, etc. I'm going to do the norm, shirts, sweats (pants and shirts), bags, whatever. Does the Print More package from Stahls contain everything I need? I'm looking to spend around $2600 (via payment plan) and don't want to get things I don't need.