chixwithtrix 1 Posted May 18, 2011 Just got the cutter in yesterday and have a 1000 white sticker order to fulfill, very much in a time crunch. Copam 2500 FlexiStarter 8.6 Windows Vista 24" Oracal white vinyl 45 degree Roland style blade @ .25 offset on the machine, 0 offset in the program 60G pressure, various speeds tried 1. I cut (10) 6" long stickers at a time vertically across the 24" wide vinyl. On the second set of (10) the cutter will roll the vinyl out the back of the cutter like it is going to the original origin. Is there a way to stop this? 2. The cutter will sometimes begin the first of the (10) stickers at the end of the sticker (ex. the word "WORD" starts at the "D" and works its way to the "W"; the "W" being near the front edge of the vinyl that is loaded) and as it works forward it will spit the vinyl out around the second letter of the sticker like it didn't advance the material enough. 3. After I cut one set of (10) 6" long stickers, when I remove the blade from the holder there are a bunch of little pieces of vinyl that are attached to the blade shaft. What is causing this? 4. One corner of the cut that is supposed to be square is consistently rounded and is not acceptable. My older, cheapo cutter did a better job in this spot. I have included a photo. It is the top left inner part of the "B". Problem looked worse when going from 60cm/sec to 20cm/sec. Photo is of 60cm/sec. 5. After cutting sometimes the cutter returns to origin and freezes up and says "cutting..." on the screen. Has to be turned off to use any of the keypad functions again. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MZ SKEETER 4,708 Posted May 18, 2011 Just got the cutter in yesterday and have a 1000 white sticker order to fulfill, very much in a time crunch. Copam 2500 FlexiStarter 8.6 Windows Vista 24" Oracal white vinyl 45 degree Roland style blade @ .25 offset on the machine, 0 offset in the program 60G pressure, various speeds tried 1. I cut (10) 6" long stickers at a time vertically across the 24" wide vinyl. On the second set of (10) the cutter will roll the vinyl out the back of the cutter like it is going to the original origin. Is there a way to stop this? 2. The cutter will sometimes begin the first of the (10) stickers at the end of the sticker (ex. the word "WORD" starts at the "D" and works its way to the "W"; the "W" being near the front edge of the vinyl that is loaded) and as it works forward it will spit the vinyl out around the second letter of the sticker like it didn't advance the material enough. 3. After I cut one set of (10) 6" long stickers, when I remove the blade from the holder there are a bunch of little pieces of vinyl that are attached to the blade shaft. What is causing this? 4. One corner of the cut that is supposed to be square is consistently rounded and is not acceptable. My older, cheapo cutter did a better job in this spot. I have included a photo. It is the top left inner part of the "B". Problem looked worse when going from 60cm/sec to 20cm/sec. Photo is of 60cm/sec. 5. After cutting sometimes the cutter returns to origin and freezes up and says "cutting..." on the screen. Has to be turned off to use any of the keypad functions again. I don't have a Copam, but I use Flexistarter. I would try the offset the other way. Offset on machine 0 and .19" in Flexistarter. Flexistarter is inches on offset not MM. .0098" Is close to the conversion. Do you have advance after cut checked in the Flexistarter software? Pieces of vinyl on the blade, sounds like your blade is out too far, You can actually take the blade holder out of the machine,in your hand, and cut a piece of scrap vinyl, if it makes marks in the vinyl backing, the blade is out too far. Also make sure there are no pieces of vinyl inside the blade holder, this will cause the blade not to spin freely. Cut some sample pieces, like your test, and see if the changes help. adjust as needed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chixwithtrix 1 Posted May 25, 2011 Thank you for the reply! I ended up having to run the whole order on my old MH721 and herniated a disk last week to sorry for the late reply. My Flexi only goes as low as .01 inches. I set the cutter's offset to 0 and FlexiStarter's to .01in and some things improved. The edges are sharper and I don't have tiny pieces going up into the blade holder. The cutting for the project I talked about in the first post is acceptable now on the Copam. Now I have a new problem though. I am doing a very detailed job that is 2" wide with sharp points and I cannot get the Copam to stop picking. I've gone through 10g-60g of pressure and moved the blade in and out for different depths. Slower speeds make it pick more so I've been running it at 60cm/sec. Using Oracal 651 white vinyl. What the heck?? Have I just not hit the right combo of settings or is something messed up in the program or cutter? This photo is what I'm trying to cut, this sticker was cut on my MH721. It did pick, but MUCH less than the Copam. I bought the Copam for its higher quality cutting...so far I'm starting to regret it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MZ SKEETER 4,708 Posted May 25, 2011 What does this mean? I cannot get the Copam to stop picking. Most people use a 60 degree blade for detailed work. seeing as how you have already been picking up vinyl, have you cleaned the blade with some alcohol or similar to get the adhesive off the blade? And sounds like blade is too far out. Are there markings on the vinyl backing? It should cut the vinyl, and barely if any mark on the vinyl backing. Did you do this? You can actually take the blade holder out of the machine,in your hand, and cut a piece of scrap vinyl, And press hard. If it makes marks in the vinyl backing, the blade is out too far. Also make sure there are no pieces of vinyl inside the blade holder, this will cause the blade not to spin freely. A drop or so of 3-1 oil or sewing machine oil on the blade in the blade holder. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dakotagrafx 7,297 Posted May 25, 2011 Great advise skeeter, also less blade to the very point it just barely cuts thru the finyl like skeeter said. also try a cleancut blade to slice thru the vinyl cleaner Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
