Newbie from Ohio..trouble with vinyl not cutting smooth

[Dgaree 7]

Good morning. I have a uscutter sc 24 inch. I have been having trouble with some letters and items not cutting smooth. It seems to be two types of problems. 1. Sometimes the cutter is not closing the letters when it makes the cut (different letters each time). 2. Sometimes it just isn't a smooth edge.

Both of the issues are causing problems when I weed. I am also having a lot of trouble weeding in general. I really have to pull to remove the excess vinyl and it is ripping or stretching it.

I have tried adjusting the blade and pressure but not sure if I have them on the best settings :-) I did well with set up but now am getting discouraged. Would appreciate some insight and advice for this buckeye! Thanks.

Dawn

[Rodger 527]

Hey Dawn ,

Sounds like the blade offset needs adjusting . If you can't find it in a search , post back . it is a bit lengthy & has been typed alot already

[MZ SKEETER 4,708]

first get your blade adjusted correctly, you can do this my taking the blade holder out and in your hand FIRMLY cut across a piece of scrap vinyl. You should only be cutting the vinyl and no mark or barely a mark in the wax paper packing, Adjust blade to get there. You should barely be seeing the blade out of the end of the holder. Then put the holder back in machine and make test cuts and adjust your force to get the same results. Still should only be cutting the vinyl and no mark or barely a mark on wax paper backing. After you get that correct, Start adjusting your blade offset in your cutting software. by making adjustments at either + or minus .05 and see what looks the best. , And get good test cuts. Then attempt to cut something again.

[Dgaree 7]

Thanks to you both! I will try it all today :-)

[Dgaree 7]

Okay so after playing around I seem to have fixed the little tags on the cuts and it is cutting much smoother. Thanks! I have it at .25 offset and 12prs and 300 spd. I am still having trouble with the weeding. All the letters are coming up. They just dont want to separate. Do I want to increase the pressure? I did work with the blade in my hand and in order for it to not cut through the backing it is barely showing.

Dawn

[MZ SKEETER 4,708]

you can try adjusting your blade offset a little more and see if the cuts are closing better. Maybe a touch more force. I don't have your cutter, so your numbers, (speed /force) mean nothing to me. But the same tricks work on all cutters.

Have you tried using weed lines on your design?

[mabscotthandyman 1,410]

you can try adjusting your blade offset a little more and see if the cuts are closing better. Maybe a touch more force. I don't have your cutter, so your numbers, (speed /force) mean nothing to me. But the same tricks work on all cutters.

Have you tried using weed lines on your design?

If you are using sign blazer you have settings for weed all and easy weed try weed all first you will be pulling off less vinyl . If you are still having trouble weeding adjust your force and offset till your cuts get easy to weed . Make sure to do plenty of test cuts (in the vinyl you are going to cut) your test cot should lift out easy with smooth cuts in the corners your manual should have a diagram of set up and what cuts should look like when offset and blade adjustments are correct .

Dan

[Dgaree 7]

Thanks for your help Dan. Unfortunately I have been working on this all day and no problems are resolved. I did figure out that my offset is in mm not inches, but even after I adjusted that from .1 to up to .10 I still have tags and trouble weeding. Ugh :-) I have tried the weeding lines, but it is more a problem of vinyl just not pulling apart. It is not at all like you described above. When I add more pressure it actually makes the cut lighter. Some parts don't even cut.

[MZ SKEETER 4,708]

how are your test cuts looking? Are they cut all the way as they should be? If you are using mm for blade offset, you should be using .25mm to start with. Then adjust at +.05 or minus .05 to see which way looks better.

[mabscotthandyman 1,410]

Dawn is your blade set out enough? Skeeter has posted many times about blade depth take your blade holder out of the carrier and with your hand with plenty of pressure cut across a pc of scrap vinyl it should cut through the vinyl cleanly and just make a slightly indentation in the paper (not a cut) if not adjust according to get it right.

[MZ SKEETER 4,708]

Dawn is your blade set out enough? Skeeter has posted many times about blade depth take your blade holder out of the carrier and with your hand with plenty of pressure cut across a pc of scrap vinyl it should cut through the vinyl cleanly and just make a slightly indentation in the paper (not a cut) if not adjust according to get it right.

Yep I gave the instructions in post #3 above...

[Dgaree 7]

Hello again. Yep. I did just what skeeter said :-).and skeeter some of my test cut lines aren't matching up/ closing causing some of the weeding problems but not all. Did a plot test with pen today and the lines did match up but the rectangle was not the width and heighth it should be. 2 mm off. Would that be the culprit? I have a post up right now asking for help with that.

[MZ SKEETER 4,708]

Hello again. Yep. I did just what skeeter said :-).and skeeter some of my test cut lines aren't matching up/ closing causing some of the weeding problems but not all. Did a plot test with pen today and the lines did match up but the rectangle was not the width and heighth it should be. 2 mm off. Would that be the culprit? I have a post up right now asking for help with that.

and I answered your other post.

[toddlamp 0]

I was having the same issue. There would be strings sticking out from the letters as if the blade went off course and did not close the letters. One thing I noticed was that the cuts would be better the closer they were to the edges. I am using an MH871 with 24" material. I was only using 2 of the three pinch rollers both right at the edge. Because of the symptoms I was having that the letters cut completely closer to the pinch rollers I ended up putting the 3rd pinch roller in the middle of the material. I know that this causes damage and makes cuts in that area unusable but the output was perfect cuts everywhere else. I had always noticed that the material would bubble up in the middle as it was being cut but I could not figure out how to fix it using only two pinch rollers. Using all 3 seems to have solved the issue (so far at least). If you only have 2 pinch rollers I would suggest using a smaller roll (assuming you have been using a 24" roll).

[JerryofWV 0]

Dgaree

I was having the same problems with my SC Cutter. I was told by US Cutter to set the pressure at 150 and the speed at 400.

Mine cuts fine at these settings.

[John Lester 2]

Call us cutter tec support and they can have you up and running in a short time. I had this problem also and they taught me a lot and had me going in about 30 minutes. One of the things they taught me was how to set my blade. Take your blade holder out if the machine and install the blade. Take a piece of paper and fold it in half. Holding the blade cutter push down firmly and draw a circle, adjust the blade until it only cuts the circle in the top paper. at that time you are ready to cut. Set your speed at 3 to 400 and your pressure to 88 to 92. I have not problems with these settings good luck and remember the tec support it is free and they know what they are doing..