jon@geekiana.com 1 Posted January 24, 2013 I'm having some trouble with my brand new Copam CP 2500 with SCALP3.044. I'm using it to cut heat transfer vinyl. Specifically I have CadCut Thermo film from Stahls, and I got their specs (which are in pdf form here). I also called one of their customer service agents and I set up according to their suggestions. But when I cut with it it seems like there are small flaws in the cuts.There's a bunch of small nicks or extra marks at the end of each letter from my cuts. I'm using a brand new 60° blade cutting with 140 g force and an offset of .5 mm and I've tried speeds of 50, 40 and 30cm/s. The cuts are going through the vinyl with no marks on the carrier, and it weeds out pretty well, it's just there's little tails and trails and nicks in every letter. I took pictures of cuts to show what it looks like and I'm attaching it to this message. Is there something I should be doing differently? I set up the lettering in Illustrator CS3, changed fonts to outlines, saved as an .svg and imported to SCALP3. Everything about the hardware is new and unused and the vinyl is fresh from the supplier. Thanks in advance for any suggestions! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jay2703 704 Posted January 24, 2013 Your offset needs adjustment. Start at around .25mm for a 45 degree blade. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mb20music 760 Posted January 24, 2013 Way too much pressure, you should be fine with even the minimum pressure setting on the Copam (20 g). Also adjust the offset on the Copam machine itself to .25mm. Also adjust your blade depth, you want only about .3 mm sticking out of the blade holder and just be barely able to feel the blade. That Stahl's stuff looks just like Siser Easyweed, you shouldn't need any special adjustments to cut it. Treat it just like it is regular sign vinyl. You want the letters to stay attached to the carrier sheet, you should not be cutting thru it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jay2703 704 Posted January 24, 2013 Your machine should have a test cut option. It will save you lots of vinyl (Money) if you get the offset adjusted before you cut large things. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jon@geekiana.com 1 Posted January 24, 2013 Way too much pressure, you should be fine with even the minimum pressure setting on the Copam (20 g). Also adjust the offset on the Copam machineitself to .25mm. Also adjust your blade depth, you want only about .3 mm sticking out of the blade holder and just be barely able to feel the blade. That Stahl's stuff looks just like Siser Easyweed, you shouldn't need any special adjustments to cut it. Treat it just like it is regular sign vinyl. You want the letters to stay attached to the carrier sheet, you should not be cutting thru it. Thanks on the pressure suggestion, I'll try that right now. Just so I'm not being unclear: it's ONLY cutting the vinyl. The carrier is hard to see in that photo because it's transparent but it's there. I have some easyweed and it's similar though it feels a little thinner than the thermoFilm (both the vinyl itself and the carrier are heavier). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dakotagrafx 7,297 Posted January 24, 2013 pressure is not your problem - it is all in the offset Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jon@geekiana.com 1 Posted January 25, 2013 Thanks all! Yeah running the test cuts were unproductive as the test cuts (simple and complex) all came out perfectly. So, I reduced the offset to .25mm AND reduced the force--first to 20g, then up a notch to 30g. HUGE improvement. The 20g left some areas uncut but both Settings significantly improved the smoothness of the cuts. I think I've got this pretty much dialed in. Thanks! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rodger 527 Posted January 25, 2013 Sounds like you have WAY too much blade exposed . You should search KenImes content . he was USCutter's main employee for a long time & handled everything before they really took off . He suggested cutting with 120-200 grams of pressure . I am using 170 right now . Bump the pressure up a little at a time & see if the backing gets cut ( be carefull as you may have enough blade exposed to cut into the cutting strip ) . Adjusting blade exposure & offset is the 1rst things to get dialed in . Skeeter has typed how to manually adjust the blade exposure a zillion times ( I gave up after typing it a million times . Look her content up in her profile to learn how to adjust blade depth . 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lady_VI 45 Posted January 25, 2013 On my Copam I ran these setting 40 speed, 110 pressure, .25 offset to get the right cuts. That is after you get the blade set right in the holder and on Oracal 651 vinyl. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dakotagrafx 7,297 Posted January 25, 2013 If you are getting correct cuts DON'T change a thing- different cutters have different settings - sometimes due to changes in firmware. ideas given are just to get you in the right direction. you would also find that 170 pressure on chinese blades to be right where 110 with a cleancut might be too much. there are variables to concider - again if you are getting good clean cuts don't change it. too much blade usually causes ! cut thru material and backing, 2 material lifting on fine detail, great way to break a blade tip. so when starting out (which you are not at this point) always start with the least blade possible and work your way up Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
