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Graphtec 6000 or 8000

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I'm looking to purchase a new cutter today as I'm more than frustrated with the copam cp2500 and ready to move up and save myself some time and headache.  That being said I want to make sure I don't purchase the 6000 and wish I had went with the 8000 later on so I'm wondering if anyone can give me any insight on if I really need the 8000.  What we're doing at the moment is just vinyl decals for car windows.   We would love to contour cut around printed vinyl but we cannot afford to print vinyl right now (unless I'm missing something on a cheaper way to do it than buying a $10k machine to print).  

 

I want to be able to cut small letters and right now if we get anything too small the copam will either rip them right up or make horrible cuts around them.

 

Any help is appreciated.  Thank you!

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If your just going to stay with a 24" Machine the Ce6000-60 will do all you need.   The Graphtecs are great with small lettering and detailed designs.  For small detail jobs it is recommended to use a 60 degree blade

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How small are you cutting ? I have had 2 Copams for almost 6 years & have cut 1/8" letters . Cole casual lower case " e " is very difficult to weed at that size though . I hardly ever make anything that small & that was a decal for myself . I use 170 grams of pressure , a regular 45 degree blade that is only sticking out the thickness of the vinyl .

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are you sure you have made all of the correct adjustments to your blade depth, blade offset, speed and force? 

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I've messed with the copam so much I'm just frustrated with it.  The letters that I cut this morning were 1 cm which I increased the size to 1cm because it was tearing the original size so bad.  I've changed the force, offset, speed.....  Went to a 60 degree even.  The corners seem a little jaggedy.  It's only on some letters though!  Some cut just fine (weeding is a B but anyhow) then other letters it just looks bad.  I went to oracal 651 thinking that may help.  It's better but not the best.

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what vinyl was you using that was so bad?  If the vinyl is tearing, and not cutting, sounds like other problems.

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I was using greenstar.  I'm not saying it was so bad but I was trying to find the problem and that was not solving my issues.

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 I use 170 grams of pressure

 

 

That seems like overkill to me? On my Copam I use 20 grams for regular vinyl, 60 grams for transparent, and 120 for reflective.

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I have tried 60-170 grams on my tests.  The test circles are fine but when I actually run the job - ahhhhh

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I would suggest, making sure your blade is set correctly first. Have you done this correcty now with the Oracal 651 vinyl you are using?

 


To start with, you should set your blade depth correctly, by taking the blade holder out of the machine, and firmly cut across a piece of scrap vinyl, you will be cutting. You should only be cutting the vinyl and barely a mark on wax paper backing, Adjust blade to get there, Then put the blade holder back in machine, and use the force of the machine to get there, same results, only cutting the vinyl and barely a mark in wax paper backing.  Run the test cut feature of your machine, to make sure the vinyl is cutting correctly.

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I think skeeter is on the right track - usually the ripping up is too much blade - a copam should have no problems down to about 1/4"

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