lablover 218 Posted February 11, 2015 But I have to ask. Lets say I get a sheet of decals printed up by a printer and I need to contour cut them all. Lets say the sheet is 20x30 or something like that. I know with smaller sheets I would use a cutting matt and stick my work on that and let the cutter have at it. With a larger sheet like I mentioned. how do you avoid not cutting into the cutting strip. I can't remember setting a cutting matt that big?? Only reason I ask is I want to start playing around with my Graphtec to contour cut. Small I can play around with.....larger if and when the time comes will be another story. I have a few cutting matts I got with my Silhouette SD a few years back so figured I could use those with my CE-6000. Again, I bet there is a real simple answer but I had to ask. Thanks All Joe Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dakotagrafx 7,297 Posted February 11, 2015 Joe a couple of things, when you contour cut decals it is just like you cutting regular vinyl . . . You are only cutting thru the vinyl and not the backing. On someone printing for you the file would have to be set up and shared in the same program so the printer has the registration marks printed in the same way your cutter could read them . . . So the cutter can accurately locate each area to contour around. It's all about finding and locating each decal in relation to those marks. In my case I usually let the versaworks place my registration marks . . . That is a different type of mark than my graphtec uses so I can't just sent it to the graphtec to contour them thru flexi then . . . The graphtec uses different type of marks and flexi would have no idea of the relation of the decals to the marks that versaworks set. Now if both done with marks set in flexi and I printed the marks that the graphtec uses I could do that as long as I had the same file on both computers . . . .but here that will never happen as I hated printing with the flexi rip on my roland 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jaybyrd 3,770 Posted February 11, 2015 I use vinyl master now and I just sent a job to be printed with reg. marks and it should be back today so I can see if it works like it should but like Scott said the marks need to be made in a file that both the printer and the cutter will recognize. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lablover 218 Posted February 11, 2015 Joe a couple of things, when you contour cut decals it is just like you cutting regular vinyl . . . You are only cutting thru the vinyl and not the backing. On someone printing for you the file would have to be set up and shared in the same program so the printer has the registration marks printed in the same way your cutter could read them . . . So the cutter can accurately locate each area to contour around. It's all about finding and locating each decal in relation to those marks. In my case I usually let the versaworks place my registration marks . . . That is a different type of mark than my graphtec uses so I can't just sent it to the graphtec to contour them thru flexi then . . . The graphtec uses different type of marks and flexi would have no idea of the relation of the decals to the marks that versaworks set. Now if both done with marks set in flexi and I printed the marks that the graphtec uses I could do that as long as I had the same file on both computers . . . .but here that will never happen as I hated printing with the flexi rip on my roland OK, think I get it. But the decal has to keep the backing on until you are ready to stick or use the decal. So is there a second backing the blade won't go thru? Decal is stuck to backing, I need to cut thru the entire thing in order to separate it from the sheet. Yup, I'm still confused Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jaybyrd 3,770 Posted February 11, 2015 If you want to cut through the whole sheet to separate them that is usually done with a perf cut. I split mine about with either a straightedge and knife or scissors. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jaybyrd 3,770 Posted February 11, 2015 Decal is just like regular vinyl with a print on it. You have the vinyl top layer and the bottom carrier just like regular vinyl. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
signyouup 178 Posted February 11, 2015 OK, think I get it. But the decal has to keep the backing on until you are ready to stick or use the decal. So is there a second backing the blade won't go thru? Decal is stuck to backing, I need to cut thru the entire thing in order to separate it from the sheet. Yup, I'm still confused Scissors? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
arty-rc 719 Posted February 11, 2015 Scissors? You know. Those things that you keep away from your wife when she's mad at you. LOL 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dakotagrafx 7,297 Posted February 11, 2015 You know. Those things that you keep away from your wife when she's mad at you. LOL arty - does your wife watch all the real murder shows etc like Stacey? between that, being a big ann rule fan and working at the prison talking to real life murderers every day I always sleep lightly - for 25 years 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
arty-rc 719 Posted February 11, 2015 arty - does your wife watch all the real murder shows etc like Stacey? between that, being a big ann rule fan and working at the prison talking to real life murderers every day I always sleep lightly - for 25 years LOL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lablover 218 Posted February 11, 2015 OK, then perf cut to separate them...I got it now. So, don't you need a matt to perf cut then. I have to think thats gonna tear up your cutting strip. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jaybyrd 3,770 Posted February 11, 2015 Mat to perf cut but not needed just for contour. The higher end machineslike the fc can perf cut without a mat but as far as I know the ce requires a mat to protect the sttip Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MZ SKEETER 4,708 Posted February 11, 2015 Mat to perf cut but not needed just for contour. The higher end machineslike the fc can perf cut without a mat but as far as I know the ce requires a mat to protect the sttip How do you figure FC will perf cut without a mat? Same set up....extra groove and blade is for cross cut only. And that blade is large. You could set it up to totally cut the decals apart, as far as I know...Never tried it for that... Will only cut width wise. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wildgoose 4,200 Posted February 11, 2015 How do you figure FC will perf cut without a mat? Same set up....extra groove and blade is for cross cut only. And that blade is large. You could set it up to totally cut the decals apart, as far as I know...Never tried it for that... Will only cut width wise. That is interesting news because when I was considering an FC that was one of the big selling points that the FC had over the CE and my Summa. The dealer said you could contour cut printed work and then perf cut in the groove off the cutting mat so it wouldn't cut your strip. Mine will do like the CE and perf cut on the strip but I really don't have a need since I don't print anything except a few shirt transfers so I have never even tried it out. Lablover, when I cut paper crafts for my kids (totally cheating for their school projects, he he he) I use a cutting mat that I bought at wallyworld that is for a cricut. It works ok but is a little stiff and gets a little wild when it comes near the back on the feed rollers. So far no mishaps though. Summa cutters have extreme pressure on their feed rollers and they are relatively skinny so it produces some bending into the edges of the cutting mat. I have had some success with re-using the carrier from Siser Easyweed too. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jaybyrd 3,770 Posted February 12, 2015 On my q75 the manual says only the bigger models support perf cutting so i would have to assume there was a difference m Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MZ SKEETER 4,708 Posted February 12, 2015 Wildgoose maybe this guy was another salesman who is clueless. We (Jaybird and I) had this discussion with a member from the UK not too long ago,,, Their blade holder had 2 holes. Front and back. . US does not. So the Graphtec UK could perf cut in the groove... The UK member showed the carriage with 2 holes. Graphtecs are made different for different regions. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MZ SKEETER 4,708 Posted February 12, 2015 Perf cutting is listed in my manual. It has different patterns and they are numbered..It also lists this Unlike normal film cutting (half cutting) cutting out (die cutting) using the cut line pattern may damage the cutting mat and also affect the quality of normal cutting. Cutting mat replacement due to damage caused my perforation cutting, is a chargeable item... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MZ SKEETER 4,708 Posted February 12, 2015 there is also perf line patterns in Flexistarter that any cutter can do.. If you go to fill/stroke editor, and select the pen,,,,There is a drop down box, with different patterns, Also Customize your own... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jaybyrd 3,770 Posted February 12, 2015 That clears it up for me at least. Thought they would have been smart enough to overcome the strip damage but I guess not Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wildgoose 4,200 Posted February 12, 2015 I seem to remember that she (the sales lady) was talking about a second knife holder position out off the strip so either she had no real world knowledge of the machine she was pushing or possibly had a machine from overseas? Doesn't matter at this point. That FC was a 30" machine with a stand and had an extra pressure roller and an additional 60deg blade holder specifically set up so it could cut sandblast resist. They were asking about $4,300 for it and at the end of the day I went with the Summa same set-up minus the extra roller for $3,300. Only real difference from the FC and the SummaCut is it only goes to 400gr so it's not really thought of as a heavy cutting machine like the FC is renown for, like with blast resist and the super thick diamond reflective. If you want to do that very often they want you to step up to the next T Series which is actually full true tangential cutting which have more pressure and steerable blades. Trick but expensive. The Summacut series is actually in the same class as the CE machines but other than pressure outperforms both the CE and FC series in everything else (reported better tracking and optical recognition) so that's kind of what pushed my decision to go the Summa direction and for my purposes I feel it's a better value. I have never perf cut for the same reasons you guys probably don't. I really have no justifiable need and would rather not damage my cutting strip. The commands on the Summa for perf cutting include changing the pressure for the perf cut and will run the pressure of the full through cut at a different pressure than the rest so you can still cut around a decal in one pass and then push it out without weeding. The length of the two stokes or parts of the cut are both adjustable for amount full cut vs regular and both pressures are adjustable individually. The cutter program uses a different color line to determine what to cut as perf and I just have the whole thing turned off in the preferences so I don't accidentally get it perf cutting on some regular design. Brilliant idea if you are a print and cut production operation but I think I would want my machine dedicated to the perf so when I was doing standard vinyl work I didn't have the torn up cutting strip to worry about. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MZ SKEETER 4,708 Posted February 12, 2015 What year did you look for the new cutter? And was it the Fc7000 or Fc8000? I know the price on the FC8000 jumped up quite a bit over the Fc7000. I didn't see anything new on the Fc8000 that jumped the price over $1000 When I bought mine in early 2008...The Fc7000MK2-75 was $2995,.,, including shipping....Company was out of Kansas, Gregory.com but they had a warehouse in Indy, So I got it the next day... I have no reason to perf cut... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wildgoose 4,200 Posted February 12, 2015 I have had mine about a year and a half and the one I was contemplating was the FC8000. I like the look of it. What scared me off was reading about problems with the optical eye which now that I have mine I rarely use so it wasn't as big a deal as I thought it might be. The Summa is supposed to be way better at that part and it's reported as better tracking on long runs. I wanted the 30" which as you know definitely bumps the price up and the FC8000 I was looking at was supposed to be $4500 but the original order backed out so it was a slight discount. The Summa I got as new in the box but had been previously ordered in a group of 3 or 4 and returned due to not needed all 4 so I got a discount on it too of a couple hundred. Summa has life time free technical support no matter who owns it and they are real good and available. I called a few times during set-up for several questions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MZ SKEETER 4,708 Posted February 12, 2015 Mine is a 30" but like I said, I don't see that difference that justifies over $1000 to go to a Fc8000.... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MK Creations 1 Posted May 10, 2015 Hoping yall can help me since you all seem to know a lot about the ce-6000. Why are my other weeding line options not showing up in Graphtec studio? in the users manual within Graphtec has "pro" beside it. Ok, well there is no PRO version that I can find. The only option for weeding lines is the padding option. Any help would be appreciated. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MK Creations 1 Posted May 11, 2015 according to Graphtec tech support, the PRO version will be released "maybe" at the end of this year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
