Guest gracewriter

Help! vinyl is sliding and cuts, forget about it!

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Guest gracewriter

Do you mean that tiny little ruler where the marks are only 1/16 high and you need a magnifying glass to see it?

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Guest gracewriter

Well, it's a little over half way though this cut.  I can already see where one of my borders collided with the other and another part of the image is mangled.  I was really hoping by not cutting the holes first it would do the trick.  It didn't it's drifted 1/8" of an inch so far and have quite a ways to go before it's finished.

Why does this machine surge sometimes?  Does anyone else's do that?

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Yes, use those marks. Are you moving the vinyl to the center after you line it up on the side? If not it could be binding up the vinyl.

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Guest gracewriter

No, I'm lining it up at  center first, then feeding it to the starting point on one end, then I start my cut.  I will stop doing that and line it up on the starting end and move the rollers out to 1" from the edge. 

I'll try that next.  If you have any other suggestions before I make the next cut I'm ALL EARS!

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Guest gracewriter

Should I uncheck "sort before cutting"?  Maybe that'll help it stop moving so many times back and forth??

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What i meant by "center" was in the center of the cutter. If you're leaving it up against the side it could be catching on it.

I load my vinyl from the front of the cutter and use those marks as a guide to get it adjusted right. When i can feed the entire length in without much drift then I start to cut. it's not easy and takes a little while to get use to adjusting it but i suggest you do it before you cut anymore.

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It might not be a bad idea to grab 2 more pinch rollers. This will give you more accurate tracking.

I read in one of your post you say once it starts it drifts to a certain angle and the stays there... This make me think about how the vinyl is before it reaches the pinch rollers.

How do you have the vinyl roll setup?

Do you have the roller bar through the center of the roll, roll setting on top of the rollers or do you have it just on the ground or something?

Either way I think when you set it up straight, straight is not the natural pull from behind the pinch rollers. Your getting a lot of "backpull" from behind the pinch rollers.

Slowing the machine down helps because it is taking small steps to turn the material which allows for it to grip better but is not the cure for your problem, at best a band aid.

It is possible that the pinch rollers could still need to be tighter but I think you should really focus your problem solving to looking at how the vinyl is being feed from the pinch rollers back to the roll it's self.

One way to eliminate your roll of vinyl not pulling straight from the pinch rollers is to simply cut a section of vinyl off just large enough for you graphic.

If this cut flawlessly then you know its the way the vinyl is being feed through to the rollers.

As far as the vinyl buckling, It's a good idea to run the vinyl out past the measuring ruler for you "home" start (that

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Guest gracewriter

I haven't read the whole posts yet, but having it lined up evenly does not seem to be the problem, the entire piece drifts, not just one part....and it drifts before I make a cut.  I use the offline advance feature to make sure it's lined up evenly, but by the time it gets back to the beginning the beginning has drifted off to the side.  In other words the ENTIRE piece of vinyl drifts over to one side while using the offline advance feature.

Make sense?

Now I'll go back and read the rest of what you guys wrote before I make the cut.

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Guest gracewriter

Eric, thank you for such a detailed post.  I will now go back through it and make sure I follow each of your directions to the "T".

Be back in a few...

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How wide is the vinyl you are using? I have lined up my 15" wide vinyl all the way to the right not realizing that the inside edge winds up on the smooth part of the feed rollers. (part with no grit) It moves all over when you cut.

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Grace your welcome.

Correct me if I am understanding you wrong...

But from what I understand, Not only is it drifting it is actually "shifting" as it cuts.

So when your cutting it keeps "slipping" so to speak and the lines are not even and it is not cutting in the correct locations?

If so then IMO I would have to say that either:

A) The pinch rollers are not tight enough

:) You have a lot of resistance on the rollers.  (Your vinyl roll is causing to much tension on the pinch rollers.

You should really just remove the blade holder and run the cut, then really look at the vinyl and the bottom grip roller.

You should see the roller spinning at the same speed as the vinyl is moving, then you should be able to see it slip a bit here and there.

Also (be careful here but not fearful) run your cut (with the blade holder removed) and feed out plenty of vinyl to the front as your home.

Now run the cut and hold the vinyl in your hands and as it pulls the vinyl back in away from you give it a bit of resistance if ok maybe try a tad more resistance. Use your brain and there is nothing to worry about here. Obviously it's slipping. There is a huge chance it's going to slip without to much resistance anyways as it is doing just that on it

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Jay I agree, very possible.

One time I set the pinch roller right on the center bearing on my LP.  ;)

Hopefully the steps I suggested before on setting up the vinyl for a straight run will result in a fix if Grace is indeed running the pinch rollers on the smooth section of the grip roller/feeder.

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Guest gracewriter

Six hours so far today on the machine.  I got it to line up and pretty much stay even, until I cut.  I"ve backed off the pressure from 125 to 80, so far it is staying even but not all the way through the cut yet.  Problem is at 80 pressure it won't cut through the vinyl.  I'll have to drop the blade pretty far to get it to actually cut through anything.

This has been an absolute nightmare trying to get and keep the vinyl even.  Why couldn't these dummies put a long visible mark on this thing to line it up!?!

  If I have more than 80 pressure, when it cuts to the left it slides the vinyl along with it.  Also I can't get it to stay even at 70 or 69 milimeters, I have to set it at 68 to get it to stay even---which isn't enough room to make the 24" cuts.  I'll be so glad when this is all over with and I can get to work.

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Guest fivestar

Grace I am cutting a 23.5 inch by 55 inch right now as a speak and it is cutting great.  Remember like I said in the PM, make sure the vinyl is lined up as perfect as you can get it.

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Guest gracewriter

Part of my problem is I only have one edge to guide me.  I bought a 30" roll and cut it down as I use it to around 26" but it's not an even cut.  So I have only use one side of the ruler as a guide.  At least I think that's part of the problem.

I"m still at it.  I had it in there straight, but even at 80 pressure it slipped and I haven't even dropped the blade down yet to see if it'll even cut the vinyl.  I have now lost another entire's day work on getting this vinyl even and keeping it even.  Only thing I can think of at this point is more pinch rollers, but I order blades and it's been nearly 2 WEEKS and haven't gotten them yet.

Not happy at the moment.

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Guest gracewriter

put in a 24" piece of vinyl and am no better off.  I can't get the thing to line up at 70m.  I finally got it to line up at 69 but then of course that's too short to cut 24" and as soon as I try to cut it drifts.

I'm running out of ideas and am extremly discouraged.  Nothing should be this dificult with any type of machine.

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Guest gracewriter

I figured out what the problem is.  spent $100.00 on a roll of four year vinyl apparently a total waste of money as it is a litte thinner than the other stuff I have that doesn't appear to have all these issues.  There is no way to adjust the rollers on the pcut 24.  If I could get another mil of pressure I have no doubt it would stay evenly fed. 

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I figured out what the problem is.  spent $100.00 on a roll of four year vinyl apparently a total waste of money as it is a litte thinner than the other stuff I have that doesn't appear to have all these issues.  There is no way to adjust the rollers on the pcut 24.  If I could get another mil of pressure I have no doubt it would stay evenly fed. 

So it was the vinyl? Not the first time I have heard of this.....

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I figured out what the problem is.  spent $100.00 on a roll of four year vinyl apparently a total waste of money as it is a litte thinner than the other stuff I have that doesn't appear to have all these issues.  There is no way to adjust the rollers on the pcut 24.  If I could get another mil of pressure I have no doubt it would stay evenly fed. 

So it was the vinyl? Not the first time I have heard of this.....

no.it's not. I said at the very beginning of this post, twice,that it might be the vinyl itself. I've had the same problem.

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Might be a good design feature to add to that model.  Adjustable pinch rollers...  Sure would save people some headaches.  Doesn't that seem like it should come standard??

I know my Refine has them, not sure on the price difference between the PCut and the 24 Refine.  But I know I went for the cheapest model I could find and It hasn't given me trouble.

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The Refine might be the cheapest in price,but from the posts I have seen,it seems to be a very reliable machine and less trouble than more expensive models. I know mine has been trouble free for over a year and I work it HARD. YOu can't always judge a product by its price.

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Guest fivestar

Just curious Grace, what brand and kind of vinyl was you using? 

John I couldn't agree more, I have said it many times before, you DON'T always get what you pay for.

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Just curious Grace, what brand and kind of vinyl was you using? 

John I couldn't agree more, I have said it many times before, you DON'T always get what you pay for.

a little story to illustrate this.

30 years ago there were no VHS or DVD...I collected movies. This means huge reels of 16mm film. My friend had a fancy $1000 RCA 16mm projector that he was so proud of. I had an old JAN (Joint army-navy) machine from WWII. My machine,even though it was 30+ years old,performed better than his fancy expensive model. It wasn't pretty (in fact,dog ugly) but like all things military,was built to last.

If you want a good,solid, well made cutter just for cutting,nothing fancy,the refine can't be beat.

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Guest gracewriter

I don't know the different sizes of the vinyl but I will tomorrow.  I am livid. Period. 

At the time I bought the machine I had the money in my pocket to buy a better one.  I told the salesman in no uncertain terms I was a complete novice and I needed to be told about these machines before I committed. 

The ad said you can cut up to a milimeter, but didn't mention you can't cut without drift 4 mls and you are screwed because the pinch rollers don't adjust....or how it can take you longer to line it up even,  than it can to cut, weed, apply, etc....or how the uneven surface where the vinyl feeds upon the machine catches it.  What a stupid design.  Should that not be a smoothe surface?  Hello?  And how about installing a ruler in inches?! (not to mention the insane ruler in signblazer which only shows everything in five inch increments!!!!)  Or how the manual is written with a software (note my pen name graceWRITER) translator in Chinese which if you know anyting about software translaters, is the reason why most of it DOES NOT MAKE SENSE.

One mention of "drift" and I would have gotten the "drift" and steered away from this machine.

I have been more than patient with these issues, in fact I've been a cheerleader and overlooking them because I was so excited about the prospect of my new caree, finding this grreat forum, and finally finding a way to make money.  But after the last few days, and the amount of money I lost on education that frankly, should have been done by the sales people, frankly I feel screwed.

I had to do a lot of convincing my husband to allow me to buy this machine (and the other $3,000 worth of saws, equpiment, paint, etc., and how it was going to help us bring in much needed money.   Not only is he angry with me, but now thinks I'm a complete idiot. 

If I at least had an adjustable pinch roller, none of these issues would  warrent mentioning.

Thanks a lot uscutter/signblazer.

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Guest fivestar

Grace I feel for you, I really do.  Is there any way you can get a webcam and record your cutting process?  Obviously there's something that is way out of wack with your machine.  I would really like to see you get it going.

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