Guest gracewriter

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

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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.

Exactly.  That is why I am surprised it doesn't have adjustable pinch rollers.  I love mine so far. 

**knocking on wood as we speak**

I would be pissed about it too, grace. Sounds like you are at the end of your rope, and have a lot invested.  I hope they can fix this for you!

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a few posts back you had decided it was the vinyl....if such is the case,an adjustable pinch roller would do no good. Many hundreds of people on here have the same cutter as you do and find that in most cases,things cut fine without an adjustable pinch roller. Both of my machines have them,yet I have never felt the need to adjust them.

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if you want to add pressure to your pinch rollers, you can disassemble them and shim the springs with a washer of the same outer diameter as the spring. if your cutter is like mine, the grit coated roller under the vinyl is two pieces joined at the middle with a bearing in between. it is possible one of the set screws at that middle joint is loose. fi this is the case, your vinyl would track all over the place. you can roll this roller with your fingers. try rolling one side while holding the other side still. if one side moves when the other side doesn't, try tightening the set screws on either side of the center bearing.

hope this helps

bb

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Guest gracewriter

Thanks for the washer advice.  I"m going to order more rollers and at that time will open it up and see what I can do.  The vinyl that is drifting so badly is Avery A4 Opaque, although the brochure does not specify how thick it is.  It also says Gloss 90, type Calendered vinyl, durability 4 year, comformability flat, printablity CAS, thermal transfer.  Got it from sign supply USA

I have a feeling it must be the thickness.  So this morning I'm going to run up there and tell them what happened, maybe get the to feel sorry for me and give me a break on some vinyl I can use.  The stuff that does cut without much drift I bought off ebay.  Go figure.

And by the way, Bannerjohn, why wouldn't adjustable pinch rollers help?  Seems to me that would be the most obvious solution.  Unless it's the backing paper and the friction roller doesn't grab it well enough?  if that's the case, then I can't use any Avery.

Any ideas on this?

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Guest gracewriter

This is the vinyl that drifts very little

MACal 8200 Pro- 3- 4 Years- Intermediate Vinly

A superior intermediate film designed to offer 3-4 years outdoor durability. It is coated with a permanent acrylic adhesive and offers excellent dimensional stability, cutting and weedability for an economical price.

  Characteristics

Calendered vinly film, 75 mic.(3.0 mils), cadmium free.

Backing: White Kraft paper with grey squared backprinting designed to facilitate positioning

Excellent dimensional stability

  Presentation

50 gloss and 50 matt colours

Rolls of 1,23x 50 m

White film with grey "Contrast" backing

  Typical Uses

Indoor and outdoor application, metallic substrates or plastic (exhibition stands)

Window graphics

Promotional markings for short  and  medium term 

This is the vinyl that drifts a lot

Avery A4 Intermediate Opaque Series

4-Year 3.2 mil Calendered Gloss Vinyl

So much for the theory of it being too thin.  Now what?  is it the finish or is it too thick?

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It could be the finish. In my case, I have definately noticed that the tracking is worse with some of the matte finishes than the gloss. Also, the same thing applies to the application tape. It doesn't seem to stick very well to the matte...could be a connection?

AS for the adjustable pinch rollers.. do you really want to spend hours adjusting back and forth until you get the right combination,only to have to do it all over again for the next vinyl?

If you haven't already,post the file in .eps that is giving you so much trouble. On certain files, the cutting order can make all the difference.

One tip if you don't know already....never leave the pinch rollers DOWN when not in use. It wil make a flat spot.

My main cutter has 4 pinch rollers, my refine has 3.... I have found that the more rollers with even distribution makes a big difference as well.

I have heard a LOT of bad things about Avery vinyl but personally, I have never had any problems with it.

When I get to the shop,I'm gonna post a pic of a banner I did with a similar type of configuration.

So here it is...similar type of file...and everything cut and lined up beautifully. The vinyl was FDC.

I probably had drift but still yet everything lined up ok. That's what puzzels me about your problem. Even with drift, I seldom have any problems with the end result.

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John, do you mean pinch rollers for ALL cutters??  As I had never thought about that.

Thanks

Jenny

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I don't understand what you are asking. Please simplify..I haven't had my coffee yet.

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One tip if you don't know already....never leave the pinch rollers DOWN when not in use. It wil make a flat spot.

LOL....John....get that coffee pot brewing EARLIER!  ;)  I was questioning your tip, if that is for ALL cutters??

Jenny

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well, from my experience with 2 cutters and over 800 banners and signs in the last 2 years, the more pinch rollers the better. They are,after all,what holds the vinyl in place. But I think the spacing is just as important.

Coffee is brewing. I slept late today. The dog didn't wake me til almost 7:30.

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Guest gracewriter

This is insane!

I realized I had several different kinds of vinyl I bought on ebay.  I thought they were all the same brand but are not.  I have now attempted to cut nearly all of it and none of it lines up.  It takes me nearly 1/2 hour to get the vinyl to feed straight, then I go to cut and it throws the vinyl off by 1/4 to 1/2 inch.  I am sick to death of this.

I've wasted about $200.00 worth of vinyl now, I can't afford to do this anymore.

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This is insane!

I realized I had several different kinds of vinyl I bought on ebay.  I thought they were all the same brand but are not.  I have now attempted to cut nearly all of it and none of it lines up.  It takes me nearly 1/2 to get the vinyl to feed straight, then I go to cut and it throws the vinyl off by 1/4 to 1/2 inch.  I am sick to death of this.

I've wasted about $200.00 worth of vinyl now, I can't afford to do this anymore.

I have no idea why you are having so much trouble. SInce you have refused to POST THE FILE that you are trying to cut,none of us can have a look at it or try to duplicate your problem. Everyone who has posted has given advice and none of it seems to work and I for one can't think of anything else.

WE need the FILE not a jpeg.

It might also help if you posted a screenshot of your settings.

It's hard enough to try and troubleshoot without having any real info to work with.

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Guest gracewriter

it takes me about 1/2 hour to get the thing lined up dead on the money, does there seem to be a problem with that?  Should it take that long?  It seems to be drifting as I'm trying to line it up even before I make a cut otherwise shouldn't I be able to line it up a little quicker?  I can usually get about 3/4" of the four feet to line up but then when I come closer to the ends it drifts off and that's just when I'm manually feeding it.

Even if it were a milimeter off on the original feed, (which I'm not) shouldn't it still cut even, even if I got it in there a little croocked? (which it's not croocked)

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I already posted one of the pics. closer to the beginning of this post.  I haven't refused to do anything, I've been buried under this mess and haven't had time for much else.  I'll post two of the pics.

post-0-12986518358159_thumb.jpg

post-0-12986518358557_thumb.jpg

post-0-12986518366757_thumb.jpg

post-0-12986518367051_thumb.jpg

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Guest gracewriter

I don't know how to do a screen shot.  Can you tell me?

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You need to post the FILE not a pic. How did you create what you are cutting so it is cuttable? Is it an .eps file or a signblazer file. All I can do with the pic is try and vectorize it and cut but that would be MY file not yours so there wouldn't be any point. You can upload the file the same way as you do pics.

Screenshot. When you have your settings open on the screen,press SHIFT and PRINT SCREEN (upper right corner of the keyboard). Open Paint. Click on PASTE and it will paste the pic of what was on your screen. Then,again in PAINT, SAVE AS and chose jpeg. YOu will then have a pic of your screen. Upload it.

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Guest gracewriter

I don't know how to find "Paint".  Do all windows 2000xp have it?

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I don't know how to find "Paint".  Do all windows 2000xp have it?

Start, Programs, Accessories, Paint

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These are the ones I made in signblazer.  I bought the originals  from Vector art which I have on disk.

out of yards and yards of vinyl I have been able to get these two pics. nearly perfect once each. 

fi1.EPS

fi2.EPS

fi1.EPS

fi2.EPS

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Guest gracewriter

I'm so upset I can't stop crying at the mome. I"m sorry for all the trouble.

post-0-12986518358892_thumb.jpg

post-0-12986518367125_thumb.jpg

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Guest gracewriter

I unchecked cut holes first because at the time it made the most sense.

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Why do I have to start my cuts on the right side of the machine near the 70 m mark on the ruler?  Zero on the ruler is on the left side.

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I'm so upset I can't stop crying at the mome. I"m sorry for all the trouble.

(((HUGS)))  Just take a breath. 

I know these guys can help you.  We are here for moral support and I am sure they will do everything they can.

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Why do I have to start my cuts on the right side of the machine near the 70 m mark on the ruler?  Zero on the ruler is on the left side.

 I have no idea but I  THINK (not having a pcut to make sure) that you can chose to start the cut on left or right.

Anyway,attached you will see an actual cut I made. I loaded the vinyl crooked ON PURPOSE and got over 1/2 drift from one end of the cut to the other. STILL a perfet cut and that is what puzzles me. The drift should not matter if it is consistant, returning to where it started. If the vinyl is sliding sideways instead of just normal drift, THAT could be a problem. I have no idea why it is doing this but I have proved one thing...loading the vinyl straight doesn't matter,because I certainly didn't.

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