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Starts "scoring" instead of cutting halfway through

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Hello. My Titan 2 cutter will cut half the project fine, but then stop cutting all the way through, and start scoring the material. I have to take an exacto blade and cut along the scored line to get it to release. I have a brand new blade, set properly. As stated, it starts the cut perfectly fine. I've used this cutter about 2 years. Any advise as to what could be making it do this? I've adjusted the pressure and it doesn't matter. Same result. I can't overstate this... The cutter will BEGIN the design just fine. It weeds out perfectly, then it stops cutting deep enough. Also worth noting, the blade holder is clean and secured tightly into place. 

IMG_20180401_160414.jpg

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Please describe how your blade was set properly.. Some people have used incorrect instructions for years, thinking it was set properly. That is where you have to start at. The blade depth.   Make sure there is nothing in the rails that the wheels roll in..No gouges etc in the cutting strip.   What happens when you use the pen tool?  Can it draw the entire image? Or does that miss parts also?  Have you gotten down eye level and tried to watch what happens when the carriage head moves and cut/draws.  Any changes? 

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God, I knew this was going to be asked.. lol.. Ok.. setting up my blade, I use a scrap piece of vinyl and cut a circle until I just barely scratch the bottom film. None of that 1/4 credit card BS. Rails are clean. Rollers are placed in the center of their respective slots. I don't have a pen holder to test what happens (dried up years ago). To give an example. If I'm cutting a 12" x 12" image, starting at the bottom right corner of the image, it will cut fine all the way ACROSS the 12" vinyl. As it moves UP, say about 6", it begins to stop cutting through, and just barely scores the vinyl. Mind you, it's still in the exact spot on the cutter (far right side of the 12" vinyl). It has just simply moved UP the vinyl 6". So its not like there's a bad spot on the strip. It literally just cut in that same spot on the cutter strip just fine. The only difference is now there is more vinyl hanging off from the edge. No idea how that could affect it, but I think it could be somehow relate-able.  I've watched it a dozen times. To the naked eye, nothing looks different . It looks smooth and precise... until I go to weed it. 

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Are you firmly pressing down on the blade holder  when you are cutting across  the scrap vinyl? (While checking blade depth)      I don't have that cutter,  but does it do the same thing, if you place the vinyl to the center grit rollers and cut it?    Or the left side of the vinyl cutter?  (Not on the right side of the vinyl cutter.)  

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I would double check the blade holder. You'd be amazed at the teeny tiny bit of vinyl that magically get into the holder. Manually testing the depth of the blade, based on it being out of the machine will only get you so far, since you won't be emulate the exact pressure and quick directional changes as a cutter does with the vinyl.

Have you tried test cutting using the interface on the cutter itself, to see if it's scoring only in a certain direction?

btw - the 1/2 depth of the credit card this isn't BS. It's a good starting point, regardless of which cutter you have.

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43 minutes ago, haumana said:

 

btw - the 1/2 depth of the credit card this isn't BS. It's a good starting point, regardless of which cutter you have.

Sorry, but that is incorrect, that is about 10 times too much blade.. That bad info is what gets these new people into problems.  I have posted the correct way to set the blade depth, and it is correct.  It is also posted in the instructions.. 

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. You should barely see or feel the blade tip out of the blade holder. 

 

 

Please read this thread

 

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4 hours ago, MZ SKEETER said:

Sorry, but that is incorrect, that is about 10 times too much blade.. That bad info is what gets these new people into problems.  I have posted the correct way to set the blade depth, and it is correct.  It is also posted in the instructions.. 

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. You should barely see or feel the blade tip out of the blade holder. 

 

 

Please read this thread

 

Starting Point - Not end all, be all of blade depths.

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I think the problem with even mentioning the credit card thing is we have had so many people in the past stop reading there and not finish the setting depth - and a few years back uscutter made a video that described that as the correct depth and caused so many problems that have been solved by just getting people to set the depth correctly.   back in the early days ken imes always said less blade more pressure which worked great with all the value cutters.  since then it has evolved into least blade and just enough pressure as the best instructions.  with the cleancut blades people starting with too much blade can cause the tips to break off when they penetrate the cutting strip during a turn, being sharper and last so much lighter - the trade off is they are more brittle (harder) so with those I always suggest starting with too little blade and working your way into it by trying it by hand to where it just scores the backing.

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I was actually told by Graphtec, to have the blade all the way in the blade holder, and get down eye level, and turn the top of the blade holder until I just saw daylight between the blade holder and the vinyl.  Agree, you should start with the least possible blade, out of the blade holder starting out. Those blade tips will break off on any blade. 

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1 minute ago, MZ SKEETER said:

I was actually told by Graphtec, to have the blade all the way in the blade holder, and get down eye level, and turn the top of the blade holder until I just saw daylight between the blade holder and the vinyl.  Agree, you should start with the least possible blade, out of the blade holder starting out. Those blade tips will break off on any blade. 

Pretty much the same here by Summa tech support

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So, getting back in topic. Yes, I've double checked the blade holder. It's completely clean. The pressure is set perfectly. I'm able to weed out the first bottom 6 inches of the design flawlessly. I've done several test cuts using the machine (triangle in a square) that cuts perfect every time. It doesn't matter if I'm running the vinyl from the far left or the far right. The blade still starts to score the vinyl about 6" in. 

I started asking here, because I thought at some point someone else might have had the same weird issue. From the sounds of it, they haven't. I've had this machine over two years, running it nearly every day, and have never had this happen. I'll be replacing the cut strip, although from eyeballing it and running my fingers over it, there's nothing wrong with it. I have another cutter that this same exact design works fine on. So no further brainstorming on the design file is necessary. 

I'll report back after the strips arrive. 

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Is it always 6"? Or could it be time related? have a tried a complicated design that is the width of the vinyl but only a few inches tall? I can't think of any reason why length would play a factor but time could, if the power to the solenoid is drifting down over time that could cause the pressure to be reduced.

Have you tried any different cutting software? Again, no idea why that would matter but can't hurt to rule it out.

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