First test cuts with my first cutter CE6000-60 Plus. Any tips, tricks or advice for a newbie?

[Mugiwara 0]

Hey All! 

Just did my first test cuts on the CE6000-60 Plus never having used a cutter before or knowing anyone who has. I am very pleased with my first attempt and the performance of the cutter but still have a lot to learn.

The material I am cutting is a bit thicker than traditional vinyl (I believe) I was hoping some more experience users might have some recommendations for what might be the optimal settings in cutting this material. Unfortunately I did not record the settings I used for this test cut and can't check at the moment.

https://www.uscutter.com/GreenStar-7010-Synthetic-Stencil-Board-Cut-SSB-Cut-Non-Adhesive-Reusable-Material-Assorted-Sizes

I also am interested in cutting this Oilboard which might be a bit more difficult since it doesn't come with a backing but I believe I can reuse the backing from the other stencilboard.

https://www.pack-secure.com/24-x-36-OB7--Natural-Brown-Oilboard--Marsh_p_5458.html

So hopefully you can see from the attached photos some of the issues I ran into with this first test cut. 

1. Th circles not closing properly. Not sure if this is an issue with the cutter settings or the illustrator file or that they are simply too small. The image used is a mirror reflection. Some circles would be perfect on one side and incomplete on the other side which leads me to believe it is the cutter and not the file. Not sure though. Possibly the material is shifting when being cut?

2. I read somewhere that when cut properly the blade should leave a faint cut mark on the backing but my test cut has not done this. In one of the photos you can see that the cut was not clean and left some material behind. 

3. I created the file for this before I had even considered using it for vinyl cutting therefore some of the cutout are simply too close together which combined with my inexperience in weeding caused tearing of the thin connecting pieces. I believe this might have been minimized with more optimal cutting settings and more careful weeding. 

4. When doing the actual test cut (triangle within a square test) the square would have 3 clean corners but one would be rounded. (not pictured)

5. The material bubbles out in the middle causing the blade to scratch across the across material as it moves from cut to cut. I considered this could be caused by a number of factors. The material was not pulled taut enough when set on the rollers? The blade was set too far out in the carrier? or maybe the material just dies that and there might not be a solution

Overall for my first test cut I think it came our pretty good but I am excited to get cutting more.

I greatly appreciate any help with the issues I have ran into so far and any tips, tricks and/or advice for cutting in general!

Thank you!

[darcshadow 1,626]

First thing to do is make sure your blade depth is set correctly for your material. Mz Skeeter has posted the correct way to set blade depth, and I believe it's a sticky in the Instructional section of the forums.

Next would be to adjust your blade offset. Typical values are around 0.25 but it varies slightly from blade to blade and cutter to cutter.There is an instructional PDF in the same post about blade depth in the instructionl section of the forums

If you're still not getting the circles closed after that, try adding a bit of overcut, shouldn't need much 1mm should be good.

As for the Oilboard, I have not used it or your cutter, but looking at the specs for the oilboard, it is 0.7" thick. That's 7X thicker than the stuff you cut already! I highly doubt the cutter can cut anything that thick.

[haumana 1,220]

If you can, use at least two pinch rollers when cutting, that will go a long way towards keeping your media straight.

If you're cutting something that you want it to be cut completely through - consider putting it on some kind of sticky backing, or when your media will come loose and shift when the pinch rollers go over it again. There is a cutting strip that runs the width of the cutter under where the blade goes back and forth, but the goal is to not have your blade actually cut into the strip. It's there to protect the blade and machine.

Consider what you're cutting and what kind of stress it will put on your brand new cutter. Thick stuff will have considerable drag, and possibly shouldn't be use in the cutter at all - but will depend on what material  you're cutting and how thick it is. Depending on what I was cutting, there were times when instead of using a lot of force on the blade, I simply cut it twice over the same cut path.

 

[MZ SKEETER 4,708]

3 hours ago, darcshadow said:

 

Next would be to adjust your blade offset. Typical values are around 0.25 but it varies slightly from blade to blade and cutter to cutter.There is an instructional PDF in the same post about blade depth in the instructionl section of the forums

 

A Graphtec vinyl cutter blade offset is 0 ZERO. 

[Mugiwara 0]

20 hours ago, darcshadow said:

First thing to do is make sure your blade depth is set correctly for your material. Mz Skeeter has posted the correct way to set blade depth, and I believe it's a sticky in the Instructional section of the forums.

Next would be to adjust your blade offset. Typical values are around 0.25 but it varies slightly from blade to blade and cutter to cutter.There is an instructional PDF in the same post about blade depth in the instructionl section of the forums

If you're still not getting the circles closed after that, try adding a bit of overcut, shouldn't need much 1mm should be good.

As for the Oilboard, I have not used it or your cutter, but looking at the specs for the oilboard, it is 0.7" thick. That's 7X thicker than the stuff you cut already! I highly doubt the cutter can cut anything that thick.

Can't seem to find the post you are referring to. Maybe someone can share a link?

I am using the Clean Cut 60* blades I saw recommended on this forum for use with thicker materials.

Will check out the offset and see if that is the issue.  Thanks!

The oilboard is actually .007" thick not .07" that is mistake on pack secures website. So should be doable?
 

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

2 minutes ago, Mugiwara said:

Can't seem to find the post you are referring to. Maybe someone can share a link?

I am using the Clean Cut 60* blades I saw recommended on this forum for use with thicker materials.

Will check out the offset and see if that is the issue.  Thanks!

The oilboard is actually .007" thick not .07" that is mistake on pack secures website. So should be doable?
 

 

[Mugiwara 0]

17 hours ago, haumana said:

If you can, use at least two pinch rollers when cutting, that will go a long way towards keeping your media straight.

If you're cutting something that you want it to be cut completely through - consider putting it on some kind of sticky backing, or when your media will come loose and shift when the pinch rollers go over it again. There is a cutting strip that runs the width of the cutter under where the blade goes back and forth, but the goal is to not have your blade actually cut into the strip. It's there to protect the blade and machine.

Consider what you're cutting and what kind of stress it will put on your brand new cutter. Thick stuff will have considerable drag, and possibly shouldn't be use in the cutter at all - but will depend on what material  you're cutting and how thick it is. Depending on what I was cutting, there were times when instead of using a lot of force on the blade, I simply cut it twice over the same cut path.

How do you account for the different variables when cutting twice? Just trial and error?

[Mugiwara 0]

4 minutes ago, Dakotagrafx said:

 

Very helpful! I did see that post but thought there must be another since darcshadow said it was made by MzSkeeter.

I will follow these instructions and report back. 

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

third tab in production manager of your graphtec pro studio has a radio button for "passes" - make it 2 passes and let your software do it for you.   if a thick hard to cut item like a sandblast mask you should be using a red blade holder and blade and not the blue holder that comes with the plotter

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

Just now, Mugiwara said:

Very helpful! I did see that post but thought there must be another since darcshadow said it was made by MzSkeeter.

I will follow these instructions and report back. 

it contains the info from skeeter - it was under the "instructional contributions" section of the forum and stickied at near the top of the section

[Mugiwara 0]

Yes, I see thank you!

Would you consider either of the materials I posted originally "thick hard to cut items"

*As I mentioned above the oilboard is .007" thick not .07" thick as it says on the page I linked 

[haumana 1,220]

2 hours ago, Mugiwara said:

How do you account for the different variables when cutting twice? Just trial and error?

I only have to double cut material once in a blue moon. I also have never needed to do so on a large design.

Typically I just do a copy and paste of the original design, and leave the pasted copy in place - so there are two copies of the exact design sitting on one another, then I just send it to cut. The cutter will see there's 2 designs, and will cut both during the same "job".  I hope that makes sense.

I've done this when I've needed to layer reflective material on regular vinyl (because peeling/removing reflective material that's been sitting in the sun is a nightmare).