MrJoel

Clean cut vs graphtec vs eBay blades (graphtec on Reflective)

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Hey y’all, I’m running a used fc8000 and 90% of what I cut is 3m 5100 Reflective.  I just bought some blades off eBay when I bought the machine but I’m not getting a lot of mileage from them.  On my Titan I was trying several clean cut blades but the tips seemed to break fairly frequently when I was using reflective...and then I saw the actual graphtec blades and my wallet screamed!  Does anyone know the actual material differences and experience with a couple or both in a fc unit?

 

thanks

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the main reason tips break on the cleancut blades is too much exposure - they are made from a fine grained carbide - so more brittle if abused - if you have too much blade exposure and it goes thru the backing when the blade turns it breaks the tips (or if they strike a hard surface when removed from the plotter)   I have used they for years and have blade holders specifically for my reflective blades (which are usually my old regular vinyl blades after 8-10 months) - the graphtec OEM blades are very good blades too.   Chinese blades are made of a cheaper carbide - hence they cost less to produce.    my reflective blade for the roland had cut a LOT of reflective material and still cuts great 

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i think your problem is going to be the reflective material eating your blades.  

I use Seiki blades and have for over 12 years. I turned a couple others on to them also.  They are very strong sharp blades and reasonable.  I use them for sign vinyl and chrome and get an easy 9 months out of them.  A member on here was having trouble with their blades bending thru thicker materials, and they like these.  US seller FREE shipper.    PM sent 

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I haven't cut reflective on my Graphtec yet, but when I was cutting reflective on my LaserPoint, the only way I was getting any success was to cut it twice. That way I didn't have to crank up the pressure to something ridiculous and risk breaking the blades.

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Reflective is definitely hard on blades and I don't cut it often. That stuff should be about 8 mil roughly 0.20mm so you can cut that with a lower profile blade that will have a tougher tip. See if you can find something with a flatter profile. I run a Summa and the standard blade is 36 deg. Everyone always talks about using the 60 deg blades to cut fine details. I cut fine details with the 36 deg without issue so that theory is probably questionable.  I do like the thought process of it and have tried a 60 deg clean cut but did not noticed any difference with fine detail or with flipping up edges of small parts so I couldn't prove any kind of advantage. The lower profile standard blades are more affordable and last a really long time so I stick with them.  

Also just for conversation sake I tried to do the two pass method on some reflective HTV and found that it actually sanded off my tip so I had better luck with a solid full depth cut. I bought a little magnifier that I could get a close up of the tip to see what was really happening. HTV vinyls typically have a much tougher liner that you can cut harder into without going through so the pressure is a little more forgiving than paper backed regular vinyl.

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