Kronick Designs

Newbie needs help...

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Not sure if this subject is ok for this section of the forum, please move it is not.

I am having an issue here with the R's, A's, and the D's in this design. The centers of the letters keep getting pulled out by the cutter. I have slowed my speed down to the lowest it will go and I have my pressure down to 60. Not sure what I am doing wrong. Is it a dull blade? I made sure that there is no vinyl sticking to the blade as well.

I have re-calibrated the machine and everything is good on that end, but for some reason they keep getting pulled out.

What am I doing wrong...?

vinylproblem.jpg

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You do not mention how you set your blade depth, so start there.  Sounds like too much blade exposed.

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 just barely see and feel the blade tip out of the blade holder. You only cut with the very tip of the blade. 

You were advised on your first post that you have too much blade exposed, you may have adjusted it some, as you stated it was shredding the vinyl.  But still sounds like too much blade exposed.  This is the correct way to set it.  We don't know what you saw online, there are many wrong ways out there to set blade depth. 

 

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skeeters blade setting helps the majority of people with this problem - you tell what pressure you have set at but not what plotter you are using - a graphtec at 12 will cut like a mh at 60 or 100 (depending on which version of mainboard it has installed) - a sc, titan, redsail, roland,  will be a different value still.  that pressure number is very subjective   - your picture though looks like what skeeter pointed out - way too much blade exposure

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1 minute ago, Kronick Designs said:

Using a Laserpoint 3, with the speed at 100 and the pressure at 64.

and . . .   how did you set your blade exposure?

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Verify the blade depth/exposure first.

If you're cutting through the vinyl, make sure there isn't too much pressure that you're cutting in the backing - but enough force to cut through the adhesive (practice will make this easier).

Blade offset. That's probably why you're getting tails and nicks at the start and end point of the letters.

Just be patient, once you dial in the depth and the offset, the only adjustments that you'd be making should be to the speed and force - depending on what your cutting (material and design).

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I did just like you said, the blade barely coming out of the holder. Used a scrap piece and it cut the vinyl and everything looks good. I was wondering if that lettering is just too small for the cutter to handle. I'm cutting it at 11 x 11 inches and the font is just under a 1/4 inch.

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You may have to really fine tune the cutter to cut text that small with a stepper cutter. Or you may not at all.  You may need a larger text.    A servo cutter would do it, (Graphtec) As I have done it many times, even with chrome. 

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27 minutes ago, Kronick Designs said:

.... the font is just under a 1/4 inch.

there's the issue right there. 1/4" is very, very small, and you're going to be very hard pressed to get super clean lines out of it. definitely use the slowest setting you have, but i would still check your offset, because it's looking like a small hatchet job.

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By the way, unrelated to your specific issue here   -- the vinyl we utilize has pressure-sensitive adhesive, and with those tiny specks of vinyl (in the R or A) there simply isn't enough surface area to allow proper bonding of the adhesive to the substrate.

 

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Well, luckily the customer was willing to remove the font and like we did with the even smaller decals. I searched for more YouTube university videos for help fine tuning the LP3, there just isn't much out there. I changed out my blade, set up the offset and re-calibrated the cutter and everything worked great. This one was a challenge for sure but I think they came out nice...!

STWhiteDecal1.jpg

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Very cool ---  but there's one thing that bugs me.

See the pawpad on the middle toe. You've got an extra node in there that causes the rounded smooth portion to have a jag on the left side. Yeah, I have OCD that causes me to notice minor stuff like that.

I think you can raise the speed back to the max. The LPIII should not choke on it.

 

 

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Yea, I'm the same way,  but that's their design. All the shirts that they do with that design have it. Also, I would have rounded all the claws at the bottom like the middle one. I don't know, maybe it was done that way for a reason. Still think it's cool though, definitely tested my rookie status...

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Fine tuning is just making tiny adjustments plus or minus to see which is cutting the best for your cutter.  All cutters are different, even the same model.  No videos for that.  That is for blade depth, speed, force, blade offset.   There are no number settings set in stone for any vinyl cutter. 

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The type of blade you're using can have a big affect on not lifting the center out of those letters in the future (I know you eliminated them on this project).  A lot of folks on here kept preaching the value of a good quality blade, especially the CleanCut brand.   I finally listened and it's made a huge difference in the ability of my LaserPoint II to handle detail.  Check out this topic from last spring for info and examples.

 

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Clean Cut blades totally rock! I had them ordered and in hand, so I was ready when the Graphtec finally arrived.

I only run CC blades in both my machines now.

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