Kristof

Help!! Magnet cutting, machine hard to calibrate

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6 minutes ago, klcjr said:

I need to cut circles and custom shapes though, so I doubt those would work.

So, did you ever try the multiples passes? 

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17 minutes ago, MZ SKEETER said:

So, did you ever try the multiples passes? 

I did actually; I played with the blade depth, downforce, tried three and four passes, and tried cutting the magnet with the wax paper liner side facing down. No dice.

Calibration is inconsistent.

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47 minutes ago, klcjr said:

I did actually; I played with the blade depth, downforce, tried three and four passes, and tried cutting the magnet with the wax paper liner side facing down. No dice.

Calibration is inconsistent.

I was looking more at the glass cutting part of those website ads.. Which was cutting circles.  But different shapes is another thing.  

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21 hours ago, Dakotagrafx said:

trying to cut the very thick material in one pass causes more drag than if done in multiple passes - that causes slippage.   I too never subjected any of my plotters to cutting 30 mil magnets - for rectangles I used straight edge and a corner rounding tool.

I think this is still your best bet for now. I understand that you'd like to be able to do custom shapes, but if all you need right now is rounded corners - then at least this method will get the job done.

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Any of you guys who run the lasers think you could cut with a laser? 

To klcjr - Magnets as mentioned are really hard to cut and hard on a fine tuned machine. Getting your cutter to cut accurately would be the very first thing you would need to do and you would want to start out by cutting some cheap sign vinyl which it's actually designed to cut. IF it's cutting regular vinyl at regular pressures ok but not the magnet then you will have an answer about whether your cutter has a problem or if it's related to the 30 mil issue. Assuming that it ALSO cuts out of dimensions then you will need to calibrate your cutter. Each cutting program goes about it a little different but they pretty much all have a way. If it's cutting sign vinyl at the correct size but not the magnet then you are probably not going to have success. The heavy magnetic material is likely more weight than your pinch rollers can keep hold of properly especially if you are dragging a knife blade through it. 

I have cut a few, and I stress FEW, like two times with my Summa. I did three passes at a regular pressure and it did ok. You also have a whole other part of the equation that you are probably not considering. You can't cut clear through any material without having some sort of carrier sheet. Vinyl and Heat Transfer Vinyl come on a carrier sheet. I seriously doubt your magnet does.   I recommend if you keep trying and get it to cut satisfactory that you should leave just a little bit so the magnet is still one piece and then you can break it free. That's what I did on the couple that I cut. This will work for an occasional project but mass production is probably not all that viable. The big factories use a true die cutter and stamp cut them out I think. Very mass production. 

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I'm game to try with the laser, but stupid question ... does any part of the material have pvc in it? because a definitely no-no in the box.

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12 hours ago, haumana said:

does any part of the material have pvc in it?

Of course not. Any laser should have fume extraction, however.

 

16 hours ago, Wildgoose said:

Any of you guys who run the lasers think you could cut with a laser? 

To klcjr - Magnets as mentioned are really hard to cut and hard on a fine tuned machine. Getting your cutter to cut accurately would be the very first thing you would need to do and you would want to start out by cutting some cheap sign vinyl which it's actually designed to cut. IF it's cutting regular vinyl at regular pressures ok but not the magnet then you will have an answer about whether your cutter has a problem or if it's related to the 30 mil issue. Assuming that it ALSO cuts out of dimensions then you will need to calibrate your cutter. Each cutting program goes about it a little different but they pretty much all have a way. If it's cutting sign vinyl at the correct size but not the magnet then you are probably not going to have success. The heavy magnetic material is likely more weight than your pinch rollers can keep hold of properly especially if you are dragging a knife blade through it. 

I have cut a few, and I stress FEW, like two times with my Summa. I did three passes at a regular pressure and it did ok. You also have a whole other part of the equation that you are probably not considering. You can't cut clear through any material without having some sort of carrier sheet. Vinyl and Heat Transfer Vinyl come on a carrier sheet. I seriously doubt your magnet does.   I recommend if you keep trying and get it to cut satisfactory that you should leave just a little bit so the magnet is still one piece and then you can break it free. That's what I did on the couple that I cut. This will work for an occasional project but mass production is probably not all that viable. The big factories use a true die cutter and stamp cut them out I think. Very mass production. 

The magnet does have an adhesive liner/carrier sheet, so it doesn't need to be cut all the way through unless you mean something else? The problem with not cutting it most of the way through is it leaves the edges rough when you break the magnet free compared to the carbide blade cut edge.

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4 hours ago, klcjr said:

Of course not. Any laser should have fume extraction, however.

 

The magnet does have an adhesive liner/carrier sheet, so it doesn't need to be cut all the way through unless you mean something else? The problem with not cutting it most of the way through is it leaves the edges rough when you break the magnet free compared to the carbide blade cut edge.

Umm, yah - my laser has a exhaust, but the exhaust doesn't pull out 100% of particles that become airborne when it's engraving and cutting. If it did, I would not need to clean the lens and mirror on my machine on a regular basis, or wipe down some of the soot residue that left in the box. That being said, pvc will cling to the box and then lens with is a huge no-no, not to mention, that the fumes are being exhausted outside, isn't exactly great for anything or anyone outside either. I try to avoid putting things in my box that will emit toxic fumes - whether it's exhausted or not.

Thanks for schooling me on the magnets not having pvc. With everything made up of some kind of plastic now days, it's hard to tell what the chemical composition of things are - so I'd rather be safe than sorry.

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48 minutes ago, haumana said:

Umm, yah - my laser has a exhaust, but the exhaust doesn't pull out 100% of particles that become airborne when it's engraving and cutting. If it did, I would need to clean the lens and mirror on my machine on a regular basis, or wipe down some of the soot residue that left in the box. That being said, pvc will cling to the box and then lens with is a huge no-no, not to mention, that the fumes are being exhausted outside, isn't exactly great for anything or anyone outside either. I try to avoid putting things in my box that will emit toxic fumes - whether it's exhausted or not.

Thanks for schooling me on the magnets not having pvc. With everything made up of some kind of plastic now days, it's hard to tell what the chemical composition of things are - so I'd rather be safe than sorry.

It is a special type of magnet material compared to the traditional fridge magnet material; it's made from Nitrile and can withstand temperatures to 150 ºC.

I'm going to try getting an RMA for the plotter. On a side note, I'm impressed with how well the CleanCut blades work on this magnet material.

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You may have had better luck, if you went with the Graphtec FC unit.  The Graphtecs are just better, heavy duty cutters.  That is what they are built for. There used to be a guy on here years back that cut plastic with his, making several passes.  I own 2 of these FC cutters, and they are tanks.  I have never tried to cut thicker materials, as that is not my niche'  My niche' is very large long vinyl graphics.  The cutters also have different positions that you can put the pinch rollers at to hold the material. 

You can still find good deals on the used Graphtec FC cutters.  You just have to have the money and grab it. 

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51 minutes ago, klcjr said:

It is a special type of magnet material compared to the traditional fridge magnet material; it's made from Nitrile and can withstand temperatures to 150 ºC.

I'm going to try getting an RMA for the plotter. On a side note, I'm impressed with how well the CleanCut blades work on this magnet material.

Thank you. I'm learning something new everyday! :D

.... and yah, Clean Cut blades are definitely the way to go - in whatever machine you have or may end up with. I had my blades order the minute I ordered my Graphtec, in fact the blade got to me faster than the machine.

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I'm willing to send some of my magnet material to someone with a Graphtec FC to confirm if it will work or not. And to confirm, you don't mean the flatbed Graphtec FC cutters?

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17 minutes ago, klcjr said:

I'm willing to send some of my magnet material to someone with a Graphtec FC to confirm if it will work or not. And to confirm, you don't mean the flatbed Graphtec FC cutters?

I am talking about cutters on a stand, Anything from FC4100- FC8600.    Where are you located? 

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Just now, MZ SKEETER said:

I am talking about cutters on a stand, Anything from FC4100- FC8600.    

I can't seem to locate used ones, do you have any good links? Otherwise, I'm willing to buy a brand new one. Couldn't I send the magnet material to someone to test though?

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where are you located?  Yeah you could send it to someone, if they are willing.  I just won't put my cutters thru it.  I run a business and cut almost every day. 

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9 minutes ago, MZ SKEETER said:

where are you located?  Yeah you could send it to someone, if they are willing.  I just won't put my cutters thru it.  I run a business and cut almost every day. 

USA, east coast.

I understand that. I found this one post that mentions that the FC series can be problematic with cutting magnet material:

https://signs101.com/threads/cutting-magnet-on-graphtec-fc-8600-anyone-try-it.130436/#post-1275924

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It seems like he is talking more about perf cutting.  Which is making dotted lines.  Not straight cutting.  And they did say the magnet material slipped. 

How big are these pieces that your trying to cut . Already know 30 mil. what is the width x length? 

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2 hours ago, MZ SKEETER said:

It seems like he is talking more about perf cutting.  Which is making dotted lines.  Not straight cutting.  And they did say the magnet material slipped. 

How big are these pieces that your trying to cut . Already know 30 mil. what is the width x length? 

Up to 560mm in length and width for the biggest pieces I'll be selling, or 560mm in diameter for circular shapes. Also, ideally, I would like to not cut the rolled material so I can maximise 'nesting'. The material is extremely costly, so I would like to be able to manually pull some off of the roll but have it still be connected/non cut. The machine will be dedicated for only magnet cutting.

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I'm kind of in a pinch, I have no qualms about purchasing the 24" model FC8600, but if I have issues with cutting magnet with it still I feel like I would've wasted time and could've got one of the $3-5K chinese flatbed cutters with vacuum hold down.

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The Graphtec FC8600 video on youtube claims it can cut up to 60 mil material and lists 'sandblast rubber material' as a media type.

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I'd run it through my laser, but i highly doubt it's worth you sending it to me. maybe someone who is closer, with a laser, will chime in.

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