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daddycreswell

Vinyl tracking

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Long story short- I sent a MH721 back because it continued to stop mid job, paid the upgrade difference and got a SC2 28 inch. I have ran 2 jobs on it so far, 1st one straight out of the box was a 24x42 inch American flag,  ran it twice came out perfect.  Fast forward a couple of days, I haven't touched the cutter since the last cut. Ran same file, midway through tracking got way off, ruined a large piece of vinyl. Can't afford to mess anymore up. Cut that piece off and just tracked another job, samething happened few inches in, it pulled way left. I haven't touched the pinch rollers or anything. Anyone got any suggestions? 

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Never be pulling from the roll while cutting. Always have enough vinyl slack to do the order.  You may have your blade too far out of the blade holder, with will cause the vinyl to shift. This is how to set your blade depth correctly.   Run the cutter slow until you learn it.  Vinyl has to be straight to stay straight while traveling.   I have a Graphtec, but I still run it slow. 

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 fell the blade tip out of the blade holder. 

A lot of the times when a cutter stops, it is static from the vinyl.  Cutter must be grounded to the stand. Spray Static Guard type sprays,  use dryer sheets on the cutter and inside the roll. Run humidifier.   Also the MH cutters have a very limited memory.  The value cutters do have a cheap Chinese chip set.  We tell buyers to put it on a serial cable or a Tripp-Lite Keyspan Adpater.  That is the brand name Tripp-LIte. 

 

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28 minutes ago, MZ SKEETER said:

Never be pulling from the roll while cutting. Always have enough vinyl slack to do the order.  You may have your blade too far out of the blade holder, with will cause the vinyl to shift. This is how to set your blade depth correctly.   Run the cutter slow until you learn it.  Vinyl has to be straight to stay straight while traveling.   I have a Graphtec, but I still run it slow. 

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 fell the blade tip out of the blade holder. 

A lot of the times when a cutter stops, it is static from the vinyl.  Cutter must be grounded to the stand. Spray Static Guard type sprays,  use dryer sheets on the cutter and inside the roll. Run humidifier.   Also the MH cutters have a very limited memory.  The value cutters do have a cheap Chinese chip set.  We tell buyers to put it on a serial cable or a Tripp-Lite Keyspan Adpater.  That is the brand name Tripp-LIte. 

 

Thanks for the info, I'll try the blade information in the morning.  I am running it at a speed of 100, and 115 pressure. Can't figure out how to make it any slower.

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I also make sure that my pinch rollers are the exact same distance from the edge of the vinyl. Even use a tape measure if you have to.  I put my pinch rollers about 1 1/4" from edge.   Roller marks will not hurt, they come out when you apply.  Graphtecs have a prefeed feature on them, The roller marks help with the tracking. Try prefeeding your vinyl and back. 

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Verify that the middle pinch roller (spring-loaded) is not at the point marked with a sticker on the top rail ----   i.e. at the joint of the grit rollers, where there's a gap.

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I pre-ran the material again this morning way past the job length and it went to the left again. I started with the other end of the vinyl and it tracked just fine, so I really don't know. I am going to make up some type of tracking guides to help me in the future.

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54 minutes ago, daddycreswell said:

I pre-ran the material again this morning way past the job length and it went to the left again. I started with the other end of the vinyl and it tracked just fine, so I really don't know. I am going to make up some type of tracking guides to help me in the future.

loading error - you have to load it straight to get it to track straight - after loading it run a little and adjust it until it tracks straight - never plan on any vinyl end to be cut straight not any line on a plotter like a sticker ruler to be straight 

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check your pinch roller positions, make sure it's absolutely over the grit roller

check your blade depth

check your blade force

plenty of slack on the vinyl, never cut when it's pulling with tension from the roll

slow down the speed

feed a little vinyl, then jog it back and forth until, making minor adjustments to get the vinyl to track straight before you cut (you don't need a ruler, you just need a point of reference. i use a piece of blue painters tape, it's not marked, but it's on the machine. it's fixed spot and i jog the vinyl back and forth to see if it's drifting towards or away from my piece of tape, then make the adjustment to get it to feed straighter).

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Well I have ran the same file twice now and no crazy tracking problems...fingers crossed the issue will not pop back up. I've got 100 doubled side signs that a guy needs one word changed on, so I'm going to try and run 50 at a time.

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54 minutes ago, MZ SKEETER said:

How big are they?

24 x 45, its the same file I was running to begin with. I did move the outside pinch rollers in about a inch or so like you suggested.

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If it's 45 inches long you are getting close to the max cutting length. Most of the budget cutters do not track super straight to begin with so 4ft is about the max SAFE distance to expect it to stay straight. As Dakota mentioned loading up straight is the key. Once you get a piece of vinyl loaded and can run some manually back and forth to see that it is staying straight to the edge (meaning the edge beside one of the pinch rollers) this is called pre-feeding and should be pre-fed for the approximate length of the job to avoid the machine having to try and unroll more vinyl while cutting. Others have sad this but sometimes repetition is good in case it slipped by you. The measure tape installed on the front and I assume back of the machine (I don't have an SC2 so I am guessing) are supposed to help align material. Be very SKEPTICAL of the alignment until you have proven it to be accurate. Many are not. 

Your speed of 100 does not sound too fast. Not sure what min and max speed are on the SC2 but 100 probably means somewhere around 100mm/sec which is not bad to start out with. If you are getting good consistent cuts then you can slowly increase your cut speed to a faster setting if you thing it's going too slowly. I have a $3500 cutter and do not cut fast with it even though it is capable. No reason to hurry when hurry may cause a messed up project. 

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I wouldn't even try and run all 50 of those at 1 time.   The specs say the max cutting length is  144" for the SC2 cutter.  Value cutters have a limited memory.  I know the memory has been upgraded, but nothing like that. 

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I agree with skeeter on that many copies. if each 45" is just a single one then that would be 2250 inches or over 187 feet. More than a full 50 yard roll.  Your cutter is classed for beginners which means home and hobby use. Most of us have or have had similar cutters and used them for much more than home and hobby once we got some experience under our belt but you have to know your machines limitations. One or two at a time is probably the best way to go. You can be weeding those and maybe even applying them while the next set cuts. 

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On 8/23/2019 at 6:24 PM, MZ SKEETER said:

I wouldn't even try and run all 50 of those at 1 time.   The specs say the max cutting length is  144" for the SC2 cutter.  Value cutters have a limited memory.  I know the memory has been upgraded, but nothing like that. 

I'm not, I decided to run 25 at a time.

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On 8/24/2019 at 8:49 AM, Wildgoose said:

I agree with skeeter on that many copies. if each 45" is just a single one then that would be 2250 inches or over 187 feet. More than a full 50 yard roll.  Your cutter is classed for beginners which means home and hobby use. Most of us have or have had similar cutters and used them for much more than home and hobby once we got some experience under our belt but you have to know your machines limitations. One or two at a time is probably the best way to go. You can be weeding those and maybe even applying them while the next set cuts. 

No the word I am cutting is only 16" long. I've just got to cut of 200 of them. I'm going to cut 25 at a time.

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I'm a little confused :blink:

Am I 'mathing' wrong? If the SC has a limitation of 144" in length, and the 'word' that you're cutting is 16" long, then you can only get 9, out 144". (Although you don't state what height the text is, so I don't know if you're tiling it or not)

And wasn't this originally about a tracking issue with a flag that was 45" long?

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22 hours ago, haumana said:

I'm a little confused :blink:

Am I 'mathing' wrong? If the SC has a limitation of 144" in length, and the 'word' that you're cutting is 16" long, then you can only get 9, out 144". (Although you don't state what height the text is, so I don't know if you're tiling it or not)

And wasn't this originally about a tracking issue with a flag that was 45" long?

Originally I was doing a 24"x45" flag decal for a side window.

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