MDesigns

Cutting Orafol 951 Vinyl. Was going great and then....

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Anyone got any tips? Using pre weeding lines as this stuff will stick if it falls back on itself. Had a heck of a time this weekend running a working design Ive done a few times now with no issue.  This time around with a fresh blade it cuts the vinyl but when weeding its always pulling up the letters.  I even went as far to put on a new cutting strip which didnt seem to help. Reset the blade depth with the new blade and barely scoring the wax paper. It is cutting the vinyl, but for whatever reason simply wont weed correctly! Tried varying pressures, to top it off the replacement strip they sent me was kinda crappy, now they are back ordered.

I have to wonder what kind of consistency you can expect out of these 600 dollars SC2 machines. It feels like 60/40. 60 percent of the time there is some issue that eats up a ton of time. Vinyl quality inconsistent, blade quality, inconsistent 1st and 2nd runs do to cold mornings and static is a thing I guess?? 

When we do get it working things tend to go great for the length of that run, but then the next time a day later or a week later it requires more finagling.

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Lifting vinyl is usually to too much blade exposed out of the blade holder. Vinyl is only 2 mil. thick. So you only cut with the very tip of the blade.  Try a bit of over cut.  Run speed slow.   Correct Blade depth first, is the most important thing to do. Correct combo. less blade, more force. 

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 barely see and feel the blade out of the blade holder. Regular sign vinyl is only 2-3 mil thick. You only cut with the very tip of the blade.   Before cutting expensive vinyl like that, do a TEST cut from your vinyl cutter and make sure blade depth and blade offset are correct.
 

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I barely have any blade exposed, Id say about 2 mil. or 1/10 to of a credit card. Made zero difference and then I slowly increased pressure always keeping speed at the slow end. This was a fresh blade fresh cutting strip. At this point Id like to think I know how to set blade depth. I just dont think the consistency or quality is there with these machines honestly.

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To clarify when you say lifting vinyl are you talking during cutting or weeding? Its only in the weeding process where the letters come up with the weeded waste.

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How old is the vinyl you're using. It does have a shelf life and it's actually quite a bit shorter than you'd think. Not that the vinyl goes bad, but it does become more finicky and not as easy to work with.

Environmental factors can also come into play, temp and humidity can effect the vinyl significantly.

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14 minutes ago, MDesigns said:

To clarify when you say lifting vinyl are you talking during cutting or weeding? Its only in the weeding process where the letters come up with the weeded waste.

If lifting while weeding, then possibly, you are not cutting all the way thru the adhesive. You don't mention this, but you should always weed what you cut right away. Vinyl will self heal it's self.   How old the vinyl is, does matter.    You need to set your TEST cuts right from the TEST feature on the cutter. .  Provide your photos.    You should be able to raise your force and not cut all the way thru the vinyl backing.  Forget anything to do with a credit card. I gave you instructions above that does work for setting blade depth.  You set the blade depth to the vinyl that you are cutting. 

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1 hour ago, darcshadow said:

How old is the vinyl you're using. It does have a shelf life and it's actually quite a bit shorter than you'd think. Not that the vinyl goes bad, but it does become more finicky and not as easy to work with.

Environmental factors can also come into play, temp and humidity can effect the vinyl significantly.

I agree. The vinyl may be too old, sitting on the shelf for too long (especially when the supplier slashes the prices) or might have been exposed to direct sunlight.

If this is one of the cases:

1. Weed the vinyl as soon as you finish cutting to eliminate the healing as someone said.

2. If the letters lift up then press the letter area with your finger and try stretching the weeding part. I too experience these things whenever I work with the vinyl bought at clearance prices.

I ususlly score the lines in between the design so as to split the weeding area into small sections

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age of vinyl.  blade depth. different blade angle. if the cuts aren't closing, retest the best off sets.

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