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Ok so I got the speed set to 24 and the force to 120. The blade adjustment is now way better. I still have slight jagged lines but barely noticeable. Also I have roller marks in the vinyl so an adjustment is definitely needed there. Thanks

Start with the vinyl straight in the throat. Put your hand in the roll and hold the roll tight, when putting down the pinch rollers. Make sure the pinch rollers are over the grit rollers. Put the pinch rollers equal distance from the vinyl edge. About 1-1.5 inches. Pinch roller marks don't hurt anything. Pre feed your vinyl and make sure it is tracking straight. Use the arrow buttons on your cutter. Never be pulling from the vinyl roll while cutting. Make sure you have your blade depth set correctly. Too much blade exposed can force the vinyl, while it is feeding. This is correct way to set your blade depth. To start with, you should set your blade depth correctly, by taking the blade holder out of the machine, and in your hand, 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 your blade tip out of the blade holder.

Man that really works. I think I can minimize the roller marks by running my 40" material with 2 pinch rollers on the edge ends of the material instead of running 3 rollers. Do you think that will be a problem consider that 40" is quite wide?

Don't worry about the roller marks. They will disappear after its applied. Do not mess with the roller pressure. You'll be looking for more trouble.

i have a mh 1351 i have it running throuh a usb .i adjusted the screws all the way lose still leave roller marks on the vinyl and it keeps bunching up the vinyl. what is going wrong here is there a special way to set this up? where do the rollers go on the vinyl when cutting thanks!!

Ok, I don't know anything about Phototex, but with regular sign vinyl, the pinch roller marks disappear when you take the wax paper backing off and apply the vinyl to a surface.

What is shifted over? If your referring to the vinyl. Never be pulling from the vinyl roll while cutting. Make sure you have the blade depth set correctly by my instructions which is posted hundreds of times on this forum. Run the cutter slow until you learn it. Always prefeed the vinyl back and forth, and leave the vinyl slack behind the machine, enough to do the order. Make sure the pinch rollers are an equal distance from the vinyl edge. The pinch roller marks will not hurt the vinyl. You purchased a bottom of the barrel cutter, which we tell buyers not to buy, many known problems with it. An SC2 would have been a much better vinyl cutter.

I would be looking at the grit roller marks that cutter makes on tint also.

Is this a new vinyl cutter? on what operating system? Which cutting software? Have you ever ran a vinyl cutter before? First start with setting your blade depth correctly. 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. Do not adjust the pinch rollers, On vinyl, those grit roller marks will go away when vinyl is installed. Never be pulling vinyl from a roll while cutting, Always have enough slack in the vinyl to do the entire order. . This MH cutter is a cutter that we steer buyers away from. It is a bottom of the barrel cutter, with many know problems, Tracking, memory, and static. Any cutter above it would have been better.

I have never owned any other type of vinyl plotter. This is my first unit, I chose big because that's where the money is. I run a small media business, this unit allows us to take a first step into a physical material for advertising and such since we have established a digital footprint of sales now. As a full time gig, I work in CAD/Production at a large format carton/packaging manufacturing company. I have operated many many different kinds and sizes of cutters and printers and this is my first vinyl unit, the printing industry and diecutting work for the past decade have helped me understand greatly the principles of what I need to do so I have an edge over a normal "newbie" when I looked at all the various levels of plotters available. My thoughts on this are: Compared to any other unit near its price, its almost silly to buy anything else. If youre willing to put up $400 already, It would be most wise to save up a bit more and get this unit if youre looking to really start work or expand your current status. I find it really hard to argue this unit if youre serious enough to need 24" or more width and want to cut nearly any vinyl materials, this is the one to get. Its not a roland, but it has many of the major features you want. Its not as quiet as a graphtec, but youre probably not going to run this unit 6-12 hours a day. The ARMS option alone is worth the weight. Features vs price vs the "what do you really need to do with the cutter".. NO BRAINER. I would bet many pros would review this and say it is a great starter plotter. I got mine through the USCUTTER ebay store for slightly less than the websites price, but most important was the free shipping. Saved 50-60 bucks through ebay and it was fast. I took the time to go to a local sign shop and see the high end units and the operators work their stuff. There is a clear difference in quality of the units parts between the LP3 and a Graphtec or Roland. Around a 40 pound weight difference will tell you that there is a metal frame and metal mounts for the internal parts, and not plastic injection molded brackets that hold the main driving components. All of this saves money for everyone who doesnt need a unit that will run 8 hours a day though... but it reduces how long the unit will last. For a small business running a couple jobs a day, it is perfect It almost seems as if some parts are used with other cutters or models, the bottom has a 80-120mm fan mount but no fan. There is a ruler on the front and back of the unit which is nice for ensuring straight tracking for long jobs. With this plotter I would only use 2 rollers for any roll you put in it. Cutting anything anytime involves registration and without the even tension on the nip/pinch rollers and the media, it will not cut correct, the rollers are perfect out of the box and try to keep them 1" from the edges of the media. I did double check these wheels and tensions myself by undoing them. A method used to adjust the wheels for printing presses and die cutters is to keep the pressure off the wheels and slowly lower the wheel (raise pressure} until they only start spinning when the paper/media is inbetween them, then fine tune the tracking from there with 1/16ths turns of the tension wheels. Similar to blade height theory of only sticking out enough to cut the vinyl and not the backing.. The wheel should only spin if the media is underneath it to reduce wear on the bearings and wheels, especially since these have grit rollers and not smooth rollers or belts. No reason to be jamming these wheels down. Should last nearly a life time if they are always on top of vinyl or something and not touching bare grit. By using this technique I still retain straight tracking and have greatly reduced the grit roller marks. Not worth adjusting these per vinyls like HTV or Decals unless really needed.. The blade holder this thing came with was honestly subpar with the unit. I bought a cheap roland knockoff, with no locknut, on ebay for several dollars and it works WAY BETTER. The mount of the unit for the blade holder is quite rigid for a plastic design. From what ive seen this is probably one of the better designs for this, dont see it snapping anytime soon. Setting proper blade height is a must for any cutting of anything. I do not recommend using any type of oil anywhere on this machine, not even any bit holder. Oil like wd40 attracts a lot of dust and is highly frowned upon when using around expensive equipment. Vinyl makes dust and that turns into a grime. Okay for the garage stuff, but i would stick to dry lubes like graphite, teflon or silicone. I dont own any WD40. Your parts can last forever if you do the right maintenance. I can ensure you your blade holder will work better and last longer with a teflon or silicone vs wd40/oil. These kind of bearings are sealed so we are only lubing up everything else for smooth works and non sticks. Spray parts with lube, then blow them off. The unit cuts a diamond (rotated square] inside a square for its test cut. Speed is from 100-800, increments are in 100s. Its more like 1-8. Pressure,force,wedge.... is 1-500 for a total of 800g of downforce. I nearly destroyed the cutting strip right away, put a small dent in it on far right side. Got away with lifting up the strip and rotated it so the bad side is on the far left instead of far right since I cant cut down there anyways. You can hear it slam down at 400. The pen tool is needed to calibrate the laser. It works great and needs only around 50g of force to use. I bought a cheap sharpie attachment on ebay for couple bucks and its nice to use for kids school projects. The ARMS system worked flawless my first try. I do not use it at the moment but will eventually incorporate printed materials to cut once we get better with the plotting and different materials. I cut 50 3"x4" logos on 24" matte white oracal 751 all at once. Newbie mistake only because I was unprepared on how to handle the media afterwards. The LP3 cut all 50 at once on the lowest speed of 100, i did not time the job but it took quite a while. The cutter was hot and could smell the unit working its butt off, but it is fine of course. I would consider this a high detail graphic because there are around 60 pieces of each decal left after weeding. It isnt quiet, but its not loud, like a regular printer. The top has a nice tray to hold tools and stuff. I use an xacto knife for weeding and whatever and leave that up there and so far not many scratches in the paint. The stand is good enough for the unit. It is thin metal, rollers are cheap but it all works and is thick enough to keep it sturdy and not shake a lot. Wheel locks were a nice touch. Media basket is what I use to cover the unit with when not using it, It is nothing special and says USCUTTER on it in white. Comes with an extra long USB cable and power cord for you. I have opted for wireless using bluetooth dongles so unit is not tethered to a PC. You could run it into a router like any other printer as well. Vinylmaster Cut v4 is good enough to work with. It will vectorize the image pretty good for you and give you room to make adjustments. Lots of limits but I prefer to do all the art and work in AI or Esko Artios. I use Esko at my main job. Its very similar to Adobe AI but it is more indepth in that I can send the files to my laser, waterjet, cnc tables, printing plate makers and Epsons. Since the drivers are already available and the unit is newer, the connection is has with most new software is plug and play, like a regular printer. Mac or PC doesnt matter. Using a virtual machine you can run whatever software you want on whatever operating system. Any questions ill try to answer. If you want pics I can take those quick. Advice for those looking to purchase: Read the manual. Learn to adjust blade. Thanks! Finch 4x3.vDoc

Hey guys and gals... just wanted to move this one back to the top. I haven't had any luck with the bunching. I've tried taking the blade in until it stops cutting all the way through the material and it's still bunching. I've also increased and decreased pressure with no luck. Spraying on WD-40 did nothing for me either. I've inspected the blade tip and it looks perfectly fine. I've also tried replacing the blade with a spare and brand new 45* and get the same exact tugging. What OTHER things can I try or check? This is getting to be a huge PITA as it's distorting the material as it cuts and doesn't allow the blade to meet back up with its exact starting point, forcing me to scrap about half of my production. On a side note, the roller marks has been completely solved with some electrical tape. Just wrap one layer of electrical tape around the roller and bam, all roller marks gone and zero slippage. The back of the PPF material grips the tape and soft rubber pinch roller very well.

Those roller marks do not hurt a thing, When you apply the vinyl, the roller marks will disappear.. Give it a try.

Just try cutting a piece of vinyl,and make sure it has roller marks on it. Take the backing off the decal. and apply it to something. See if the roller marks go away. Most roller marks don't hurt anything, it is just part of the machine doing it's job.

You say the blade depth is perfect. so please let us know how you set it and how you know it is perfect.(too much bad info out there on setting blade depth correctly) This cutter has very limited memory, and the tracking is pretty bad on it. It is normal to have grit roller marks in the vinyl. They will come out when you apply the vinyl. Always make sure that you have enough vinyl pulled from the vinyl roll laying slack behind the cutter, to do the order and it is not pulling from the roll while cutting.If you had come here first we would have advised you to buy a better cutter. Anything higher up is a better cutter.

You load the vinyl from the back. you only need a little bit of vinyl past the cutting strip. Your cutter cuts from right to left. Most people would put the design in the lower right hand corner, and start cutting at the lower right hand corner of the vinyl. You must hit the ORIGIN button, before you start cutting. That is where the measuring starts for your design. Roller marks go away, if that is what your afraid of. The rollers can go right over the design, no problems.

Make sure the pinch roller is over the grit roller correctly,, Make sure pinch rollers are equal distance on edge of vinyl.. Those pinch roller marks won't hurt anything, They go away when you apply the decal.

9 times out of 10 people mess with the pressure to try to eliminate the roller marks on the vinyl that is totally normal - that along with having too much blade exposure usually causes the tracking, bunching, slippage issues. there is no manual I am aware of for setting the pressure - it is factory set so the vinyl is pinched securely and moves without slippage. now even a properly adjusted plotter can slip if made to pull the vinyl off of the roll (especially 50 yard rolls) - I personally have had many plotters and the pressure on the rollers has never been a problem when properly adjusted. adjust your roller pressure (if it has been messed with) so the vinyl feeds without slippage, adjust the blade exposure and pressure properly so it cuts with least resistance, do not make your plotter pull the vinyl off of the roll . . . I had a titan2 and it tracked and cut great.

I'll have to look at that more closely in the morning but I do know that I keep the roller over the grit part. I actually added a layer of electrical tape over the grit roller to eliminate roller marks in the material. It actually works great and holds the material very well. The tape eliminates the harshness of the metal grit. The bunching was happening before I made this change too, even with the roller pressure cranked up to full.

The vinyl should always be free and slack, from the roll,,,pulling on the roll will cause the vinyl to shift....Always prefeed your vinyl.. It will actually put rollers marks in the vinyl which your pinch rollers can follow again.. Rollers marks do not hurt your decal.. unless severe.. When you take the wax paper backing off and apply the decal, the roller marks will be gone. Too much blade exposed can cause a drag in the vinyl, instead of just gliding thru it and cutting, Vinyl is very thin, you only cut with the very tip of the blade. The blade should spin freely in the blade holder...

The roller marks will go away when you apply the design.. Try and put the pinch roller pressure back to normal.

roller marks like that haven't came out for me. the only way I get them that bad is leaving the rollers dn a long time, or cycling the vinyl thru the cutter several times

The roller marks will disappear when the vinyl is removed from the backing paper...

Since new to this particular forum, I've been reading different threads & stubbled on this one that caught my eye for some reason. Cooldude - there is absolutely no reason to use the middle pinch roller on your 24" wide Oracal 651, the 2 outside pinch rollers will work just fine & if lined up properly in the cutter, as long as 9ft total cut file length can be acheived without off-tracking. Put the middle roller in the middle but not clamped down & forget about that roller. In the thousands of hours I've logged cutting vinyl for signs, graphics, etc., I have never used the middle roller on any machine I've had/used which includes but not limited to cutters like Graphtec, Roland, Vinyl Express, the Copam, the 721 like yours, etc. Solution - from now on don't use the middle pinch roller, no more roller marks on cuttable surface of vinyl.

Your welcome.. make some some small decals, that have the grit roller marks on them, Apply it to something,, see if the roller marks disappear. That should be your test , LOL

Welcome...those grit roller roller marks usually don't hurt a thing. It is mostly in the wax paper backing and show into the vinyl. Once you remove the wax paper backing to apply the decal. those marks shouldn't be there.