Another Newbie

[ramy 3]

Hello all,

I just received my MH-721 and got it setup and was testing it last night. It came with 3 rolls of vinyl 12"x20 '(not sure what brand).

Anyways, I was testing with the sample file that came with SignBlazer Elements which worked fine but when I went to weed it, it looked like the outer border cuts were deep enough all the way around, but around the letters( 9/16 high), it seems like it didn't cut deep enough in all places and it seemed like it was harder to weed than what I thought it should be. I started off with speed of 24" and 100 g of pressure. I kept increasing the pressure to see if that would help. What I don't have a handle on, is what pressures and speeds ranges are normal to use. I was also wondering if its possible that the vinyl that came with it was not good. If it's possibly the vinyl, what is a good brand for a newbie to practice on.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Ramy

[lueman 19]

Check your blade depth (1/64) or the width of a credit card then start fron 86 up

[Guest sciondrgn]

Couple things to check as well,

Make sure the wheels on your  carriage are fully on the track.. Sometimes they come off during shipping, Also make sure that your cutting strip is firmly pressed down in the channel and even all the way from end to end

[ramy 3]

Thanks for the suggestions. Attached is a picture of whats happening.

[Guest sciondrgn]

One thing I noticed what louman mentioned.. It should be 1/2 the width of a credit card, Try retracting your blade more.. Also check to make sure there is no vinyl bits stuck up on the blade and it can spin freely..

It will take some time and practice to dial the machine in just right but Vinyl has alot of to with it as well.. if its really thin cheap vinyl it can cause you more headache than its worth..

I would recommend Oracal vinyl, If you PM me your address I will send you a couple pieces of scrap to try out.

[lueman 19]

Yeah I get those problems when my blade  depth is too long, sorry for the earlier post suggesting using a cc, I guess it depends on the card. also check your offset  .25 for a 45deg, & .15 for 60deg.  remember to reset pressure after setting blade depth.

[ramy 3]

Appreciate the responses.

I spent a few hours last night adjusting the depth. It seems to cut the outer board fine, just the small cuts around the letters. I had not looked at the offset in the program, will investigate that tonight. I did see the posts about the carriage being off the track, and I did notice it look like the wheels were in the track when I was taking a close look and the blade and blade holder. But again, I will double check that. I saw the post about the grounding issue and will try that as well.

I did PM ClawGFX and I appreciate the offer. (What great people here)

BTW- The thickness of my cc is same as anyone Else's, it's the statement that's thick....

[Guest sciondrgn]

BTW- The thickness of my cc is same as anyone Else's, it's the statement that's thick....

I hear that!!!  :-[

[Brandon_Davis 1]

Offset is a key setting for a proper cut... Signblazer should be set in the Setup Control Panel to .25 Blade Offset!

[ramy 3]

I'm an avid believer there really isn't a stupid question, but..

I noticed there is a covering over the cutting strip, it seems like its tape which I can peel up, whats hard to distinguish is whether its suppose to stay on or not because its seems to be on pretty good. I could see where this could affect the cutting, but being a newbie I thought I would double check.

Thanks

[prestonservco 26]

It comes shipped with a piece of "masking tap" on the cutting strip.  Just make sure that you don't removed the actual cutting strip - you need that.

[mikerob2334 2]

It comes shipped with a piece of "masking tap" on the cutting strip.  Just make sure that you don't removed the actual cutting strip - you need that.

it would be nice if it had a tag on it saying so. it took me about 2 weeks to figure that out when i first got mine

[ramy 3]

Ok, its not standard masking tape, but clear tape that covers the strip and extends to the frame running the length of strip.  What holds the cutting strip down? Worst case I guess is I would have to replace strip.

Thanks

Totally concurr with "it should be marked". I work for a mfg company and we mark everything for the end user.

[ramy 3]

Thank you all. I finally had success.

1) Removed the tape from the cutting strip

2) Grounded the cutter to stand

3) Fine tuned the knife length( I used the advice of taking the knife out of the machine and ran it across a scrap piece of vinyl on the table and made length adjustments until it cut just the vinyl, I then put it back in the carriage , did some test cuts and fine tuned it on machine by making about 1/8 turn adjustment on the set screw.)

4) Set the offset in the software from 0 to .25

Although on my original sample I posted which used a Times Roman font, I was still getting some lift on the letters intricate points when weeding. When I change it to Myriad Web font it cut great and weeded perfectly.

I did another test which the letters were 6" tall and the total length was approx 34", again it cut perfectly and it was weeding perfectly, until I got about 1/3 way thru and made the mistake of letting the vinyl being weeded touch the letters. Very sticky..lol  . It's the mistakes that make you improve(during the newbie stage).

Again, Thanks for all the help and patience.

[lueman 19]

[Guest sciondrgn]

Great to hear!  These machines can be finicky but once you dial them in and get used to checking the basic things you will get it