Cutting through thicker material: Laserpoint 24" will not do it...

[neeboy74 0]

Hello all:

I have been experimenting with a 24" Laserpoint cutter.  I have set the "Force" all the way up to 200, and it will not cut through thick material such as Strathmore Bristol art paper on the first pass.  Also, I do not like the fact that there is no sure way to make sure my paper is going in straight.  At an office I worked at some time ago, they had a cutter for cutting thick, heavy duty plastic on rolls.  (We made sink templates with this material for cutting stone countertops).  This machine also had a bar with plastic wheels on either end (right in front of the cutting path) which made absolutely sure the material ran through straight.  Of course, I can't remember what kind of machine it was.

I will say that the Laserpoint machine does seem to work exactly as advertised, but it will not work for my purposes.  Can anyone out there recommend a machine that has the features I need?

[haumana 1,220]

You might need to consider a flatbed or laser cutter for thick materials.

[Guest Terry]

Not sure whats wrong, but a $4000.00 Graphtec cuts it and it only has a top force of 40 on ours. Maybe you need to adjust the blade length. You can't cut vinyl then just change down force to cut that and have it work.

[vandal_tbh 2]

I'm a total newbie and just trying to learn before buying one (that's why I'm in the pre-sales section), but I thought the laserpoints went up to 400g force?  Why are you saying 200 is the max.  Again, probably a stupiid question, just trying to figure this out.

Thanks...

[Kimon 1]

You might also have better luck with a 60 degree blade, the OEM 45's are really not the right angle for thicker materials.

[prune bag 0]

Will this printer cut through thicker vinyl stickering, like 2.75mm?

[kenimes 42]

Will this printer cut through thicker vinyl stickering, like 2.75mm?

Most vinyl is 2-7mil, so do you really mean 2.75mil and not mm? If so, yes....no problem.

[prune bag 0]

yes, i think i do mean that.  I called a vinyl retailer to buy some vinyl from them, and asked what most stickers thickness is that's on the back of car windows, etc.  They told me that it is probably about 2.75(something, thought she said mm)  When I opened up the printer/cutter last night, there was a test sheet of vinyl in there from the printer, but it was paper thin, nowhere near what I have seen from the mall sticker companies.  Then when i looked at the specs on this printer, it says the most thick it will cut is 1 (again, i thought is said mm), so i was pretty concerned that i had just wasted the money on the printer! :/  But you think that the thicker vinyl (like the nascar logos and such that are on cars) is not going to be a problem for this printer?

Thanks so much for you help/input!

[kenimes 42]

Exactly. Check out some examples of work done on race cars by our current users in the Show Your Work section. 1mm = almost 40mils, so all vinyl can be cut with our cutters, including sandblast resist vinyl that is around 25mil. I have even cut stencil board which is much thicker...close to 36mil.

[prune bag 0]

great, thanks again for you quick response!  Really appreciate it!

[kenimes 42]

No problem.

Welcome to our forums!!

[spacegraphics 0]

soo...what if i want to cut out some cardstock? Can paper and such be cut on the Laserpoint? Do I need one of those adhesive backing sheets to stick the paper to? Also, contour cutting is a necessity, anyone that can give me some advice on how well the Laserpoint 24 does with this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Popeye 0]

I cut card stock on a regular basis. Once everything is setup correctly it cuts right through it..

I tried all different ways of cutting but the best way is to set the blade and pressure correctly... no backer or sticky sheet.

I think the LP is the same as a Pcut except for the laser

[cutme 5]

just to clarify on the thickness.

mil, is a unit of length equal to 0.001 inches (a "milli-inch" or a "thousandth of one inch"). It is sometimes used in engineering and in the specification of:

    * the thickness of items such as paper, film, foil, wires, paint coatings, latex gloves, plastic sheeting, and fibers; and

    * manufacturing dimensions and tolerances.

As the metric system became more common in the States, use of the term mil began to decline among technical users due to the possible confusion with millimeters. However, the mil is still in common use in the United States for the thickness of plastic sheeting or bags.

[spacegraphics 0]

Good deal. Thanks! Any advice on the contour cutting ability? I am looking to buy the Laserpoint 24", and will be using it with an iMac intel 2.0 with 2gb of ram and CS3.