Aloha, and a bit of help needed

[spdas 0]

Aloha, all great, helpful forum.  I just got my P-cut 630 after deciding to not farm out a job of 2500  4" letters and numbers.  I could not find anyone locally to do the job quickly, so I took the plunge and set my own cutter up.  The learning curve was a bit steep, (initaily assembling the stand 5 or 6 times before I got it right, to just getting the cutter going).  The techie at UScutters was totally brimming over with enthusiasm to help as are most of the writers here on this forum.  The Signblazer program is remarkable especially for a freebie.

Anyways thanks all and to my question.

I have read some about cutting more detailed line art and still have vinyl pulling up.  I tried cutter speed down to 30, a new knife, pressure, and knife depth.  For you pros, what is the best combo to go with?  Better to use Cast material?  different degrees knives? 

ideas?

thanks

Frank in Hawaii

[haumana 1,220]

Aloha kaua - Vinyl type, blade type, speed, pressure, offset ... all of that stuff is dependent on what you're cutting (material and design), as well as personal preference. There are a handful of people locally who would have been more than willing to cut 2500 4" letters and numbers. Where have you checked?

Vinyl is more dependent on what the final application will be. If it's simple window decals that you see on just about every vehicle here, than calendared stuff is good (Oracal 651). If you need something better and more durable than high performance cast is probably the way to go (Oracal 751).

Blade type. US Cutters ship with 45-degree blades, which is good for general stuff. If you decide to cut stuff that's highly detailed and/or intricuate and/or small, than you might want pick-up some 60-degree blades. The cheapest is to buy them on eBay. Many here who have gone to 60-degree blades, don't go back to the 45-degree (Myself included). However, I probably won't go back to 45 because I don't want to hassle with adjusting the blade depth and "dailing it in" all over again.

Cut speed... smaller, intricate/detailed stuff, you're going to want to slow it down a bit. If you race through it, you run the risk of the cutter lifting (pulling) some of the cuts up and getting all jacked. If that's the case, slow it down, maybe ease up on the pressure and make sure the blade isn't sticking out too far out of the holder.

Pressure ... that is really only personal preference. Ken tells people 120 to start. I personally started at 60 and found that 80 was the best pressure for me to cut Oracal 651 with either a 45 or 60 blade.

If you're buying your stuff from One Shot, than the Oracal 651 is the most popular vinyl out there. They have a decent collection of loose vinyl that you can buy by the foot, but it gets pricey. The 651 will come in a roll of 50 yards. If you think that's too much, than you can go up to the 751 which can come in a roll of 10 yards.

Good luck. Welcome to the forum. It's always nice to have someone else here to share the aloha!

[spdas 0]

Aloha, I only had a few days to get the order together (gov't contract Schofield), and several changes in the letter types were  being made by the contracting office, that I decided to do the work myself.  (had 6 days to perform), so I ordered the USCutter Pcut 630 as I will use it later anyway.  Got it on Sept 29 and the work had to be done by Oct 1.  So it would have driven a sign cutter crazy, with the time constraints.  Even now I am cutting some letters that were not in the original order.  I already went through 50 yards of 651 from One shot.  And I ordered 10 blades on Ebay from Hong Kong for $33.00.  Hope the quality is good as the $23.00 backup blade I bot at one-shot.  Will figure out what is offset and play around with it.  thanks for all your good info.

frank