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versacamm cutting possibilities

Posted by Emilio on 26 February 2007 at 20:40

HI, I’m Emilio and I live in Gran Canaria. Just bought a Versacamm sp-540v last month and everything is going great. I have no regrets with the machine other than I wish I had bought the one that prints white as well.
My question is this: I’ve heard of some people that have vinyl printed with the versacamm, then have it laminated, then they put it on to a magnetic sheet, then they repass the entire thing throught the machine to have it cut to shape. HAS ANYONE EVER TRIED THIS? ANY ADVICE.
THANKS.

MartinDenton replied 18 years, 8 months ago 8 Members · 9 Replies
9 Replies

Phill Fenton

Member
26 February 2007 at 21:04

Hi Emilio and welcome.

I doubt very much that you would have any success putting magnetic sheet through a Versacam. The magnet will stick to the machine and prevent the pinch rollers from pulling it through, and the cutting knife is not up to the job of contour cutting through magnetic sheeting.

Gran Canaria must be a great place to run your business from – great weather all year round and sign making as a living must make for an idyllic way of life 😀
Kevin Flowers

Member
26 February 2007 at 21:13

Phil
the platens on the versacamm are Ali, there are some thinner magnetics around that can go directly through the versacamm etc. Never tried it myself but read on other sites mainly in the states that its been done. Not vehicle quality mag though

Kev
Peter Normington

Member
26 February 2007 at 21:27

Spandex have been putting magnetics through gerbers for years, it is not quite straight forward, but can be done, the sheet does not need to cut all the way through, just scored. most cutting/printing beds are made of ally, stainless, or plastic, so the magnetic effect is not a problem.
never tried it on a print and cut machine though, as long as you can accomodate the thickness, I cant see a problem, but would ask the suppliers of the machine?
Why not print direct to the magnetic, rather than flood coating?
I have heard that some mag sheet manufacturers dont recomend a second layer of vinyl over their flood coat anyway?

Peter
Phill Fenton

Member
26 February 2007 at 21:31

Sounds like it’s probably a case of try it and see.

Don’t think I fancy trying it on my machine though until I’ve heard from the manufacturers that it’s up to the job and that it wouldn’t invalidate the warranty.
Emilio

Member
27 February 2007 at 12:24

just spoke to my supplier. He says that there are two types of cutting blades, I can use on my machine. As Peter said, I doesn´t need to cut through, with three passes it should cut deep enough and then you finish it off with a cutter.
thanks for the advice. It’s great when knowledge is shared.
I’ll give it a try, when I build the courage to try it on my machine.
pilot

Member
28 February 2007 at 04:07

quote Emilio:

just spoke to my supplier. He says that there are two types of cutting blades, I can use on my machine. As Peter said, I doesn´t need to cut through, with three passes it should cut deep enough and then you finish it off with a cutter.
thanks for the advice. It’s great when knowledge is shared.
I’ll give it a try, when I build the courage to try it on my machine.

Hi Emilio,

I have SP-540V too. I have never tried to cut multiple passes, because I don´t believe, the cut-line will be in every pass the same, I mean that precise. What is your experience about this on your machine?
Lee Attewell

Member
28 February 2007 at 08:26

Why not just print directly onto the magnetic? If you wipe the surface with IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) then the print should grab. You may also want to increase the head height as well.

I’ve done a fair bit of this on my XC 540 and apart from the rego not being the same on the first print, all was good. You’ll need to run the cut calibration for the new material.

The magnetics come out brilliantly.
Stephen Morriss

Member
28 February 2007 at 15:14

I’ve tried to printing directly to vehicle magnetic, setup with the machine off and manually tried the head over the material but there wasn’t enough clearance and the Versacamm doesn’t have head height adjustment.

Steve
MartinDenton

Member
1 March 2007 at 12:51

We have printed on our sc540 direct to magnet without any problems , however whilst the results were reasonable we found the vinyl the magnet manufacturers use is not the best for digital printing, taken into account the additional risk (Roland say there is risk of head crash) then it is not worth the lower quality print compared to printing on proper digital vinyl and the risk of your machine being out of action

cheers

Martin