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What causes incomplete cuts ?
Evening everyone 🙂
I am experiencing a problem which I hope someone can help me with, am sure this isn’t the first time this will have been raised ?
I have a Foison C24 Vinyl Cutter and I am using a Jaguar blade holder and small text blade.
I am having problems when I cut work in that, when it comes to weeding sometimes the vinyl hasn’t been cut all the way through and it’s impossible to weed and the job ruined.
I thought I would run a test to better demonstrate whats going on, here are some pics :
This is the file I cut from, simple alphabet in upper and lower case 500mm long.
This shows what happens when I try to remove the border, while most of it pulls free there are parts where when the cutter head was cutting a horizontal line, as I was watching it I could see the line getting fainter and in a few parts it didn’t even cut a line at all !
The letter Z and G here better represent whats happening, the cut on the bottom of the letter G is so fine you struggle to see it, weeding this was impossible as it had not cut all the way through yet previous letters were 100% fine – am well baffled, faulty / bent runner maybe ?
This shows simple text and even that cannot be weeded 🙁
Finally do these strips wear ? could this be at fault ?
Am baffled as to why this is happening, I have asked the manufacturer twice now for help and I have been ignored both times, maybe there aware of the fault and don’t want to fess up ?
Even with extra pressure and I mean a silly amount doesn’t cure this on some jobs I have done.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance.
Matt 🙂
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31 Replies
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From the malformed cuts & dodgy direction changes.
Check the blade holder bearings. If the blade spinning freely?
If the entire cradle assembly tight (not wobbling about).
Would also suggest you inspect your cutting strip for wear (grooves).
And…is the blade sharp & still have the tip?
If you’ve accidentally run the blade on the strip (vinyl came out etc.) there’s a high probability of doing a little bit of damage.
Dave
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Hi Diablo
Two things come to my mind with that machine
1. How fast are you cutting the vinyl
2. what is the degree angle of the blade used
Paul
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My cutter does this as well.
(but mine is an ancient 4E)
When this starts to happen it is usually needing a new blade, but sometimes it does it even worse with a new blade.
I have to manually add weights.I clean off my sprockets in case any gunk has accumulated, oil my metal bars, and blow it out with compressed air.
Sometimes it helps, sometimes not.
Also, I have noticed when using freeware fonts sometimes they have wonky nodes.
Love….Jill -
with the others
my guess
blunt knife being run with to much pressure so cutting in parts not others as the blade is like aquaplaning at speed.
chris
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I’m not sure of the problem but all your letters have lifted corners and edges which looks like it’s caused by the blade, I have never had letters looking like that before weeding 😮
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Thanks for the advice folks, much appreciated.
I can confirm the head feels tight and solid in the cutter.
This cutting strip, can it be replaced ? I haven’t done that much work on the cutter but when I first got it I was learning about all the settings as you do and there’s a chance I could have cut deep into this.
The blade is a 45 degree angle one and does spin freely and is fairly new, not cut that much with it at all.
Speed I am using is 50, lowest it will go on and pressure is 28.
The malformed cuts seam to happen more to the other side of the horizontal part of the cutter, at 0mm and for about 10 – 15cm across its fine but the wider the job the worse it gets.
Does this info shed any light on what could be the cause ?
Thanks again for your input 😀
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Just looking at your bottom picture again.
Even the one that cut through fine, the actual text looks a bit malformed… 😕 Maybe you’ve not noticed as it might have been getting gradually worse – but it’s a bit ropey.
Dave
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I’d just like to add that the gold pic at the bottom I put on was from a while ago when I was using older blade holders and rubbish blades, the top pics are todays pics, the X for exmple in pic has straight edges.
I am happy with the work it produces just why in some places does it either not cut at all or only score the vinyl ?
Interesting that you said aquaplaning at speed Chris as when I watched the cutter head doing a long horizontal line 3/4 of the way across fine then all of a sudden just a light score on the vinyl.
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quote :and is fairly new, not cut that much with it at all.
does not matter how new it is, i think the tip has snapped off.
have a look with a eye glass it has to go to a point.hope i am right 😳
chris
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What vinyl are you cutting?
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Matt
does this happen when you cut in both directions?The other suggestions are the primary causes but I had a similar problem with an older cutter once, the cross carrier for the head was actually bending when the pinch rollers were clamped down, only slightly, but enough to make the pressure less in the middle than at the edges
Peter
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I would guess the following:
Faulty blade holder,
Incorrect blade,
Damaged blade,
Wrong blade angle,
Faulty cutting strip,
Blade sticking out to far from the holder.Just guessing but you never know. 😉
The suppliers or makers ignoring you though once again reiterates points made before regarding the cheapy machines. They aren’t interested at all.
You can buy a decent branded second hand machine on ebay all the time for 200 quid. -
Diablo
Ok what I think is a good idea is replace the cutter blade if you have been running on the strip as this will blunt the blade very fast, then do a depth test with the cutter set high to start and then bit by bit lower it to the wright height if you see what I mean
Speed set at 50 to 150 is good I would not go faster than that, 45 degree is fine also,
Make sure you fit the new cutter as per the details in the user book
http://www.signwizard.co.uk/files/bladeholder1.pdf
Depth test is done with the machine online with vinyl loaded just push the REPEAT button and look and adjust to suite.
Then do a test cut with the machine offline vinyl loaded just push the TEST button and see how it cut that block out.
And that should sort the problem out I would think
Paul
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quote Chris Wool:quote :and is fairly new, not cut that much with it at all.
does not matter how new it is, i think the tip has snapped off.
have a look with a eye glass it has to go to a point.hope i am right 😳
chris
I’ve had a look best I can Chris and from what I can see held up to the light it looks like theres a point on there to me.
I did cut this dragons head this morning and stuck it on my fridge :
The whole blue thing is only about 3cm square and the teeth are sub 1mm so would this suggest the blade tip is fine ?
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Wow more replies than I can keep up with this is great, didn’t get a single one in the manufacturers site.
Karl – Vinyl I am using is Oracal 751C
Peter – Good question ! but it seams to be happening both horizontally and vertically although more horizontal for some reason.
Karl – I got a new jaguar III blade holder and new small text 45 degree cutting blade, cost me 90 odd quid for the two, also the tip of the blade sticking out is like 0.3mm you can literally just see the tip.
Paul – I have done the cut test and it came out perfect, the box with the lines cut diagonally across it and while cutting close to point zero on the cutter is always fine the further across I go or bigger jobs I do the more problems I get.
I am starting to think this cutting strip could be at fault now ?
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Hi Ya
not sure but think that these stripes may be able to be turned over ???
dose it do the same thing using the pen with paper loaded ???
Paul
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most cutting strips can be flipped!!
Can you set the offset? I think the cutter may be set at the wrong angle for the blade?
It should tell you offset on the box of the new blade – make sure the cutter is set to the same angle.
a slight variance between the two can cause wierd problems when cutting
good luck!
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:dance1: THANK YOU EVERYBODY :dance1:
YEEEEEEEEEEEHA 😀
Just wanna say a HUGE thank you to everyone who’s offered advice today.
All of the suggestions were really good, ones I would never have thought about, I never even considered trying the pen for example and if this would have worked then it would have identified it as being the blade / holder at fault but that never even crossed my mind.
Anyway, wanna know how I solved it ? could be good education for all 😀
It was in fact, that nasty cutting strip, I picked up an edge but it was glued down, still I pulled it outta there and swapped sides, the other side was very smooth in comparison, I put the strip back in but it hasn’t seated as well and it seams to be a bit higher than before so I dropped the pressure from 28 to 18, did a test cut and it was perfect first time.
I tried several long horizontal cuts, no problem and I’ve not been able to successfully cut this far across the width of the cutter since I had it 😀
Thanks again guys, can’t thank you enough for your help and support, gonna join this excellent forum as soon as I can, dunno now what I would do without it 😀
Cheers again.
Matt 😀
:thanks2:
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Hooray!
Now please do us all a favor and delete that nasty font from your computer.
:lol1:
Love….Jill -
Heyyyy I like that font lol 😎
This is a pic of me forum name for me motorbike screen, blue chrome foil as a base (shadow effect) and white on top 😎 😎
You wanna try changing the strip on yours Jill it might help your malformed cuts too 😀
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My cutter is 20 years old, there are no strips on it just metal.
😉Check out these font links for a decent script and you will never go back to that Redneck-looking thing:
http://www.artandsignstudio.com/valentino.html
http://www.signdna.com/v2/cart/category.php?gp=32&id=35
http://www.letterheadfonts.com/styles/script.shtml
(I think I just threw up in my mouth a little…I’m kidding!!!)
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Thanks for the linkies Jill 😀
Some nice fonts there but the problem I would have is if the font is too thin then its liable to snap when cleaning the bike, they get pretty dirty at 175mph+ 😳
😎
P.S. Whats a red neck ?
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pleased you are sorted and i bet you now know more about your plotter than before, enabling you to keep it running sweet.
chris
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Cheers Chris 🙂
Well I went onto the forum of the manufacturer to let the customers there know of a solution how to cut better, basically a new blade holder and blade are essential, yet I was threatened by admin there to be banned for my post 😮
I don’t know whether it was because I posted the picture that said thank you uksignboards.com or whether it was because I was frustrated that after 3 posts I had no support from them whatsoever, yet I come in here and after just 5 mins not only had I received more support than all my time in the manufacturers forum but the problem was solved within minutes.
They sell a sub standard product clearly not fit for purpose out of the box and when you ask em for help there is none, it seams they want to just sell you the product and then you keep quiet when the facts are all customers of Foison are suffering with the same problem.
I won’t be going back there thats for sure, not with service like that (:)
Cheers again everyone 😀
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I know the exact forum you mean Diablo as I had a C24 and got absolutely no help whatsoever from them.
Did they give you the generic excuses of "Install newer drivers, check USB cable etc"? Even though it was clearly a cut problem.
Also did you read the disclaimer that comes with the cutter when delivered? It basically says that you have to open and install the machine before signing for it as they wont accept any responsibility once you sign!! How many couriers do you know who will sit outside your place of work while you unpack and install a machine?
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Blimey Paul that is bad I wasn’t aware of that.
What annoyed me most was they was answering posts to newbies wanting to buy the product, couldn’t help them enough, but when people post that their cutter isn’t working right they don’t wanna know (:)
Through lots of research I managed to sort it though, all I wanted to do was small text work and Foison said the machine will not cut anything less than 10mm square and you would need to spend thousands on a cutter to achieve sub 10mm, so how come I did this with the same cutter lol.
All it needed was a change of blade and blade holder and some fine tweaking, but the customers shouldn’t have to tell the manufacturer how to fix their own sub standard product.. I dunno, cowboys.. (:)
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That is why a membership to UKSB is worth its weight in gold. Instant access, instant answers. And also some interesting badinage from the usual suspects.
Love….Jill -
I use Valentino a lot, I bought that a while ago its a great font
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I had the same problem with my cutter and turning the strip has made a big difference.
Thanks 😀 -
hi Richard
welcome to the boards, I see you registered a couple of years ago though.
You have answered to quite an old post, so not sure if you were aware of that, or just that you found an answer to a particular problem.
any way dont be shy, say hello,
we dont bite (well only occasionally)Peter
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Hi Peter yes I did notice it was an old thread but I found it helped me out so thought I would give my feedback others may have the same problem.
Yes I found the Say Hello section and said hello 😀 seems a nice friendly place.
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