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Cutting small lettering
Hi Guys,
I would like to know if its ok that the plotter doesn´t cut that sharp when it comes to small lettering.
I have a lynx GR61, it is set to small letter, got it with the lowest speed, And happened few times that sometimes I got small letters (maybe 3-4 mm height), and they don’t look as good as bigger.
Do you have the same problem or just my plotter isn´t right???
I can post a picture in few days if that helps. At the moment I´m waiting for Internet service to be connected, just moved to a new home.Thank you very much in advance!
Patty.
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7 Replies
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You definitely won’t get the same quality at 3mm! In fact, if you can cut letters at that size and they are usable then you are doing well.
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I agree with andy… if you are managing to cut 3mm high letters then that is good going.
the quality on the small letters are always worse than the bigger letters.
the reason is your machine will probably be a friction fed "drag" blade for speed…. when cutting letters so small the corners will appear imperfect and some short lines like on the top of a lower case letter "t" will not be 100% straight.
what to do is have a look at your cutter manual and see if you have a "Tangental" setting. by setting your cutter to this setting will increase accuracy on very small letters.
remember to return it to the original setting when not cutting small letters as it makes your cutter run slower.a tip: when cutting very small letter. do not weed away the weed border. just tape it as it is and stick it to the sign panel. once applied. remove the application tape, "then" try weeding the text. you will see it is much easier and you do not loose letters.
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3mm cut vinyl text! 😮 😮 😮 Time to think about getting a printer 😕
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Even with a "small text" blade I wouldn’t expect the Lynx machine to be capable of doing text that small without losing out on the quality of cut.
In fact the next machine up from the Lynx, the Jaguar model would find doing 3mm letters hard to do, I have only done 5mm letters with success on the Jaguar.
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I’ve cut pretty small letters before (3/16"), but not without a lot of headache. Had the same problem as you’re mentioning with the warped letters. It does depend on the font as well. San Serif are much easier to cut than a full on serif one like Times Roman. I use to set up a block of troublesome letters on the side in space that didn’t have anything in it. I would then be able to carefully replace some of the letters that got pulled up in weeding. Usually there was a faint outline where the plotter blade engraved a line in the plastic. You do have to be careful doing it that way though, as the letters can stretch. I never thought of doing it the way Robert suggested, but it sounds like a great idea! Anyway that’s my 2 cent.
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Rob Says:
quote :a tip: when cutting very small letter. do not weed away the weed border. just tape it as it is and stick it to the sign panel. once applied. remove the application tape, “then” try weeding the text. you will see it is much easier and you do not loose letters.Definitely much easier and safer doing it this way 😀
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Hi Guys,
Thank you very much for all your replies.
I do agree with Simon that some letters are easier to do than others.
I feel much better and confident about this. In fact, when a customer asks me about a job when involves small letter, I explain about this and I make a sample so they can see how it looks, so I will not have surprises. Just wanted to know if was my machine that needed some service (:).
I´m really happy with my Lynx, it´s making a good job.
Also thank you for the tips!!!
Bill, Actually, I´m thinking in getting involved in printing. I have to make some money before, ha! :lol1:
Now I finally got Internet connected so you will see me around more often. Later I will post some of my work, nothing fancy though.Thank you! Thank you!
Best Regards,
Patty
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