Setting blade depth

[George Neagu]

quote Daniel Evans:

Hey guys,

So I’ve been using smart blades ever since I can remember, I now think I want to try the original blades.

I was always told to set the blade depth to half a credit card size.

I now understand that you need to set the depth for each vinyl so that it only cuts through the vinyl layer but scores the backing paper.

This is fairly easy to do but no one mentions about pressure / force settings and here is my issue.

If you set the settings to I.e 300gf, the blades is never gonna go anymore than just scoring the backing paper, what’s the point in having those settings in the software then?

So what is the correct way to set up the blade depth?

Hi Daniel,
I only used original blades on my Graphtec but the settings depends on your cutter, of course, so first thing first read the manual of your cutter and learn how to set up the blade.

As a general rule, that’s how you set up the blade:
– the blade has to be extended a little bit more than the thickness of the vinyl. If the blade is extended too much you might have troubles with corners and other small curves.
– put the blade into your cutter and do a test cut. Start with very low force and increase in steps until you are happy with the results.
– a "perfect" cut means the vinyl is easy to weed and the blade leaves faint lines on the backing paper. The backing paper should not be scored or it will split when you lift up the letters.

But I repeat, the manual will provide clear directions to set up the blade.

Cheers

[Daniel Evans]

Not even sure I can fond my graphtec manual but I did take a look at the roland one from the course i went on recently and i’ve set my blade how they tell me and to get it to cut I need to set the force to 300gf.

I’ll just have to extend the blade more and lower the force.

Thanks

[George Neagu]

quote Daniel Evans:

Not even sure I can fond my graphtec manual but I did take a look at the roland one from the course i went on recently and i’ve set my blade how they tell me and to get it to cut I need to set the force to 300gf.

I’ll just have to extend the blade more and lower the force.

Thanks

The manual must be somewhere online. Roland might have different approach for setting up the blade.

What model is you Graphtec? 300gf is usually the top limit and that’s a LOT for sign vinyl.
I cut sign vinyl at 120gf on CE6000-60.

Btw, what course did you take?

[David Hammond]

We used to use genuine blades, now use smart blades.

What are you looking to gain by switching back to genuine ones?

The blade depth can be adjusted on the original holder, but we just added more pressure to cut thicker vinyl.

Our only exception was when we cut 440mic PVC on it.

[Daniel Evans]

The reason for going back is due to cutting strips.

Supposedly, you’re are supposed to set the blades so it doesn’t go through the backing paper, with the smart blades the depth is already pre configured so it will go through all types of thicknesses, using these will give you a far greater risk of having to get new cutting strips and less likely to get a perfect cut.

I’ve always thought the smart blades were OK and quick but I wouldn’t say they were perfect.

[David Hammond]

Get a high impact ‘felt’ cutting strip 😉 same price as normal ones but last longer, and if your plotter can perf cut, it’ll help no end!

I tend to find adjusting the pressure is enough for most vinyl, from cast vinyl, to laminated digi print.

We usually have conditions set for our most common media, still do a test cut before a job to make sure.

[Pane Talev Pane Talev]

Hi Daniel.

I use smart knifes for over 10 years now.

I simply will not change a team that is winning.

Cheers.

[Daniel Evans]

David, where do you get the felt cutting strip? Never heard of this.

I think you guys are right, why fix it when it’s not broken.

[David Hammond]

Graphtec UK have an online shop, or signmaster, edward Mathias too, they’re all the same price so makes no difference.

We’ve been running a felt strip sonce Sign & Digital, works well, and saves us trimming 100’s of labels out by hand. We usually weed it out leaving the reg marks in place then run the perf cut. :thumbsup:

[Stafford Cox Stafford Cox]

Hi Dan, I hope you’re well?

Try the attached document from Roland…

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Attachments:

Roland Cutter Blade Knowledge.pdf