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Small Vinyl Lettering
Hi All,
When I cut small vinyl lettering the waste does seem to come away from the text cleanly, pulling the letters with it, but on larger lettering it is fine.
Should I be cutting the smaller lettering on a slower speed?
Any ideas/answers please.
Kind Regards
Jason:police: Mod-Edit
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27 Replies
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Jason don’t know what plotter you are using but it sounds like you need to increase your pressure. there should be no difference between large or small.
Lynn
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Graphtec FC8000-60, I tried putting more pressure/force, but then ended up cutting nearly all the way through, I did do it in stages I hasten to add. Thats why I thought that if I cut it slower that might help.
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Jason speed should make no difference, maybe off set or something have you tried graphtecs forum? I haven’t got the same graphtec plotter as you but have never had that problem, sorry
Lynn
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Do you have a simulated tangential mode on that plotter? If so, use that. that’s what it’s for. I can cut 6mm caps on calendered vinyl using tangential mode and weeding is simply a case of ripping the vinyl off in one swipe, one line at a time. It’ll be in the mode menu on the plotter.
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how small is small ! you have to take a bit more care when weeding really small stuff, iv just done a rake of 10mm text took ages to weed but still weeds ok, i also use a graphtec, i do all my cutting at the same speed small and big text, what vinyl are you using and what sort of temp is it where your weeding !
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I agree with Alan I do a lot of small stuff, it does take more care to weed, and also depends on the font you use, also depends on vinyl, I have never had a temperature issue.
Lynn
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Mattys tip of the day!!
Cover the whole area of cut vinyl with application tape before weeding.
Turn the vinyl over so application tape down.
Take of silicon backing paper so left with vinyl glue side up.
weed unwanted vinyl and then put silicon baking back on!
Hope this makes sense, I’ve had a few beers, but we call it reverse weeding.
Maybe I should start a book….eh Peter!! -
not really a good idea Matty cause it’s harder to get the bit’s of the app tape than the backing paper 🙄
and Peter is in bed 😀Lynn
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Try it Lynn! Seriously, try it on small lettering. We swear by it. How many times have you had re-cut dots of i’s, full stops etc…time is money!!!!!!
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I have tried that method Matty and for really small lettering it does work, everything stays where it is meant to.
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I increase the pressure a bit and find it best to cut it the night before and leave it shrink a bit. 7mm is the smallest I can cut (bold sans serif) if they want smaller than that or serif/silly it gets printed :lol1:
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another thought, is your cutting strip ok ?
Lynn
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Karen….What vinyl do you use that shrinks over night!
You’ve got me worrying that jobs have done years ago have disappeared! 😮 😮 😮
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I also use the reverse weeding method and it too works a treat on small lettering, esp thin stuff……….pop out the centres of letters and leave a tight box round the text, weed as soon after application as possible…
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What I think Karen means is to leave the vinyl rest after cutting it.
If you can afford the time, wait a day until you weed.
There is a difference.
I have noticed that temperature does matter too.Do you perhaps need a new blade?
I want to try and figure out the tangenital (sp?) settings if I have them on my Graphtec.
Someone was just telling me about those today.And I am guilty of hand-cutting i dots and even a few letters that go missing out of the scraps I’m weeding.
😳
Love…..Jill -
quote Matty Goodwin:Try it Lynn! Seriously, try it on small lettering. We swear by it. How many times have you had re-cut dots of i’s, full stops etc…time is money!!!!!!I agree Matty. Done this a few times with great success.
I did one the other day tho, that I applied to the job and pulled off the waste. Lots and lots of small letters. Nearly drove my mum round the twist…
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I quite often have to do small (4.5mm) text in U & L case. Just small ‘plaques’ for grave flowers holders – so faster to do as cut vinyl than set up the printer.
Always just apply the whole lot – unweeded to the substrate & peel off the background straight away – then pick out the centres.
Doing this method I’ve produced down to 0.2mm thick lines and 3mm CAPS without any issues…all perfectly formed.
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I do it as David said.
I sometimes have to cut very small, intricate designs for sandblasting.
I use the following techniques:
a) I use a new blade / low pressure. ( This blade eventually gets "rotated" to normal cutting, and from there to the SP where cuts are normally simple circles or blocks)
b) Cut, Application tape, Apply, Weed,.
c) Try different vinyls. Some work better. Even in the same range you find differences, propably down to the age of the vinyl. (also there seems differences between colours, but that could once again be down to the age. I dunno.)
d) In extreme cases, I cut, then roll up the vinyl tightly overnight, then apply and weed the next day.
RE the original question: Yes, I do slow things down when cutting very small stuff. With the drag knife cutters it seems to reduce the chance of letters being ripped from the vinyl while you are cutting.
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quote Jillbeans:What I think Karen means is to leave the vinyl rest after cutting it.
If you can afford the time, wait a day until you weed.
There is a difference.
I have noticed that temperature does matter too.Cheers Jill :lol1: You notice it with dark colours, leave it overnight you’ll see a white edge . . . Don’t think your lettering will shrink that much Matty, if it does you may need help!!
Going to try the reverse method tho, heard about doing it that way, but never done it. . . . reckon we should have a competition, "How small can you go?" (might not be so popular with the blokes though! 😉 )
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Karen I think you are my new favorite sign gal.
:lol1: -
Being young and naive Karen, I have no idea what you are talking about 😳
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Just inadvertently tried Karens ‘overnight’ tip….I cut some small stuff 2 days ago ..in black…and lo and behold when I got back to it today ….shrinkage……..simples…I like it. No more small punctuation marks etc lost or fiddled about with.. :thumbsup:
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quote Shane Drew:Being young and naive Karen, I have no idea what you are talking about 😳
:lol1: Yeah, yeah we believe you!
All this talk about shrinkage reminds me of that programme on Channel 4 the other night! The 2 Australian "puppeteers" were funny though :dance1: I won’t put the link in case it offends any delicate souls!!
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quote Karen Spooner:quote Shane Drew:Being young and naive Karen, I have no idea what you are talking about 😳
:lol1: Yeah, yeah we believe you!
All this talk about shrinkage reminds me of that programme on Channel 4 the other night! The 2 Australian “puppeteers” were funny though :dance1: I won’t put the link in case it offends any delicate souls!!
Australians? offensive? never!
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quote Gert du Preez:I do it as David said.I sometimes have to cut very small, intricate designs for sandblasting.
Do you use paint mask or sign vinyl for the sandblasting please Gert?
I’ll give Karen’s idea a spin as I’m always struggling with small text.
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Andrew,
I use sign vinyl. Paint mask does not adhere strongly enough.
I mostly use Avery MPI 300 vinyl, since I always have stacks of reel-ends from the printers lying around. This vinyl is quite thick, so when things get really small, I go for Avery 700 series.
For the past 12 years or so I have been plotting the sandblast masks for an artist that does accurate reproductions of well known Namibian rock paintings on wine / beer glasses etc. . It is a pain, but I feel sorry for the old bat, so I keep helping her. At least I dont have to weed that lot!!
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quote Gert du Preez:Andrew,
I use sign vinyl. Paint mask does not adhere strongly enough.
I mostly use Avery MPI 300 vinyl, since I always have stacks of reel-ends from the printers lying around. This vinyl is quite thick, so when things get really small, I go for Avery 700 series.
For the past 12 years or so I have been plotting the sandblast masks for an artist that does accurate reproductions of well known Namibian rock paintings on wine / beer glasses etc. . It is a pain, but I feel sorry for the old bat, so I keep helping her. At least I dont have to weed that lot!!
Wow, I have always been told paint mask was thicker even though I too use vinyl for a resist.
I will have to try the shrinkage method as recently I have been loosing the centres of "R’s" Maybe it’s my eyesight going 😳
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