Standard cutter settings – whats yours?

[Gordon Forbes]

Do a test cut you should just score the liner slightly but not too much as you will get delamination (backing paper lifting at the cut when you try to take the letters off to apply.
Different vinyls need different pressure even different colours in the same vinyl need different pressures I have found.
Only takes a few secs to do a test cut. I also slow down the return speed as well as the cuting speed (Dunno if u can do this on the summa haven’t used mine for ages)
If you need new blades try walter mathius I feel his type are better than Roland type anyway.

Goop

[Nick Minall]

I use Omega software with my D60 and for Avery 500 the default is 304 mm/sec and 99gr if that’s any help!

Nick

[Paul Rollason]

Interesting question Hugh

I have a summa d60 and my normal settings are 400mm p/s and usually 90gr of pressure however I have upped this to 100gr as my blade is a little old

paul r

[Kevin.Beck]

i use blades from Harry, i think these are great but seem to wear quickly.

i`m using speed of 800

presure of 75-80 oracal 751 vinyl, 120 for tee shirt vinyl. a new blade starts out at approx 40g presure. when it gets to 100 for vinyl out comes a new one.

How many blades do you use, I know it goes on how much material you use and how many times the blade its the cutting strip, I use approx 1 blade every 5-7 weeks.. is that good or bad.

[steve geary]

My range of cutting pressure is;
Cast – 90g new blade to 125g worn blade
Calendered – 100 to 130
Reflective – 140 to 160

blade lasts about 8 weeks

steve

[Hugh Potter]

i’d never really considered adding pressure to allow for the blade wear,

my cutter used to be on aroun 900mmps when i got it, this was wat too fast for small text, or so i thought, i think it was just not very friendly vinyl, good quality but not suitable for the job !, i slowed the cutter down to 400mmps. but i dont think i’ve ever changed the pressure, only adjusted the depth,

i’ll adjust the pressure and see if the blade gives a little more, it doesnt look badly worn, but what do i know ??!!

amount of vinyl on this blade ?, considering i’ve really only recently started to use larger quantities of vinyls, its hard to say, but i’m guessing somewhere around the 600m mark over the last year since owning the cutter, not huge amounts, but a fair amount i guess, still the original blade,

nearly everything i’ve cut has been normal vinyl, nearly all oracle 651 the last 6 months, a small amount of reflective, and a handful of matt finish,

[Nick Minall]

the over cut is for blade wear to

[Hugh Potter]

that makes sense, i’ll consider that in future when jobs allow it,

[Nick Minall]

And all so do a test cut and see if the off set is right

[Robert Lambie]

Becky, i would say that’s pretty fast for your blade to go down in that time mate. I’ve used Harry’s blades too, found them good and at a very good price. that said, i was a bit fed up with constantly sending back holders etc, even though completely free… i just prefer popping in the new blade and when its done, bin it. I’ve now switched to printone for my blades. i always used printone for my thermal ribbon supplies before moving to wide format. the blades they offer are same as all others on the go as far as appearance etc goes. they do a wide range of cutter blades… the blades are from a reputable source, (Renown) “not resharpened” and are cheaper than Harry’s.
your a uksg member, give Dave a call… printone are putting a new price list and products on offer to the group. not sure if blades are included. but worth a call. 😕

[Kevin.Beck]

the original summa blade lasted nearly twice as long.

I`ll give print one a ring next time.

[Kevin Flowers]

I have a D60 & D120 use Harry’s knives in both last forever pressure starts around 75g new add pressure as its needed when cutting laminated prints pressure 180-200g. blades cut fine & last.
Becky you should beable to increase your pressure and still be getting good cut, i’ve taken blades upto 175g before on normal vinyl (Aslan, Oracle 751c) slightly less on the oracle because its thinner.

Kev

[Martin Pearson]

I have to say I never thought about how long the original graphtec blades lasted compared with others. Robert I use blades supplied by Doro Tape which are the same as Harrys, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if Harry supplied them. The thing I really like about them is that there is no messing about setting them up, just pop the holder in and away you go. Used to have problems sometimes trying to set up blade height with graphtec blades.
I tend to keep about 3 different holders for cutting different materials, especially reflective as this seems to take the edge off a blade really quickly.
Becky I don’t do any T shirts but I thought I had read somewhere that the angle of the blades for T shirt vinyl was different to ordinary vinyl.

[Stephen Morriss]

On my D60 I start off at 85g and then as it wears I increase it, usually stop at 100 – 105g
I find that the blades are fine for a long time then you have to up the pressure near the end of it’s life.
Blades are Koka, they seem to last a long time but I’m not using the cutter heavily every day.

I cut at 600mm/sec most of the time and I also have another holder for difficult materials so that I’m not messing with a well setup blade.

Steve

[Matt Hards]

Can i go slightly off topic and ask how to load a new blade, I have used the two original blades i got with my summa d60, and now onto my third, supplied by solutions 2. I just want to check about the settings, When i load my blade, i drop it in and then screw in the silver bolt over it, how far do i keep screwing it down?? i.e, how much blade sticks out at the bottom, i seem to have a knife pressure of around 120 on a new blade, am i doing something wrong. Sorry to bring an old topic up again.

[Peter Normington]

The blade only needs to prodrude slightly more than the hickness of the vinyl, or "only just" I use a magnifying glass under a bright light to check.

Peter

[Mats Hindmo]

I got a Roland Camm 1

Vinyl 90 – 130
Poliflex 75-90
Blasting Stencil 280 – 330 10 m/s

For rexlective i allways use a special knife (0,5 offset) because it contains crushed glass and will dull the vinylknife quickly.

[Hugh Potter]

quote Matt Hards:

Can i go slightly off topic and ask how to load a new blade, I have used the two original blades i got with my summa d60, and now onto my third, supplied by solutions 2. I just want to check about the settings, When i load my blade, i drop it in and then screw in the silver bolt over it, how far do i keep screwing it down?? i.e, how much blade sticks out at the bottom, i seem to have a knife pressure of around 120 on a new blade, am i doing something wrong. Sorry to bring an old topic up again.

hi Matt, i think it said in the instruction booklet, to put your finger over the end of the holder, and wind the blade down, if it pricks your finger it’s too deep, you should just feel it pushing against your finger tip, then insert holder and test cut, adding about a 1/4 turn until where you want it.

[steve geary]

[quote="Matt Hards"] i seem to have a knife pressure of around 120 on a new blade, am i doing something wrong.quote]

Matt,
I cut cast vinyl at 120 g and calendered at 130 g, pretty much all the time now. I believe a lot of people cut at lower pressure, but that works for me and my blades seem to last at least 3-4 months cutting just about every day.

steve