What Gram Force is usual ?

[Peter Normington]

Frank,
that seems a bit high, did you start off lower?
I would say with a new blade 65ish would be a about right, if you have increased to that much, you may find the blade is on its way out, and although good for large vectors, will struggle to cut small text.
Peter

[David Rogers]

It really depends on the plotter manufacturer. My Summa starts off at 105g with a new blade on 5-7 calendared vinyl…creeping up gradually to 160 before I decide it’s time for a new one!

Dave

[Warren Beard]

My summa started at 80 and now after 9 months it is up to 90 but sometimes cuts through the backing paper in the odd little spot but is still better than 85 which misses the odd spot.

[Mike Fear]

On my Roland it would be 80g with a brand new blade, going up to 100g as the blade wears ( then its replaced ) – if cutting chrome or thick material it would be 130g for a new blade, up to 160g as it wears.

I have found with the cheap resharpened blades that they need a heavier force – they also wear out really quickly, so normally end up costing more in the long run than the new blades I usually buy.

[Frank_Galloway]

I think the blade is an Edward Mathias fixed jobbie (annodised blue ring)

I’ve ordered a new blade to be sure anyway – but thought I’d ask here….
i was cutting Oracal 651 using my Roland Camm-1 pro CM500

thanks for the replies – now I know what sort of force to start off with when new blade arrives so as not to damage either the new blade or the cutting strip when i test for 1st time..

must say i was suprised that Mathias didn;t want payment – they just said an invoice would be included and pay by cheque… very trusting environment this sign business 😀

[Frank_Galloway]

quote Peter Normington:

Frank,
that seems a bit high, did you start off lower?

hi Peter… yes i started by doing all the test cuts to get the offset and force correct… started at 90GF…. worked up in increments of 10..

basically it just didn;t weed until 150 – ok 90GF wasn;t really doing much to start with… and yes i checked the blade holder was in correct position 😉

thanks for the replies as i mentioned before… hopefully the new blade will be the right one !

Oh – does anyone know where you can get the "sheet cut" blades from for a Roland ? – that blade is definately blunt on my machine :lol1:

[Hugh Potter]

on oracle 651 i would start on about 80-90g for a new blade, but remember to get the depth right, i just changed a blade, and didn’t set it shallow enough, looked goot on the test cut, but when i cam to fitting a load of etch today, with text in it, i had all sorts of probs cos it had nicked thru the backing in places, causing the silicone layer to delaminate ! not fun for sure.

on reflective (nikkalite etc) i usually go to about 130-140g, and more depth.

carbon and chrome around 90-100 but shallower than std vinyl,

751 the same as carbon etc.

if you do a search, with me as the author, you’ll find a similar post to this which i posted a year or so back, might be helpful to you.

found it….. http://www.uksignboards.com/viewtopic.p … r+pressure

Hugh

[Frank_Galloway]

Hi Hugh and everyone… well my SmartKnife arrived in the post today so i’ve just tested it – and yes 80GF cuts perfect – bit less force than the 150 on the old knife :lol1:

I’ll be sending that one back to be replaced/resharpened…

It’s good this lark when you have the right contacts 😉

cheers guys !

[John Childs]

Frank,

70/80 micron calendered vinyl – start at about 80 gram with a new blade and on up to about 150 where we would change the blade when the quality of cut deteriorated.

What do the sheet cutting blades look like? We might have some in a box somewhere.

[Frank_Galloway]

hi John,

yep those GF’s you mention are right on the money.. got a new blade in there now and all going well 😀
the sheet cutting blade is as follows….. if you do have any spare that would be great! 😀

[Ian Bingham]

we have roland 1220 new blade 60 then up to 120 then change, but the versa camm starts at 110 then up to 200 when cutting laminated prints#

Ian

[Tim Painter]

Hi Frank

I need to sort some sheet cutting blades for my Roland also.

After some Googling…..I found if you Google ‘OLFA KB’ you will get some UK stationers that carry the blades. Packed it 25’s

Tim.

[Frank_Galloway]

Thanks Tim !

I had tried searching for Olfa blades but there were just knife sets and didn’t think those blades were the same – so thanks for the hint on the "KB" bit !

it’s good to know the full name for these
"Olfa Art Knife KB 32.5degrees .45mm thick"

only £4 odd for 25….

luvely jubbly 😀