I have a bunch of reflective to cut tomorrow. I need to buy a new blade anyway, so I was wondering what you guys use for reflective? 45° or 60°?
I have never ever tried a 60° blade before, so I will probably buy one of each, but it would be nice to hear some input anyway.
Posted by Joe Rees (Member # 211) on :
I really don't think you'll need that 60 Dave. I use 'em for cutting rubber only. The blade's too pointy and it will either chip or cut your backing paper. 45 will be just dandy.
Posted by Bill Preston (Member # 1314) on :
Hey, Dave,
After my fooraw on the metallic vinyls, I'm almost afraid to answer.
Anyway, 60 degree is probably what most would recommend. Watch your down pressure, tho', it takes quite a bit more to get thru this stuff. On the other hand, too much, and it rips and makes loud, expensive noises.
On your cutting speed, take advice from others who have more experience than I do.
Have fun.
Posted by Jason Davie (Member # 2172) on :
I do quite a bit with reflective.I have one customer that only uses reflective and have done his whole fleet over in it. (20+ trucks) You can use a 45 deg. blade but a 60 deg works so much nicer. just watch your down force so its nut cutting real deep into the backer... Hope this helps..
Jason
Posted by Raleigh Parker (Member # 2468) on :
Dave I've cut a lot of reflective on my 12 year old super sprint with it's standard blade. I've found if you slow it way down the blade will last a long time. Hope this helps Raleigh
Posted by Jon Butterworth (Member # 227) on :
Dave, we found that unless you buy blades specifically made for cutting reflective material (very expensive here)any regular blade will quickly wear out.
Sue saves all our old "used" 45o blades and sets the Graphtec plotter on "thick sheets" we never have any weeding problems.
Posted by Mark Neurohr (Member # 2470) on :
Dave, Unfortunately, I cut a bunch of the reflective stuff too! Honestly... I really don't know what degree my blade is!!!??? Probibly 45 or 60???
Here's what I do:
Slow plotter down to 10% setting. Increase downforce setting to aprox 10.4 grams (400% above what I cut cut 2 mil cast) CRING everytime a customer want to use this stuff!
NEVER, NEVER!!!! Never cut other vinyl with the same blade after using it on reflective, cause it will tear the other substrates!!!
Did I mention "NEVER"??????
Posted by Bill Cosharek (Member # 1274) on :
Dave,
If your Roland is a drag-knife type & you use the 60 decree blade, you'll probably have to change blade offset to whatever's recommended. (I don't know what that is cause I don't use a Roland)
Good luck,
Posted by Gavin Chachere (Member # 1443) on :
I use the roland ZECU 45 blade
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
dave there are a coupled different produced types of reflective s*** out there. i had one roll, dont remember the brand but it was like tryin to cut aluminum foil. and it ate the blade(45 degree). i bought some or the ORACAL(did i mention i dont like ORACAL?)this stuff cuts like butter. it not a metal like the other stuff was. this is more of a shiny vinyl and it does stratch easily, but is easy to cut. as for 60 degree blade, i have one i use on the PNC-1100 and on hi-perf vinyl i use only 80 grams down force and on calendared i use 120 grams. whereas on a 45 i need 160-180 on calendared and 120-130 on HP. and yes a 60 will cut small sytuff and fancy a lot cleaner and weeds easily.
Posted by Tim (Member # 1699) on :
Heya Dave, just finished cutting 100+ yards of Avery's engineer grade reflective here for the hospital. I've never had success with a 60 degree blade on this stuff. I used the same 45 degree blade thats been in the plotter for about 4 months now, and figuring I'd probably be finishing off the blade by the end of the job. Well, so I was wrong, the blade is still just a fine cutting as I started. I was using it @ 90 grams force for Avery's A8 before the reflective stuff, and did a test cut after, and 90 grams is still perfect, I've probably ran 200+yds of Avery A8 after it and its still as sharp as ever. Fooled me! One sidenote, I am using a Roland cx24 but the real key is the blade, its japanese, not the cheesy American cheapo. Sure they cost 50% more, but they last 400% longer than the cheapies.
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Thanks for the input folks. Seems that there was divided opinion on the 45° vs. 60° blades. So I went into town today and got one of each, brand new.
Tried a test cut with the 60° blade first, with slowest speed and maximum pressure. It cut the Avery Engineer grade reflective like it was butter. Including some san-serif letters that were only 3/8" high. Even they weeded beautifully!
I think I have a winner blade here...I'll put it away in a safe place with a big label on it "Reflective Only"
Thanks again.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
boy iam i way off...i thought you were talkin about the mirror vinyl. DUH!!!!!! sometimes i just dont read it right!!!
