posted
Yesterday I was cutting some sandblast mask (Hartco 925) on my 30" VersaCamm. It was a line of copy that, when finished, was to have an outline - i.e. I would blast around the outline layer which was masked and then apply vinyl copy to the painted sign to achieve outlined letters.
Anyway, to make a short story long, the mask slowly unwound itself from the roll while I wasn't looking creating a high pulling load for my pinch roller motor. It shut down just before the job finished cutting. I was cutting at a very low speed setting.
So I'm thinking well, maybe I can just finish cutting this thing by hand. I cut out the vinyl copy which was to fit inside the outline, plus the parts that needed to be cut out of the mask yet. IT DIDN'T MATCH WITH THE SANDBLAST MASK OUTLINE!
So now I'm wondering, can I blame this distortion on the fact that for part of the job the motor was rolling a high load, or is there naturally a cutting distortion between thinner and thicker materials on the same machine - vinyl vs. sandblast mask? I need to know before i run through a whole roll of mask and find out I'm shafted.
[ June 12, 2008, 11:52 AM: Message edited by: Patrick Wedel ]
-------------------- Patrick Wedel North Country Signs Barron, Wisconsin Posts: 72 | From: Barron, WI | Registered: Dec 2004
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posted
The answer I got from my dealer was that he didn't recommend using Anchor, but he said a thinner mask should work. That was my question before i started. It seemed to cut fine, until it was having to pull the whole weight of a 10 yd roll off the floor.
-------------------- Patrick Wedel North Country Signs Barron, Wisconsin Posts: 72 | From: Barron, WI | Registered: Dec 2004
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I use my Versacamm occasionally to cut sandblast mask. I use it for long runs because my other plotter's tracking ability is terrible.
I have had the same problem with it unrolling and then pulling too hard and stopping. So now when I do it I just have to stand there and babysit the VC.
I usually cut it as slow as possible to try and limit stress on the machine.
I have had no problems with distortion so I would say it just got out of wack while pulling it from the floor.
posted
Just to clarify, the distortion was not something you would notice of itself. If it would have been plain copy with no outline I would be able to use it. Only when I double-checked it with the vinyl overlay did it become apparent.
I should add too, this sign has a digital print. I wanted everything - mask, vinyl, sign shape pattern, digital print - to come from the same machine to be sure everything would match up, which is why I used the VC.
-------------------- Patrick Wedel North Country Signs Barron, Wisconsin Posts: 72 | From: Barron, WI | Registered: Dec 2004
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Hiya Patrick, The only way I would be assured of accurate registration across different media is to cut everything on a flatbed plotter. Friction fed plotters can slip and sprocket fed plotter materials holes don't always line up, which will cause things not to line up.
As Blake mentioned, you need to babysit the plotter and help feed the material through as it's cycling back and forth. Even then, there are no guarantees it will work.
Havin' fun,
Checkers
-------------------- a.k.a. Brian Born www.CheckersCustom.com Harrisburg, Pa Work Smart, Play Hard Posts: 3775 | From: Harrisburg, Pa. U.S.A. | Registered: Nov 1998
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Well I tried it again, babysitting this time, and I'm glad to report it worked. Little to no distortion. Rest assured though, I wouldn't advise doing it every day.
-------------------- Patrick Wedel North Country Signs Barron, Wisconsin Posts: 72 | From: Barron, WI | Registered: Dec 2004
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I went through the same problems, a long time ago on our Summa machine the text always seemed OK but on a border the shape was distorted, if you compare to a vinyl copy, we just compensate the length by 2% and it works fine everytime, you are compensating for the different thicknesses....hope I made that clear!
posted
I cut Anchor with my old Roland 950. I have an 8 foot plastic topped table. I put the plotter in the middle and let the rubber slide back and forth on the table. The plotter doesn't ever have to pick up the rubber. I also limit the length of a cut to about 4 feet at a time and panelize longer cuts.
-------------------- Dennis Goddard
Gibsonton Fl Posts: 1050 | From: Tampa Fl USA | Registered: Apr 2000
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If you put oversized tires on your truck, the odometer will be off. It's the same with thicker material in your cutter. Graphtec has settings to compensate for this, so I'd assume other cutter makers do also. It requires some experimentation.
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6736 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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