# Do you ever do a "test" cut for intricate designs?



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Hey Vinyl Masters,
*
Quick question for you:*

Let's say you have a really intricate design ready to cut.

When you open it up in your cutting program (in my case CutStudio), it looks like it's ready to go and all the cuts will be perfect.

But then you get a little voice that says, what if it doesn't look how I planned it. The cut lines look "ok", but what if I weed the wrong stuff.

Do you do a test cut on actual vinyl, or is there another way to do a "test" of what you see on the screen?


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## Progeny (Jul 28, 2007)

I don't do test cuts, but i do watch the first cut to check all ok and i check and double check before pressing cut.

With large intricate designs you just need to take your time weeding, don't think i've ever weeded something i should'nt. It's fairly easy to see the design. The mistake i've made before is trying to pull excess off too quickly and pulling a bit of the design off ie the dots on i's, but you can salvage and stick em back on if your'e lucky.

As far as i know the only way you could test the design looks ok is maybe plot with a pen instead of the blade on paper and look but this should only show what the screen does.

Lee


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## plan b (Feb 21, 2007)

Hey,,,, what I normally cut is tiny fonts ,,, the smallest being for shot glasses,,,, so I do a test cut to see if the cutter is cutting cleanly,,, nothing worse than cutting 40 immages and the q, and the f,, and the s,, have hangers where you have to take a exacto knife to it,,, but mine are small designs about2"x2" and 1/8 th inch fonts,, so I can afford to waste a test cut,,,

R.


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## Robin (Aug 28, 2006)

I dont usually do a test cut, but I will print out a paper copy of the design to help me figure out the intricate weeding.

If you want to do a test cut, do a smaller version of the orginal, so you dont waste alot of vinyl.


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## tcrowder (Apr 27, 2006)

Rodney said:


> Hey Vinyl Masters,
> 
> *Quick question for you:*
> 
> But then you get a little voice that says, what if it doesn't look how I planned it. The cut lines look "ok", but what if I weed the wrong stuff.


hmmmm, that little voice is in your head too huh? I have that thought almost every time I click the send button. I am one that wonders  "did I close the garage door" when I'm two blocks from the house every time I leave home.

I leave graphics up on my screen when I'm weeding intricate designs, I find myself double checking to insure I'm weeding the unwanted materials.


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## gerry (Oct 4, 2006)

you can maybe try on sign vynil vinil vinyl if you can get some.I also put the pen tip on sometimes.


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## Chani (Jun 18, 2007)

plan b said:


> Hey,,,, what I normally cut is tiny fonts ,,, the smallest being for shot glasses,,,, so I do a test cut to see if the cutter is cutting cleanly,,, nothing worse than cutting 40 immages and the q, and the f,, and the s,, have hangers where you have to take a exacto knife to it,,, but mine are small designs about2"x2" and 1/8 th inch fonts,, so I can afford to waste a test cut,,,
> 
> R.


This is where I can definitely see the advantage of a test cut.

Otherwise we just go ahead and cut.


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## plan b (Feb 21, 2007)

You bet ,, the oracal 641,, or cast vinyl would be close to the same as heat applied ,, 33 cents a square foot as apposed to 1.50 or so for heat vinyl,,, then you can play around with decals,,, Rodney,, 641 from ordways i think is around 25 bucks for 24 "x 5yd roll,,, You will also appreciate t shirt vinyl after you weed sign vinyl....

R.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> I leave graphics up on my screen when I'm weeding intricate designs, I find myself double checking to insure I'm weeding the unwanted materials.


Great minds think alike. After hovering over the "send" button for a while, I went back to coreldraw and made my graphic look like how I want the t-shirt to look. Changed the background color. Matched the color of the design to the color of the vinyl.

It gives me a much better idea on how to weed it correctly.



> you can maybe try on sign vynil vinil vinyl if you can get some.I also put the pen tip on sometimes.


Another great tip, thanks! I had never compared the costs of sign vinyl to t-shirt vinyl.


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## gerry (Oct 4, 2006)

You can also acid etch and small scale media blast..


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## gerry (Oct 4, 2006)

but it can be hard to remove.


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## mystysue (Aug 27, 2006)

i have done test cuts when designs were really detailed a couple times.. i also print a picture of what it is gonna look like so i know where to weed.. ..


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## plan b (Feb 21, 2007)

acid etch wont do it ,,, I cut the vinyl mirrored,, attach it to the glass and then sand blast for frost effect,, what I get is a logo you can see from the inside of the glass,, did bunch for Tanqueray promoting their vodka,,, now all the rest. bars want them,, go figure,,,

r.


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## gerry (Oct 4, 2006)

very cool..


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## Moo Spot Prints (Jul 16, 2006)

Maybe kind of silly, but it's a PLOTTER! Why not use the pen and draw it on paper first?


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## Chani (Jun 18, 2007)

I'm not sure, but I think Rodney is wondering about the cutter's ability to cut an intricate design properly and doing a test cut to see if it weeds alright.

I may be wrong, tho...


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## gerry (Oct 4, 2006)

Like plan b says about the letters having little hangers ons that need to be cut with an exacto.Ilike to speed weed with coffee and good music so its nice to know if it will weed nice.I generally trust my plotter,and know when its having a bad day so I rarely test cut but sometimes a good idea .


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

The design I was worried about weeding is here: Royalty-free stock Illustration [Vector] | Coat Of Arms | iStockphoto.com









I knew the cutter would cut it, but I was worried about overlapping lines and mostly whether I would remember which parts I need to weed out and which parts I needed to leave in.


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## plan b (Feb 21, 2007)

Rodney I would still do a test cut if it where me,,, its not the problem with the cutter , cutting the pattern its when the cutter makes those sharp turns sometimes if everything is not exactly correct and the knife maybe a little dull it will lift and not completly cut in the sharp turns,,, also sometimes in the sharp turns the vinyl itself will lift if your speed and down pressure isnt correct,, now on heat vinyl this does not seem as bad as sign vinyl because of the sticky backing,,,, how ever any way you go thats going to be very, very cool immage,, thats a $65.00 on of there... Rock on Rodney,,,, vinyl rules....

R.


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## lauerja (Aug 8, 2006)

I do a test cut with paper and a plotter pen. Then you can see what it will look like and clean up any problem areas before wasting material.

I get paper rolls from Office Max and bout plotter pens from Sign Warehouse.


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## Chani (Jun 18, 2007)

Where are the paper rolls at Office Max???

We were searching for some the other day because there's something I'd like to do with pen plotting, but we didn't see them. Do they carry 24" wide rolls?


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Well, I finished weeding it last night. It was fun  










If I was charging a customer for it, at least I have a better idea of the labor involved now.


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## plan b (Feb 21, 2007)

Thats awesome,,, how long did it take you to weed?? you wearing it to the show? R.


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## Square1 (Jun 23, 2007)

tcrowder said:


> hmmmm, that little voice is in your head too huh? I have that thought almost every time I click the send button. I am one that wonders  "did I close the garage door" when I'm two blocks from the house every time I leave home.
> 
> I leave graphics up on my screen when I'm weeding intricate designs, I find myself double checking to insure I'm weeding the unwanted materials.


When I'm going back and forth between stickers and heatpress vinyl in the same week... I usually check like 10x to see if I reversed the image or if I need to keep it normal! 

My shirt designs tend to be decent sized and use a good amount of vinyl. What I do is use my scraps to cut a small version of the image to test cut depth (for changes in vinyl type) and my design. 

It's often a finger-crosser when pressing cut.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

plan b said:


> Thats awesome,,, how long did it take you to weed?? you wearing it to the show? R.


I think it took me about a half an hour to weed. 

In between reading the forum, listening to music and looking at the graphic in coreldraw to make sure I removed the right stuff. 

It's actually flock and not vinyl, so it has a cool texture to it.

Yep, I'll be wearing it to the Printwear show on Saturday.


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## gerry (Oct 4, 2006)

Looks great Rodney.


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## tcrowder (Apr 27, 2006)

Very nice looking design Rodney.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Here's the final pressed shirt:


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## Chani (Jun 18, 2007)

Looks great! Well, other than one thing...the "LEARN - SHARE - NETWORK" needs to follow the contour of the banner in the image a little more.

Otherwise great job!


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## Progeny (Jul 28, 2007)

Looks great, nice design, but i agree with above.

I find flock much easier to work with than vinyl and gives great results that can rival embroidery.

Flock and vinyl layered also looks great as shadows or outlines and looks more expensive.

Lee


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## Moo Spot Prints (Jul 16, 2006)

Grasshopper, you missed 2 spots. See if you can find them.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Chani said:


> Looks great! Well, other than one thing...the "LEARN - SHARE - NETWORK" needs to follow the contour of the banner in the image a little more.
> 
> Otherwise great job!


Yes, I suck at contouring letters to curves.

What I did was create a new oval and tried to match the shape of the banner arch, then attached the text to that curve. 

Is there a better way?


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Moo Spot Prints said:


> Grasshopper, you missed 2 spots. See if you can find them.


I _think_ I know which ones you're talking about. 

They are actually weeded, but my photo is at a weird angle.


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## Moo Spot Prints (Jul 16, 2006)

Rodney said:


> They are actually weeded, but my photo is at a weird angle.


Sure, uh-huh. I understand.


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## Progeny (Jul 28, 2007)

If you do ever miss spots that size you can always heat up again and remove with tweezers, there is also a spray available to remove the vinyl/flock if you make a mistake, but never used it so can't say how good it is.

Lee


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## Moo Spot Prints (Jul 16, 2006)

Rodney said:


> Yes, I suck at contouring letters to curves.
> 
> What I did was create a new oval and tried to match the shape of the banner arch, then attached the text to that curve.
> 
> Is there a better way?


That's the easiest. You probably resized the oval or text and changed the angle. It looks ovaled, just not enough.


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## Chani (Jun 18, 2007)

Or you could just type out your text and use the envelope editing tool. 

Or you could just select your text and press fit text to path and select your actual clipart and the adjust placement of your text.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> Or you could just type out your text and use the envelope editing tool.


Envelope editing tool? Which program is that in?


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Moo Spot Prints said:


> Sure, uh-huh. I understand.


See, I knew I should have done a test cut  

I still don't even see that line cut on the finished esign, even though it shows the cutlines in cutstudio. I probably pressed it shut...lol.

Good thing I'm not selling this one.


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## Chani (Jun 18, 2007)

The only one that matters. 

You said you were using Corel earlier in this thread, so that's the one I'm talking about. 

What version do you have? I'm talking about X3, and the envelope editing tool is in the dockers.


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## Moo Spot Prints (Jul 16, 2006)

Rodney said:


> See, I knew I should have done a test cut
> 
> I still don't even see that line cut on the finished esign, even though it shows the cutlines in cutstudio. I probably pressed it shut...lol.
> 
> Good thing I'm not selling this one.


It's only obvious to me/us because a) you made a big deal about it and b) we weed all the time and look for this kind of stuff. Sounds like you need to use your plotter a little more. You get better at it with practice. Still, even with practice you screw up. That's what markup is for.

Can't wait to see the finished product in person. It does look good. I'm only teasing!


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> What version do you have? I'm talking about X3, and the envelope editing tool is in the dockers.


Thanks, I'm not familiar with that tool (as you can tell ), so I'll have to check it out and play with it a bit.

I'm using coreldraw x3


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## Chani (Jun 18, 2007)

When you check it out, grab one of the nodes of the envelope and hold the shift or control key to see what it does. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.


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## Chani (Jun 18, 2007)

This was done only with the envelope tool.


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## Chani (Jun 18, 2007)

And this one was done with Fit Text to Path.


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## Square1 (Jun 23, 2007)

Hey Rodney... were you at the Expo in Long Beach? If so, I should have said what's up... I'm pretty sure that I saw this design on someone there and I couldn't place where I saw it til I was on my way home! 

I didn't notice the Tshirtforums logo... lol. Too overwhelmed by all the vendors to think.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Square1 said:


> Hey Rodney... were you at the Expo in Long Beach? If so, I should have said what's up... I'm pretty sure that I saw this design on someone there and I couldn't place where I saw it til I was on my way home!
> 
> I didn't notice the Tshirtforums logo... lol. Too overwhelmed by all the vendors to think.


Yep, I was there. There's a topic over here about a few forum members who met up at the Long Beach show: http://www.t-shirtforums.com/offline-retail-tradeshows/t19915.html


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## BRC (Mar 27, 2007)

If you mess up on multiple copies for a customer just remember to mess them all up the same way, then they will blame the artwork not the weeding. On designs like this I start on the outside and weed towards the middle, removing every other section. The hard ones are where the big parts are removed and the small ones stay in the design. Once you do a few designs it gets easier, I always tell my customers that it was just the first thousand or so that were hard.


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