# Help with cutting small circles using Graphtech plotter



## bigned66 (Jul 26, 2011)

I am trying to cut very small circles (1mm in diameter) and channels (.25 mm) using a Craft Robo pro CE5000-40. My problem is that sometimes my circles do not connect. I found out that the offset is what fixes this problem. So I changed my offset to +2. This did the trick on the circles but now my channels are very sloppy around the edges. When I put my offset back to 0 the channels looked fine once again and the circles didn't connect. It seems that I have to either choose to have nice circles, or nice corners. Is there any way I can get nice circles AND good corners? Also, some circles come out fine, and others don't. How can that be if they are drawn identically in my illustrator software?

I have looked into many of these forums and found people who had similar problems with small circles. They solved their problems by changing the pressure, offset, and overcut. Unfortunately they used different models and had different settings. They were told to set offset to .025? I only have -4,-3,-2,-1,0,+1,+2,+3,+4 what do these mean and how can I convert these settings to the proper .025?

Also, what is overcut? Will it help my problem? Lastly, I also read that pressure should be set to 105. My cutter goes by "force" instead of pressure and my settings go from 1 to 31. Whats the equivalent of 105 in pressure units?

My settings are as follows: Blade: CB09 UA, Force: 31, Speed: 5, Quality: 1, Offset: +2

Let me know if you need pictures of my problem. Thanks for you help


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## Nick Horvath (Feb 26, 2010)

An improper Offset setting will show in your corners mostly. You will either have corners that extend out too much or in too much. You want straight, sharp corners.

Overcut basically will continue cutting past the point of where the blade would normally stop on each cut. So for instance instead of stopping after completing a circle, it would continue on slightly past that point. This is good to help finish cuts if you are getting allot of hang ups when cutting.

The Graphtec is different from allot of cutters in that it does not display the offset it mm. It instead gives a number.

Have you checked your cutting strip for dents, or scratches? This could be your issue as to why some circles cut and some do not.


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

That is some good info Nick.

Thanks for posting it,
Sandy jo


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## ppts160 (Jan 16, 2011)

The overcut that Nick is referring to in Graphtec is the Tangential setting on your control panel I think. When cutting circles for rhinestones I set it to 0.5 and it seems to do the trick


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## Nisei (May 4, 2011)

I'm always using an overcut setting of 0.1mm (mode 2).
It may slow down cutting a bit but I never have trouble weeding fine details anymore.


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## RobertG (Oct 13, 2010)

I'm glad to have found this post, thanks.
I did a little searching and found http://www.graphtecamerica.com/CPtechnotes/tnc004.html

Hope its helpfull to someone.
Regards Robert


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