# Cutting Vinyl Rolls



## garybt (Aug 7, 2008)

I just received a sample of the Cad-Cut Premium Plus vinyl. I'm pretty anxious to use it and will be placing an order. However, the rolls are sold in 20" widths and my cutter is a 15" (of course). Whats the best recommended method to cut down the roll to a width I need?


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## VDHSignService (Jun 2, 2011)

I had the same problem. But I just took a very sharp knife and cut through the vinyl...


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

If you have a very sharp...VERY SHARP bandsaw...wrap masking tape around the roll where you wish to cut and it should work...did for me some years ago


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## thedeadpress (Mar 12, 2009)

sign writer down the road uses a chop saw to cut his logs of application tape down. Maybe a bit brutal for actual vinyl though.


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## mfatty500 (Jan 18, 2010)

Really? Wow!


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## JoshEllsworth (Dec 14, 2005)

garybt said:


> I just received a sample of the Cad-Cut Premium Plus vinyl. I'm pretty anxious to use it and will be placing an order. However, the rolls are sold in 20" widths and my cutter is a 15" (of course). Whats the best recommended method to cut down the roll to a width I need?


We also sell in 15 x 20" sheets if that's of interest...they aren't much of an up charge over the per yard equivalent.


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## jean518 (Sep 23, 2009)

If someone in your house sews or you know someone who does, the rotary cutter works great. Somewhat resembles a pizza cutter. I am a quilter also. I have a collection of rotary cutters and have designated one for cutting vinyl. A sharp craft knife and a ruler should do the trick also.


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## scole999 (Mar 3, 2012)

The best way to resize or convert rolls is to use a roll slitter or baloney slitter. That way the edges are clean just like the factory edge. Using a saw sometimes works but if it creates too much heat you can fuse the vinyl to itself making it difficult to unroll. I use a 36" slitter for my rolls. I have a picture at this link. Roll Slitting & Converting | Division of Cole Farms, Inc. . Also, your material supply company often has a slitter and can cut rolls for you.

Steve


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## Blue92 (Oct 8, 2010)

Depending on what your design is you might want to just cut 15" sections off the roll. That would give you a 15" x 20" sheet to work with.

By cutting the roll completely through you wind up with a roll 5" x whatever the length of the roll is. How useable will a 5"x?? roll be?


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## scole999 (Mar 3, 2012)

Blue92 said:


> Depending on what your design is you might want to just cut 15" sections off the roll. That would give you a 15" x 20" sheet to work with.
> 
> By cutting the roll completely through you wind up with a roll 5" x whatever the length of the roll is. How useable will a 5"x?? roll be?


That is a good point. For that situation you would want to use a table top slitter that you pull material through. I have a 30" model and I can pull through as many feet as I need and leave the rest of the roll intact. I will post a picture of it at Roll Slitting & Converting | Division of Cole Farms, Inc. . A person could make something similar with PVC pipe and exacto knives. 

If you have a machine that takes 12" rolls then it would make since to cut 24" rolls in half with a roll slitter. For 15" you would cut a 30" in half and so on.


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## idonaldson (Sep 29, 2008)

When I am triming my rolls down, I wrap masking tape around the end to be cut a few times making it very sturdy. I then measure the amount I need - ie 15 inches and cut with a radial saw or chop saw both work. Another consideration - sometimes it is wiser to buy and even larger roll if available and cut in half so that you have two usable halves oppose to a useable side and a 5ish inch waste side. With that said - I still use my flat bed cutter to save or make it useable. Sometimes you just need to step back and look at if from a different angle.


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## xcracer48 (Sep 11, 2011)

I would use a bandsaw if you have one or know someone with one.


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## Fenrir (Mar 13, 2012)

I still have to find a good way to do this. I tried using a hose clamp and a rotary cutter along the edge of it over and over to cut down a roll but it still came out ragged. I keep seeing warnings that if you use a saw you risk melting the edges together. I am actually thinking about clamping a straight edge to a piece of sheet metal so the edge is exactly 13" (this is for printing), and unrolling and cutting and re-rolling. It will take a bit of time but will probably come out cleaner than what I tried to do. Most people I know who have a chop saw it's all icky and dirty and printable vinyl is even more important to keep clean. I don't feel right asking a sign shop to do it even though I'm not really competition.


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## 34Ford (Mar 19, 2010)

Try one of those electric knives people use to carve turkeys.


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## idonaldson (Sep 29, 2008)

The carving knife is not moving fast enough. I teamed up with a person and we hand cut with a hand saw - it worked but that was a lot of sawing - I was the weaker of the two and never looking to do that again. Since I have cut with a radial arm saw after tightly wrapping masking tape and then cutting in the middle of the tape. The side that is cut ends in the non printable area anyway.


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## 34Ford (Mar 19, 2010)

Good grief, if you were having a hard time with a hack saw, how many yards of vinyl was you cutting thru, or was it a dull blade?


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