# Cutting small letters



## jen2swt (Apr 19, 2013)

*Cutting issue...blade?*

Anyone have any idea what I can do for this? Im cutting small letters but it doesn't cut all the way and when wedding I have to basically hold the letter down with a tool to get it to release from the vinyl. Its only small intricate lines and letters. Offset of .5 and .05 tried both

Using a CutterPros Saga Contour cutter


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## zerg71 (Sep 9, 2014)

Try to increase the knife pressure and lower its speed. I think it will help.


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## jen2swt (Apr 19, 2013)

zerg71 said:


> Try to increase the knife pressure and lower its speed. I think it will help.


Shoot thought I had that info in my post. I did increase it...

This is regular HTV Siser, on 70 force speed 52..I’ve tried force 100, 90, etc…100 seems to be the limit before it cuts right through.


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## zerg71 (Sep 9, 2014)

Do you have that problem with each material/color of the vinyl? Once i get outdated vinyl which was very problematic with small elements, so it may be the case.


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

1. Try sending the job through the cutter twice.

2. Time for a new blade?


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## jen2swt (Apr 19, 2013)

zerg71 said:


> Do you have that problem with each material/color of the vinyl? Once i get outdated vinyl which was very problematic with small elements, so it may be the case.


I'm going to try a different color and see. So far my attempts were with white HTV, but it was brand new.


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## diveuk (Aug 14, 2013)

What cutter are you using? Some cutters have the ability to set the overcut or extra cut length, this will continue the cut past the starting/ending point for each letter, this is usually found in the advanced tab of the cutter set up panel. Another option may be that your cutter has a "tangential" mode setting in the menu, this will have much the same effect.


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## jen2swt (Apr 19, 2013)

splathead said:


> 1. Try sending the job through the cutter twice.
> 
> 2. Time for a new blade?


Blade is brand new.

I'm not sure if I want that seeing as the rest of the design cuts perfectly. Don't want to risk screwing up a whole sheet of vinyl....Might be an option though to try.


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## jen2swt (Apr 19, 2013)

diveuk said:


> What cutter are you using? Some cutters have the ability to set the overcut or extra cut length, this will continue the cut past the starting/ending point for each letter, this is usually found in the advanced tab of the cutter set up panel. Another option may be that your cutter has a "tangential" mode setting in the menu, this will have much the same effect.


CutterPros Saga Procut Contour.

I do have an overcut setting just saw today. Will try that when I get home. BUT it seems it's the sides of the cut too, not the starting and end point. Would that help the sides too?

Not sure what tangential mode is....I'll have to look that up


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## jen2swt (Apr 19, 2013)

diveuk said:


> What cutter are you using? Some cutters have the ability to set the overcut or extra cut length, this will continue the cut past the starting/ending point for each letter, this is usually found in the advanced tab of the cutter set up panel. Another option may be that your cutter has a "tangential" mode setting in the menu, this will have much the same effect.



Seems I do. I will have to see if it's checked off or not later.


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## tippy (May 27, 2014)

You might have to tinker with the offset setting - Tip Jar - Offset Setting on Vinyl Cutter - YouTube


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## jen2swt (Apr 19, 2013)

tippy said:


> You might have to tinker with the offset setting - Tip Jar - Offset Setting on Vinyl Cutter - YouTube


When I worked with the offset, this was the result I got. The gold glitter was offset .5 and the white htv was 0.05


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## diveuk (Aug 14, 2013)

The offset will affect the sharpness or roundness of corner cuts, for example an offset at too small a setting will give you rounded corners, too large an offset will give you overly sharp corners and may cause minute areas of uncut vinyl on 90 degree cuts such as on the letter T but do not confuse offset with overcut they are two separate functions.


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## jen2swt (Apr 19, 2013)

diveuk said:


> The offset will affect the sharpness or roundness of corner cuts, for example an offset at too small a setting will give you rounded corners, too large an offset will give you overly sharp corners and may cause minute areas of uncut vinyl on 90 degree cuts such as on the letter T but do not confuse offset with overcut they are two separate functions.



I tried offset and got the results above. It just made my blade go in either circles or back and forth...


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## jen2swt (Apr 19, 2013)

Ok did some more tests. I did not have the blade depth set right, fixed that. Here are my results. I just dont know. Is it possible that this font I'm using at a small scale just won't cut?

Not sure what else to try. Using a Cutterpros ProCut Contour 2400


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## diveuk (Aug 14, 2013)

What blade are you using? most cutters come with a 45degree blade, try a 60degree blade.


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## jen2swt (Apr 19, 2013)

diveuk said:


> What blade are you using? most cutters come with a 45degree blade, try a 60degree blade.


That was I believe the 60...


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## diveuk (Aug 14, 2013)

In the menu screen you should have an option to set the cutting quality, sometimes there is a small letter option here.


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## jen2swt (Apr 19, 2013)

diveuk said:


> In the menu screen you should have an option to set the cutting quality, sometimes there is a small letter option here.


Not seeing anything for quality. Attached screenshot


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## diveuk (Aug 14, 2013)

It will be in the menu function on the actual cutter, not the driver software.


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## jen2swt (Apr 19, 2013)

I don't have a menu on my cutter


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## ChemicaUS (Dec 13, 2013)

Jen, you may be dealing with the physical limitations of your cutter. According to the information on their website, these cutters have stepper motors. That means the movement of the tool carriage and grit roller are controlled mechanically. The size of the gears involved limits the amount of precision they can produce. Generally you can cut good graphics down to about 1/2" Smaller graphics than that usually don't work well. 
If you're going to be doing lots of work this size, you'll probably need to invest in a cutter with a digital servo motor. They're a better choice for precise cutting of small detailed graphics.


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## jen2swt (Apr 19, 2013)

ChemicaUS said:


> Jen, you may be dealing with the physical limitations of your cutter. According to the information on their website, these cutters have stepper motors. That means the movement of the tool carriage and grit roller are controlled mechanically. The size of the gears involved limits the amount of precision they can produce. Generally you can cut good graphics down to about 1/2" Smaller graphics than that usually don't work well.
> If you're going to be doing lots of work this size, you'll probably need to invest in a cutter with a digital servo motor. They're a better choice for precise cutting of small detailed graphics.


Thanks Gerald...

I'm coming to that conclusion. Just weird that I get the same blips in the same spots on all my cuts in the same spots no matter what settings I use...


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## BrianHahn (Dec 29, 2013)

Thanks for the artwork and your settings, let's hook up tomorrow or over the weekend to review this and do some cuts together.

The triangle / square is the machine generated test coupon. There is no overtravel or blade offset used to generate this path.


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## jen2swt (Apr 19, 2013)

Update. Installed fresh blades from clean cut and still problems. Not as extreme, but I still am unable to cut clean small letters. Another message into Brian Hahn for help again. Problem child right here....

Edit: I can cut the same image perfect on regular HTV, but when cutting on Oracal 751, that's when the problems arise


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## BrianHahn (Dec 29, 2013)

Hi Jen, are you available for a call tomorrow?


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## jen2swt (Apr 19, 2013)

I will be yes. Let me know if you don't have my number on file and I'll shoot it over to ya.


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## jolfers1 (Nov 30, 2014)

I thought the offset was specified on the actual blade packaging??

I've found that it's best to use a fairly light pressure (~70) and keep adjusting the knife depth until it's perfect. Run at slowest speed setting. Make sure you add weeding lines ( I always starting by clicking on "auto-weed lines", then add a few of my own). Rip off sections fast, like you are ripping off a Band-Aid. Whenever I peel slow with tiny letters, I get letters that peel off too.


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## BrianHahn (Dec 29, 2013)

You have a good technique.

Sometimes I get better results with the quick weed approach and sometimes the opposite is true.

Re: I thought the offset was specified on the actual blade packaging??

When it comes to blade offset, blade manufacturers can give you the distance from the center of the shank to the intended cut distance (the actual cut point however will change a little with the blade depth into the substrate) but this distance is only part of the story. When the blade is dragging behind the carriage the actual distance from the true pivot point and the cut point will also include tolerances and clearances between the blade shank and the bearings and the ID of the blade holder. When you add in these additional clearances and tolerances you will need to add a few mils. Because this stack up is always going to be a little different from machine to machine (even between the same make and model of machines) it is always best to calibrate it on a case by case basis. DragonCut / VinylMaster has a blade offset calibration that gets it near perfect every time. For other software like SignCut there is a little bit of a trial and error process. Sometimes we use the DragonCut calibration to come up with the correct number and then feed it into SignCut or Flexi for best results.


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## TYGERON (Apr 26, 2009)

When I cut _really_ small text I use a cutting mat for that area. Don't have call to do so often though.

The vinyl, with backing, stuck to the mat _gives_ less for a more accurate cut. Blade depth and sharpness/angle are key to minimize the slight dragging/pulling of the vinyl, especially thinner material.

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/vinyl-cutters-plotters-transfers/t204994.html#post1196161


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## fedoraoriginali (Aug 30, 2010)

It is definitely an offset problem. It happens to me me when the offset is incorrect for the blade size. For eg: I have a Roland GX 24 and for a 45 deg blade the offset is normally 0.25. With small lettering I have to go up to 0.27


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## jen2swt (Apr 19, 2013)

*Re: Cutting issue...blade?*

Unfortunately its not offset. The cutter is limited with the size it can go down too.


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## BrianHahn (Dec 29, 2013)

We should have some test cuts today. For stepper systems, we recommend 8-10 mm minimum height text and for servos, 5-6 mm is OK. This depends on the font type of course as well. Uniform, thicker cross section fonts work best for smaller sizes. For fonts that have very thin cross sections it becomes a problem when the text gets small because there isn't enough adhesion to sign vinyl to hold the thin web in place. For heat transfer material it is a different story. You can get much smaller because the material is stuck very well to the substrate.


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