# Downforce for GX 24 making templates



## [email protected] (Apr 18, 2010)

I've seen the downforce listed from 20g - 200g to cut rhinestone templates with the roland gx 24. Can someone clear this up for me? What is the correct downforce to cut hartco 425 sandblast? Thanks


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## My Shirt Connect (Jan 24, 2010)

private.name[USER=64079 said:


> @tx[/USER].;814949]I've seen the downforce listed from 20g - 200g to cut rhinestone templates with the roland gx 24. Can someone clear this up for me? What is the correct downforce to cut hartco 425 sandblast? Thanks


We have a Roland GX-24 also. I've heard that the downward force is the same for Harto 425 and Stick Flock. When we cut our templates, the downward force can vary from 170 to 230 depending on which blade you are using and how worn it is.

We use a 60 degree blade made by Clean Cut. When brand new, we are around 170. The GX-24 has the "Test" button to do a test cut which is the circle with the square inside. We use this function every time we switch materials or replace the blade.

I'd start at 170 and then raise as needed.

Hope this helps,

Brian


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

When I had a GX24, I used 210-230 gm downforce with 60 degree blade. BTW I recommend blades from Clean Cut Blade They are made in US and will outlast OEM blades 2 to 1.. I think you need to set your offset of about 0.55 I think ..you might hop over to the Roland Users Group and post this...Or call Roland. Be sure your blade it not extended too far...just about 1/2 the thickness of a credit card. If your software will let you, do a double pass.


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## SickPuppy (Aug 10, 2009)

Use a 60 degree blade with a .55 off set the down force will depend on the material and sharpness of the blade. I use a down force of 180 grams.

More important is the blade depth. A common mistake is to increase the blade depth for the thicker material. The blade depth should be about 1/2 the thickness of a credit card. Also set the cutter software to make 2 passes. This will make weeding easier


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## Twanabee (Sep 14, 2009)

I agree with most here but cutting is a combination of blade extention from the holder, downforce and speed. First I use a 60 degree from clean cut. I extend it from the holder the thickness of the material to be cut. This flys in the face of most people that say no more than the thickness of a credit card. You have to realise that the more downforce, the more pressure on the material your cutting. With cutting small holes close together in thicker rubbery material, this is why people complain that their circles are not round. I cut the Graphtec pink and extend my blade the thickness of that material. My downforce is about 210 grams and I double cut. I have never had a problem. The roland may be a little different than my Graphtec 5000-60 but the method is the same. Write down your settings and as long as nothing changes, your good. I have two holders. One for vinyl and one for rhinestone template material. All I have to do is change my cutting preset. There are 9 of them on my cutter.


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## My Shirt Connect (Jan 24, 2010)

I wanted to add that we only do one pass at 170 grams with the Clean Cut 60 degree blade on our GX-24. The holes weed perfectly so we've never gone to 2 passes because we never needed to. If we went to 2 passes, we would have to lower the downward force to 130 grams or so on our GX-24

We've made mistakes in designing where we accidentally doubled up on circles and we ended up cutting through the entire material at 170 grams.

Also, we've noticed that, with the GX-24, as you increase the offset the diameter of the circle gets cut larger. We are at .35. We did several tests and as we increased the offset, the cut didn't get better, the holes just got larger and larger.

Brian


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## Twanabee (Sep 14, 2009)

Brian...agreed on the offset. With my Graphtec my offset is zero. I use Winpcsign 2010 and it cuts exactly the hole size I select. I have never had to play with my offset no matter what material I am cutting. Always sharp corners and no "hanging chads". If I need a little larger hole size, I change the size in my WPC and not my offset. Other nice thing about the WPC program is if you have a double line, it will tell you and delete them so you do not double cut anything. Nice feature to have.


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## [email protected] (Apr 18, 2010)

Thank you everyone for the downforce advice! I'm looking forward to cutting the templates.


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## My Shirt Connect (Jan 24, 2010)

private.name[USER=64079 said:


> @tx[/USER].;815244]Thank you everyone for the downforce advice! I'm looking forward to cutting the templates.


Hi Cyndi,

What downward force did you end up using? Did everything work our for you?


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## [email protected] (Apr 18, 2010)

Hi Brian,

I used 170 grams and a new blade. I had to increase the size of the hole to get the 10ss stones in the template to a 13...that made them fall in the holes with ease. Thank you so much for the advice.


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

Cyndi,
You always have to make the hole larger than the stone or stud, to let it flow in freely and back out freely,

When cutting a hole for a 10ss or 3mm at least go to a 3.5 size to start and then tweak if you want it larger or smaller.

All 3m -10ss stones are not sized the same,, they are different from different vendors they can also vary with different glue as well.

Or with different grades,, of stones
such as 
Chinease
Korean
Machine Cut
Precosia
Swarovski

The more stones you put on the template the easier it will be to get them in the right side up into your template.

They kind of help each other in the holes.


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## [email protected] (Apr 18, 2010)

Sandy Jo,

Thank you for the info. I never thought about grades of stones being different sizes. I'm working with 500 gross, so they went in the holes easily. Thanks again, Cyndi


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

Anytime Cyndi,
Sandy jo
MMM


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