# Problems using Sisser Easy Weed Stretch



## FlawePorcelain (Feb 12, 2014)

So I switched to Sisser Easy Weed Stretch from the regular easy weed a few months ago. Up until recently it was great but now my GCC Expert 24 seems to be making the vinyl lift alot when the rollers move back and forth. Which results in goofy lines and sometimes missed areas. I thought maybe the blade was dull but I replaced the blade and adjusted the cutting height and it is still doing it. Any suggestions?


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## pmzirkle (Oct 5, 2014)

How does your cutting strip look?


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## FlawePorcelain (Feb 12, 2014)

pmzirkle said:


> How does your cutting strip look?


I guess it looks fine. I'm not sure exactly what it would look like if it was bad. It's still white but you can see a cut line down the middle.


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## FlawePorcelain (Feb 12, 2014)

pmzirkle said:


> How does your cutting strip look?


Upon closer inspection I found a spot with a decent cut in the middle of the cutting strip. Could this be causing a problem like this? Alot of the detail work peels right off when I weed now which never used to happen. 

I also ordered a third pinch roller for my expert 24 to hopefully keep the middle down more because I always use a 20 inch roll


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## FlawePorcelain (Feb 12, 2014)

New blade, new cutting strip, additional pinch roller... still the material wants to lift and bunch on at times which is causing goofy cuts


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## dcbevins (Jul 31, 2011)

Once upon a time on a print cut machine that would have the occasional lift issue, we would attach heavy alligator clips to the rolls front ends, making it weigh it down. We had to roll it out further than normal to make room for the clips, meaning some wasted material, but it decreased the lift problem a great deal.


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## Blue92 (Oct 8, 2010)

FlawePorcelain said:


> New blade, new cutting strip, additional pinch roller... still the material wants to lift and bunch on at times which is causing goofy cuts


My guess would be that the blade is too deep and is dragging the material.

You may also want to check the rollers for cracks in the support arms that would allow the material to slip.


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## FlawePorcelain (Feb 12, 2014)

dcbevins said:


> Once upon a time on a print cut machine that would have the occasional lift issue, we would attach heavy alligator clips to the rolls front ends, making it weigh it down. We had to roll it out further than normal to make room for the clips, meaning some wasted material, but it decreased the lift problem a great deal.


Thats not a horrible idea actually. This easy weed stretch vinyl is way lighter than regular easy weed and i think that be a problem. Thanks for the input


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## FlawePorcelain (Feb 12, 2014)

Blue92 said:


> My guess would be that the blade is too deep and is dragging the material.
> 
> You may also want to check the rollers for cracks in the support arms that would allow the material to slip.


It actually bunches up without the blade down. Just running the material back and forth. I checked to make sure the cutter was level and i checked all the rollers for cracks. I slowed the cut way down and that seems to help to some extent. Taking the weed border off seemed to help a lot too because I cram a lot of designs in to one sheet. 

It's a shame because I love the easyweed stretch for the customers we sell to but I end up wasting a lot more material than if I used the regular easyweed


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## FlawePorcelain (Feb 12, 2014)

This is the kind of bunch up I'm getting after cutting about 2 feet


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## Blue92 (Oct 8, 2010)

If you flip the roller up and smooth the vinyl then run it back in and out again does it do it again?


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## FlawePorcelain (Feb 12, 2014)

Blue92 said:


> If you flip the roller up and smooth the vinyl then run it back in and out again does it do it again?


You may actually be right about one of the rollers being bad. I moved my new roller that was going to be a third roller down in place of the far left one and its happening much less. The cutting issues seem to be better to. 

I cleaned all the rollers the other day with alcohol so i wonder if maybe it has a hairline crack I cant see or some other issue. I will keep messing with it and see what happens


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## mfatty500 (Jan 18, 2010)

Are you pulling the vinyl right off the roll? Or are you pulling out more than you need to start the job, on some cutters that can be an issue. On my Graphtec i can pull right from the roll with no problems.


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## Blue92 (Oct 8, 2010)

The actual crack on mine was in the support arm that holds the roller. Not easy to see while it is on the cutter.


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## Blue92 (Oct 8, 2010)

mfatty500 said:


> Are you pulling the vinyl right off the roll? Or are you pulling out more than you need to start the job, on some cutters that can be an issue. On my Graphtec i can pull right from the roll with no problems.


Good point as well. I always run the full length of the cut job out and let it fold back onto the floor behind the cutter.


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## FlawePorcelain (Feb 12, 2014)

mfatty500 said:


> Are you pulling the vinyl right off the roll? Or are you pulling out more than you need to start the job, on some cutters that can be an issue. On my Graphtec i can pull right from the roll with no problems.


I always pull out more. Found that out the hard way when I first got this bad boy. I can't be mad about using a expert 24 though. I paid less than 500 for it and made much more than 20 times that amount with little effort in a year. Love this industry!


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## FlawePorcelain (Feb 12, 2014)

It seems to be cutting MUCH better now. The bunching wasn't a major problem, the problem was the damn missing parts of the design which resulted in pulling letters off when weeding. Seems like the cutting strip replacement and pinch roller made a large difference

Thanks for your help guys!


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## mfatty500 (Jan 18, 2010)

I wonder also if the vinyl could be skewed off centered on the roll as well, how does it track?


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## Blue92 (Oct 8, 2010)

mfatty500 said:


> I wonder also if the vinyl could be skewed off centered on the roll as well, how does it track?


That is why I got in the habit of always running the full length of a cut. We buy a lot of Easy Weed locally where the vendor runs 5 or 10 yards off a larger roll and never seems to get it on straight........


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## mfatty500 (Jan 18, 2010)

Ditto for us as well.^^


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## TeeShirtPrinting (Aug 17, 2015)

you can also try increasing the force on your pinch rollers. Also make sure you are advancing the EasyWeed Stretch roll, before cutting. It seems, by the looks of the picture, that it is shifting on your cutter.


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## Blue92 (Oct 8, 2010)

TeeShirtPrinting said:


> you can also try increasing the force on your pinch rollers


I'm curious as to how you would increase the force of the pinch rollers.


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## LostboyTNT (Oct 10, 2011)

Blue92 said:


> I'm curious as to how you would increase the force of the pinch rollers.


I was going to suggest decreasing the roller tension..
I'm not sure about that particular cutter, but on mine, there's thumbwheels on either side of each lever. 
either way, make sure that 
1> the tension is the same on both (or all 3, if you're using 3) rollers, 
2> you have a leading edge of vinyl, or something weighing it down
3> make sure and lift all rollers at least once, when it's in place so it's not skewed on a single roller causing it to pull.


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## Blue92 (Oct 8, 2010)

LostboyTNT said:


> I'm not sure about that particular cutter, but on mine, there's thumbwheels on either side of each lever.


Interesting. With the GCC Expert 24 LX you have two choices, roller up or roller down.


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## jtpipkin (Sep 21, 2015)

Use to have a similar issue with my roland print / cut machine. replaced the pinch rollers and everything was perfect. They have a slight camber cut into them that should gently pull the material taught and that can deteriorate over time. Even if the material was crooked on the roll, it should still track correct for its orientation and would roll out from under the rollers if they were doing their jobs correctly. Hope it helps - I know it's a pain to replace, but so worth the time!


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