Contour cut through material?

[ahollow]

My cutter uses a teflon strip under the cutting blade, so I can't cut all the way through to produce a contour-cut decal. I did see a Mimaki cutter that could cut all the way through the base material to produce a complete decal, not just contour cut. The sales rep showed that the blade ran over a narrow slot that would support the material and still allow the blade to cut all the way through.

Anyone know exactly what this would be called in the vendor literature, or what vendor's cutters actually support this? contour cutting is great, but then having to cut the decals loose by hand looks a little unprofessional.

thanks.

[cdsgraphic]

I have the mimaki that will do that... in their terms, to cut thru the vinyl and the backing, is called a "half cut procedure".

What it actually does is cut the vinyl like normal but will also pierce the backer and make perferations that allow you to tear the decal and backer away.

My cutter is the CG-75FX, the model your refering to is their latest model (can't remember the number). Personnally, I think the 75FX is a better built machine than the new one, this is also the unofficial view of or mimaki rep/tech.

[2NinerNiner2]

Allan - what material are you planning to use? I have done this with the Gerber-branded LexEdge product where all you have to do is push out the scored decals. I don't believe I could have cut through all the way as there would then be no way for the material to stay in the plotter.

[Howard Keiper]

You can do that with the FC7000 if you want. First you cut the vinyl as you normally would, then you select Perf Line Type choosing a value other than Off, then re-cut the same image over itself. Takes a tweak or two, but it works.
hk

[bob]

You can do that with the FC7000 if you want. First you cut the vinyl as you normally would, then you select Perf Line Type choosing a value other than Off, then re-cut the same image over itself. Takes a tweak or two, but it works.
hk

Could you expand on that some? I can't find anything in the manual except a line in the menu tree in the back that seems to mention 'perf'.

What does this do to one's blade? One's cutting strip? Why cut twice? This would be a really handy feature if it doesn't eat hardware. Is it a stunt or a practical application?

[Howard Keiper]

Mostly stunt, in my opinion...for signers, anyway.
You're right, there isn't so much as a sentence, a comma, or a period about it in the book. But the ability to perforate (it's called "PREF LINE TYPE" in the menu) is something conjured up for the apparel industry where it's used to make patterns that can be popped out of stencil board. The reason you cut the vinyl first is so the "pattern" will pop out when you cut the liner under it...you can't weed the perforated vinyl itself. If the blade is adjusted correctly, no harm is done to the blade or the cutting strip.
The settings that appear when you select Pref Line Type go from OFF, which you use if cutting, through seven, in which each number corresponds to a unique dot-dash pattern. Nobody's figured out what those patterns look like yet but it doesn't seem to make a difference...general consensus is that "4" works well.
I've used this feature to contour cut decals but I, myself, think it's hardly worth the effort.