Hi - I have a ROLAND VG640 and a SUMMA T2 OPOS CAM and do a lot of custom magnets of every size and shape you can imagine. I think the best method for custom shaped magnets is a flatbed uv printer with a flatbed CNC. But I don’t have either of those and below is what works for me.
How you print and cut the magnetic circles depends on how many, application, and how often you need to print them. I am going to leave out solutions with the SUMMA so you have something actionable.
Manually cutting circles will not produce professional results and I would not recommend this method. You probably already know that when you manually cut magnetic sheeting, the cutting blade tends to pull under the cutting edge (because of the density) and produces a “angled” cut edge.
The ROLAND “can” print on magnetic roll material. But it is fussy, inconsistent, and the cost of your spoilage (mistakes) adds up quickly. I went back to printing on permanent peel & stick with over laminate (like you are doing now) and then applying it to the magnetic material. Also, the price of the white-faced magnetic sheeting is cheaper than the printable version.
VERY SHORT RUN
The VG2 can cut magnetic material. It takes some patience and finagling— but it can be done. You will need to replace your cutting blade much quicker than you would for kiss-cutting. And if you over do the pressure or cut passes you will also be replacing your cutting strip. I manually create a dotted “perf-cut” in Adobe Illustrator and then set the pressure, speed, and # of cut passes manually in VersaWorks. Cutting needs to be eyes-on during the entire cutting cycle. The # of passes depends on the thickness of the magnetic material. It’s just trial and error. Since magnetic material snaps on a cut line, I cut about 3/4 of the way through and then snap them out.
LARGE RUNS
OPTION #1: For circles up to 3” I make a celluloid button and apply a ferrous magnet back. The graphic gets printed on a gloss photo paper (on the VG640) and I use the “manual” perf-cut described above to perf-cut them on the ROLAND. It works great. It’s slow, but very accurate and can print/cut unattended. There are many companies that make button making equipment with magnet back options. We use Tecre.
OPTION #2: For magnet sizes 2” up to 17”. If you are going to consistently make hundreds (or thousands) of a specific size and want to use the VG2 640 to print them. Print and laminate and then manually cut to a defined sheet size. I use 11 x 17”. I use a die-cutting system made by Accu-Cut with a Custom Steel Rule die by Custom Shape Pros for the size and shape of the magnet. The die uses a pin system to hold the sheet size (11 x 17”) and align it with the die shape. It cuts the laminated magnetic sheet like butter.
Whether you use Option #1 or #2 depends on size, quantity and application.
Hope this helps and gives you a direction.
