I have an older FC2231-EX Flatbed Graphtec. Over the past several months it has had trouble cutting regular vinyl properly.
In one direction the cut almost skips across the vinyl. When you look at it, it almost looks like a perforation on a piece of paper.
It doesn't always happen in the same direction, or in the same place on the bed, and it only happens on vinyl. We use different blade holders and conditions for other material (we cut a lot of magnetic and other heavy material and these cut fine.
I have tried about a thousand new blades, different speeds and pressure, different depths, spraying the blade with WD40 (is this the proper oil), cleaning the tiny ball bearings and re greasing and the problem is still randomly around. Sometimes it goes away for a few days and then returns.
I (slowly) came to the conclusion that after 20 years the blade holder was worn out and have been searching for a place to get the brass tipped CB09 ones , with no luck.
Today, I stumbled across a brand new CB15 holder in my stack of stuff, so I set that up with a new 60 degree blade at vinyl depth, thinking I was set. But, it did not work and it was skipping again.
Some other random observations:
1) It seems like it is having trouble finishing cuts lately (e.g. even if the cut is correct, it may be hard to weed because the corner sticks just a little)
2) We almost exclusively use Oracal 651 or other intermediate vinyls, but today I happened to be cutting some 751 and the problem seemed to not be there on that material.
There must be something I am missing, or am fundamentally missing here but I can't seem to find it.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
DaveW
In one direction the cut almost skips across the vinyl. When you look at it, it almost looks like a perforation on a piece of paper.
It doesn't always happen in the same direction, or in the same place on the bed, and it only happens on vinyl. We use different blade holders and conditions for other material (we cut a lot of magnetic and other heavy material and these cut fine.
I have tried about a thousand new blades, different speeds and pressure, different depths, spraying the blade with WD40 (is this the proper oil), cleaning the tiny ball bearings and re greasing and the problem is still randomly around. Sometimes it goes away for a few days and then returns.
I (slowly) came to the conclusion that after 20 years the blade holder was worn out and have been searching for a place to get the brass tipped CB09 ones , with no luck.
Today, I stumbled across a brand new CB15 holder in my stack of stuff, so I set that up with a new 60 degree blade at vinyl depth, thinking I was set. But, it did not work and it was skipping again.
Some other random observations:
1) It seems like it is having trouble finishing cuts lately (e.g. even if the cut is correct, it may be hard to weed because the corner sticks just a little)
2) We almost exclusively use Oracal 651 or other intermediate vinyls, but today I happened to be cutting some 751 and the problem seemed to not be there on that material.
There must be something I am missing, or am fundamentally missing here but I can't seem to find it.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
DaveW
