Question margins between posters

[Anastasi55]

I'm doing a bunch of posters, mostly 11 x 17", but a couple are 18 x 24". I'd like to just run them in a big roll, and then put it on the Graphtec to cut (and save my fingers from more Xacto cuts). How much of a margin should I leave between each poster? I used to leave 1/2" when cutting by hand...

 

[Gino]

At that size, unless you have 1,000's to do, why not invest in a small guillotine cutter. 30" would solve all your problems. And you want a cutter, not a trimmer.

 

[Anastasi55]

We already have a small guillotine, but I'm partially trying to get more practice using the Graphtec, partially trying to justify the budget expenditure... What's a safe margin so the blade doesn't shift the paper?

 

[Gino]

We butt them, but it's a rarity for us to do. As for your cutter shifting and whatnot, you'll need to know what your cutter's capabilities are and how accurate it is to decide that.

 

[Solventinkjet]

You don't want to cut posters on the Graphtec for a couple reasons. The least important problem is simply the blade and cut strip are going to deteriorate super fast. The most important problem is, when the posters get cut out and fall off, the paper will lose stability, crumple up and jam the machine. You can fix the problem by using the perf cut feature but the edges will be rough and have little chads hanging off. You can also laminate some transfer tape to the back of the paper to stabilize it but that is way too much work and extra cost to justify. At the end of the day it's just not something the machine was intended to do. Is it possible? Yes. Is it worth the trouble? That's up to you. You should look into a javelin cutter. It has to be manually operated but it does cut time off from using the xacto and ruler.

 

[bannertime]

When we do perf cuts on SAV we try to have between a .3 to .375 inch gap. On some materials we'll go down to .2 to .25. Easier to pull apart at .3 in my opinion. We've never tried to cut poster paper though. With how fast paper dulls regular knife blades, I'd assume it's probably not worth it. Hand chopping a couple hundred posters wouldn't take that long. Especially if you were printing in batches and trimming at the same time. Or printing overnight and finishing in one go.

 

[Anastasi55]

Hmmmm..... I guess as long as my boss doesn't see me hand cutting, it won't be too much of a loss of time...

Which brings me to another question: can I use those .25" - .375" margins for bumper sticker and decal layouts?

 

[bannertime]

Hmmmm..... I guess as long as my boss doesn't see me hand cutting, it won't be too much of a loss of time...

Which brings me to another question: can I use those .25" - .375" margins for bumper sticker and decal layouts?

On smaller stuff like that you can be in that .2 to .25 range for perf cut.

 

[Anastasi55]

On smaller stuff like that you can be in that .2 to .25 range for perf cut.

Thanks!