Weeding small labels

[wonderings]

I am relatively knew to the sign and decal world. Grew up in offset and digital print.

We are weeding by hand, which is not a big deal till we get to smaller labels, then it really becomes a chore. I can't show the actual label as it is for a soon to be released product. Label size is 6 x 1.25. It has the company name which is about 4.5" x .5". Has some A's and P's. The tag line below is smaller at 2.5" x 1.9" with some A's and R's.

Now this is pretty small when you have to remove the bits between the A and R's. We do it all by hand. Production here estimated about 25 hours for the weeding to be done. To me this seems a crazy amount of hand work and has me wanting to believe there must be a better and more automated way. So that is the question, is there a better way to do this automatically and not go through each label by hand with tweezers?


Thanks!

 

[gabagoo]

Are these printed / laminated and then die cut or just regular vinyl cut letters? If regular vinyl cut, then 3M makes a 775 series that is on a clear liner which is really great for weeding small copy. (need to use high tac premask)

If they are digitally printed with laminate, then depending on the use, I would use high adhesive vinyl for weeding purposes.

 

[victor bogdanov]

Weeding goes faster with experience, I have 2 workers that have been weeding for 10 years and there is nothing they can't handle and they go pretty fast even with small stuff.

This is why in most cases you see small labels printed on clear vinyl and applied as a rectangle/square instead of cut lettering, much cheaper printed on clear than weeded, or DTF transfers can be used to save on weeding time but unless you can do in house will not be cheaper that cut vinyl

 

[White Haus]

Assuming your cut weight is dialed in correctly, the other thing you can try is adding weed lines in your cut file.

Tried finding instructions online to no avail, but basically you just add a horizontal line through your cut file which will allow small lines of text to be weeded in 2 parts.

Unfortunately there aren't any tricks to eliminate the need to manually pick out centers of letters. Fresh X-acto blade or pick tool, cup of coffee (or pot) and your choice of podcast / audiobook.

 

[Stacey K]

What Victor said...I avoid weeding small decals at all costs. Small rectangle labels is the way to go if you can talk them into it

 

[d fleming]

I bought a small vinyl printer just for this type of job. I have a couple customers who order tons of small labels loaded with type. Print, lam, cut, ship. Machine paid for itself in 2 months. Just think of all that labor you will save on to be used for other jobs and increase profits. Not only that but compared to weeded vinyl side by side it's hands down the better looking job.

 

[mfatty500]

Have you tried to put the transfer tape on and reverse weeding them?

 

[Notarealsignguy]

put a cutline down the middle

 

[jfiscus]

Different plotters make weeding easier. We have multiple large format Graphtec FC9000 plotters, but we'd never cut small text on them. We use our Gerber plotters for small things like this as they are much more accurate, making for easier weeding.

 

[MrDav3C]

With small text, sometimes it's easier to remove the middles of the letters before weeding the actual text.

I'll second what White Haus has said about weed lines, I think these are relatively easy to add in most cutting software, we use cutting master and it's just a check box in the settings.

Rather than tweezers, would a scalpel be easier?

Definitely make sure your cutting pressure and settings are correct as if not this can really affect productivity, I'm sure we have all been slowed down by cut vinyls that we wish were cut slightly deeper so they weed better or worse that are cut slightly too deep and don't like to come off the backing easily!

 

[Glavin_ID]

I think back in the old SignLab days they had an option that would do the lines through the text. We called it the “power weeding” setting (no idea if that was the official name). Don’t know if anyone has that setting today. I have tried to get my production team to do it that way but they run the machines, so I try not to micro manage as long as the jobs are getting done on time. I also agree that small text with digital print and lam is very difficult. Would definitely use a media that is meant for cut vinyl.

 

[wonderings]

Thanks for all the suggestions. The guys we have in production have been doing it for a while so are skilled with this, I was just stunned that there was no automated way of doing this. It turns out there is, but it is pricey and you would need serious volume for this to be worth it.

 

[Superior_Adam]

On large quantities of cut vinyl we outsource as we don't do it a lot. We use a company that creates a die, and they stamp the sheets. The heated cutting plate slightly seperates the cut lines and the weeding is extremely fast as it slightly separates the cutting lines. If you're doing a lot of the same copy this might be something to look into bringing into your shop. Once you have a die you can reuse it as many times as you want. Google Thermal Die Cutting Vinyl and you should be able to see more about it.

 

[signmania]

I have had good luck with synthetic liner vinyl from 3M--7725 series. I also try a drag knife cutter instead of tangential, which seems to be more effective with the synthetic liner. You'll have better luck with a high-tack transfer tape also. I also put in cut lines (it's a lot easier than doing it manually with an X-Acto). I have had some luck with putting the vinyl (after cutting) in a freezer for awhile.

 

[citysignshop]

If you're doing something, and halfway thru say...." this is just stupid!" you're probably right! Even if you are making money at it!
If you find a faster, easier way, do NOT discount the job more than a few percent! You should reap the rewards of your ingenuity!

....one more idea....even on small copy, radius the corners, can make it cut more cleanly and weed more easily. If you can, suggest altering the design so the small stuff is on a long reverse panel...>( but then the centres can be a pain to keep stuck in place!) Alter the font to something like VAG to reduce the sharp corners - if possible!
Printing on clear, or thermal diecut is how the big boys do it for automotive branding etc.
On many surfaces, the tiny text just isn't going to survive washing or much handling, so you could be the hero for suggesting a new method!

 

[petepaz]

weeding cut lettering at small sizes just sucks no big magical way to get it done. it's just labor plain and simple.
we generally try not to do anything smaller than .5" high but have done on some occasions .375" and even .25".
if it's a small qty i will cut and then put application tape on it and pull that off the release liner and reverse weed but for larger qty's we make relief cuts so you can weed small portions at a time which makes it easier or less likely to get ruined. we have a few jobs like that but we get decent money for them so it's not a problem with the time it takes. if it's really large run we will hire temps and all they do is weed the vinyl all day.

 

[CXN]

All my small labels or stickers, I print them and wait 3-4 days for weeding, I wait until the vinyl cuts retracts a little, it helps leaving them in a warm area. Sometimes you dont have that time if its a rush order, in those cases I heat the material again with a bloweer after it has been cut. Cheap vinyl material will retract around edges quickly, but good quality vinyl will take longer.