How small would you go?

[socialgiraffe]

Hi Guys

I have all but finished a print and cut job where some of the letters were 20pt (condensed font) in size. They were really intricate to weed and quite time consuming. I am using a Roland VS300 and Siser Vinyl.

So was wondering, what is the smallest you would go on cutting and weeding?

[John G]

just done the same with 40pt and I struggled on a cheaper chinese plotter

[Dave271069]

guilt is creeping up on me somewhere! lol

[AdamB]

I have some intricate designs that I do on a regular basis with bits (I kid you not) about 1mm in width!
(I have good eyes though lol)

[RogerC]

way too small for me SG...the eyes are not what they used to be.:rolleyes:

[Renniwano]

I often cut small intricate fonts similar to Adam.. I try not to use extremely thin fonts though because they are an utter nightmare to weed !!

[Ask_Alan]

For the smallest fonts (Arial 14pt - 4mm caps hight) you need a good cutter properly adjusted with a newish blade (graphtec/roland/summagraphics etc) and a material with a high tack backing, Example from the TMT range, premium flex has a high tack backing and you can cut smallish, the 123 flex is a low tack material and will not work down to such sizes, bits come adrift. Pick the font carefully for ease for weeding.

Make sure the cutting force is just right, to much will make weeding small items difficult. If the program used has some form of overcut / easyweed option use it.

Long ago I worked with cutters (aristo) where with the right material (rubylith) you could cut and weed (with a magnifing glass and a pin) 1mm times roman bold upper and lower case (thats 3point) The cutting tool holder cost as much a modern Graphtec or Roland cutter complete:eek:

[arko]

I was testing some graphics on my cheapo chinese cutter and managed to get, what I think , is a pretty good accuracy. This RB logo was for my boys bike but I measured it wrong so it wouldn't fit on his frame! hahahaha.... Not sure what size (in font) that would be but some of the lines are about 1/2mm - 1mm thick.

[arko]

Sorry for the large images... I forgot to rescale them. :redface:

[mrs maggot]

thats huge arko, the logo cut not the image compaired to some of the small work i do, must say though i cannot often use 123 flex for it, as its not forgiving enough for weeding smaller items