Still learning

[TonyM]

Hi all,

Had a great day at Expres learning the new plotter and software, just have a couple of questions.

I have been getting on fine with letters, numbers and basic shapes. But I find Images a lot harder. I guess that is obvious? The detail is so much more intense. Is there another way to vector an image other than in Corel so that it makes it less complicated to weed? If I do a trace I can either get it too detailed and eyebrows hairs etc need weeding OR massive parts are missing. Need to practice more methinks.
Secondly I had my first go at sign vinyl yesterday. What a mess. I thought I was going to damage the machine.
Obviously I wasnt about to do a sign for my car as it is just the family car, so I made a small sign for the inside of the front door. No Leaflets Addressed Mail only. Well it basically just dug a hole in the vinyl. I had to stop it before there was some damage. I watched my dvd that I got and it basically showed the same process as the tshirts except it is not mirrored unless on a window and you have to use the application tape. So I tried again. This time I watched more closely and it seemed to cut the No leaflets sign ok...well a bit ragged. But on the smaller text again it tore it to pieces. I realised that perhaps you cannot cut as small on the sign vinyl? So for an experiment I just plotted my name and a coule of numbers around 3 inches high and that worked great. I then tried my door sign at around half an inch (I dont want a massive message on the door, a bit discreet) and it was very poor. Not tearing it up as bad as before but the letters were falling apart etc so i stopped it again.
Now I dont want to just keep increasing the size and trying over and over as I may damage the plotter.
So my question is: Am I correct in thinking you cannot plot as accuratley with the sign Vinyl and how small can you go before it tears up? I can go very small on the tshirt flex and flock with no problems. I think Expres need to put on their tutorial DVD about the size tolerence. It shows someone creating an Express logo that is probably about 6in tall.
Really enjoying learning the process though.
Thanks all

Tony

[John G]

The question you want to be asking yourself is why you'd want to do letters, in sign vinyl, half an inch high - nobodies going to be able to read it - if its a sign, it should be readable from a distance.

It may be your settings but I would have trouble cutting that small, if you can try to slow the cut right down, make sure your blade is sharp and freely rotating and also that you're not cutting with too much pressure.

On my plotter I have to increase the pressure for flex (t shirt vinyl) so if you have, reduce it back down for sign vinyl.

Cheers John

[TonyM]

Hi John,
Thank you for a prompt constructive reply.

I know what you mean about being able to read a sign. It was just that I wanted to test it and thought a discreet sign on the glass of my front door would be a good test. I am proper tight and didnt want to waste too much Vinyl. Plus I didnt want 4in high red lettering on my door. I have since cut some signs to test and basically just stuck them onto some cardboard to try. They do look great though.

I too have to increase the pressure between flex and flock, I think that is normal as it tells me to do so in my dvd and maual. I dont beleive I can adjust the speed though?

I am of the school that we learn from mistakes and that there is no such thing as making one, only discovering a way it didnt work. LOL

I think we can conclude that sign vinyl does not cut as fine as flex or flock?

I am plodding away and getting some very nice results and I am thoroughly enjoying it when things work out.
I am of course still finding ways that dont work though.

Tony

[John G]

Regarding your traces - sometimes corel doesn't give you good enough results, in that case I use photoshop to make the image better such as simplifying the image, converting to greyscale or bitmap of even levels to get brighter/darker image to trace. Then I take it back to corel and do the trace. Its all trial and error and no two images trace the same.

Glad you got everything going OK - you'll be doing intricate signs and t'shirts in no time at all now.

Cheers John

[mrs maggot]

tony, i have a sticky label on my cutter with the best depths i find for each material i cut, some flex from different companies requires slight adjustment - its all a learning curve, at least sign vinyl is relativley cheap compared to flex