Troubleshooting mat moving on me please :*(

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CrossHairSB
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2019 2:47 am

Troubleshooting mat moving on me please :*(

Post by CrossHairSB »

Dear Hopeful Helpers,

I am cutting this 5" x 19" rectangle out (DOUBLE CUT) but the second cut shifts off a bit :(

This project I'm doing requires accurate repeats.

Thank you,
Ken
SandyMcC
Posts: 1114
Joined: Mon May 09, 2011 7:01 am

Re: Troubleshooting mat moving on me please :*(

Post by SandyMcC »

Whenever a blade is being forced to cut faster and/or deeper into a material than it can effortlessly cut then "something has to give" and that is going to typically be the mat. It will skew a little bit or a lot depending on the material, the cutter brand, the speed, the blade exposure, and more. This can happen with all cutters. Here are some suggestions for you:
1. Make sure there is nothing sticky going on... (other than the mat surface)... make sure the pinch wheels are not sticky, the grit shafts are not sticky, the underside of the mat is not sticky, and maybe even put down tape where the pinch wheels travel to make sure they are not sticking to the mat itself.
2. The larger the shape, the more skewing that will occur simply because something is being forced in a particular direction.
3. If possible rotate the shape by 90 degrees, so that the longer side is cut left-to-right versus up-and-down.
4. The further apart the pinch wheels can be positioned on the mat while still keeping them ~ the same distance from the outside edges of the mat AND over the grit shaft below is an important factor. It provides balance.
5. Using the minimum cutting speed possible on the cutter is the first setting change to try.
6. Lower pressure and more passes is much better than trying to force the cut deeply in one pass.
7. You can try two passes whereby you have less blade exposure in the first pass so that just a partial score is achieved. Then expose a bit more of the blade for the second pass.
8. Alternative to (6), use a very low force on the first pass and then increase for the second pass. (naturally on both (7) and (8,) do small test cuts first to make sure you still end up with a clean cut.)
9. Make sure your blade is very sharp (newer versus older) and your material is as dry as possible (dry materials cut more easily than slightly damp ones that have been exposed to humidity). You can dry cardstock in a low temp oven for about 20 minutes. Spread it out on cookie sheets and only heat the oven to the lowest temp. Turn off before putting the cardstock inside.
10. Alternative to (9), use a blow dryer on your cardstock to dry it out. Note that even new cardstock can have moisture content depending on where it was stored before packaging (as I found out helping one customer one time).

Feel free to post back your cutter brand and model, plus the material details, and I can provide more info on my experience with that material to see if there are other possible suggestions for you.
Sandy McCauley
Owner of http://www.iloveknk.com/
CrossHairSB
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2019 2:47 am

Re: Troubleshooting mat moving on me please :*(

Post by CrossHairSB »

Thank you Oh so much Sandy,
I am using a Silver Bullet Professional 13" wide machine. So I cannot turn the magnetic material horizontally. What happened is I rebooted the machine & lost the calibration settings etc...so my force & speed changed. I had to start from scratch but in the process...it skews now...creating a dud. I make two products on inkjet printable magnetic paper. First products magnetic paper is thicker (.022) thick. The other product uses a .015 thick magnetic paper. Right now it's the .015 thick magnetic paper I am having a problem with. I use a 60 degree cutter, speed at 90 & force at 60 I think. I wonder how to accurately come up with the force, speed & number of cuts?
Thank you for everything,
Ken
CrossHairSB
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2019 2:47 am

Re: Troubleshooting mat moving on me please :*(

Post by CrossHairSB »

I lowered the speed & pressure and unfortunately it still skews the outer dimensions for whatever reason UGH!!
SandyMcC
Posts: 1114
Joined: Mon May 09, 2011 7:01 am

Re: Troubleshooting mat moving on me please :*(

Post by SandyMcC »

Hi again, Ken,

I know how expensive the SB Pro cutters are and it's the responsibility of Sherri Jensen, the owner of SB, to make her customers successful owners. I would go straight to her and get her to help you with this in the exact same way that I help all KNK and Skycut owners resolve their cutting issues, such as yours. That's how I was able to provide you the extensive solution list for skewing... based on my personal experience in helping others be successful.
Sandy McCauley
Owner of http://www.iloveknk.com/
mmhockeyfan
Posts: 22
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2016 12:22 pm

Re: Troubleshooting mat moving on me please :*(

Post by mmhockeyfan »

Hi CrossHairSB,

I have a Silver Bullet and I maybe able to help. If my suggestions don't work, I recommend posting your question in the Silver Bullet forum, which is like contacting Sherri (as Sandy recommended) by proxy. If you don't get assistance from the forum, I would escalate to Sherri. Of course, you can come back here with additional questions and info about your issue and I'll try my best to help.

Ok so onto your question. I'm not exactly sure what is happening but I'm guessing you're attempting to set pressure and speed from SCAL? If so, consider setting speed and pressure from the SB? I have better control over setting speed and pressure from the Silver Bullet.

You can set speed and pressure from the Silver Bullet and press the "test" button to determine appropriate speed and pressure for your material; however, I've achieved the most success test cutting a 1" square from SCAL. I increase the pressure in increments of 5 and keep cutting 1" squares until I achieve a clean cut. Generally, my mantra is low (use multi-cut) and slow for thicker materials.

I maintain speed and pressure settings for various materials in a book for reference. I highly recommend it so you always have that information handy whenever you need it.

Good luck!
CrossHairSB
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2019 2:47 am

Re: Troubleshooting mat moving on me please :*(

Post by CrossHairSB »

Thank you,
I appreciate your help in this matter. Now I have a new set of problems...the Silver Bullet isn't responding to my computer (maybe it's a USB cable that is bad). But when I hit "next" to start picking up the reference points, it doesn't move. But with regards to your previous suggestions, I have been using the SB controls rather than the software controlling the speeds and pressure. Before it went on the fritz for some reason, I did try using the "test" to give me a good idea to what to set it at, but it doesn't do multi-cuts in test. So how are you to know how many multi cuts to choose when it doesn't do it in "test"?
Please oh please help me anybody!
Ken
mmhockeyfan
Posts: 22
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2016 12:22 pm

Re: Troubleshooting mat moving on me please :*(

Post by mmhockeyfan »

Hi,

Yes that is a shortcoming of the “test” function. To get around that, I cut 1” squares from SCAL. If the cut is pretty good but not perfect, I’ll select the multi cut feature from within SCAL.

If your control panel isn’t working, you might need to replace it. You’ll definitely want to contact and discuss with Sherri.

The USB issue could be a bad cord or an out-of-date driver if you’ve recently updated your computer. If neither is the case, it maybe a machine issue that you should discuss with Sherri.
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