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Two Questions: Plotter cutting through adhesive & horizontal finger offshoots?


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Hello all! After reading many posts, it's time for my first post looking for some help from the experts.

There are two of us here who own a performance shop and decided to add tinting, and soon, wraps, to our services. We are both sticklers for detail and quality work. After looking at the competition and market area, tinting and wraps seem more profitable with less physical work than wrenching on cars, so this is a direction we're taking.

 

We purchased a Titan 53" plotter that is working well along with Digicut software. We are an authorized Xpel installer, and currently stock only Prime HP 15% and 5% in 40" x 100' rolls.

 

The plotter seems to be set up correctly, plus we added a strip of Gorilla tape over the Teflon blade strip after seeing this "tip" watching a YouTube video. Speed is set at 255mm/s and force is set at 70g. We are using a fresh 30* cutting blade. 

One of the issues is that the blade is cutting the tint well for the most part but will penetrate the clear backing in a few places, but in other spots, the adhesive is not cut through which makes weeding more time-consuming. The inconsistent behavior makes weeding more difficult. We have pressed down on the Teflon cutting surface to make sure it is as flat and as seated as possible. Why are there still spots where the adhesive did not cut through though? Should we use a 45* blade? More force? Or??

Another issue we run into is during shrinking - sometimes a finger will come out of nowhere and travel horizontally causing a "sideways" finger that is (usually) impossible to flatten.  Are we shrinking "too much"? Are we getting the window too hot? 

Any help and advice are greatly appreciated!

 

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I personally wouldn't use gorilla tape for cutting tint. I would possibly use it for vinyl if the teflon strip was damaged and I had to finish a job. I would recommend having a few extra strips on hand while you're learning. 

 

Slow the machine down and cut a series of wide oblongs the width of the film at about 2" tall until the blade starts cutting smooth on the strip. Lighten the pressure at first and slowly increase it until your cuts are consistent.

 

If you're getting sideways fingers, lift the film and rewet it. Push the slack in the direction you want it to be in and shrink it. Some slack can be delt with during installation by streaching the film as you squeegee it in.

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Can't help much with the plotter issue :sorry 

 

This is just a guess :dunno  But the finger issue sounds like you might be shrinking film that is turned the wrong direction.  Plotters are set up to save film and sometimes the patterns are turned on the roll to save waste.  You have to remember that film only shrinks up and down (roll end to roll end).  It will not shrink sideways and if you door patterns are turned you have to move your fingers to the sides and not the bottom and shrink (snap) your patterns in a different way. 

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