Help! Roland Gx-400 Not fully cutting Tint

[Nino]

So for some reason I can't seem to find the sweet spot to get my machine to cut Tint without having to manually complete the cuts myself using an Exacto Blade. I normally only cut Vinyl for signs since that's what I mainly use my machine for but recently my brothers wanted me to learn how to cut the tint out, so i bought a roll to practice.

 

Setup 

   Roland GX-400

   30* Blade (Blade is fully out)

   20 Speed

   50 Digital Force

   0.5 Manual/Slide Bar Force

   0.250 Condition

 

If I increase my Digital force to (60) it starts to completely cut through the tint, damaging the cut strip, so was just looking for someone who can maybe help out, if possible, thanks in advance.

[Dano]

Switching from a heavier vinyl to window film can take a minute to get dialed in. I recommend cutting some oblongs about an 2"tall and as wide as your roll, maybe half a dozen or so to let the blade get seated into the grove. 25* cleancut blades are what I use for window film. If it still won't cut true, try manually turning the knob clockwise on the blade holder by 1/32 of a turn (or less) instead of upping the downforce.

[Dano]

Also get a few extra cut strips from amazon/ebay to keep on hand. Eventually you're going to need one anyway.

[Nino]

Hey Dano, i appreciate the response, so I currently don't have 25* Blades on hand, the lowest i have is 30* so I'd have to make that work for the time being. Now as far as turning the knob on the blade, I currently have the blade at max extension so I can't push it out any further.  

Example: https://ibb.co/cNyCYS3

 

I do have some extra Cut Strips on hand, I replaced the one on the machine a little over 1 month ago and feels/looks to be good still. 

 

Can you maybe tell me your machines setup, Aswell as send me a picture of how much your blade is expose from the blade holder? Thanks, in advance

[Dano]

30 will work fine. Reset your blade like this (just barely sticking out) Currently I'm using Graphtec machines. There may be a blade depth check feature on your Roland, but it doesn't matter. 

 

Do this....

Reset your blade and lower you down force. Do a few test cuts and slowly increase digital downforce until it cuts good. Start some oblongs. If it cuts through back it up, cut another oblong. If it's not clean, then turn the dial a hair. Sometimes the blade needs to travel a few times to seat good on the strip. Thats normal.

 

Once you get it tuned in cut all the film you need at once, checking every couple of patterns to see that it's still true.

 

I highly recommend this brand.

25* window film

45* sign vinyl

60* wrap film/PPF

Get an extra of each. The only time I have to replace is when I drop one.

[Nino]

2 minutes ago, Dano said:

30 will work fine. Reset your blade like this (just barely sticking out) Currently I'm using Graphtec machines. There may be a blade depth check feature on your Roland, but it doesn't matter. 

 

Do this....

Reset your blade and lower you down force. Do a few test cuts and slowly increase digital downforce until it cuts good. Start some oblongs. If it cuts through back it up, cut another oblong. If it's not clean, then turn the dial a hair. Sometimes the blade needs to travel a few times to seat good on the strip. Thats normal.

 

Once you get it tuned in cut all the film you need at once, checking every couple of patterns to see that it's still true.

 

I highly recommend this brand.

25* window film

45* sign vinyl

60* wrap film/PPF

Get an extra of each. The only time I have to replace is when I drop one.

Amazing Brother, again I appreciate the help, I'll go ahead and give it a shot here shortly, as well as checking out the brands you recommended. Ill keep you update, thanks again 

[Dano]

You're absolutely welcome. Best of luck. Let us know how it works out.

If you are going to start cutting film more regularly you may want a second machine. I have a FC 8600-160 for vinyl/wrap/ppf and a FC 8000-130 for window film. I got tired of retuning the blade all the time. You can usually find em used for 1/3 or less than new. Seem to last forever.

[Nino]

On 6/29/2023 at 6:01 PM, Dano said:

You're absolutely welcome. Best of luck. Let us know how it works out.

If you are going to start cutting film more regularly you may want a second machine. I have a FC 8600-160 for vinyl/wrap/ppf and a FC 8000-130 for window film. I got tired of retuning the blade all the time. You can usually find em used for 1/3 or less than new. Seem to last forever.

Hey brother, hope all is well, so I've got some free time to mess with the machine settings, so I gave your recomendations a go so here is my new current settings.

 

Setup 

   Roland GX-400

   30* Blade (Blade is 25% out from holder)

   20 Speed

   60 Digital Force

   1 Pen Force 

   0.250 Condition

 

So with the new settings, the machine now cuts the Tint beautifully without cutting through the Protective sheet, only 1 issue is that the "start/end meeting point" of a cut doesn't fully meet each other well so it damages when weeding only that spot/point of the finished cut out. Its minor issue but any idea how to fix that? 

https://ibb.co/RD6ZC3w
https://ibb.co/R4p7nFZ

[Dano]

First, bring the blade in until it barley sticks out of the holder to reduce stress on the blade and improve accuracy. Also reduces the opportunity to damage the cut strip.

 

Look for an "overcut" feature, either on the machine control menu or in the cutting software to close the cut path. I stopped using Roland machines quite a while ago so I'm not sure exactly where to find it right off hand. Rolands are good machines but once I started using Graphtec I never looked back.

 

What does 0.250 condition refer to on your machine? Have you tried setting that to zero?