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Well I got my vinyl cutter/plotter I bought a Refine MH721 which apart from sounding like an airoplane is taking of in my office is not to bad from what I have read on reviews and testing for the price I paid for it.
My questions are as follows.
How to install the blades?
Which way should they go?
Pointing a specific way?
I undertsand pressureand so forth and know I will stuff up a whole lot of vinyl until I get it right but I thought I would ask for some tips 1st.
I have had a go as it gives a test pattern to cut but it seems to catch on the knife and almost tear so i thought I would check up wit you guys if anyone has had experience with the Refine MH721 or some handy tips.
How to install the blades?
Which way should they go?
Pointing a specific way?
I undertsand pressureand so forth and know I will stuff up a whole lot of vinyl until I get it right but I thought I would ask for some tips 1st.
I haven't heard of the refine cutter, but if it's anything like my roland cutter, it didn't matter which way the blade was pointing when I installed.
Your cutter should come with instructions on how to install the blade into the blade holder?
Thats my main problem that it has very limited chinese made instructions which really make no real sense.
OK after a bit of playing around I got it functioning and cutting but still no real success as it grabs the material and yanks it or cuts to heavy and then I turn it down and it hardly cuts I feel like a real looser.
Thats my main problem that it has very limited chinese made instructions which really make no real sense.
OK after a bit of playing around I got it functioning and cutting but still no real success as it grabs the material and yanks it or cuts to heavy and then I turn it down and it hardly cuts I feel like a real looser.
Dan
Make sure your rollers are on the rolling device. Most cutters have a "gutter off to the right side (facing the cutter), and a spacer somewhere on down the line. If you set your rollers on one of those, it will grab every time.
If you are starting your cut at the very edge of the vinyl it has a tendency to grab. If your blade is set too deep it has a tendency to grab.
When you turn it down, you may have to reset the impact of the head. Mine is currently set to 190g of force and I could run my finger over the blade and barely feel it.
Adjust your rollers, adjust the depth of the blade, adjust the force of impact, don't cut at the very edge, and don't begin your cut outside of the roller feeds.
These things should get you up and cutting a little faster.
Ok now we are making progress.
Everything seems to be going well.
Now when I cut the text or image what is meant to cut and what is not?
The backing is left intact and the top is cut correct so that you can weed?
If to much pressure then the whole lot is cut and to less then the top not cut enough to weed?
Am I getting this right?
Ok now we are making progress.
Everything seems to be going well.
Now when I cut the text or image what is meant to cut and what is not?
The backing is left intact and the top is cut correct so that you can weed?
If to much pressure then the whole lot is cut and to less then the top not cut enough to weed?
Am I getting this right?
Dan
Ok, here's the trick... you tell your cutter to leave a weed border around your image, or text. It doesn't have to be a big box around your cutting, just enough so you can isolate the cutting. Weed that out first and guess what... you will know exactly where to weed (trust me).
If this is sign vinyl, the backing protects the "sticky" side from sticking to everything. If this is shirt vinyl and you cut the "dull" side (that is actually the glue side), and you will weed it off the backing.
vinyl is actually very thin, on shirt vinyl, the backing is thicker than the vinyl. On sign vinyl it is easier for the blade to go through the backing (you should cut to where you can just feel the extrusion from the blade) That is for sign vinyl. You will not feel the extrusion on the backing of shirt vinyl, but shirt vinyl is generally thinner than sign vinyl.
So, yes, you are getting this right. It is always easier to cut out words for your first attempt. If this is shirt vinyl, remember to "mirror" your cut so you can press it to a shirt and not have to stand in front of a mirror to read it.
I have an old Roland Stika, but I think these are kind of generic questions. On the Stika I set it to make sure it gets a good clean cut on the vinyl without cutting or marking the backing material at all. That's tough to do, and I don't usually have any problems if it is just barely marking the backing material.
Cutting stencils depends on the cutter. With a stencil you want to cut completely through the material. If I did that with mine it would damage the strip that the vinyl rides on as it is moving through the machine. I haven't seen your machine to know what it does.
There are films and acitates for stencils but you will need to use a backing sheet because of the blade cutting through the stencil material. There is also paint mask and sand blast mask available for plotters. Essentially everytime you cut sign vinyl you are actually creating a stencil..instead of weeding the negative and leaving a positive you weed the positive and create the negative. The problem with stencils are areas of a design that float with no attached lines. These floating areas need to be connected with lines in the case of hard stencils. With vinyl you can cut the stencil and transfer it to what ever substrate using transfer tape and never worry about the floating elements of the design.
I however still need some info on how do I know if the cut is deep enough?
How easy is it to weed? I mean does it come of like a sticker of the backing?
Do I need to really grip and pull? Is it quite easy?
Sign vinyl when cut correctly weeds easily. Simply lift an edge and peel diagonally. Heatpress vinyl like thermoflex plus with the sticky mylar backing is much tougher to weed. You can literally grip and rip...the nice thing is evevn intricate letters usually stay in place. What out for small dotted eyes and periods or extremely small design details.
The blade depth is correct when the vinyl (any type) weeds correctly and there is little to no scoring of the carrier material.
I have a refine Us Cutter MH721 and had it for about a month now, all of a sudden the machine wil cut everywhere where its not suppose to. It just like goes wacko on me. I was curious if anyone knows what may possible be hapening? If so, if they can give me the info. on what I can do I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks
Has the issue been resolved? Give us a call during normal business hours at 425-284-2282. Or email . It may be a hardware fualt, in which case, we will repair under warranty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by woodinthe909
I have a refine Us Cutter MH721 and had it for about a month now, all of a sudden the machine wil cut everywhere where its not suppose to. It just like goes wacko on me. I was curious if anyone knows what may possible be hapening? If so, if they can give me the info. on what I can do I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks
This is a discussion about Vinyl Cutter NEWBIE STUPID QUESTIONS: Refine MH721 that was posted in the Vinyl Cutters (Plotters) and Transfers section of the forums.
Vinyl Cutter NEWBIE STUPID QUESTIONS: Refine MH721 
