Cutting Vinyl Rolls
If you’re new to vinyl, you’ll need a few essential tools. You’ll need a cutting mat (brand new LightGrip or StandardGrip Mats are ideal) with helpful grid lines, clear transfer tape, and a weeding tool.
Weeding is the process of pulling away the vinyl that’s not part of your design (think a monogram on a water bottle or school logo on a car). Transfer tape has a low-tac side that moves a cut and weeded design from the paper liner to your project.
Size
Vinyl is a plastic, film-like product that looks much like contact paper or peel and stick wallpaper. It comes in a variety of colors, sheens, textures, and widths and can be cut into any design you can think up. It can then be applied to a wide range of slick surfaces, from cups to cars, windows to signs, and even fabric.
The most common form of vinyl is sold in rolls that are sized to fit into the rollers on your craft cutter. This makes it much easier to pvc film manufacturers cut the exact size of your project without having to measure and re-cut from pre-cut sheets.
Rolls are also more economical and easy to store – just make sure they’re not getting creased or you may experience problems when cutting.
To use your vinyl, first make sure that your machine is set to vinyl in the materials menu in Cricut Design Space. Next, place your vinyl (liner side down) onto a new or lightly used StandardGrip mat. When ready, load the mat into your machine and press the flashing buttons to begin cutting. Once the cuts are finished, remove the negative pieces of your image from the mat (weeding).
When you add a custom cut item to your cart, be sure to include your specific cutting instructions. This includes both the number of cuts you require and the desired width of your vinyl cut. This will ensure that your order is processed correctly and shipped on time.
Materials
Vinyl is a plastic, film-like product that has an adhesive backing similar to contact paper, peel-and-stick wallpaper, or shelf liner. It comes in a variety of colors, sheens, textures, and patterns. The material is used to create personalized, custom designs on a variety of smooth surfaces such as mugs, cars, windows, and signs.
The type of vinyl you choose will depend on the application and your budget. The most affordable option is calendared vinyl, which is durable and easy to apply. It comes in a wide range of colors and is suitable for most flat, irregular, or simple arched surfaces. It is also ideal for outdoor use, since it resists weather damage and sun exposure.
If you need a higher-performance vinyl, opt for cast vinyl. This is thinner and more flexible, but it adheres well to both smooth and textured surfaces. It is available in a variety of colors and offers a high performance rating of up to 12 years.
Decorative vinyls can really make your project pop. From realistically textured metal finishes to wood grains and wallpaper patterned materials, these products can transform standard vinyl into functional interior design elements and unique signage elements.
Preparation
A vinyl cutter uses a computer to control the movement of a sharp blade that cuts designs & text into single color thin self-adhesive plastic or vinyl. The vinyl can then be affixed to a variety of surfaces such as window decals, wall art for a gallery or reflective stickers. The Service Bureau has a Graphtec FC8600-160 cutter that can be used by staff and students with training.
Before attempting to cut a design on the machine, it’s important to do a test-cut with a scrap piece of vinyl. Cutting Vinyl Rolls This allows you to see if your desired settings will work well with the material you’re using and it lets you know if any adjustments need to be made before cutting your actual design.
Once the test-cut has been done, put your vinyl, paper liner side down onto a cutting mat. Line up the straight edges of the vinyl along the white printed grid lines on the mat. Smooth out any wrinkles and bubbles with your hands, a scraper or a brayer.
Next, put your transfer tape over the vinyl design. Make sure that the transfer tape is slightly larger than your vinyl design and then use a scraper tool to burnish it to the vinyl. This will help the transfer tape hold on to your vinyl design and keep it from peeling off.
Cutting
Vinyl is a film-like product with an adhesive back that can be cut into any shape and applied to a variety of slick, smooth surfaces like cups, cars, windows, signs and more. It comes in a variety of colors, sheens and textures and can be customized with text, graphics and images. It is available in a wide range of sheet sizes – 12×3 feet or larger, in rolls – and in a variety of thicknesses and finishes.
To get the best results from a vinyl cutter, it is important to understand how it works. It can be very easy to make a mistake that will ruin the project. One such problem occurs when overlapping shapes in the design file are not recognized and correctly removed by the cutting program. It is important to note that a vinyl cutter can only cut arcs, lines and circles and cannot cut pixels (as in bitmap or JPEG) images.
Once the vinyl is cut it needs to be “weeded”. Weeding is the process of removing the parts of your graphic that are not part of your design and can be a challenging and time consuming task, depending on the complexity of your design.
Once the vinyl is weeded it is ready to transfer to your surface. It is important to use a high quality, low-tac transfer tape when applying your design.