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Saturday, April 7, 2012

Cutting & Weeding Tips for Heat Transfer Vinyl Films



Jim Hingst offers a few tips when using a plotter cutter and weeding heat transfer vinyl films.

By Jim Hingst

Not all  polyurethane heat transfer vinyl films are the same. That's because some of these flex films aren't 100% polyurethane, which are very flexible, and other heat transfer vinyl films are blends of polyurethane and vinyl. These blends are much stiffer that a pure polyurethane film.


100% polyurethane heat transfer vinyl films, because they are more stretchy, are a better choice for heat transfer graphics applied to a garment.  


Plotter Cutter Tips.

Sometimes, though, that stretchiness can make plotter cutting a pure polyurethane film challenging.  Here are a couple of tips to keep in mind when cutting polyurethane heat transfer vinyl films:

  • Use a sharp plotter cutter blade. Ragged cuts indicate that it is time to change your blade.
  • If the film is not cutting evenly, reduce the downforce pressure and slow the plotter cutter speed.
For more plotter cutter tips read Plotter Cutting Flex and Flock Films.


Weeding Tips.

  • It sure helps if you can  see what you are doing. Good lighting is essential when weeding any type of plotter cutter films. For detailed work, a magnifying hood is great for weeding an intricate design.
  • Keep your work surface clean. Dispose of weeded heat transfer vinyl so you don’t end up with extraneous piece inadvertently stuck to the carrier of the applique and then heat pressed onto the garment.
  • Using a good weeding tool will make weeding easier so you can be more productive.  Everyone has a favorite tool. For some, Xacto knifes, air release tools, or tweezers are the tools of choice. Personally, I like the dental pick type of tool.  Your sign supply distributor will have an assortment of weeding tools available for purchase.
  • Pick the centers of the letters first, then weed the outside matrix.
  • When weeding plotter cut heat transfer vinyl (reverse cut), start from the left side of the reading and work to the right. For printed and cut graphics that are right reading, work from the opposite direction.

ARTICLES ABOUT HEAT TRANSFER VINYL FILMS

About Jim Hingst: After fourteen years as Business Development Manager at RTape, Jim Hingst retired. He was involved in many facets of the company’s business, including marketing, sales, product development and technical service.

Hingst began his career 42 years ago in the graphic arts field creating and producing advertising and promotional materials for a large test equipment manufacturer.  Working for offset printers, large format screen printers, vinyl film manufacturers, and application tape companies, his experience included estimating, production planning, purchasing and production art, as well as sales and marketing. In his capacity as a salesman, Hingst was recognized with numerous sales achievement awards.

Drawing on his experience in production and as graphics installation subcontractor, Hingst provided the industry with practical advice, publishing more than 150 articles for  publications, such as  Signs Canada, SignCraft,  Signs of the Times, Screen Printing, Sign and Digital Graphics and  Sign Builder Illustrated. He also posted more than 325 stories on his blog (hingstssignpost.blogspot.com). In 2007 Hingst’s book, Vinyl Sign Techniques, was published.



© 2015 Jim Hingst

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