Gravostyle 5 - Cut Out Letters in Plastic

[RhettaE]

Hi, I am new to this board but it is the first place I found that might be able to help me with my specific issue. At the shop we use Gravostyle 5 which I was trained on by staff that has been there for years. The problem is they only know what the previous store owner taught them. I have been able to extrapolate what I know from Photoshop CS2 to learn beyond what I was taught about Gravostyle 5 using online video tutorials and pdf guides helped as well.

 

My boss just received an order that calls for letters cut out in plastic. I cannot seem to get the cutline deep enough. This would not be an issue if I wasn't the “computer go-to person” because of some of the long term issues I have solved since coming on staff.

 

I have researched and poured through the manual but I have come up empty as to how to adjust the depth of the cutline beyond increasing the number of passes. After 32 passes with no luck, I was getting a bit frustrated.

 

The material we are using for the letters is plastic 1/16 in 2-Ply plastic.

 

Can anyone offer some suggestions?

 

Thanks so much,

Rhetta

[petercoulson]

I know there will be others more qualified to help but are you using the cutter with the nose cone as well or without the nose cone? I believe the best way is to do a few passes increasing the z depth each time without the cone, you can set the software to do this.

[derek]

make sure your cutter is set at "0" on the nose cone and do a few passes over the letters, adjusting the cutter depth each time, i generally do around 6 - 8 passes moving the nose cone round 3 microns per pass. you may need to put an old piece of plastic underneath so your cutter doesn't mark the clamps/ table underneath. hope this helps

[Gray]

I wouldn't use the nose cone. Lock the spindle so its not sprung. Use a parallel cutter. Place a piece of scrap under the material. As peter says set the machine to make about 4 or 5 ( It's kinder on cutters and machine) passes set a little deeper each time until you reach a fraction beyond the depth of the material......Don't forget to unlock the spindle after......Caught me out a couple of times that one.

[RhettaE]

Thank you for the replies. I will play around today and see how it goes.

[RhettaE]

My boss told me he wants it done solely on the laser because they really want to focus on lasered products. Back to square 1.

 

Side note: The Tool Database file - Is this something I should grab for our machines? Is it for laser and rotary?

[RhettaE]

Somehow I figured it out. I now can cut out letters in our 1/16" plastic however now he wants me to try and find slightly larger around 1/12" but as far as I can tell, it doesn't seem to exist from our suppliers.