VINYL CUTTING

We have a Vinyl Cutter, and you can make T-Shirts or Decals.

  • Both processes start the same. You need to design a Vector Graphic in Illustrator, that is all LINES. Bitmaps and Text does NOT work, so OUTLINE text and TRACE images!
  • Once you have your image ready, load your media in the Cutter.
    • Open the release at the back
    • Insert Media, ensuring roller on left edge of material is at one of the blue stops. The right roller can be anywhere along the longer blue bar.
    • The instructions below are for a fancier machine, but the technique is the same:
  • Close the release at back to fix madia
  • Use up and down arrows to choose roll or sheet media and press ‘next’
  • For more a more detailed video on settings
  • Go back to the computer and in Illustrater choose ‘send to cutting master’
  • Make adjustments to the print size, orientation, spacing etc, then send. Remember that that t-Shirt designs need to be printed ‘backwards’ as they will be transferred up-side down

Once you have cut your image, you need to ‘weed’ and remove all the bits of Vinyl you DO NOT want as part of your image.

  • I suggest of doing this in front of a computer with the image, so you can compare what you are looking at and what you are ‘weeding’
  • If working with stickers, be very carefull, so what you peel off does not get stuck on what you want to keep
  • if you are making a t-shirt, no need to be as carefull, but make sure no little threads and bits stay behind and get stuck in your image.
  • Here a video of weeding and then putting the sticker on Transfer tape. For T-Shirts there is no transfer tape, as the image was printed in reverse and goes onto the shirt ‘upside down’

Here is how to turn and set up our heat press.

  • You should be at 320 degrees for 16 seconds
  • Always pre-iron your shirt to remove moisture
  • Then place your image and cover with a tefflon sheet, so you don’t melt the plastic to the heat plate.
  • Close press for 15 seconds
  • let it cool, then peel off the plastic.
  • Heat press for another 15 seconds to make sure the image is very well set.

Now you should have a completed design!!

Here a link to the Graphtec Site, where you can download drivers, the manual for the cutter and the Cutting Master software:

https://www.graphtecamerica.com/cp-download-ce5000-60-120

Here a basic overview of Viny Cutting:

IF you want to learn how to make an outline cut of an object:

For the full playlist of vinyl and Laser cutting go to:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIGXmVAgKgqUWB6V4BARfGnVbpaR084rE&si=W6c6cvyr5-5sAGGV