Speed And Force Settings; Tips For Achieving Optimal Results - PrismCut P20 User Manual

2.5 Speed and Force settings

A good starting value for speed is 400
A good starting value for force is 70
To achieve more precise results, you should start with moderate speed and force
settings (400 and 70) and then increase speed only if the job is less complex.
Increase pressure if the cut is not making it all the way through the top layer of
the material being cut. As a general rule, you will try increasing pressure before
you extend the blade length. Note that different brands of the same material
(eg. glitter) may need to use more or less pressure, depending on the specifics of
each manufacturer's brand.
Refer to section 4.2 for additional speed/force values for various materials

2.6 Tips for achieving optimal results

• Use a short blade depth. In most cases the blade should be exposed no more than 1/2
the thickness of a credit card. New users tend to expose too much blade. The idea is to
cut through only the top layer of the vinyl and to leave the backing layer with only minimal
scratches. This allows you to weed the top layer off the backing easily. If corners or small de-
tail do not cut all the way through, consider increasing the force before extending the blade
depth. You only need to extend the blade depth or use the 60 degree (blue tip) blade for
thicker materials.
• Align the pinch rollers so that they are under the guide arrows. The pinch rollers must align
with the gritted sections on the bottom roller. Note that the levers at the top of each individual
pinch roller should be in the down position unless extra strong roller pressure is needed.
• The cutting mat is used when cutting materials that do not have their own backing. Place
your material on the cutting mat so that the pinch rollers roll on the mat, not the material.
Move unused pinch rollers out of the way so they don't touch the parts of the material being
cut. Use a brayer roller to flatten your material on the sticky part of the cutting mat or tape the
edges of thicker materials to the cutting mat. For wider jobs it sometimes cannot be avoided
and the pinch rollers will need to roll over areas of the material being cut. Typically this is not a
problem. If cutting very thick materials you may want to consider purchasing a thinner mat.
• When cutting long pieces of material it is important to carefully position the material so that
it is completely straight and doesn't drift to one side when cutting.
• Cutting tiny lettering and small details from heat transfer vinyl (HTV) is best achieved by
using a 60° blade at a relatively low force setting so that the HTV backing is barely scratched
during the cut. However be sure that the blade is able to cleanly cut all the corners. To help
weeding, place the HTV on the warm (but not hot) bottom platen of a heat press which will
help loosen the vinyl from the backer.
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