Equipment Guide

Vinyl Cutter

Located in Wearables

The Vinyl Cutter is a tool that is used to create decals that can be applied to various surfaces such as: laptops, bottles, cars, shirts, and more!

Guide Last Updated: Fall 2022

Example Projects Setup/Cleanup Materials Software Warnings Instructions Troubleshooting




Example Projects

These are a few example projects to give some ideas of what this tool can help create:

Adhesive Vinyl Heat Transfer Vinyl




Equipment Setup & Cleanup

Setup Pieces Needed

  • Supdger
    Spudger
  • Weed Pick
    Pick

Clean Up

  • Clean up vinyl scraps
  • Set Vinyl Cutter pressure settings back to 20g
  • Put picks in the pick bucket
  • Make sure Heat Press is turned off

If there are any pieces missing, please inform a Lab Assistant so we can look to replace the missing piece.




Usable Materials

When using this piece of equipment, please use materials from this list below:

Materials

*The links to find these products are not the only place you can buy material from, just a reference*

Please cleanup after yourself and put away lab vinyl and throw away any scraps




Helpful Software

These applications are often used to help create a project with this piece of equipment:

Resources
Software

  • SureCutsALot (Cutting Software - Installed on Vinyl Cutter Computer)
  • Inkscape (A design creation tool)

Websites

If you need help setting up or using software, please ask a Lab Assistant for help!






Tool Warnings

If any of these things occur, take precaution and get a lab director:

Dangerous Signs

  • Vinyl Cutter jams
    • Turn off machine
  • Heat Press burns fabric
    • Turn off and unplug Heat Press
    • If material is burning, put out fire and take material outside
  • Heat Press closed for too long
    • If not in use, the Heat Press should be opened and off
    • While preheating, leave the Heat Press open or else the mat will burn






Equipment Instructions

If you have already used this piece of equipment before, below is a short guide to get you ready to create.

If this is your first time using this piece of equipment, please ask a Lab Assisant for supervision and advice!

Quickstart Guide
Adhesive Vinyl

  • Step 1: Prepare your design and vinyl
    • Step 1: Save your design as an SVG file
    • Step 2: Insert your design into the software SureCutsALot
    • Step 3: Put scaled design into the bottom right corner of the cutting space
      Heat Transfer Vinyl
    • Step 4: Put your vinyl (shiny side up) into the Vinyl Cutter, with excess in the back of the machine
    • Step 5: Click the "Cut With Cutter" icon
      Heat Transfer Vinyl
    • Step 6: Click the "Cut" button to begin cutting
      Heat Transfer Vinyl

  • Step 2: Prepare your decal
    • Step 1: Remove your cut design from the Vinyl Cutter
    • Step 2: Use a pick to weed out and remove any vinyl not to be included in your final design.
    • Step 3: When all excess is gone, press transfer paper over your design

  • Step 3: Stick to object
    • Step 1: Remove vinyl backing (leaving transfer paper)
    • Step 2: Press vinyl to desired surface using spudger
    • Step 3: Slowly peel transfer paper away from decal
    • Step 4: Reduce Vinyl Cutter cutting force back to 20g

Heat Transfer Vinyl

  • Step 1: Prepare your design
    • Step 1: Save your design as an SVG file
    • Step 2: Insert your design into the software SureCutsALot
    • Step 3: Put scaled design into the bottom right corner of the cutting space
      • Make sure your design is horizontally flipped if you want it to be oriented correctly on the end result
    • Step 4: Put your vinyl (dull side up) into the Vinyl Cutter, with excess in the back of the machine.
    • Step 5: Click "Cut With Cutter"

  • Step 2: Prepare your vinyl
    • Step 1: Remove your cut design from the Vinyl Cutter
    • Step 2: Use a pick to weed out and remove any vinyl not to be included in your final design.

  • Step 3: Stick to fabric
    • Step 1: Open the Heat Press
      • open
    • Step 2: While opened, turn on the Heat Press to let it Preheat
    • Step 3: Place garment on Heat Press
    • Step 4: Place vinyl on fabric (shiny side up) and smooth with spudger
    • Step 5: One Heat Press is at 305 Degress, close the lid
      • closed
    • Step 6: A 30 second timer will start. Open once finished
    • Step 7: Leave garment on Heat Press and slowly peel shiny side from garment
      • If the vinyl peels up, place back down, and close Heat Press for 15 seconds. Repeat until fully adheared
    • Step 8: Turn off Heat Press and leave open
    • Step 9: Remove garment from Heat Press
    • Step 10: Reduce Vinyl Cutter cutting force back to 20g


Helpful Videos

Heat Transfer Tutorial






Simple Troubleshooting

If something is not working, here are a few things to check:

  • Vinyl not cutting all the way through?
    • Make sure you are cutting on the correct side
      • Adhesive vinyl (Cut with shiny side face up, white side face down)
      • Heat transfer vinyl (Cut with dull side face up, plastic/shiny side face down)
    • Check the force of the Vinyl Cutter (Baseline is 20g for adhesive and 50g for heat transfer)
    • Increase the force by pressing "F+" on the machine ("F-" to decrease force)
    • Increase the force by small increments of 10-20g, doing a small test cut after each increase
    • If force is greater than 120g and it will not cut, ask a lab assistant for help. The blade may need cleaning or replacement

  • Heat Transfer design is backwards on shirt?
    • Make sure you horizontally flip your design in SureCutsALot or Inkscape BEFORE you cut

  • Design will not load?
    • Make sure that your design is saved as an SVG file before importing it into the cutting software