example of vinyl cutting - link

Road map of city - link

In this week I learn:

vinyl cutting

Machine : Roland GX24

A vinyl cutter is a type of computer-controlled machine. Small vinyl cutters look like a desktop printer. Like a printer controls a nozzle, the computer controls the movement of a sharp blade over the surface of the material. This blade is used to cut out shapes and letters from sheets of thin self-adhesive plastic (vinyl). The vinyl can then be stuck to a variety of surfaces depending on the adhesive and type of material.

To cut out a design a vector-based image must be created in a software program (usually Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw).

It is then sent to the cutter (Click Hear) where it cuts along the vector paths laid out in the design. The cutter is capable of moving the blade on an X and Y axis over the material, cutting it into any shape we can design but there will be always one perfect setting for each design depends on the geometry. Since the vinyl material comes in long rolls, projects with significant length like banners or billboards can be easily cut as well.

To know more about vinyl cutter you can Click here.

Logo making vinyl cutter

I decided to try my Sherrif logo which I made in Week 3 in INKSCAPE softwere. it has good deatils in the fonts I can also able to know what will be my design limitations in logo making,

Download files from here inkscape(.svg) , inkscape(.jpg), inkscape(.eps) .

Cut STUDIO softwere

I tried both Vector and Raster formats for logo making. I wanted to see the advantages of these two formats in machine operations. Cut studio can work on both vector and raster formats. you can import raster images of extensions (.bmp, .jpg, .gif, .tif, .psd) or vector images of (.EPS or .ai).

Raster Image

First ai went for raster image, raster image can be downloaded from Here . As I say which vector formats you need to upload on the cut studio, Uploading Raster formats are easy you can just import it without any pre Processing.

cut studio interface

This is a cut studio interface, it is quite simple and easy to understand, you can import images from file menu here. here in default state Origin will be in bottom-left.

Import jpg format

Only one limitation in raster formates is we can choose our cut paths directly we have to do some or cant generate all the desired path lines, we need to do some work on that by creating an image outline to generate the best paths we can. (let's understand this later). After importing the jpg image or any raster format (JPG in my case) you can just Right-click on the image and select Image outline. first, disable the image view.

What we are doing here is we are setting different contrast of images to create different path lines, these paths are going to be used by cutters. in the dark part, the software will target the more dense colors and in light parts, it will target bright ones. I have to select in between to generate a tool path of the image.

Set origin

After setting the outline we have to set the origin of the machine, what we can do here that one can set the cutter ate the desired position and set that point as origin by clicking the origin button on the machine, that time origin for the machine will be set. but we have to tell the software what is the cutting area.

For setting the cutting area we need to go Cutting > Properties and select GET FROM MACHINE.

Changing speed

In Roland-GX24 speed is 20 cm/s in default. it is the maximum speed of the machine, for my job it was Too high, letters can tear off during the cutting process. so I decided to keep it to 1 cm/s first.The force was 150 gf.

reducing the force

It was cutting Bad. Force was too high for cutting the material, so I decided to change it to the 110 gf.

Final Video

tools to know :

Post Processing

After doing the vinyl cutting on material, it is time to make a logo out of it. It is a little sensitive process it needs to be done with proper way otherwise logo will take bad shape and will not be good to put on somewhere(Main objective)

Use of transfer tape

A Transfer tap is used to place the logo on the place where you want it to.

Cutting out transfer tap

First I cut the transfer tap I needed from a roll and place it on the part since our small roll of transfer was finished I have to take out bigger one and I cut one portion of it to place transfer tap on cut part.

Pulling out unnecessary material

I removed unnecessary material first! For easy removal one should try to pull transfer tape parallel to the surface, in this case, shear will help to remove the material, directly pulling it up may brake the material and it will one have to make the logo once again.

Using transfer tape one more time

Then I took out another transfer tap and removed my logo from a roll and place it where I wanted to.

What one can do here is put the logo one the roll( its negative side ) if you don't want to stick that on the instance and take it out when you need to, it helps when you have more than one logo to place.

I put it on my laptop.

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With vector format

Then I did the same process with vector format, I used .eps format for it. The difference between this type of format I explained above, but vector formats are very good when you need perfect cutting paths, it will cover all the vector lines in cut paths, but for that one will need vector formats, so I used .svg format, The original file of Inkscape. Click here to download.

In vector format the cutting process is very simple, you don't have to make contrast changes to generate a path, the tool path will be there initially, but the more complex thing is converting or preparing the image for the Cut studio software. the procedure is little complex and needs to follow some certain ground rules, I will not say the method is not general but we need to use that for our cut studio version.

.eps format

As I wrote cut studio can run on .eps and .Ai formats. I tried with .eps format. I used Inkscape and illustrator to generate a .eps format.

Convert text into paths

It is good practice to convert text manually on paths. for doing that in inscape go to Path > Dynamic offset and select text.

Inkscape

You cant use export option in Inkscape to generate eps format, so go to save as and export the .eps file from there. you will find the option to upload in Postscript version, I checked both looked the same on eps format. But I recommend you to go for a lower version, in case you have an old system.

Click here to download file.

export from Illustrator

I exported with illustrator, I will show why I have to do it. but understand the process. in illustrator, one has to export in illustrator 8 EPS(for our cut studio version). Click here to download the file.

visual comperisson

The below image is a comparison of the eps file of Inkscape and illustrator. both look the same, both have same path lines generated but the problem is when you import it in cut-studio, for Inkscape file when you add the file on the software it will not show up, but illustrator file works well. that's why I have to choose an illustrator for Uploading.

imported on cutstudio

As I said toolpath will be generated initially and no additional process require to it, but one thing is to take care of is to remove unwanted paths, sometimes in vector, there are some path line remained while designing. These will mess your logo in the cut if you don't eliminate them.

Post processes

post-processes are the same in vector format as I mention on the raster but one advantage is that you will have more options about removing unnecessary material since each vector path is going to cut. below is an image of the vector cut logo.

comperisson

Here the left one is Raster and Vector. I had better options to change font locations in vector. I could direct the toolpath more efficiently, but it is not good if you have a more complex logo, I generally observe, if some path is going through design it will cut through it and it can lead to bad position while removing the logo and unwanted material.

For high contrast one can go for the raster type, it is also good for complex designs as far as software can detect edges properly.

Laser cutting

In Laser cutting, we are assigned to make one One press-fitting model using the concept of Parametric modeling.

Parametric modeling

Parametric design is a process based on algorithmic thinking that enables the expression of parameters and rules that, together, define, encode, and clarify the relationship between design intent and design response.

Parametric design is a paradigm in design where the relationship between elements is used to manipulate and inform the design of complex geometries and structures.

The term parametric originates from mathematics (parametric equation) and refers to the use of certain parameters or variables that can be edited to manipulate or alter the result of an equation or system.

In conclusion Parametric design helps the designer to modify the design very efficiently, in simple words I take one dimension and take it as the main parameter which affects other parameters directly or indirectly, I will try to relate it with other dimensions as a set of the equation, which I already have to follow in simple modeling also, this set of equation will help to redesign the model quickly, if I change one parameter, all dimensions related to it will change, in the complex design, there can be more than one parameter which is main or call it dominant in design.

in Maths dominant parameters can be called Independent parameter and other parameters as Dependent parameters, because their values depend on other parameters.

How it works ?

I prepared some basic models of parametric modeling to understand how I can use it in properly, I initially used Constrains to have relations between vertices, these constrain don't follow any expression, they follow simple geometric rules.

List is below

Parallel rule - lines will be parallel to each in design

Horizontal/verticle rule - lines will be horizontal or verticle no in-between angle will be there.

Perpendicular rule - two lines will be perpendicular to each other.

Symetric rule - The design will be symmetric to the respective axis.

Equal rule - two-line will be equal to each other.

RHINO AND grasshopper

During experiments, I found some problems with the Fusion-360. The software was taking to much load time when I was changing Parameters, it was beyond my machine's limitations so I go for Rhino and grasshopper.i was familiar with rhino but I have no idea how to use it for parametric design, through it was for parametric designs I was sure I can use it for good. I saw last year's fab academy student Adhitya-ss documentation for any clue in parametric software.

I found a solution. this video is teaching to create Notches on geometry. I followed the whole process.

final parametric design

Thickness of material: 1.5 mm
Power for Texts and etching: Power max: 7 % Power min: 40 %
Speed for text:	200 mm/s
Suitable for Etching: only up to 70 % power(IN SIL)
Minimum diameter can be cut: 1 mm
Kerfing: 0.07 mm
Minimum text can be cut: 1 mm
Living hinges: good material for living hinges

Speed and accuracy: talking about the speed with accuracy SIL got 8/10 in Etching. because in my conclusion these two parameters are applied at a single time. it matters how laser engraves when it is on high speed, Did the laser covers the whole printed part uniformly or not ?, In SIl yes it can, it is engraving on narrow edges very precisely.
Minimum spacing between two cut profiles: From my observation laser can give good results with a spacing of 1.5 mm, it can go to 1.3 mm but some material like buff board it was not that good.
Minimum Size of text : 3 mm preferable
Curved paths: In Arcs laser use minimum power settings because there is slow down in Speed.