Cutting Vinyl Rolls
Cutting Vinyl Rolls
If you have a vinyl cutter, you can make all sorts of projects from shapes and words cut from vinyl. These can range from monograms on water bottles to school logos on car windshields and names on pencil boxes.
To begin, set your machine to cut the vinyl using the prompt on the screen that says Set Base Material. This will open up the complete list of materials you can choose from.
Rolls of Vinyl
If you have a vinyl cutter, you can create and apply a wide variety of designs to almost any surface. A monogram on a water bottle, school logos or names on pencil boxes, or even your own custom sticker for a laptop or car are all possible with vinyl.
It’s usually sold as “self-adhesive” vinyl, which means that it sticks to itself and also adheres to smooth, non-porous surfaces like plastic, metal, glass, and sometimes fabric (although you may not get optimum adhesion). It comes in countless colors, sheens, textures, and patterns and is available at all major craft retailers (like Michaels, JoAnn, and Walmart) as well as online.
To cut a roll of vinyl with your Silhouette Cameo 4, start by flipping the roller bar lever down and then sliding out the feed flap to open the roll feeder and line up the mat edge with the 12″ mark. Once your mat is loaded, follow the prompts in Design Space to set the base material as Vinyl. This will tell your machine to use the correct cutting settings.
Designing for Vinyl
Vinyl is a plastic film-like material that can be cut into countless designs, and placed onto slick surfaces like cars, windows, and signs. It’s available in a variety of colors, sheens, textures and patterns, and comes in rolls that can be trimmed down to the size you need for your project.
Before you start cutting, make sure you have the following supplies:
Transfer tape – The Cricut brand is my favorite because it’s clear with helpful grid marks and good tac. You can also use painter’s tape or contact paper. Weeding tool – A scraper is the best option, but a seam ripper works in a pinch.
Open Design Space and select the type of vinyl you’re using from the Materials Menu (or the Load Mat menu in older machines). Place your piece of vinyl on a LightGrip or StandardGrip mat, and align the edges with the guides. When you’re satisfied with the design, click “Make It” and choose the correct cut settings for your machine. Before you cut, remove the protective paper from the back of the vinyl. This step is called weeding, and it removes all of the “negative” areas around and inside your cut lines.
Pre-Cutting
Vinyl rolls come in a variety of widths, giving you plenty of room to customize pvc film manufacturers your flooring design. They’re also easier to lay than tile or plank vinyl.
Modern vinyl has ditched its old reputation as flimsy and cheap-looking. It’s now available in a range of designs, from wood-look and stone-look to patterned styles. And it’s often water-resistant, making it ideal for kitchens and mudrooms.
If you’re installing a roll vinyl floor in your home, it’s important to prepare the space before starting your project. First, spread out the vinyl and let it acclimate to your room for 24 to 72 hours. This will ensure that it’s as flat and smooth as possible, making it less likely to wrinkle or bubble during installation.
You can make a template to help you cut the vinyl to size by using a sheet of paper felt and a sharp utility knife. You can also scribe the line that you’re going to cut, which will create a perfect guide for your cutter blade. You’ll need to do this before laying your vinyl sheet, so be sure to have a marker on hand.
Weeding
Whether you’re working with iron on vinyl or adhesive craft vinyl you’ll need to know how to weed. Weeding is the process of removing all the “negative space” around and within your cut design. You do this to prepare the vinyl for transfer to your project.
A weeding tool is the best tool to use for this but you can also use scissors or a seam ripper. The more you practice this the easier it becomes.
Before you start weeding it’s important to make sure Cutting Vinyl Rolls your machine settings are right. Depending on what kind of vinyl you’re using the settings in your Cricut or Silhouette design studio will affect how easy it is to weed.
To do this you’ll want to test out your cutting settings on a scrap piece of the vinyl. Once you’re satisfied with the test cut you can proceed to cutting your design. Make sure the vinyl is properly placed on the mat with the sticky side down then load it into your cutter and press the flashing buttons to start cutting.
Transferring
Ideally, you should use your scraper tool to burnish the vinyl into place on your project base. This helps to seal in the design and eliminates air bubbles. Before applying the vinyl, make sure that your project base material is clean and free of any dust or lint. You may also want to wipe the surface of the base material with a bit of rubbing alcohol or a damp cloth.
When using vinyl, it is important to make sure that your design is mirrored. This will ensure that it prints correctly on your product. Most cutting software will have a mirroring feature, but you can also use other editing tools if necessary.
You should also make sure that your transfer tape is sized appropriately for the size of your project. A good rule of thumb is to cut it about an inch or two larger than your project. Once your vinyl is cut, apply the transfer tape to it. Then, slowly peel the paper backing away. Make sure that you are pulling at a shallow angle so that the vinyl does not lift up with it.