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[Flint54]

    Now here is a Question that appears to have a different answer depending upon the make of your vinyl cutter and the manufacturer of the new blade.

"When ordering a replacement blade, you have a choice of cutting angles, 30, 45 & 60 degrees.  Why is there no standard measurement origin point? Why does cutter maker X establish the origin point from the cutting surface and maker Y establish the vertical axis of the blade as the origin? Then the blade manufacturers also use either point, why is there no standard?  For someone new this can be very confusing as a 30 degree from one may be a 60 degree from the other.

This has been a thorn since we got into vinyl cutting, I'm Glad that I only get my blades from one company as I know what to order.

Anyone else ever ran into this? 

[williamd]

I'm quoting:

Choosing the right degree for your blade is important in achieving high-quality cutting results. A standard vinyl cutting blade is 45 degrees. Unfortunately, standard-degree blades are often unable to deliver quality cuts when thicker materials are involved. In fact, standard blades may actually become buried in very thick material. Lower degree blades may offer even less desirable performance.

A higher degree blade, such as a 60-degree blade, may offer the right angle to cut through thicker materials completely, pivoting without impairment when tackling the job of cutting corners. The quality of the cut is even further influenced by the sharpness of the blade used and the down force.

For best results use the following blade angles with material thickness:
    * 45° blades are recommended for all standard cast and calendered vinyls and other thin materials such as ThermoFlex Plus and EasyWeed.
    * 60° blades are recommended for thicker materials such as reflective films, flock, twill and sand blasting films.

[binki]

We use 60's on everything.

[American logoZ]

I had no idea that there were no industry stds,  but I guess that's why offset settings differ depending on blade brand...?

[precisioneng]

I generally use the 60` blades for everything and it works well. The main thing is to get the correct amount of blade extending from the blade holder and the down force.

Here is a video put on by Josh Ellsworth which gives some excellent tips.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQsv0d4FOcU (External Embedding Disabled)

[irish]

Thanks for the link.  Setting up the blade has been one of my problems.

[American logoZ]

I don't have problems switching between a 45 and a 60.  I have an extra blade holder so each is loaded and ready to go.  But when I initially switched to clean cut blades I had some adjustments to make.  I'm still not sure I've got everything set correctly, as my force is much higher than before and that's not at all what I expected.  But it works, so I'm fine with that.