GRAPHTEC CE8000 Series - Cutting the Corner of Thick Media Sharp; Outline of Tangential Mode

7-2
7.1 Cutting the Corner of Thick Media Sharp
Outline of tangential mode
The blade needs to be facing toward the direction of cut when cutting the media. The tip of the blade is shaped
as shown so the blade is facing the cutting direction even when it is cutting curved lines or corners. The tip of the
blade is off from the rotation axis of the blade (CUTTER OFFSET). The blade will automatically turn and face the
cutting direction when the tool carriage moves, because the blade is forced to move from the rotation center, and
the blade tip gets resistance by the media.
Tool carriage
Direction of movement
Tool rotation axis
Cutter offsetPosition of the blade
Backing sheet
Media
Resistance
from media
Blade
The blade tip gets sunk into the media with 0.3 mm or thicker, making the blade hard to rotate. Especially for the
corners where two straight lines meet, cutting becomes very hard because it cannot rotate smoothly.
Tangential mode is a control method to precisely cut corners where two straight lines meet.
With the tangential mode, the blade is advanced so it will overcut at the corners before raising the tool. Then, it will
be lowered at the position slightly before the next line, and start to cut with slight overcut.
Tool down
(2) Tool movement
Tool up
(3) Direction of the tool
Original cut line
(1) Direction of the tool
Overcut
Overcut
There are 2 modes for tangential mode.
Mode 1: Overcuts the start and end points and acute-angle corners to eliminate uncut sections. In addition,
the cutter blade is moved on the surface of the medium during cutting when it is rotated significantly,
ensuring sharp cutting unaffected by the hardness or thickness of the media.
Mode 2: Overcuts the start and end points only. In addition, the cutter blade is rotated on the medium surface for
the start cutting position only. Mode 2 uses simpler cutter control than Mode 1, and provides a shorter
cutting time.
The length of the overcuts by tangential mode can be set individually for start of the line and for end of the line.