GRAPHTEC FC8600 SERIES - To Cut the Corner of Thick Media Sharply; Outline of Tangential Mode

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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.
Resistance from
media
Media
Cutter offset
Blade
Tool carriage
Toll rotation axis
Position of
the blade
Direction of
movement
Backing sheet
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. (See below)
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.
Overcut
a
Direction of the tool
Original cut line
Tool down
b
Tool movement
Tool up
Overcut
c
Direction of the tool
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.
To cut the corner of thick media
sharply
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