More than a quarter of Americans are turning side hustles into businesses, including those making vinyl signs for decor or businesses.
To get serious about that business, most people need to upgrade their equipment and start buying the best vinyl sign supplies you can. You also need to learn how to do more than the basics with your equipment to create great work people want to buy.
For sign businesses, going beyond the basics includes learning about the different mediums you can use and the right way to cut them. After all, quality signage brings people in the door, so your clients require you to give them the best work possible. That means your vinyl plotter blades need to be appropriate to the task and the best quality you can afford.
Let’s take a look at the best plotter blades for vinyl to help you as you start shopping for replacement blades.
Why It Matters
Yes, a sharp edge can cut into almost anything, but you need the right blade to get the best cut. If you match the wrong blade to your film type, you’re going to run into problems.
The biggest one is that it might not cut properly. You have the wrong blade in and try to cut thicker material; you might end up with shallow cuts that don’t go all the way through. You’re left with a jagged edge when you try to separate the film.
All this does is waste materials and your time redoing the work unless you’re willing to settle for sloppy work.
The second reason it matters is that you can ruin the blade, which is another waste of resources, along with the time spent replacing it.
Which Blade for Which Vinyl?
Matching the blade to the medium requires taking into account several factors. These include the type of vinyl you’re cutting and the thickness of the material. Once you know those, your choice of blade comes down to size and angle.
Angle matters because it determines cutting depth. The most common angles available are 30 degrees, 45 degrees, and 60 degrees, and some blade brands will only offer the most used 45 and 60-degree blades.
For most PVC vinyls, the standard 45-degree blade works fine. When you start working with thicker and thinner, you have to consider changing the blade angle.
A 30-degree blade doesn’t cut quite so deeply, which allows you to work with thinner films like cast vinyl or 1mil chrome. Thicker options like retro-reflective film, sand-blast stencil, or flock need the 60-degree blade because it cuts more deeply. Fortunately, all these blades should fit into the same blade holder.
The rule of thumb for which degree goes with which thickness is as follows:
- 30-degree for 2-4 mm thick
- 45-degree for 4-12 mm thick
- 60-degree for 12+ mm thick
Some blade brands like Graphtec offer thicker blades along with different angles. The idea behind that is the thicker blade can better handle cutting through thicker materials like soft foam. You’ll need a different blade holder because the shaft is thicker, so it’s more economical to stick with the standard thickness and change to the 60-degree angle instead.
When working with stretchy vinyl, the metal of the blade can make a difference. Premium carbide creates less friction when moving on coarse textures and rubbery material, so you get a cleaner cut with it.
Special-Use Vinyl Cases
At times, you need to consider which blade to use more carefully because of other factors with the material you work with.
One of these is flock, a kind of thermal transfer film. It’s super thick to simulate the velvet feel of a letter man jacket, so you’ll need the 60-degree blade. This is why you often hear 60-degree blades called a flock blade, so you might not need a special blade if you already have that angle in your arsenal.
Note that most thermal transfer films are extremely thin and soft, like 2mil vinyl, so a standard 45-degree blade works fine. You only need the 60-degree if working with actual flock or reflective heat transfer films.
If you focus on signs, you might not work with window tint, but that is another special case. It not only tends to be thin, but it also doesn’t have a paper release liner. The blade called for here is one with a much shallower 25-degree angle.
All the recommendations and rules go out the window when you start trying to plot very small fine details. That’s because the rotation of the blade has a lot to do with how tightly you can make tiny turns on those details. A 45-degree blade can lift the vinyl while you’re cutting, so the tighter rotation of a 60-degree blade might be called for even if the material isn’t that thick.
Does Brand Matter?
Are you convinced it matters what blade you’re using? That’s great! Your mind has probably already wandered to the next most obvious question about what brand to use.
A sharp blade at the correct angle is important for getting a great cut, and your cutter is only as good as the blade you put in there. But as long as you choose a blade that is compatible with your plotter, the brand itself doesn’t matter as much as you might think.
That is where the brand does matter because not all blades are universally compatible, especially for super high-end machines. Many replacement blades are based on Roland plotters as they were the top-selling cutter for years.
Another exception is some specialty blades that only come from your cutting machine manufacturer.
Buy High-Quality Vinyl Sign Supplies
For any sign business, the quality of your supplies plays a significant role in the quality of your product. You probably already know how to cut vinyl, but having the right plotter blade types for the vinyl you’re cutting can up your game. A sharp blade at the right angle gives you clean cuts that become beautiful signs.
If you’re looking for high-quality vinyl sign supplies,contact us to learn more about our made-in-the-USA replacement blades. We offer a full selection of vinyl cutting blades that fit a wide range of cutting plotters.
Simple Solutions International offers a full selection of plotter blades and plotter pens as well as a variety of useful tools for use in plotting and sign making such as plotter adapters, masking film, spray mask, and other sign making tools and accessories.