Vector cutting magnet sheet stock

[Robert L Stewart]

Has anyone had issues cutting magnet sheet stock?

I am working out the details on a line of refer magnets and I would like to vector cut the various shapes of magnet stock and then apply to my rastered designs on Flexi Brass material (Johnson Plastics).

I have ordered a sample of MSP .030 plain stock with 3M #467 MP double stick adhesive from Johnson Plastics.

I tried vectoring a sample that I had with out the adhesive, works at 15 speed, 60 power, fc 500.

Geezs that material is sparky :cool: and not easy to cut. It takes a while to clean up afterwards.

Any thoughts please?

Robert

I am using a Mini 24 45W epilog.

[Joe Pelonio]

For some reason all the magnetic material I have done does that sparky cutting, with rough charred edges. Better to just score part way and it will tear out pretty well, or cut squares using a paper cutter. Laser mag does better but is too thin/weak to hold up the weight of plastic to the fridge.

[Mike Null]

My results are the same and it is so dirty I just quit using it.

[Robert L Stewart]

Thanks Joe,

I will try the scoring trick. The material does break easily. A paper cutter would work for the squares. The other shapes (parallelograms and triangles) would be time consuming but no clean up.

No clean up is good :D

[Dee Gallo]

Thanks for this thread, now I know what not to bother with when I deal with magnetic sheeting, which coincidentally just came up with a client.

cheers, dee

[Liesl Dexheimer]

Yup, same prob here. I cut out magnetic signs for my car, it sparks quite a bit and is very messy. The signs came out great though, have had them on my car for about a year. I generally take them off when I know salt is going on the roads in the winter. Also, had a small issue with one of them being in the sun, it left a weird film on my car door (looks like adhesive). I tried taking it off with adhesive remover and waxing it, but you can still see it when you move a certain way in the light. :(

[Bill Cunningham]

What if you apply the flexibrass, 'then' engrave and score cut.. You can even put some mask on it before scoring.. It may cut down on the sparks and cleanup.. The magnetic stock is fairly brittle, so it should not take much to snap it apart with a score, even through mask..

[Joe Pelonio]

Yup, same prob here. I cut out magnetic signs for my car, it sparks quite a bit and is very messy. The signs came out great though, have had them on my car for about a year. I generally take them off when I know salt is going on the roads in the winter. Also, had a small issue with one of them being in the sun, it left a weird film on my car door (looks like adhesive). I tried taking it off with adhesive remover and waxing it, but you can still see it when you move a certain way in the light. :(
Car magnets must be removed, the car washed and the back of the magnets washed at least once a month. In winter when the rain washes muddy water onto and behind them it becomes like glue. I have had people ignore my written instructions/warning and come back a year later with the paint off from removing them for the first time.

[Robert L Stewart]

What if you apply the flexibrass, 'then' engrave and score cut.. You can even put some mask on it before scoring.. It may cut down on the sparks and cleanup.. The magnetic stock is fairly brittle, so it should not take much to snap it apart with a score, even through mask..


Bill,

I tried just that. Did the rastering, applied the mask, then did the vector scoring. No problem getting thru the .020 Flexi Brass. But the heat build up at the magnet melts the edge of the Flexi to the point of distortion. I tried it at many different setting and the improvment was slim. The brushed alum Flexi shows every detail when the light hits it just right.

Not giving up yet ;). There must be a way.

[Bruce Clumpner]

Another method might be to laminate the flexi-brass to the magnetic material and use a die to cut the final magnet. Ask a local commercial printer for a refferal. Depending on the quantity, a die can be fairly economical. Most shops can use an EPS to lay-out the die.