Cutting cardstock paper - singles or stacks?

[Tor Amundson]

I've got a quick question about cutting cardstock.

I'm using my printer (HP Z3100 44") to print on 24x18 sheets of cardstock. Each sheet has 21 'cards' printed on it (3" x 5.5" each). I want to use the laser to vector cut them out. This is both an outline cut (like a playing card) and some fine detail cuts that match the image. All the cards are the same.

If I want the best quality cut with the least scorching but have a lot of them to do, is it best to do them one sheet at a time, or how many could I safely stack and still get a clean cut? Should I have a waste sheet (of the same cardstock or other material) as masking to keep the top cards clean?

This would be on a VL4.60 at 60 watts.

The material is a basic office-depot kind of cardstock, about 190gsm-weight, normal fiber-based paper. 15 sheets of it make for about a 1/4" stack.

[Peck Sidara]

Tor,

Common application. I've had best results cutting one sheet at a time using slow to medium speed, low power and low frequency (or PPI on your machine?).

Stacking does work (maybe 5-7 sheets) but will likely result in wasting 1-2 sheets (blank or printed) on top/bottom leaving you a few good layers in between.

HTH & GL.

[Joe Pelonio]

I cannot do stacked, the top one always gets blown by the inflow from the exhaust fan.

[David Fairfield]

Stacking is a good time saver in theory, not so great in practice. I dont like stacking more than two paper sheets at a time, and not for precision work. Any more than 2 and I find that exhaust gets trapped in the sandwhich and stains the paper, the paper starts to slip as Joe says, and some cuts become ragged.

Dave

[Robert Ray]

I can only do 6 sheets at a time with a 35 watt. I use 8 small dots of white glue around the parameter of the paper to hold them together.

The first couple sheets come out clean, but the 3rd starts collecting smoke residue from the first 2, and by the 6th sheet, the cut lines start getting wide.

For my application, model railroad structure shingles on brown paper, it's ok, but for clean stuff like greating cards, the smoke residue on stacked sheets might offend.

-Robert

[Doug Griffith]

Instead of stacking, I would focus on optimizing cut paths. Butt the cards together and cut common edges at the same time. Set the paths to flow from one side to the other instead of bouncing all over the place. build a jig/tray system to speed up loading/unloading.

[Mike Mackenzie]

Tor,

One other thing to keep in mind when printing paper you can experience shrinkage. So if you stack the paper and your sheets are off the cuts will not match.

It is best to print crop marks so you can check the registration of the printed paper with the system and the cuts.

[Eric Fuller]

Get a long focal length lens (~100 mm) and use magnets to stick the sheets to your honeycomb table. Should work like a charm.

[Nick Napier]

I do a lot of cutting of card stock ( 12 X 12 ) acid free, for a local scrapbooking store. I have never had good luck stacking even 2 sheets at a time. The bottom sticks to the top and sometimes the bottom doesn't cut completly. I could probably play with the pwr and speed and fix some of that but that still doesn't help the smoke residue. For whatever it's worth.

Nick Napier