Here's a quick tip and demonstration for adjusting your media to achieve better vinyl cutter tracking. Troubleshooting vinyl cutter tracking problems is not difficult!

We used a Vinyl Express R-Series in the video below. However, the suggested adjustment can extend the length of continuous vinyl cutter tracking on most vinyl cutters.

Steps

    1. Place a strip of masking tape on the front and back of cutter.
    2. Place desired media on media roller and load media.
      • Media resting on the stand's media roller will feed into the machine better than media resting loosely on a table surface or even a tabletop media holder and lead to better tracking.
    3. Engage pinch rollers.
    4. Draw a line on both strips of masking tape to mark the edge of the media before advancing.
    5. Advance the media while gauging the direction and the degree to which the media drifts from the drawn line.
    6. Lift the pinch rollers.
    7. Hold the edge of the media in place against the marked line on the back of the cutter.
    8. Slightly shift the media just left or right of the drawn marker on the front of the cutter.
    9. Lower pinch rollers.
    10. Advance media to see if this adjustment improved tracking.
      • If tracking worsened, readjust media to the opposite side of the drawn marker on the front of the cutter while keeping the media next to drawn line on the back of the cutter.

Other Tracking Tips

    • Pullout some slack behind the cutter before cutting so that a tight roll isn't too hard for the cutter to pull consistently.
    • Advance and then back media multiple times for the distance you're about to cut. In doing this, the grip rollers can impress slight grooves for better traction.