3 Tips for Working with a Roll Holder

Sheets are neat, but rolls are all the rage when it comes to making the most of your time and materials! Whether you want to cut rows and rows of little logos, make one massive design, or a little bit of both like the image below- a Roll Holder helps get the job done without having to split artwork up to fit on cutting mats. There are a few things that you need to know before getting the Roll Holder wheels spinning! Keep reading for all the steps to setting up your Roll Holder.

We know not everyone prefers rolls, and if your cutter of choice is the 12” Juliet™ you may not ever need to cut longer than the 24” mat. But we still want you to have the option of going long! So the Juliet Roll Holder can be purchased separately from an Authorized Distributor or Reseller.

When it comes to rolls and Romeo™, they go together like bread and butter! Therefore the Romeo Roll Holder is included with your purchase of the high-definition cutter. Whichever Roll Holder you’re working with, the tips are the same! Check out our top tips on working without a cutting mat and with a Roll Holder in this quick blog post!

Tip #1: Position and Pinch

Position the Roll Holder at the back of Romeo or Juliet. Then make sure to place the roll so that as the material feeds through the cutter, the blade is cutting on the correct side.

For HTV, you want to cut through the adhesive side and not the carrier side. The carrier isn’t always shiny, so you may want to peel up a corner if you’re unsure which side is the carrier (or check out this blog post for help with all the lingo!) When it comes to PSV, you will always cut on the colored side of the material and not the paper liner.

Next, feed the material in as straight as possible. The handy guide strip on the left side (near the cutting head) can be used to make sure the material is straight. Unless you’re cutting wider than 12″ on the Juliet– yes you read that right- Juliet can actually cut up to 13.5″ wide! So if the material extends past the typical 12″ you can ignore the guideline in order to make the material fit.

Once the material is lined up straight, it’s time to take stock of your pinch roller positions. Are they evenly spaced across the material? If not, slide them until you have at least one on either side of the material. You can include a third one in the middle or buddied up to the roller on the end for more stability like the image shows below.

The most important part of stability is the pinch roller placement! In addition to spacing them out, you’ll also want to make sure they are aligned with the grit rollers. This will ensure the material is gripped and fed properly. The grit rollers are the textured sections on the silver bar that runs across the bottom length of the cutter.

From the front of the cutter, make sure you can see a little bit of material on either side of the pinch roller. We like to refer to this as an “equal margin” of material on either side of the rollers. Once this is complete, lock everything in place by raising the lever on the back. This will lower the pinch rollers’ position and put you one step closer to cutting!

Tip #2:  Spacing and Slack

Rolls flow smoothest when they have a little bit of space between itself and the cutter as well as some slack rolled out. Having this extra wiggle room prevents tension which can lead to miscuts.

Tip #3: Feed and Fix

You can test out your spacing and slack before sending your design to the cutter by using the up and down arrows on the touch screen.

If the material tracks back and forth without slipping or sliding out of place then you’re good to go! Just make sure you’re all set up for matless cutting in Leonardo™ Design Studio before sending your design(s) to cut. Not sure how to do that? Check out this blog post to see how easy it is!

However, if the material does start to move out of alignment, then it’s time to review my first 2 tips and see if there’s anything that may have been missed. If you’re still struggling, maybe it would help to see the setup. Lucky for you we have a couple videos showing just that!

Bonus Tip: Watch How the Roll Holders Work

From HTV to PSV and so much more- if it comes on a 12” roll (or smaller!) the Juliet Roll Holder can handle it! Watch how it works in the video below:

From 3”-24” wide rolls and all sizes in between, you can cut them all with Romeo. See for yourself:

Cutting large quantities has never been easier or more accurate thanks to the Romeo and Juliet Roll Holders! Have you made anything with your Roll Holder? Show it off in our Facebook group: Siser North America Support!