Arts >> Art >> Other Art

How to Use Frisket With a Plotter

Vinyl plotters are used around the world to create advertisements, signs and designs such as those applied to decorate vehicles. Plotters function by using a design created and sent to the machine by a computer, then cutting the design into the material with a sharp automated blade. Though created specifically for vinyl, plotters allow you to cut designs into frisket --- a masking material used to cover and protect a surface being decorated, much like painter's tape.

Instructions

    • 1

      Place the roll of frisket on the vinyl roll holders behind the plotter so the end of the frisket unrolls at the top and toward the plotter.

    • 2

      Lift the roller locking lever, and insert the frisket into the plotter under the rollers. Lower the lever to secure the frisket into place.

    • 3

      Adjust the cutting depth to match the depth of the frisket. Some plotters have a manual dial on the front of the machine you must turn clockwise to increase the depth and counterclockwise to decrease the depth. Plotters with digital controls require the use of a control panel to adjust cutting depth.

    • 4

      Check all connections from the plotter to the computer, then send the image from your plotting application to the plotter: First click "File," then "Print." Select the plotter by clicking "Export to Device" and selecting the plotter or by clicking "Send to Machine."

    • 5

      Push the appropriate button on a digital plotter to end the cut, or depress the manual cutter blade in the rear of the plotter and slide it across the frisket, to separate the cut areas from the roll.

    • 6

      Lift the cut areas gently away from the frisket sheet. Use the sheet as a stencil to fill in the design as positive space, or use the cutouts as stencils to create the shapes as negative space.

Other Art

Related Categories