missy here: lots of questions about vinyl cutters.. HELP!!

[MissyTallBoots]

i am just looking into purchasing a vinyl cutter for my up and coming business... can anyone recommend a good and reliable cutter?

i have found a few that i am interested in the 15" Stika and the GT60 Jr 24".

also, does anyone know if these are pinchroller or adjustable?
how do you work them?

i have lots more questions so if anyone can help that would be great!!

thanks,
missy

[dbldan]

Missy,
I have a vinyl cutter here it is 24" and is a standalone, I might be able to help you ask away
Dan

[foxesfarm]

Brand new, 32" Master vinly cutter, Signgo Pro software, tools, clip-art, and vinyl. Plus 2 tutorial dvd's were thrown in for only $1,500.00! Yeah, they say the cheap cutters are loud, and will wreck about every 20 jobs or so, plus they need a serial port (Hard to come by these days!), but the return on investment is great! I wish I'd gotten the goldensign 950C instead of the master in hindsight, it's only $100.00 bucks more and has lots of buttons and handy things like a quick change blade holder and a knob on the end to open and close the pinch rollers. But it's hard to beat a start-up cost like that, everything I needed but the computer and exacto knife. The tutorials weren't the best, but duluth sign supply does admit that, and says they're just to give you an idea. If it was great, they couldn't afford to include it in such a cheap package.

About the wrecking of jobs when the cutter goes mad, it seems to mostly be with people who are using usb to serial adaptors, although it happens to me every other week or so. But even the most expensive vinyl job wrecked only costs me a few bucks, so I'll gladly live with it since the $3,000.00 or so I saved in the start-up costs is worth it. These cheap machines are much slower, but they still cut faster than I can weed out the images, so it's not an issue unless I got big enough to hire somone else. Mind you, if I did, I'd still just buy a second cheap cutter, and use the couple of thousand not spent on a fancy cutter to get an outdoor printer. I got frustrated enough with the usb adapter that I bought an old used computer with a serial port just for cutting and had much less trouble ever since.

I just got this cutter so I could make glass etching stencils between massage sessions and make a few basic signs for my business, so wasn't willing to spend big bucks on a high production machine. It turned out that when people found out I had a cutter, everybody wanted something cut, and in 10 months, I haven't made a glass stencil yet!

PS, try www.inkscape.org for a neat vectorization program. Inkscape graphic design lets you manually tweak values for vectorization, which is nice if you have complicated things like photographs to vectorize and the automatic vectorization in fancy programs doesn't give you what you wanted. Plus it's free!

There's also royalty free graphics at www.openclipart.org . Drawn something you'd like to share with the world? Post an image to them. I thought it was fair to send them one original drawing of mine when I downloaded 8,000 from them. No obligation, just thought it was fair.

[foxesfarm]

Try www.SignGo.com and download their 30 day free trial. It's the full Pro version, so you can practice design and get a good idea how to do so before you ever buy a cutter. Go ahead and email me at office@foxesfarm.com if you have any questions.

[foxesfarm]

Yeah, it's me again. Bigger is better! At least go for the 24" cutter, and 32" is better. It's nice to have the option to cut wider jobs, and they aren't much more than the little ones.

[kennected]

I too bought a 24" machine and am glad I did. Jobs are often bigger than you imagine going in and the 24" wide material will SAVE you vinyl in many cases. With a smaller width machine and as an example you want a 5" x 21" sign, you'll find it necessary to run this job the long way unless you have a wide enough machine.
The widest you can afford the better unless you have very defined use in mind and know for sure that you'll not need it. Does that make sense to you?

[cyberdine]

Yeah, it's me again. Bigger is better! At least go for the 24" cutter, and 32" is better. It's nice to have the option to cut wider jobs, and they aren't much more than the little ones.

Hi, if you want a piece of mind purchase a Summa cutter, which manufactures the very best cutters in the market.
I now only own a summa D60 cutter as well as a Summa DC3 Plus print/cutter.
It cuts and tracks like a dream.
Good luck,

Ps. D60 is a 24", they have up to 60" I believe

[Stewey]

If it has a cat or bird or master in the name, it will bring regrets. If you can afford to put up with misplots and other stuff-ups, then go for it, but you will get very limited support from the sellers. and negligible support from signwriters, as anyone seriously doing a lot will not get one in preference to the name brands, for which there is tremendous support, AND good resale value if you decide to opt out & sell it.

Edited to add: you're better off getting a 2nd hand Roland, Mimaki, Graphtec, ioline or Summa, than a new chinese boat anchor.

[Electech]

The stikas are pinch rollers and are not adjustable. At least they were not when I bought mine a couple of years ago. This is a big hassle, you cannot feed anything in except for the 15" material. You can cut bigger stuff down to fit but it is a hassle.

I would go for something bigger. At least 24".
Look on Ebay (if you use ebay) and find a bargin to get started.

Steve

[Hombre Verde]

Hi, does some body know where can i get a mother board for my Roland CM 24.

Thanks in advance!!

[coltons customs]

If it has a cat or bird or master in the name, it will bring regrets. If you can afford to put up with misplots and other stuff-ups, then go for it, but you will get very limited support from the sellers. and negligible support from signwriters, as anyone seriously doing a lot will not get one in preference to the name brands, for which there is tremendous support, AND good resale value if you decide to opt out & sell it.

Edited to add: you're better off getting a 2nd hand Roland, Mimaki, Graphtec, ioline or Summa, than a new chinese boat anchor.

I agree i purchased a hp cutmaster and it was junk and i payed around 3 thousand for it and the software computer etc . i have now found andam using a 30 inch roland wich i found on ebay of all places i payed 1900 dollars for the machine software(signgo & Coreldraw) as well as the computer with everything already installed so all i had to do was plug it in and go trust me i have ruined enough sandblast mask material with the other to easily pay the differnce i spent just my opionion but you get what you pay for andmy next one will be a mimaki due to the 60 inch model

the cutmaster alone was only about 1000 dollars and the roland new would have been around 2500

[stink]

Hi, if you want a piece of mind purchase a Summa cutter, which manufactures the very best cutters in the market.
I now only own a summa D60 cutter as well as a Summa DC3 Plus print/cutter.
It cuts and tracks like a dream.
Good luck,

Ps. D60 is a 24", they have up to 60" I believe

cyeberdine,

i seriously looking to get purchase a summa 60" wide cutter. any pro's and con's you may be able to pass along would be appreciated.

thanks