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Tangential cutter?
Who were the company(s) selling heavy duty plotters at signuk, I noticed at least one but at the time did not think I needed one. and it didnt register. Anyone able to jog my memory?
Peter -
29 Replies
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there are a few cutter suppliers offer tangental features. normaly the better makes..
i know graphtec do it because our graphtec machine has the function and we use it for tiny text and the like. very accurate and super fast!
heavy duty cutters they are but… if you mean flatbed cutters for cutting the likes of dianmond grade vinyls, then again, graphtec have a range of flat bed heavy duty vinyl cutters. i know this because they have asked to now include the range in the uksb shop…
funny enough we just had a big order that requires this, if we get it, it maybe the new machine we buy soon… -
Rob the one I saw had the option of a true tangential head for thick materials etc. Was one of the top end makes, but for the life of me cannot remember who it was! Wasnt a flatbed was grit roller machine.
Peter -
i dont know a whole lot about them mate but i know the grahtec i have just now cuts things like card etc… i just dont use it for anything like that.
i wouldnt think something as thick as the diamond grade would cut well on anything but a flatbed as its not to great at staying flat, but i could be wrong. 😉 -
Zund were definitely at the show and they make flatbeds. I’ve used one of theirs and they are the bees knees. Apart from super duper quality tangential cutting, you can die cut, that is to say cut right through the material. I wouldn’t have thought many general signmakers would use a flatbed though. They are more suited for large production runs using printed and sheeted material. Also, yes you can cut diamond grade and the like.
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It was definatley a grit roller machine, it even had diamond grade reflective loaded in it, The cutting head was very robust, Unfortunatley plotters tended to be stuck at the back of the room, all that digital stuff was overpowering the workhorses.
peter -
Hi the plotters you are looking for are the SummaSign T-Series.
Download PDF brochure on this URL:-
http://www.summa.be/pages/summasign-t.html
If I had the money I’d buy one – they are absolutely superb and totally bullet proof.
Macky D
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Thanks macky, thats the one I think,
peter -
just my opinion peter, but i think if its for diamond grade stuff ide stick with some sort of flatbed. G will be probably be able to advise you better on this than me but… ide expect something as thick as the diamond grade “continually” going thru one of these types of plotters to give you problems somewhere along the line. not saying they cannot do it easy enough, just that i dont think its the best machine for the job. as far as i know diamond grade has a stay flat problem that arrises, so cutting on the U-shape curve cant do it any favours i wouldnt think? like i said, could be wrong though peter.. would rather mention it now so you can ask the questions to reps and the like before parting with your cash mate.
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Rob, sorry mate must have given the wrong impression, I dont want to cut diamond grade, just buy a good plotter, the one I saw at the show looked good, mine is acting up a bit so was looking at the options,
and as ive always recomended to others I want to buy the best I can afford. cutters/plotters are comparatively dirt cheap now, what with everyone getting the hots for print and cut.
peter -
ahhh, sorry mate. i got wrong end of the stick… yeh you are perfectly right to go for a reputable source. from my own preference and what i have heard by many on the site, summa and graphtec are leading the way… both great suppliers/machines 😉
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Are you looking at possibly getting a tangential Peter?
Only reason I ask is that they are rather slow, aren’t they?
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your right G, much slower than drag blades, but have you tried it fuull speed on your graphtec? ( i maybe comparing to my old greber 4B here ) but man-o-man do i think it does it fast? 😕
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I was looking at the quality of the summa, as far as tracking, small letter accuracy, speed and robustness (if thats a word) It was just the fact that summa had a true tagenial mode rang bells , but I couldnt remember the make. as I said before the true workhorse of the sign trade was not very prominent at the show. As an extra question, how good is the cadet, or similar as a plotter?
peter -
The Cadet hasn’t had much of a mention on the boards
Its been mostly the eco solvent Versacamm thats grabbed the attention of most
I’d like to hear more about the solvent Cadet
Any users out there?John
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My Summa T 1300 is far faster than the roland and gerber plotter we have, and for reflective it cuts it like butter would never buy a drag blade again, quality of small text is second to none, i run it through signlab via the spoloer with arc support on and medium smoothing at full speed cuts like a dream, this weekend i will be cutting serif lettering at just over half inch x 2000 ice cream flavours (customer wont have them printed)
but i get good money for them £1.65 per strip, with the speed weed function on they take very little time to weed and mask, just very boring but for very little outlay in materials (oracal 751) its a good earner……. -
if i were buying i would like the tangentle s class summa with the spare drag head so i got the best of all worlds its on my I want list.
Chris
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Adrian, can you explain what the speed weed function is please??
Peter -
I have a Summa T750 Tangential cutter (3 years old) and a Graphtec FC3100 drag knife plotter (6 years old), both have their good and not so good bits. The Summa is NOT slow but to say the tracking is good for 8m and is better for small letters maybe a little over stated. The Graphtec tangential emulation is very good and I use it for ordinary reflective material not the honeycomb stuff which it cuts with no problem at all, I use Edward Mathias blades in both and the Graphtec you can change in seconds. The Summa had both Tangential and Drag but IMO the drag is not as good as the Graphtec – overall if someone insisted on one or the other I’d go Graphtec but that does assume the modern Graphtecs are as good as the old ones.
Alan -
within signlab there is a feature that puts a speed weed box around the text therefore for small text it a doddle to weed as it cuts the black lines as in the image
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quote :speed weed box
Used to be known as a snuff box but any type of class B drug can be put in it
John
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Excuse me for being thick, but whats a Tangential cutter ??
Iain
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a low power sun lamp – or where your knife blade is dragged around using Castor to follow the path a tangential head actually swivels the knife electronically to the correct angle for the direction in which it wishes to travel it defiantly has its uses but not in normal every day sign work nice to have thou
Chris
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I learn something new every day
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Adrian, I use signlab so knew about power weed, Ithought it was a magic gadget that summa had, 😀
Peter -
well i must be thick as two short planks 😮
i did not know about speed weed in signlab 🙄
what version is that on though?nik
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Nick its been in all version that I have had from 5
Peter -
🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄 🙄
what a numpty i am !! 😉
nik
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Nik
You and me could be the founding members of a new forum
“thick and stick forum”
we could always ask Dewi to come onboard too with his way out wacky
ideasCheers
Iain -
I also use a Summa T series plotter with Opus, also have Gerber machines, remember when I bought it I could have bought a Graphtec full width for about the same money or just a little more than the T750.
Its the only true tangential friction cutter on the market, the Graphtec as somebody else says has tangential emulation and is not a true tangential plotter. We bought it for cutting sandblast resist, and I wouldn’t hesitate in going out and buying another.
Thought I might miss a full width machine, but the only advantage I can see with that is negative cut vinyl for backlit signs and I don’t do that kind of work as we rout aluminium fronts for most lightboxes.
I buy full width material and cut down 750 plus rest which gives 2 good working sizes 719mm and 450mm, which works for me.
It cuts at up to 1000mm sec, I think thats pretty fast, it always seems to be done before I’m finished weeding something else. Whereas with the old Gerber machine at 100mm sec you’d be waiting for them (talking Sprint/4B not the modern Envisions etc).
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