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Startup – Budget cutter and software to get going – Help….
Hello,
I’m new to the forum and the business and probably this is a question asked all the time.
I’m just starting out and on a very small budget and I need a vinyl cutter and software.
There seem to be several cutters on the market (chiefly on eBay) from the Far East at around £200 to £250. I’m sure they are not quite as capable as leading makes used in the trade but are they good enough for someone such as myself, starting up and who’s strapped for cash? If things take off then an upgrade to a better machine would be the first on the shopping list.
My questions are:
In general what’s the difference between a budget cutter and an established industry cutter?
Out of the Far Eastern cutters, there are a number of similar looking machines (Creation PCut, Creation Kingcut, Liyu Refine and probably others), are they all basically the same or is there one brand that is obviously a notch up over the rest?
On software, I’ve used Corel Draw for a number of years and more recently Inkscape for design work. What start-up software would be adequate to link with the cutter? I’ve looked at Sign Blazer Elements it looks a bit old in style but usable. Is this recommended or are there budget stop gap programs that are better?
Any replies much appreciated.
Ronald
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16 Replies
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There’s a current thread also started today with just about the same question.
Dave
Now pop over to the SAY HELLO section 🙂
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Hi Ronald.
Whats your target customer? Have you got your own premises?
A cheap cutter will do the job as long as its a once a week cut. You’ll get no technical help from the company you bought it from. Maybe not even possible to get replacement blades etc..
As far as software goes if your running a cheap Chinese plotter you’ll be limited to what software will run it!
Good luck with your venture but saying ‘hello’ will gain more replies!
Matt
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hi ronald
as dave says, there is a very similar thread going HERE
i realise your on a budget and things are tight, but how much worse would it be should you spend the budget on a chinese donkey that didnt understand english when trying to get it to work for you? sounds daft, but thats about the size of it!
go for a reputable firm, see if they have some lower priced machines or
ex-demo or second user models available…
buying from a reputable firm will not mean you necessarily get the best plotter, but better than the ebay style ones, more so… they come with after sales support and advice, so your not feeling around in the dark should you need to ask the simplist of questions.
here are a couple of links to get you going… -
Hi and welcome dave the older guys are always right I was really fortunate and picked up a decent plotter software and the pc to run it for a very reasonable price it runs signpal and works well with corel i’m still on 12 but have 14 so see what the guys are selling they all tend to look after each other good luck mate
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Hi, and thanks.
Yea, I know I should spend more – bank manager thinks differently. Good after sales is worth a lot and even though some of the big names seem to manufacture in the Far East they do have the backup here in Europe.
Perhaps the idea of second hand kit is worth looking into. (er.. back to eBay)
Cheers
Ronald
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The chinese plotters aren’t that bad, obviously they aren’t as quick, smooth or quiet as roland/graphtec but for the money they are capable little machines for everyday stuff. The main problem with them is the fact you’ll be on a steep learning curve as the support is next to none. Most have a warranty of 12 months but you usually have to pay for an engineer to diagnose any faults then the seller pays parts and labour.
I bought an MH721 EU refine 7 months ago and its worked pretty well, the only real fault I had was a power lead died, simple fix replace with another kettle lead. The best support for these tyoes of machines is through the uscutter forum.
As for software I used adobe cs3 and now corel X5 for designing, then simply save as an .eps and load into signblazer to do the cutting.
Like others have said if you can afford to go better then do it, its one less expense further down the road. Look around for a used setup they do come up from to time for not a lot more than the chinese plotters and sometimes less. There was a roland pnc 1860 plotter about 2 weeks ago that went for under £200. -
I would keep away from the chinese plotters and taoeIt turned out to be a complete waste of time and money, the cuts on this machine were so bad that we were ashamed to use it….In the end we decided to get rid of it. I would say we had it for a little over 2 weeks.
For some reason which i cant think of now i decided to take the cover of to have a look inside….to my shock horror the chinese had used an old metal tape measure as running gear…they were so lazy that you could still see the tape measure markings.
My advice would be try to find something secondhand that is branded, we ended up buying a graptec FC7000 in the end and got a good deal on it obviously not as cheap as the chinese one but well worth the money.
We do alot of small vinyl graphics for vintage motorbikes and i think without this top notch machine we would be in trouble.
Dont rush your decision even if it means saving alittle cash to get a better machine than do so.
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quote Ronald Jones:Perhaps the idea of second hand kit is worth looking into. (er.. back to eBay)There is a ‘Roland Plotter’ (Camm1 PNC1000) on fleabay at the moment.
If you think about it a new Graphtec plotter could be and has been bought using a credit card.
If I were you I’d go for a reputable make, Roland, Graphtec, Summa.
You’d be very, very unlucky to have any problems with these and
they’re going to last you 10 years at least. -
i used to have a cheap Chinese branded cutter about 3 years ago now and it was unreliable, slow and cutting accuracy was awful – i ended up just buying a roland print/cut on top of the Chinese cutter!
If your budget is tight you want cheap but good value for money.
What about getting a small Roland Stika machine? i think there quite cheap and reliable compared to a Chinese branded machine. There quite small but it would get you going! -
See if you can find a summa summacut d60. The software comes with a winplot plug in for corel 🙂
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Hi and thanks for all the advice. I don’t mind slow or noisy but high accuracy is essential.
Currently I’m looking into buying a good second hand known brand – might get a higher specified machine but I don’t really want a knackered one.
Cheers
Ronald
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Hello,
Still looking and I see that some machines will work direct from CorelDraw with a plug-in. I’ve been using Corel since v.4 and I currently have X3.
My question is: Which machines will work OK with this Corel plug-in?
Thanks
Ronald
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quote Richard Martin:The chinese plotters aren’t that bad, obviously they aren’t as quick, smooth or quiet as roland/graphtec but for the money they are capable little machines for everyday stuff. The main problem with them is the fact you’ll be on a steep learning curve as the support is next to none. Most have a warranty of 12 months but you usually have to pay for an engineer to diagnose any faults then the seller pays parts and labour.Interesting reading this . I have deliberately stayed away from posting here (even though I have a paid subscription) I did ask how I stood , but I did not get a reply!.
Never mind the mods will no doubt edit anything I say which is not welcome and I can fully understand why the pro’s would not like cheap chinese machines to become useable.lol
However I will declare a commercial interest in that I provide basic support for Liyu machines amongst other items.
I have noticed that many people think its easy to "do signs" as they call it and generally they fall at the first hurdle (nothing to do with the capability of the cutter)
So whilst I have always thought this forum to be a strange and complex subject (assisting others who may one day become competitors) we are all trying to earn a living the best way we know how.
I will concur with many comments that most Chinese cutters will come without support but some of us are trying to change this and before I say any more I need to find out if my comments are wanted or indeed within the rules. Is that fair enough??
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if you can get a good conditioned used roland/summa/graphtec etc i would do that. i bought a used roland cx24 about 7-8 years ago now to get into the signage game and i still have it and is going strong! 2 years later i bought a gerber edge fx and this year a roland vp540i so we all have to start somewhere!! getting a half decent machine is key though. i have no idea what the Chinese cutters are like so i can’t comment on them, i just know i wanted to go down the route of the tried and tested machines as i was to strapped for cash and just starting out at the time, last thing i wanted was to waste money on a machine that wasn’t that good!! at least with the roland machine i new plenty people had them and i could get tech support if needed. like i said, we all have to start somewhere, just make sure you don’t end up wasting money!!! good luck with it anyways mate. any help you need feel free to ask.
cheers
matt -
I agree with Hugh, go for the secondhand D60, as long as it’s not been savaged like so many plotters seem to be. I’ve chosen to buy a new D60 myself once I’ve had a bit of a move around in the workshop.
Don’t necessarily assume the more you pay the better you get, that doesn’t seem to be the case. If you’re really are fussy about accurate cutting, be very careful what you buy, and be prepared to be very disappointed when looking at sample cuts. Some of the cutters out there really are much faster, but little better than using a Stanley knife.
With reference to helping people on here, who may one day be your direct competition, it kind of confuses me too. But most are miles away and I don’t do a lot of this these days, so it doesn’t really matter. The man I done my apprenticeship with was already pretty much retired when he started teaching me. He was also massively respected and a true master, so really would never have had to worry about anyone taking his work. But in honesty, would I train anyone, I’ve been asked a few times, the answers no! His skill was unrivaled, I like to think I’m pretty good, but I couldn’t say that about myself. I will only pass my knowledge onto someone who is either related to me, or to someone who shows real interest and a desire to learn, and again when I don’t earn money from it to be honest. I’m talking more signwriting and lining, but even basic layout seems to be a dying skill. -
If it’s of any help….I started with a Graphtec 5000-60 and Corel x3….and both have served me well.
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