Advice Needed on Cutter Please

[Moss Whelan]

Hi,

I got my cutter from Germany using the following website

they have the Summa D60 priced at £1429 including VAT…

might be worth looking into…

Moss.

[Robert Lambie]

I may sound like a broken down record to others here mate but…
My advice goes with my own experience of using cutters the past 14 years, in fact most advice I give is based on my experience with products etc. not biased or based on what some supplier has said down the phone.
Anyway…
If vinyl is how you produce your signs, (e.g. not traditional etc) then your cutter is going to be your most valued tool. There for you should only buy reputable makes. Of course summa is a reputable make, as is Roland, Graphtec, Mimaki & so on….
When starting out, price is always an issue, but I honestly think you will save more and have piece of mind knowing you have guarantees, support, warranty etc with the purchase of the right machine.
Buying second hand can save you money, no doubt in that. So you save hundreds of pounds initially! But what happens when it starts to go wrong?
Who do you call? How do you know what is a simple fault or a costly part that has went on the blink?
You need answers; support etc and you need them right away! If you can’t get the sign out the door on time, you loss a customer or customers. Costing you possibly hundreds on lost business. You can’t get new business and all the time the stress levels are high… the bills build up & for what? Because you saved a few hundred on a second hand machine.
When you look at the cost of a cutting machine, it’s really not that much. £1200-£1500 is easily recouped after a few decent vans being lettered. After that its plain sailing. A good machine should last you about 7-10 years. A second hand one won’t!
The biggest problem I see with buying a cutter is, how do you know ho hard it has worked? A nice new “looking” machine is all very well but the motors & parts in these things are not seen. One minute they are working fine. Turn the machine off and turn it on… and bam… the motor has gone costing you hundreds on the part alone.
Over the years I have stuck with only a few suppliers.
We started out with spandex, great machines, reputable company but “in my view”
Bad attitude & over priced. So we moved on…
We bought Roland, first a 24inch cutter, then a 24inch printer, next a 48inch cutter…
We found the machines very good, but support terrible. When complaining about mistreatment we hit a brick wall… I found this bad and very wrong after buying these machines. Seemed like once they had my money I was high and dry… just my opinion of course.
We moved onto Graphtec after hearing various good reports. I found it as a breath of fresh air. On the phone calling direct, & also dealing with the supplier that sold us the machine. Everything appeared spot on. Freebies chucked in here and there and everything went through smooth. The machine was tops. Very accurate, robust and full of bells and whistles. If I tell you we knock this machines pan in, I wont be exaggerating… it’s a solid bit of kit and does what you want.
Support, even today, years down the line is excellent. So much so I had no hesitation approaching Graphtec to be the official supplier of machines to the UKSG (UKsigngroup).
Like I have said. “This is my personal opinion” but I have put my money were my mouth is.
Your choice on summa won’t go wrong either, I have heard many good reports about the make and if you do a search on back posts here, im sure you will find good results too… best of luck.

[Alison Falzon]

Thank you very much for that information.

1. Can you tell me, how did you find Selectastore? I have seen the plotters on there, but was a bit wary of buying from outside UK. Was the shipping charge really high? What sort of warranty do you get (is it different because it is imported?)

2. Where is the best place to source a Graphtec plotter. I can’t find any prices for them!

3. Has anyone ever heard of Pro-Cut? If so are they good or not. They are just short of £1000 from

I will probably be cutting flock as well and I don’t know how any of the plotters will be with that. In each case, I think I just need a different blade – Is that right (?).

I’m trying not to be too much of a pain asking so many questions, but as you can understand I want to make sure I don’t end up regretting any decisions!

Thank You!

[Mike Fear]

If you can find an older Roland CAMM1 machine these are supposed to be pretty bulletproof, they do tend to sell for quite a good price though ( as much as some new cheap cutters ) but having a reliable workhorse is worth its weight in gold.

There seem to be quite a few cheap cutters around ( like the Roland Stika series ) but some of these seem quite limited in the size they can do, and I wouldnt like to put money on their longevity.

[Robert Lambie]

yep, vinyl cutters such as the stika are not regarded as hhmmm well desktop instore cutters. the motor is very weak and width is as you say limited. when i say instore cutter i mean.. take a large department store that buys in alot of small signs for promotions and the like. they buy a stika and cut them themself. a few signs a week is all that is intended for these machines, as far as i am concerned. certainly not for a serious sign maker. any sign maker for that matter.
i know folk have bought them that do graphics fro models etc.. well that kinda stuff is totaly acceptable, but for day to day work… 😕

as for buying abroad on that site.. do you really save? my opinions on this would be similar to above on the second hand deal.

[Bill Dewison]

I bought a Graphtec 3000CE at around xmas time and its done everything I’ve asked it to do… except make the coffees 👿

As I understand it, most plotters will cut flock (am I worng here or???) but when you’re starting out its tempting to go for cheap/cheaper options to save a little bit of cash. Its just not worth it. I’ve earned back the money I spent on my plotter now but I don’t regret buying new. I’ve saw cheaper plotters at the time (mostly second hand) and I was tempted to save a few quid, but at the end of the day, I have 2 years onsite warranty, a new plotter with all the jangly bits like manuals, drivers etc. and up to now (touch wood) I haven’t had to do too much to maintain it.

As far as buying a graphtec, I think you can still buy them through the UKSG on here.

Cheers, Dewi

[Moss Whelan]

As you’re based in the UK like Rob said it may not always be the cheaper option in the long term to buy abroad … the after sales support and downtime resulting from shipping a faulty cutter abroad for repair can be very costly if you rely heavily on your cutter… for me as I am based in Ireland I would prob have to ship abroad anyway for repair (but hopefully that’ll be a long way off…) so the cheaper option was to buy from Germany…

The shipping cost to get the cutter from Germany was only 22euro.. very low compared to what I have to pay to import supplies normally…

Hope this hepls

Moss.