Best cutter for beginner under £1000

[Lance Sherrard]

My Daddy once told me "Pay peanuts, get monkeys"

When he told me I thought it was funny.

I don’t now.

Do some more research, spend a bit more money and get a machine that you will still be using in 5-10 years.
You will start just playing, and soon all your mates will want something, and then you’ll want to sell some decals, and all of a sudden that $1000 machine says goodnight.

Slow down and get it right the first time.

best

lance

:thumbsup:

[Dave & Rob Lowery]

Those are wise words from Lance.

Where the hell did he get them from 😀

[Shane Drew]

I tend to agree with Lance. In cutters you get what you pay for.

Of course the market may be different over there. I’d be buying a name brand personally.

Most of the PCut enquiries here are related to issues getting the things to work.

I can’t say whether they are good or bad, but the well known brands usually come with support and ease of use.

Plenty of suppliers represented here that can help I’m sure.

All the best anyway.

Lance is right with the mates wanting ‘favours’ too. Before you know it you’ll have friends you didn’t know existed 😉

[Lance Sherrard]

me mum writ it 4 me

[Signs & Wonders]

Newlad

(mod-edit)

Cheers

Tony

[Joker]

Newlad
I am also a newbie to the sign trade
I went and bought a second hand Gerber Fastrack 650. WOW What a machine !!!!

Ken

[newlad]

I am not trying to open a sign shop I only want to sighn the trailer sides that I make, I imagine there will be no more than twenty trailers

[Paul Franklin]

Why buy a plotter to do 20 trailer sides then?

Wouldn’t you be better off getting a local sign company to cut and apply app tape to the vinyl for you.

You could at least then fit them yourself and save a few quid.

[Joe McNamara]

I’d get a roland from ebay ( secondhand obviously ) or keep an eye on the trade magazine classifieds.

Don’t forget software(£500 – £1500 ), and the learning curve. 😕

Just because it looks easy dosen’t mean it is! 🙄

Cheers
Joe

[Joker]

Joe

What are the Trade Mags in the UK

Regards
Ken

[Joe McNamara]

Sign update,
Signworld.
Google ’em

PS Spend a few quid more and buy the gerber that’s just been posted …..quality…..and it’ll pay for itself ten times over!

Cheers
Joe

[Joker]

COOL !!!!!!
Thanks Joe

[newlad]

Thanks for the advice I am going to sit down and wait a little while I have some more money coming in soon from a house sale

So a few questions
I have only seen cutter plotters on Ebay were would I buy a decent one and how much would it cost aprox
what other major costs apart from the software
We have a young lad in the family who is very talented in the art side (unlike me) and without a job he would be ideal to help me and himself If we took it a little further any help would be appreciated thanks again

[Nicola McIntosh]

hi i personally think you should wait and buy new, reason being you get good warranties with machines now 😀

nik

[Algi]

Hi,

My circumstances are much the same as yours, I’m just starting another small company, nothing to do with signwriting.

I wanted to try my hand at doing my own vinyl cutting, workshop signs, van signs etc.

I wanted also to keep the costs down as much as possible, figuring the pennies would be better spent on my own equipment, rather than getting the signs made up.

I ended up getting a Redsail RS800C Plotter from Colin Russon, he trades as Baicom on ebay, extremely good backup and VERY helpful, nothing to much trouble if you have questions etc, before or after purchase. Various size Redsail’s are available.

They are Chinese imports, but they work, and work well. Also use Roland blades which are readily available and build quality is good.

I initially had problems with software, but after a lot of head scratching and a few phone calls to Colin, I managed to suss out the problems. The Plotter is now spitting out vinyl superbly, company van is well on the way to being sign written, and it looks professional , well pleased.

You will need a PC with a 9 pin Com Port output as the Redsail uses HPGL language thru this port only, some newer PC’s don’t have em any more.

I use Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator to do the artwork and then export to Signcutx2 to do the cutting.

Have found a company in Germany for rolls of vinyl, better than UK prices that I’ve seen so far, quality is fine, different grades available etc, shipping costs are peanuts and you can order online and pay on delivery.

At the end of the day I can cut signs, the outlay wasn’t really any more than the local sign writer would charge.

Longevity of the Plotter is of course not known as yet, but no complaints so far.

Rgds
Alan

[David-Foster-]

quote Algi:

I wanted also to keep the costs down as much as possible, figuring the pennies would be better spent on my own equipment, rather than getting the signs made up.

Pennies? I would guess you spent at least £500 on the plotter, plus software. I am just intrigued why, if that’s not your business, you didn’t get a sign company to cut you the vinyl for say £150 for one van? Plus all the hassle you seemed to have had with COM ports, software etc.

Not having a pop, good luck to you. Starting a new business is hassle enough without adding to it.

[Algi]

Hi David,

Basically, I’m a tinkerer, for want of better words. I’m not frightened to take a chance.

I can see your logic, but the signage that I require, van/new premises, I reckon would have been as much as I have spent so far on plotter and vinyl. Obviously, if I counted my labour costs, then it would be more expensive. But doing signage for myself in my spare time is not an issue for me.

Now I’ve had a go, I get great enjoyment from it too, also I think this may be another outlet for the business, most sign writers in my area seem to have a bit of a reputation as being an unreliable breed. So if I can offer a reliable service, it may take off.

Next step is to try and work out a fair way to charge out signage jobs, perhaps you have thoughts on this, by the hour, buy square footage ?

See ya later

Rgds
Alan