can anyone tell me if the Roland Stika’s are any good?

[Bill Dewison]

Hi Fozzie and welcome to uksignboards 😀

I’ve done a few searches across different engines, but I can’t find anything relating to the DXY cutting vinyl 😕 Is it the flat bed type of plotter? Presumably if it is possible someone here will know.

Why are you only considering the Stika? I know they’re relatively cheap when compared to 24″ (sorry 610mm) plotters, but an 8″ plotter seems a little small. What type of things will you be wanting to cut? (Not material wise, more what types of jobs, things like that)

2nd hand plotters often come up for sale here, usually around the £1k mark. Double the price of the Stika, but you’d be able to do a wider variety of jobs with a larger plotter. S’pose it all falls down to budget and what you want to use it for 🙂

St. Helens as well, there seems to be signmakers popping up all around me. If I lent out of my back door and shouted, you’d probably hear me! 😉

Cheers, Dewi

[Robert Lambie]

hi mate.. as dewi says welcome to the site!why not pop into the “say hello” forum and tell us all abit about you..

regarding the stika… well again im with dewi. you will probably outgrow the stika in weeks & will have to fork out more in the end.
go for a second hand model or somthing nice and new.. you wont regret it!
i dont know much, if anything about stika’s. what i have heard is that they arent upto much mate. its more an entry level desktop type machine.

but hey! if thats all you need, then go for it! 😉

[Bill Dewison]

David, another thought, your budget may be tight atm but if you really want to branch into signmaking and you can get the work, there is nothing wrong with subbing the actual vinyl cutting on your first couple of jobs. It eats into the profit margins a little to begin with but providing you’re charging reasonable rates for your signs, you should be able to boost your budget and grab a 24″ or larger after a couple of jobs. 😀

I’ve switched from graphic design to signmaking, and when I first joined uksignboards I had several offers to help me out. A very kind gent introduced me to vinyl, plotters and other sign goodies one Sunday, which helped me make the decision to jump. I have had umpteen offers of help on the design side, not to mention support and encouragement by 10’s of members here. Basically all I’m saying is although its a leap, its one that can be made that much easier with the help of people here.

Anyway, as I say, just thoughts before slumberland 😀

Cheers, Dewi

P.S. My shop opens in around a week, so if you fancy nipping down for a brew, I’ll gladly show you around. Its probably about 10 minutes from St Helens 🙂 Not much to see atm admittedly, but its cunningly disguised as a sign shop 😉

[Kevin.Beck]

Rolands Stikkas, are a fantastic little machine….

Just the job for keep doors ajar. 🙄

I tried one a while back, when I was looking for a 12″ cutting so I could sub some work out. Sent it straight back after 5 minutes.

Save up a few more £`s and get a good 610mm 2nd user machine.

Dewi. Are you having an opening party???

[Bill Dewison]

Mrs Dewi keeps trying to persuade me to have champayne and the like on my opening day, but I have problems spelling it, let alone drinking it 😉 Not overly sure yet, but if its up to me I’ll open the front door, stick an A board on the pavement and get back to making sample signs 😀 A bit boring of me I guess but the past couple of weeks have been alot harder than I anticipated. If I sit still too long I fall asleep 😉 On the other hand if anyone wants to bring a bottle of tequilla down on opening day, I wouldn’t need any persuading 😉

Cheers, Dewi

[Robert Lambie]

nah mate.. you should have said a bottle of rapid-tac or meths & tell us all to get stuck in too & help! 😮 😉 😆 😆 😆

[David-Foster-]

Wow, thanks guys, what a friendly board. Yes Dewi it was slumberland time so didn’t make my post clear. Down the East Lancs Road is safe from me lol, although I did a sign for a Home Brew shop years ago!

I am not planning to go full on into sign making, just intrigued as to what a cutter can do for me in graphics and artwork. My Roland A3 flatbed plotter is excellent and if I could make that cut that would do me. The pen holder is the same as the Stika/Camm1 but someone told me it doesn’t put enough pressure down to cut.

I appreciate the wisdom in getting a bigger second hand machine but I would have to be sure it would open avenues up in what I do now, hence the need to try a cheapo first (I know false economy and all that). I wanted a Roland mainly because of the software that lets you use Corel Draw to cut with (I have used Corel Draw since version 3! and modesty forbids me saying I am quite good lol).

My budget is around £500 but if it looked like it would work for me I would stretch to £1k, so £200 for a second hand Stika might give me a stab at experimenting, but if someone can say a DXY 1200 can cut with just a blade attachment………………… 😀

[Bill Dewison]

Mmmmmm… Meths! I see you’re quite the connoisseur of spirits, a fine choice. My prefered vintage would be the 2003, but I’ve heard that the 2002 has a deeper purple dye. 😉

I see where you’re coming from David. The Stika could be useful if you’re using it within the graphics side. I think its mainly aimed at educational departments as its in some of the catalogues directed to that sphere. As I said, you can always ask someone with a larger cutter if you need something bigger. I opted for the Graphtec 610mm, but obviously if I needed something above that, say 1220mm, I’d need to sub.

If I’m saying the wrong thing here, someone slap me and force me to drink Robert’s McMethalated Spirits 😉 but you could always post some of you stuff in the ‘Show Us Your Stuff’ forum David. Its always cool to see what ppl get up to, whether it be with pixels, plotters or paintbrushes 😀

Cheers, Dewi