Cheap Cutter vs Outsourcing

[David Rowland]

hi james, welcome to the forum.
can you explain ‘wall graphics?’, is this for external or internal use?

the ebay cutters are not as manufactured as the professional stuff, saying that they are getting better and better but I have only seen one so far.

My advise to anyone wishing to learn more about this sign making game is to visit http://www.signuk.com in Birmingham at the end of this month, this is the only place where you will get a hands on approach to seeing the capabilities of all forms of signage.

However, outsourcing will be down to you to sort deals out, if you can find someone else of similar business size to yourself then you are laughing.

[James Devonport]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your reply, they are for internal use, I’ve been looking in to doing them in matt vinyl to give a more natural effect which seems to be possible.

Thanks for the link to that show it looks really interesting, I think it would be worthwhile going to!

The main trade off I can see at the moment is the flexibility of being able to print designs as customers order them, as opposed to holding stock which may prove unpopular. I’ll carry on looking in to it!

Thanks, James

[John Gregson]

Hi James,
Are you talking about printing graphics or cutting patterns made out of vinyl. Could you elaborate what you mean by wall graphics?

Cheers John

[James Devonport]

Hi John,

Thanks for your reply, sorry i’m not sure if I explained it properly. It will simply some one or two colour simple vector based images to be cut out of vinyl, for example, coloured polkadots etc.

Thanks,

James

[John Gregson]

Hi James,
I would out source your wall graphics to a local sign maker and put a percentage on top to make your profit. Less hassle, no learning curve and you don’t have to keep a large range of coloured vinyl in stock. See how that goes for a few months – if your only making one or two a week then it wouldn’t be feasible to buy an expensive plotter.

The cheaper Chinese models are OK for light to medium usage, but you do get what you pay for. There will be little or no back up if you hit problems – which judging by these boards is very common, and sometimes the drivers are hard to get hold of, non existent, or very difficult to get set up right.

Cheers John

[James Devonport]

Hello Everyone!

Thanks for all the advice, I’ve been looking in to it and called up some printers for quotes, from the ones I have spoken too the prices they are quoting me makes the items way above the price range I wanted to work towards.

So I think I’m going to take the plunge and go ahead and get a cutter and do it myself. I’ve been reading up about it and think I have a fairly good idea of what I need to do, I’ll be printing from Adobe Illustrator, SignCut X2 seems to be the best for this but I dont want to buy it then find its incompatible with my plotter!

Here is an image of the plotter I think I will buy (I hope this is allowed) The plotter doesnt seem to have a make or model so I can’t check if software is compatible, does anyone have any ideas?!

Thanks again! James 🙂

[Jill Marie Welsh]

I think he is referring to something like this:
http://www.writtendecor.com/?gclid=CL-Q … xwodnEd5Tg
Getting real popular over here.
"Crafty" people are buying their own cheapie plotters (CriCut) at Walmart for under 200 clams.
I think you would be better off purchasing Corel 12 and then outsourcing the files to someone with a plotter.
These wall things are pretty much custom.
I wouldn’t stock certain phrases, but take orders as they come in,
after you learn to design them and have proper font use like kerning, etc.
I am going to add something like this to my website just to see what happens.
I worry about certain vinyls not adhering to certain types of wall finishes.
Love….Jill

[David-Foster-]

I think Jill may have hit the nail on the head. Is that the kind of stuff, or when you say Polka Dots, something like Damien Hurst spot paintings? Artwork on walls?
You may get lucky with a Chinese plotter, but as John says you may need a lot of Vinyl stock, different colours as you are doing art stuff?

[John Gregson]

Whatever plotter you buy you’ll get software with it, so there’s no need to buy anything else.

[James Devonport]

Yeah I’m doing most of the illustrations myseld in Adobe Illustrator, so thats something that I’m thinking about when looking at them because I understand that theyre not all compatible.

It does seem to be a bit of a gamble when buying these cheaper cutters, its a shame I didn’t have a bigger budget, hopefully I can upgrade in the future though 🙂

[Owen Lees]

Looks like a Hexing / Rabbit to me, will probably ship with Artcut.

Enjoy the fun of transposing USB to serial and back again 🙂

Oo

[John Thomson]

The photograph is a Refine plotter as sold by USCutter………..one of the better Chinese plotters…….lots of tech support on their forum.
Not in the Mimaki/Graphtec/Roland league by any means!

The majority of problems stem from the fact that the USB port is actually a USB serial converter………people who have no experience with plotters expect them to be ‘plug and play’…….unless you know what you are doing they are not

Best of luck.

john

[James Devonport]

Ahh yeah that’s right iv’e been reading up and it is a serial converter, theres some special software to use it under usb.

Does anyone know if Artcut can cut Illustrator files?

Thanks! James 🙂

[John Thomson]

Just more difficult to set up on USB……..

John

[James Devonport]

Hello Again!

Planning on ordering my cutter this weekend, I was just wondering if anyone had any opinions on to which cutter is best, the UsCutter Refine 34 inch plotter or Foison C24 24 inch plotter, I’m tempted to go with the larger one as its not only bigger but cheaper 😀

James

[John Gregson]

Whichever you go with just make sure there’s UK backup, as previously mentioned – the software and drivers are troublesome to set up.

Cheers John

[David-Foster-]

If you are on a limited budget have a look on fleabay but not for a new chinese cutter, try looking for a second hand BRANDED cutter.

I have just had a quick look and saw a Roland and Summa and one 50" one. A second hand Roland would be better than a new Dang one 😛

Try to see it before buying though. Check cutting strip and pinch rollers for play, although you should be able to get a new cutting strip.

[Gareth Hankinson]

Hi James,

Artcut can cut Illustrator files but they have to be exported as EPS then imported into Artcut i think unlike say FlexiSign where you can just pull them in then cut (I Think so dont quote me).

As others have mentioned on here to save you pulling your hair out you would be better, budget allowing to go for a name branded secondhand cutter, you wouldnt regret it.

I have a friend in Brighton who has purchased the same type of cutter you are looking at but the 54" version and he has pestered the life out of me for two weeks trying to get it to work and that was with all the drivers, Artcut etc. I eventually got it sorted for him after many HOURS on the blower. (Have some earplugs handy…..!)

Good luck

Gareth

(hot)

[James Devonport]

Thanks for all the advise everyone! I have just ordered one, I spent a lot of time looking through all of them and eventually found one that I was happy with, it’s slightly better than the others I was looking at as it is slightly wider and has 3 pinch rollers instead of 2.

They also assured me they would include the correct drivers for Windows XP with it, so I’m hopefull it shouldnt be too hard to get up and running, I’m planning on using the serial connection, as the USB seems to cause peopel the most problems, seems odd using a serial connector though, so ancient!

First big order of vinyl is on the way, and website nearly finished so very excited to get started!

Thanks again! James.

[David-Foster-]

Hi James

Any chance of a peek at what you will be doing? What vinyl have you gone for?

Cheers, nosey 😀

[James Devonport]

Hello Everyone,

My cutter arrived this evening, I’ve put it all together and got it installed and working already, the USB drivers were very confusing so I just plugged the serial cable in and worked straight away so I’m very pleased! At £250 for a brand new one it seems fantastic, done some tests with the pen and am amazed at how good and fun it is to use!

I’ll post some pictures of my first designs soon!

Thanks again for all your advice! James 🙂