Does anyone know the best place to buy a graphtec please?

[Lynn Normington]

Ben talk to Brian at impact http://www.impactgs.co.uk 01438 3508902

Lynn

[Peter Normington]

Ben, I would not opt for a 750, go 210 or 1200, simply because most things can be don on 610 and that is a common material width,

I have a 610, 750 and a 1230 plotter but most of my material stock is 610.

Peter

[Ben Hansen]

thank you both for your quick response. Could you recomend a machine to start of a small business then for the same sort of money? im still a bit unsure whats out there.
🙁

[Peter Normington]

I would reccomend a good 610 cutter, graphtec, summa mutoh are all good makes and will last or years.
I have a 610 grphtec that is still going strong after 10 years or so

Peter

[Robert Lambie]

hmmm ide say go for the widest you can afford… 1220 upwards
it means that you can cut anything your competitor can cut "in one go"… customers do not like tiling no matter how well it is done. we lost a big customer about ten years ago on this alone, tiling their logo. (we had a 610 roland at the time) because of this our next machine was a 48 inch one, followed by a 54inch wide one.
vinyl twice the width isnt necessarily twice the price, so you should be making a saving buying wider rolls too.
when cutting multiples of one job, you can stack a whole pile of signs and leave it cutting….

if you buy a size inbetween 610 and 1220 you will find it harder to source your vinyl at this width.

[Ben Hansen]

thank you again for getting back so soon. I shall give brian a ring tomorow and hopefully get it sorted 🙂

[Peter Normington]

I will modify my recomendation If you have work for customers that need big stuff, ie large flat sided trucks etc. go for 1220, but most stuff can be done on a 610, it takes up less space, and you will only need 610 rolls in storage space
peter

[John Singh]

Why do suppliers limit it to the two sizes – 610 and 1220

I would of thought that a few signmakers tight on workspace would be tempted in today’s market to pay that little extra to have a 740 only to find that obtaining vinyl would present a major problem

[Robert Lambie]

peter, we started out with a small cutter and worked our way up, but back then a 13inch wide was £20k+ 😕 lot of money in those days..
when we moved to 610 i do not remember seeing any bigger, but we thought… wow, double the size was huge! how wrong where we…
i think if you have a narrower machine you will always design smaller accordingly… when you have the option of 4 foot wide cuts, you can design with impact. over sized ghost shadows on vehicles. large etch window graphics, trucks as you said and more. wider always offers more scope if needed.
of course, if space and budget is tight then 610 it is…
i just think the pricing of cutting machines these days, is relatively close.

[Craig Brown]

quote John Singh:

Why do suppliers limit it to the two sizes – 610 and 1220

380 (sprocketed), 500, 610, 760 (sprocketed) and 1220 widths used to be available from Spandex and it all tied in with the size of the master roll.
I think they still do all the sizes other than 500mm.

But I’m told the 610 width for vinyl cut graphics is the most popular width in the UK at the moment…but I’d go with Mr Lambie’s advice Ben, if you’ve got the space go for the widest format you can afford.

[Nicola McIntosh]

quote CABROWN:

but I’d go with Mr Lambie’s advice Ben, if you’ve got the space go for the widest format you can afford.

i would too…but its all very well getting the bigger graphics cut with the bigger cutter…it also takes a bit of time to get used to adjusting to the size of the material your working with, it drove me potty at first trying to grab a 1260 wide bit of vinyl 100" deep and gather it up all nice and tidy to weed 😀 still use my wee 610 but thats maybe cause im used to the size 😉

nik

[Brian Hays]

If you think you will benefit from the extra cutting width take a look at the CE3000-120. It is a little more than The 7000 series 750mm plotter. But not very much in the scheme of things.

http://www.graphteccorp.com/imaging/cut … index.html

Most people that buy the 7000-75 end up buying 610mm vinyl, son’t don’t benefit from the bit extra you get over a 610mm machine.

[Lynn Normington]

agree with Brian we have a 1200 760 and a 610 guess what are biggest vinyl stock is 610 :lol1: and 760 is widely available although it is sprocketed so you lose a bit with sprockets.

Lynn

[Brian Hays]

Do you have to pay a bit more for sprocketed vinyl? Must admit I am not really much aware what vinyl sizes are readily availabe these days. Can you buy non sprocketed 760mm vinyl from anybody? or do you have to pay extra for a log to be split & then have a small bit left over? I always thought 1220 & 610mm were the most economical sizes to buy vinyl.

[Lynn Normington]

Brian I don’t belive you can buy unspocketed 380 or 760 vinyl and no the price is comparable for sproc or not. I have also never seen sprocketed 610 or 1200 weird or what 🙄 perhaps we need an expert to explain ?? any experts around ??

Lynn

[Robert Lambie]

when we had a mixture, 24" and 48" cutters… we had more wide rolls than narrow…. we moved to another wider one, "Graphtec 54inch" and the 24inch was stuck in a corner. quickly the room was dominated by the wider rolls. shortly after the narrow were frowned upon buying in.

1, it more cost effective buying wider rolls than narrow.
2, having the wider machine means you can buy "any" size of vinyl and it fits your machine… 13inch – 54inch… all cut in the big machine.
3, your machine is on par or better with regards to width/tiling capabilities.

[Mick Windle]

I hope i don’t break any rules here, but as a vinyl supplier generally speaking it is more economical to supply either 1220 or 610 supplying 760 often creates ‘off cuts’ that could be deemed as usable, fortunately i invested in a sprocketing machine to accommodate for these off cuts. so i think the answer to your question is more of a financial implication. 😕

ps thank goodness for the spell check!