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my first cutter – advice please
hi
i although i am not in the sign industry i do lurk on this site as i have been given excellent advice in the past ref wide format printers which i have used.
I currently print to mugs, mouse mats, etc and i am moving onto tshirts and small decals (not sign writing on vans, havent got a clue!! )
i have been to xpres and have had a demo on a roland gx 24, very impressed and it would definitely expand my range. Main issue is price, could probably stretch to it.
so my questions are :
is there a cutter just as good for less?
there are some cutters on ebay for around £300 but the "buy cheap buy twice" motto is in my head. Pcut look cheap but are they any good?
looking at graphtec, roland..
any advice is welcome
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27 Replies
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quote :had a demo on a roland gx 24, very impressed and it would definitely expand my range.you normally have to pay a bit extra for good stuff. keep it clean neat and tidy it will go on and on and on.
whoever you are ( i hate french cars)
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Hi!
Graphtec and Roland both great plotters.
Short term one a week jobs, then yes, the ebay Chinese plotters work. But you hit the nail on the head, ‘buy cheap’ buy twice’! Long term production buy a plotter with software and back up support.
Do yourself a favour tho, and put your real name in your avatar!
You’ll find you might get a better response!
Matt
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so if you are not in the sign industry why do you need to know ? what industry are you in ?
and has already been said real name and pic.
Lynn -
Lynn
I think he/she put in the original post the industry there in…
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quote Lynn:so if you are not in the sign industry why do you need to know ? what industry are you in ?
and has already been said real name and pic.
Lynnhi lynn
its because when you "print" to a tshirt you can use vinyl thus needing a cutter.
they have quoted me around £1300 + vat but for the same amount i can get a graphtec starter kit which includes rolls of vinyl etc..
also 2 year warranty… which appeals to me
sorry about the jpeg avatar 😳
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quote Chris Wool:quote :had a demo on a roland gx 24, very impressed and it would definitely expand my range.
you normally have to pay a bit extra for good stuff. keep it clean neat and tidy it will go on and on and on.
whoever you are ( i hate french cars)
so do i 😀 i sold them for 12 years….
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sorry. graphtec are nice plotters run one now, it works constantly with out a hic up.
Lynn
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Sorry mate, whats your name? Can’t make it out in your avatar….
😀 😀 😀 😮 😮
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depends if you use coral-illy.
the roland driver was designed for these programs.
graphtec have a windows driver that works the same but the dealers try to make you use cutting master plug in which in my opinion is like a french car 😉 -
it looks like its between graphtec and roland….
might have to have a demo on a graphtec
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you wont go far wrong with a graphtec mine hasnt missed a beat in 6yr and thats why they go for good money 2nd hand aswell. 😉
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quote Alan Wharton:you wont go far wrong with a graphtec mine hasnt missed a beat in 6yr and thats why they go for good money 2nd hand aswell. 😉
thanks for that….
what would i lose by having a graphtec over a roland?
the roland looked solid, and high tec if that makes sense..
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I dont know a lot about the Roland Machines but I have had my graphtec for 8 years and it is still going like a trooper. For basic vinyl cutting machines reliability is really all you need!
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we got our roland cx 24 second hand about 7 years ago and we use it all day long, never had any issues with it what soever. just make sure you get some decent sign aoftware for it.
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hi
thanks for the advice everyone…
i have narrowed it down to a gx 24 £1200 from xpres, 2yr warranty and a days training at their HQ
or
Graphtec CE5000-60 starter pack that comes with free stand, 10 metre rolls of Hotflex, 2 Metre rolls of Coolflex 1 burnishing tool – £1225
the vinyl is cheap as chips and not a major decison breaker..
i like the idea of the free stand but i also like the idea of the training day.
😕
which ones better, theres only one way to find out – FIGHT!!!!!!!! :lol1:
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not knowing the GX just as well, this is a biased opinion but i would go for the Graphtec and tell them you need training and all into the deal. Its fairly basic so I am sure they wont miss an order over the head of it!
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quote Ruairi O’Boyle:not knowing the GX just as well, this is a biased opinion but i would go for the Graphtec and tell them you need training and all into the deal. Its fairly basic so I am sure they wont miss an order over the head of it!
asked them for that yesterday but they dont have a facility to do it… at best it would be a long demo
where as xpres have a classroom…
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quote Matt Boyd:we got our roland cx 24 second hand about 7 years ago and we use it all day long, never had any issues with it what soever. just make sure you get some decent sign aoftware for it.Same here, had my CX 24 for 6 years, and it was about 4 years old then. Still used daily.
Richard, the days training will possibly teach you stuff we solitary signmakers (and t-shirt printers) have taken years to eventually pick up from trial & error.
Lorraine
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my preference is the roland i started with a camm 1 and now have a gx24 for small stuff t shirt vinyl etc and is very accurate had a mutoh for a while good piece of kit but had a habit of going into hyperdrive and spewing a whole roll of vinyl one way then the other. 😮 😥
also had a jaguar which was so good and never had a problem with i nearly forgot about the software that came with it was good as wellderek
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decision is made… Roland GX 24
thanks everyone
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When u get ur training make sure u get them to do plenty from beginning cos I got printer training the other week and he just prepared everything for print but never printed! I missed all the settings and tricks of the trade as a result!
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quote citroen999:I currently print to mugs, mouse mats, etc and i am moving onto tshirts and small decals (not sign writing on vans, havent got a clue!! )Neither have half the sign people round my way, doesn’t stop them though 😀
Good on you, you won’t go far wrong with a Roland, Started vinyl work with one about 16 years ago sold it years later but still going I believe
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now you have decided which cutter, what software are you going to run it with 🙄
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pssssttt!!! "the sound of a new can of worms opens" 😀
they used coreldraw in their demo so i have downloaded the trail as the cutter comes on monday… if i can figure it out i suppose i’ll have to buy it …
for my image editing i use a program called xara xtreme its pretty basic but i find it easier to use than photoshop…
can anyone recomend any other software that doesnt cost £400 lol!!
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Hi Richard
Unfortunately in this industry you need to outlay money to make money!
You will need at least…
Illustrater, photoshop, maybe corel, maybe signlab or similar.
Art work comes in from various designers, in various formats. You need to look professional and be able to open files in various formats.
Don’t mean to sound negative but these are basic pointers..
Matt
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and Derek the jaguar has still never missed a beat and thats the second one i’ve worked with and the supplied signpal software worls well with corel and adobe.
Try seeing if anyone on here is selling any kit often the best way there a good bunch! -
have a look at vinyl master pro (vmp) you can order a fully working demo disc 😉 if you like it its £249 but iv seen it as low as £99 retail including dongle and warranty on ebay! make sure you get the proper version tho 2.50 is the older version with no usb support for cutters !(although you can get it to work with usb by faffing about) the new version is win7 compatable with usb etc, iv used it for 5-6 year and for the money you carnt go wrong, the only thing i wish it had is chissel effect fonts but you carnt have everything for that price i spose 🙁
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