Replacement Plotter Recommendations

[Gary Birch]

I have a Summa …. It hasn`t faltered in 3 and a half years.

Would recommend you take a look at least.

Cheers

Gary

[Peter Normington]

I have owned 2 graphtec, one mimaki one signpal, and one gerber.
Graphtec, very good after sales service, others I dont know if the after sales was good or not, never had to call on them….

Any way your budget should get you a very robust and reliable machine.

Peter

[David Rogers]

Again – ran my Summa for coming up on 4 years without incident…so no idea of sale support (will be excellent I’m sure).

Also ran older Rolands (a bit glitchy) and a few Graphtecs (just go on forever).

Most carry spare parts for a good 10 years or more.

Whatever you go for – get the best you can.
Consider seriously the width you want. Wider the better by all accounts – gives you some flexibility & reduces the frustration of joins!

Dave

[Phill Fenton]

I have a summa d610 which is now 12 years old.

If it packed in tomorrow I wouldn’t hesitate to go out and buy it’s modern day equivalent.

I’m not convinced you need anything wider than 610 though since 95% of all the signs I have ever made could be cut in one piece. Anything wider just gets tiled. If you have a wider machine you will be running wider rolls of vinyl which will surely produce more waste. Not only that but I struggle to lift a 50m roll of vinyl at 760mm wide. Anything wider probably needs two people to lift the rolls.

[Peter Normington]

I do disagree with Phil (but that’s not unusual 😉 )about the plotter width, if you have room, and the funds, go for a 1220 or wider machine, you dont need to buy wide material, I just stick to 610 as it does most jobs, and can still be cut in a larger machine.

A larger machine is better for the odd job such as window graphics in frosted vinyl, less joins are desireable, the same goes if you get to do a large sign or truck, no joins looks better, and is quicker to apply in one piece rather than two.

Peter

[Phill Fenton]

Yup – that makes sense 😀

How much more expensive is the 1220m version of a 610mm machine?

I guess you need to weigh it all up to make the best decision. I’m guessing is will not be twice as much so why not run a 1220mm machine with 610mm vinyl with the option to cut wider on occasion if required.

[David Rogers]

I think you use what’s available to you in size. I plan my jobs around a 4′ area / tile it to fit. Have no trouble lifting a 50m roll on the rollers (not that heavy – one hand each end) and never have to worry about unsightly joins in my ‘reverse weeded’ work (etch etc.) or when doing large lettering / logos.

Years ago – when on a 500mm Graphtec – I made do and didn’t WANT a big machine…now – I couldn’t operate with anything less than 4′ so much has it sped up my production & made my wastage go DOWN (pro-rata) as I’m no longer left with dumb strips of say 200mm wide on a 500mm roll…just 200mm off of a 1200 roll.

re: Wastage – it’s never been a major concern. if all i sell (at the stupid never going to happen extreme) is one set of taxi letters from every metre of vinyl…I’d STILL make money. I’ll bin 10, maybe up to 20 square metres of ‘perfectly good’ vinyl every week in ‘offcuts’ & strips – the cost of which was long since covered, for me costs more to find small offcuts in the pile to fit the job than to just load a roll. (Just keep the bigber, ‘job sized’ bits).

And big plotters take small vinyl….small plotters can’t return the favour 😉

Dave

[Karl Williams]

When Phil said you don’t need a larger machine 99% of the time that’s right in my opinion. Not very often you need a bigger machine so I used to think. Since I bought my Summa S120d over two years ago I wouldn’t want to go back to a 610 machine full time. My Summa D610 is still used today but only when I really need to use it. As already said though for your budget you will get a decent machine with good back-up.

[Paul Humble]

Has anyone any experience of the Roland Camm 1 GX24? Just I was thinking about buying some equipment and consumables from XPres and they have one as part of a package, could be an opportunity to kill 2 birds with one stone.

A 1220mm cutter would be superb but none seem to be within my price range and after my Foison experience I dont want to go down the budget route this time.

[Brian Little]

i can only speak from my personal experience ive been running my trusty Roland for a bout 13 years!! on the times ive needed it repaired its had to be the local guy as roland themselves as far as back up were a disaster you were ment to bag it up and send it down to them for a three week turnaround if you were lucky …..in this game you know yourselves you might as well shut the doors for good !!! nope its the ce5000 for me now graphtec . Having said that perhaps there service has improved over the years

[Alan Drury]

I have a 7 year old Graphtec and a 4 year old Summa, both work faultlessly. I agree with Phill width wise, I so mainly vehicle and general sign work and 610 wide is more than adequate on the very rare occassions when wider is required with no join it is easy to get it cut by others if you send them a cut ready file. On your budget, for 610 you can take your choice of any of the main manufacturers and not be dissapointed.
Alan D

[David Rogers]

quote Paul Humble:

………A 1220mm cutter would be superb but none seem to be within my price range and after my Foison experience I dont want to go down the budget route this time.

Try ‘pre-owned’ quality machines. Call around some of the major sellers – they often have ex-demonstrators or full warranted trade-ins at VERY sensible prices.
With ‘busy sign shop’ lifespans of 10yrs – even a machine a couple of years old will see you for many, many years to come.

Dave

[Russell Huffer]

I have just sold a Mutoh sc 650 and replaced it with a Graphtec CE3000 120 Mk 2, reason was to get optical and wider cutter before the Mutoh I had a Roland. In my opinion the best cutter of all was the Mutoh, I still miss the sheet cutter my 10 year old Mutoh had yet my new Graphtec does not, nobody has mentioned Mutoh but I belive it might pay you to look at them.
With regards to size wider has to be the best, you can still use smaller widths if you want sometimes more wastage with wider vinyl however overall cost per square Meter cheaper so swings and roundabouts, anyway the 120 can only manage to cut 2/3 the print width of my Grenadier 74" the 610 would be useless.

Russell.

[Paul Humble]

Thanks for all the advice guys, ive just ordered a Graphtec C5000-120 and get it tomorrow.

mod-edit

[Peter Dee]

Can anyone outline the main differences between the Graphtec FC7000 series and the CE5000 series?

[Chris Wool]

quote Peter Dee:

Can anyone outline the main differences between the Graphtec FC7000 series and the CE5000 series?

have a look at the web site quite abit really.
but to just cut vinyl like most of us want to. not a lot of difference.
i do use some of the extras on my fc7000. worth it dont know, i would have got round it anyway.
if i could have justified the extra still i would have had a summa s-class T.

chris

[Peter Dee]

Cheers Chris. That Summa looks the biz.

[Tobias Redig]

Anyone had any experience with the Summa Pharos? We’re looking into getting a new cutter soon, and this is one of the candidates.

[Paul Humble]

Well, Monday looks like the day for my Graphtec to arrive as the courier for some reason sent the stand to me and the Cutter to Chester!! lol.

The lad at Sign Master is most helpful btw. I was worried about paying almost double my budget but already I am a little bit more at ease.

Its always nicer being able to talk to someone when you have an issue rather than pressing 1 for sales, 2 for deliveries, and 3 to be cut off.

[Lynn Normington]

Paul as long as you have some vinyl you will be away as soon as it’s plugged in 🙄 enjoy any questions ask !!!!

Lynn

[Paul Humble]

quote Lynn:

Paul as long as you have some vinyl you will be away as soon as it’s plugged in 🙄 enjoy any questions ask !!!!

Lynn

Thanks Lynn, i’ve plenty of Vinyl and one or two ‘On Hold’ orders so Monday will be a busy day!! Ive got quite a few car website stickers to knock out before a major show next weekend, plus i still have a full time job for a few weeks yet so I might just carry a picture of my daughter in my wallet so I remember what she looks like!! :lol1:

[Marcella Ross]

good luck with the new plotter Paul. 😀

[Chris Wool]

enjoy it paul you will be pleased.

chris

[Jon Marshall]

Anyone know a good place to get Mimaki CG FX 130 for a good price?