Revisiting Cheap Ebay cutters….are they any better?

[Denise Goodfellow]

A fair few years ago, we wanted to farm some cutting and weeding out to a home worker. We bought a cheap cutter, can`t remember the name.

Unpacked it, tried to cut from it and then sent it straight back. I think at the time it cost £250. There seemed to be a huge amount of time required to set it up properly, getting the laptop to talk to it was ok one minute then not the next..

We then bought a roland 12 inch cutter, and was cutting within 5 mins of opening the box. At the time the roland was £1000 more.

I do realise things have changed alot.

If you have the time and skill to mess with settings etc, you don`t want supper performance, then I can`t see why not go for a cheaper cutter.

Just be aware that support might be limited or none at all. Having said that there are some forums just for certain chinese cutters now.

I`m sure there are more than a few members on here with these cutters, just not for us. Good luck

[Matthew James]

Thanks for your reply Denise. first hand experience is good to hear.
I’ve been looking through second hand section too, and must admit that there are some tempting offers there too, but with such large sums of money involved, and of course the un-known history of the machines I’m quite nervous.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m willing to spend the money, but as we are quite a small forum we do need to "buy wise"

seeing some printing / cutting machines like the versacut for sale, but again, heard horror stories of needing to buy new print heads etc at large cost as ones fitted are dried up.

Anyone with experience in last 6-12 months of the chinese units?

[Ian Johnston]

quote Matthew James:

Don’t get me wrong, I’m willing to spend the money, but as we are quite a small forum we do need to “buy wise”

Buy Wise and buy from a sign maker, (-)
NO Outlay, buy as you need

[Matthew James]

Sorry, I forgot to mention a few other factors that have spurred me to this ( I put them in my hello post and forgot here)

I have been buying items from a few local suppliers. this year I have spent £350 on cut vinyl products and the forum is getting busier.
(so around the costs of a cheap chinese cutter and some vinyl)

Added to this, I havn’t had much fun with local suppliers. such small runs (£40 a time, spread over several designs) I get the impression from the companies I have been using that the amount we order (very small) that we are not really welcome business. And the last run was pretty poor quality, late, and cut incorrectly, sections of design removed with the weeding, backing paper cut through. (i’m not complaining, I’m sure that the guy had much bigger concerns / clients to deal with, i am after all a tiny customer)

So I feel now is the time for me to sit and think about how to do this for the future. and given my experiences so far, the outlay so far, it seems that I should at least be considering producing things myself, save a little money (in the long run) and make sure I get the product quality I desire.

[Martin Pearson]

Personally I would leave them alone, far to many variables for my liking. The cost of a good used machine may be a lot more expensive but not only have you bought a machine you know will perform & do the job you require but further down the road if you feel you need to change to a wider machine, buy a print & cut machine or just give up you can sell it for pretty much what you paid if not more so effectively it hasn’t really cost you anything.

Wouldn’t even consider buying a printer if it’s only low volume, you can’t turn these machines on & off as you would a normal desktop printer.

I would also suspect you haven’t spoken to the right signmakers either. I know plenty of people who would be more than happy to have you as a customer (if you were in their area) & would look after you well even if your not what you would call a big customer. Important thing here is that you will be a regular customer which is good plus your forum members may well have businesses that require signs as well.

[Matthew James]

So I’ve made a start.

Couple of weeks ago I bought a Graphtec 6000 from MDP Supplies.

And so far I am loving it. It has reliably and accurately cut everything I’ve asked it to, and I have produced lots of stickers in several different designs.

Next thing people are asking for is clothing, so I’m now looking further into heatpresses so I can do these designs on tshirts / hoodies.

here are some of the designs I have produced so far, I’m very happy with the results 😀 any feedback / tips appriciated 😀

[Gert du Preez]

Nothing wrong with those, mate! (exept getting close to copyright infringement here and there 😉

I see you bought a known brand cutter in the end.

I see no wrong with somebody buying their own cutter to produce graphics for their club / business. Even we, as professional signmakers, frequently buy equipment to lower expenses. Think about buying spray painting equipment to paint inhouse, welding equipment to weld inhouse, carpentry tools to keep that inhouse……… Not to mention doing our own designs rather than using a Graphics studio. I don’t think we can "blame" somebody for cutting his/her own vinyls if WE also take work away from the Painter, Welder or Carpenter in the quest to lower cost and/or shorten lead times. Just my 2c worth.