What vinyl cutters do you redommend?

[Chris Wool]

hi and welcome.

quote :

I work in the events industry

how often do you require stuff over 2 ft as i would have thought you would require a 4 ft cutter which has blown your budget

chris

[David-Foster-]

Those chinese pCut machines go on eBay for about £600, thats for a 1200mm one! May get one as a back up. Nearly £3000 for a proper one.

[Chris Wool]

quote :

Nearly £3000 for a proper one.

i wonder why

chris

[Barry McFadyen]

A 2″ would prob be big enough. it s mostly for text.
Would rather get a quality small machine to learn how to use- esp on the budget. Any makes/models in particular that are known to be good/dependable?

[Peter Normington]

graphtec, summa and mutoh spring to mind All are good quality.

Not sure on current prices but £1000 should get a 610mm – 2′ model with a bit of change.

Peter

[John Harding]

Ive got a Sign pal ultra from Graphityp reckn that would do you

John

[Kevin.Beck]

not wanting to run anyone down whos bought a cheap cutter,

but haven`t you noticed a lot of threads from folk who have brought 1 and can`t get it to work properly.

I wonder what will happen when 1 goes wrong…..

I personally would pay the extra and get a well known brand and be up and running in minutes…

[John Childs]

quote becky:

I personally would pay the extra and get a well known brand and be up and running in minutes…

Absolutely. And also buy it from someone to who you can go to for a bit of service when required

[Andy Gorman]

Buy cheap, buy twice. That’s what my Gran used to say.

Well, actually she never said that, but it’s the sort of thing she might have said.

I reckon these cheapo cutters are probably OK for the occasional use hobbyist, but if you run a plotter 8 hours a day, as many of us do, you are going to get problems with a cheap and cheerful model. After sales service and warranty are worth the extra money, I reckon.

Mechanics don’t buy their spanners from Argos…..

(Sorry, I seem to be stuck in cliche mode)

[Jill Marie Welsh]

Try to find a Gerber 4B (15″) and Graphix Advantage or Omega software, and a LMK module.
That’s what I did, albeit it was $10K for me.
That thing runs like an old dinosaur.
It’s loud, but it never complains.
Love…..Jill

[Alan Wharton]

check out graphtec. you wont go wrong Excellent machine and not much more than a ebay special 🙄

[Stephen Sill]

I started with a Vinyl Express 24″ Panther (Rebranded Roland) at about that price. I still have it and use it a lot. Your question about a stand is a good one. I have one and wouldn’t want to live without it, since it permits you to use your table space for layout and application rather than sitting equipment on. But it does require some thinking about how to work around it and not trip over cables, etc. You want to be able to get to both sides of a plotter as most are rear-loading and front output.

Good Luck

Steve

[Barry McFadyen]

Thanks for all your advice – will no doubt be back seeking help and advice in the near future!
Cheers

[Nigel Pugh]

VE Panther is not Roland but a GCC machine, known in the UK as the SignPal Jaguar. 😉

[Frog Man]

Jill, How long ago did you pay $ 10K for a 4B ?

[John Childs]

Frog…..

A friend of mine paid £20,000 for a 4B. That was back in about 1983/4.

My! How the price of entry to this trade has dropped. 👿

[Frog Man]

Hi John,

I know what you’re saying I paid A$12,000 for a second hand one in ’89.
I was just curious to see how long ago Jill got hers as I sold mine about 5 years ago for A$1,500 with the PC link and a computer and most of my 15″ punched stock.
I also told the guy (a sort of friend of mine more of an acquaintance) I could help him out if he had any problems. I still get a call every few months asking “how do I do this, how do I do that” biggest mistake ever as I have trouble saying NO.

[Frog Man]

Oh, and back to Barry’s original question, the Rolands I have had and the one I still have are fantastic machines.

[Stephen Sill]

Nigel-
You’re correct – It uses roland blades and that’s what threw me.

[Hugh Potter]

i dont know if you’d get a new one for a grand, but a summa D60 (610mm) has been good to me, would reccomend it to anyone thinking of one, think mine was about £1400 + vat, that was with the stand and a 3yr collect and return warranty.