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Which Vinyl Cutter/Plotter?
Hi
I am looking at buying a new plotter. I use a Roland DXY 1200 pen plotter at the moment which is limited to A3 size and is solely a pen plotter. My main needs is a pen plotter for ink pen plotting but these combo plotter/cutters look the job for me. My first need is the blade holder to be able to hold normal pens. The 3 main models look like they do with a tensioned ring to hold blade/pen. With my previous post I have gladly been talked out of getting a cheap Roland STIKA!I want to use Corel Draw with the plotter (no Signlab etc needed) and the three main contenders are: Roland CX-24; Graphtec CE3000; SummaCut D 60. I will be using it with PC and Apple Mac. I have searched the boards already and got good feedback, thanks.
Hopefully you helpful people will put me right as to my initial conclusions 🙂
I favoured the Roland at first but that’s off the list because it seems long in the tooth now and doesn’t have USB interface (for the Mac – Don’t want a USB/Serial adaptor!) I can’t find out much on the Graphtec but at least it is a new machine and won’t be superceded any time now.
The SummaCut D 60 is favourite at the moment. Looks like it will pen plot on thick watercolour paper. Looks like the favourite vinyl cutter as well. My partner has a few uses for it (help with paying for it lol!) Cutting out thin card / thick paper e.g. Greeting card blanks, apparently it can cut leaving perforated bits attached to push out, and is the only plotter with a pouncing kit available (pricks sewing patterns out)Looks like I have made my mind up lol, rambling on. Any help gratefully received and ask if you don’t understand why I want a vinyl cutter lol…. 😀
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10 Replies
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It’s a slightly biased opinion but I would go for the Graphtec. You can find more details here if you haven’t been already….
http://www.graphtecusa.com/products.php … ries_id=26
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I have a Summa T750 pro and an Graphtec. The Summa has Wincut which when installed puts a cut button in Corel and this works very well. If you are cutting card etc then have a second look at the T series of cutters as a tangential cutter may suit you better, that said the Graphtec has thick mode or tangential emulation and this also works very well. I don’t think you will be dissapointed with either plotter and it may come down to price and support in the end.
Alan -
My post looks a bit heavy now lol….. to sum up….
Graphtec CE 3000 or SummaCut D60
As well as vinyl cut I mainly want to use normal ink pens in tool holder for drawing on thick watercolour paper and blade for cutting thin card. The pouncing option is additional.
Thanks so far….
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I’ve got the Graphtec CE3000. Its a great plotter, unsure how it compares to the Summa, but it does everything I want it to do.
Cheers, Dewi
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Hi Dewi
Great, I might be down to Leigh to see it. I thought you had a Summa though, browsing through posts about getting one for Xmas! My mistake. It must be something to do with the 2 hours on the phone to Harry from Mathias. Great bloke, did you get yours from him?
Later….
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I bought my plotter through the uksigngroup David. It worked out a more competitive deal than the one offered by Harry, although I think I mentioned at the time, Harry did offer me extra blades if I purchased the plotter with him. If you’re in the market for a new plotter though, Robert may be able to help you price up a Graphtec. 🙂
Welcome down at the shop anytime 🙂 I was due to open today, but with one delay after the other (I was waiting at home til 12noon for a delivery today that didn’t come) I doubt I’ll be open properly til Thursday. I did manage to get a carpet for the front shop today though, who would have thought that a carpet could cause a delay!! 😮
Cheers, Dewi
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Fozzie,
You say you want to cut thin card… I’d make sure this could be achieved on this type of plotter before buying. Usually this type of cutting is done on a flat bed plotter. If you attempted it on a regular friction fed ‘drum’ type plotter you will find that the card falls free as soon as the cut is complete. Leaving your cut piece to flap about in the plotter as it continues cutting. Also the tension from your sheet will now disappear, causing the sheet to buckle, possibly. Not to mention the damage it will do to the protective strip that sits under the material. (This is like a nylon strip that provides a nice flat cutting surface under the cutting area) These plotters are not usually designed for die cutting (cutting right through the material).
You could of course leave some ‘nicks’ in the shape to hold it in place and then pop the pieces out. Am I making sense? I would also enquire as to whether any ‘special’ blades are available for this. Card will blunt a blade in no time. -
Big G, Rodney Gold suggested in an earlier post on a similar subject using application tape as a carrier for the card. The blades will blunt much faster no doubt because its card, but I’m presuming at the same rate as reflective vinyl (similar thickness).
I was going to attempt a few tests with 400gsm card but I realised I only had one blade. Not a good idea to risk my only blade at the point 😉 Soon as I have a few blades, I’ll test the theory.
PeterC (aka Magpie) did mention something to me about an attachment for the Graphtec that would allow the cutting of media other than vinyl without damaging the plotter unit. Anyone else come across this attachment or was I very unsober at the time Pete? 😉
Cheers, Dewi
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Thanks big G and Dewi, attachment to Graphtec sounds promising. The Summa can cut leaving nicks I think. Graphtec do a flat bed A2 cutter for cutting patterns out etc, I would get that but it’s over 8 grand so unless I was cutting £50 notes with it 😀
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Using app tape as a carrier is a good idea. I still think that you should prove that it works before committing though. As I said before, they are not designed to do this sort of thing. Controlling the cutting depth, for example, to such a degree might prove difficult. Especially with the irregular cutting properties of card. I used to cut a lot of greyboard using 100k quids worth of flatbed and the settings for depth, speed etc had to be just right.
Strangely, I’ve never noticed any excessive blade wear when cutting reflective; it is quite thick but quite soft also.
To leave nicks in a cut shape, you don’t need any particular blade or anything – just leave little gaps in your artwork.
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