Your view on Aftermarket cutter blades please?

[Chris Wool]

just going to get the pop corn 😉

my view after market blades are mainly just fine use them myself and are cheap enough to have a selection to find what suits your purpose.

after market holders are mainly ok as well.

[Jon Miller]

:lol1:

Like alot of things they probably all originate from the same factory etc and are just sold off/rebranded etc?

Any thoughts on the thicker material and sandblast blade?

[Steve McAdie]

I have used both summa and roland original blades and some cheap chinese replacement blades, haven’t a clue which work out the most economical, the originals outlast the non originals by quite a bit but are more expensive, as Chris says they are cheap enough to hold a selection in stock. As for cutting performance i can’t tell the difference, other than the time it lasts.

Steve

[Robert Lambie]

quote JonMiller:

:lol1:

Like alot of things they probably all originate from the same factory etc and are just sold off/rebranded etc?

Any thoughts on the thicker material and sandblast blade?

No i think that’s just trying to convince yourself buying the cheaper products is OK. 😉 :lol1:

There is very little in it when it comes down to price. I would suggest buying Genuine or at least reputable branded blades.
Ive tried re-sharpened blades and although were sharp enough, i found they went blunt quicker.
I know, or should i say, was "told" (that goes for nothing) that there are only two blade manufacturing companies in the uk. if this is the case, i have tried one of the sources blades and the first one lasted months, the next two i was lucky to get a month. bad batch, resharpened? i dont know… im not an expert. but my own finds made me revert back to my orginal sources.

vinyl cutting is your bread and butter… why try and save a couple of quid?
false economy…

[Chris Wool]

cutting mylar is abit suck it and see alot depends on the plotter pressure and don’t cut all the way through in one, just enough so you can pop the bits out after.

[Jon Miller]

Thanks Steve

Cheers Robert, you may be correct mate 🙂 Although it was more to see if it was necessary to buy the more expensive blade if there was no need, especially when the originals are around twice as much as the others.

Although my machine is still under warranty so using an aftermarket blade may void this?

Thanks Chris. So I am right in that a sandblast blade would be the correct choice to use for the mylar?

[John Singh]

I think some blades, whether brand or non brand are made by the same company so there shouldn’t be any difference except the cost

Blades seem to last a lot longer than they used to but I think that might be down to better vinyl than years previous

Blades today are the cutting edge of technology

[Martin Pearson]

If you want to know anything about plotter blades & the best way to cut any type of material it is possible to cut in a plotter then find yourself a comfy chair, make a fresh pot of tea, settle down and phone Harry.

[Neil Davey]

quote Martin:

If you want to know anything about plotter blades & the best way to cut any type of material it is possible to cut in a plotter then find yourself a comfy chair, make a fresh pot of tea, settle down and phone Harry.

(sleep) (sleep) (sleep) 😀

[Jon Miller]

quote Martin:

If you want to know anything about plotter blades & the best way to cut any type of material it is possible to cut in a plotter then find yourself a comfy chair, make a fresh pot of tea, settle down and phone Harry.

:lol1: Do I sense a bit of a stig of the blade world thing here?

Some say he has blades for fingernails…

[Jason Xuereb]

We use Ross at http://www.cleancutblade.com/ for all our graphtec blades. When we were doing alot of perf cutting we used to go through blades. Having blades that are like 1/15th the price helped that process alot and the quality was good.

[David Hammond]

Bought an original graphtec heavy duty blade and holder when cutting 300 A1 prints on 440 micron PVC.

Lots of trial and error, pressure, number of passes, we ended up scoring the edge and tearing the print out, but could cut the 9 holes clean out using 4 passes on each.

I use 3rd party blades for vinyl, infact changed a blade Monday so will see how long it lasts.

[David McDonald]

As mentioned call Harry at Edward Mathias, http://www.blades.uk.com/

They do ‘smart knives’, complete swap out blade holders with a pre set blade

http://www.blades.uk.com/smartknives.html

Very convenient as never need to set blade depths or mess around with any settings, they are as long lasting as any other blades we’ve used including manufacturers originals.

Cheers
Macky

[Neil Davey]

quote JonMiller:

:lol1: Do I sense a bit of a stig of the blade world thing here?

Some say he has blades for fingernails…

😀

What Harry doesn’t know about blades isn’t worth knowing.

[Cheryl Smith]

quote Neil Davey:

quote JonMiller:

:lol1: Do I sense a bit of a stig of the blade world thing here?

Some say he has blades for fingernails…

😀

What Harry doesn’t know about blades isn’t worth knowing.

oh yes….Harrys the man…he will let you know the who what why and when….
I always get smart knives…he knows an awful awful lot about plotters too.

[Jon Miller]

Great, thank you for the info and links.

Anybody know if running an aftermarket blade will affect the warranty on my machine?

[Jon Marshall]

Tried a Smart blade and found it didnt last very long on our CG130. Recently bought a pack of 5 OEM blades from a Belgian company for the price of 1 from the uk supplier.

[Jon Miller]

A little update, I bought some aftermarket blades and even adjusting the offset etc I didn’t like the way they were working so bought some genuine blades and am much happier. Maybe just me or down to personal preference but there ya go 🙂
Thanks for all your input

[Robert Lambie]

quote JonMiller:

A little update, I bought some aftermarket blades and even adjusting the offset etc I didn’t like the way they were working so bought some genuine blades and am much happier. Maybe just me or down to personal preference but there ya go 🙂
Thanks for all your input

good to hear jon, thanks for taking the time to give your final conclusion feedback. i am with you, couple of quid extra and get the genuine deal, even if they arent manufactured in-house, its the ones stipulated by by the cutter manufacturer.

what i would like to know is… those that save lets say £5 for talking sake on a unbranded or re-sharpened blade. how many jobs will that blade cut, how much will they earn before they need another? how little in comarison to earning are they actually saving buying a re-sharpened blade or whatever…

as i say, ive done the same several times, not knocking anyone for trying to save a few quid…

[Martin Pearson]

Robert for me it’s not about trying to save a couple of quid as you say the amount of vinyl a blade should cut in it’s life any saving would be negligible. I use the smart knives because I don’t have to worry about setting them up correctly in the holder so it is really about convenience rather than money. As the blade is already pre set in the holder all I have to do is pop a new holder in place.

[Derek Heron]

smart blade for me less hassle
keep a few and when you have about 4 blunt just send them in the envelope provided for quick turnaround

simples

[Jason Davies]

Yep, smart knives for me all the way. We had one in for over 12 months cutting non-stop everyday, plus great support from Harry.

[Robert Lambie]

as said guys, not knocking the blades, i did trial them for a good while but found them so inconvenient. it takes a few seconds to pop the blade in, do a small test cut and away you go running jobs.

unless things have changed, i had to "post one blade back whilst using the other" so that you get a new one returned before the other went blunt. repeating this process constantly?

this means someone has to physically walk to the nearest post box/office and send the blade back to be resharpened.
what about when the staff member forgets to send the blade, so now has two blunt blades? it happened with us… kept being put off then forgot.

for me, convenience is, blade goes blunt, stick in a new one, bin the old. do a test cut and carry on.

maybe just me, but 3 cutters going day in day out it all gets a bit sloppy when blades are going blunt at different times, returning old blades and waiting on new arriving. folk forgetting to send etc etc

ok, im gonna shut-up, not trying to convince anyone or say your wrong. just giving my own expereince. 😀

[Martin Pearson]

Robert, different set of circumstances for you. I work on my own so no staff members to forget to send blades back. I pass the post office on my way home from the unit plus I use the post office to pay money into my account so no problems there either.
I did have a few problems setting up the original blades correctly & lost a spring that I fired across the workshop :lol1: However I didn’t use original blades for very long at all, if I had used them more then maybe I would have been a dab hand at changing the blade.