Cutter Recommendations

[Carl Hanley]

Hi All,

I am on the hunt for a cutter but unsure as to what to go for so thought i’d come here to ask the experts! I am after something relatively simple that can cut shapes from .AI, .DXF (or conversion software if required).

I will be cutting rolls of reflective vinyl which doesn’t peel off (no weeding); essentially I would like to cut through all of the material. I currently have a Cameo 3 but that requires a backing sheet when cutting through the media completely (time consuming). Ideally I’d like to design a shape and cut straight away directly from a roll fed cutter.

I will probably prefer a 28′ roll fed machine for a ‘reasonable cost’,

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated!

Kind regards,

Carl.

[Robert Lambie]

I would suggest a Graphtec, Summa or Roland cutter.
Any are true workhorses and capable of doing what you want.

The cost will vary dependant on the model, width etc. I would suggest contacting suppliers of these and asking if they have any deals or ex-demo models for sale.

Some come bundled with software that allows you to cut whatever vector file types you have. But best checking with the supplier on that.

[Carl Hanley]

It’s been a busy couple of months but i’m now looking into this again.

Ideally, I would like a cutter that can do a perforated cut so I can ‘pop out’ decals, and vinyl cuts from the fed roll / Vinyl sheet.

I have currently been recommended the Roland GS24 as a standalone vinyl cutter and a Canon PIXMA PRO-100S as the printer.

I believe these would work well when doing resin domed decals (using appropriate vinyl sheet) but unsure of how well the cutter will work when doing perforated cuts on reflective vinyl for signage?

Does anyone have any experience with either of these machines?

My current budget is probably around £2-2.5K for the cutter / printer setup; can stretch to £3k if needed.

TIA,

Carl.

• This reply was modified 3 weeks, 5 days ago by  Carl Hanley.

[David Stevenson]

Hi Carl, We have a Roland GR640 cutter. It has a really frustrating feature were you have to manually change the position of the blade when changing between cutting and perforating. We print loads of stickers and thought it would be ideal to let our EJ640 print overnight then drop the roll into the GR the next day and leave it to cut. After a few metres of vinyl the tracking runs off so bad it can no longer read the registration marks, plus if your cutting then perforating sheets your constantly running back and forward changing blade position. That been said when cutting normal coloured the accuracy of the cuts is amazing. It can cut incredibly small text without any problems as long as your sheet isn’t huge. As for reflective it will rip through that without any problems, it can put down 600g of force!