Any one here ever used a Signwarehouse Muse60 plotter?

[RG]

I'm looking at a Muse60 plotter sold by Signwarehouse. If you have ever used one of these, please share your opinion of it. If you have heard anything about it or even the smaller Muse plotters, share that, too. Thanks.

 

[Mascitti Bro]

While i'm not familiar with that particular brand, but we're still using a 30" Panther cutter we bought from them back in December 2005, so they can offer up some good stuff, for what it's worth...

 

[IsItFasst]

I don't have experience with that one but have bought many SW plotters over the years and only one disappointed. Though even with that one, I bought an identical one and kept the other one for a spare or parts as the replacement was fine. Started my business with one of cheapies 20 years ago. And while their customer service isn't always the best I don't think they'd sell you junk. At one point I bought a Roland GX24 cutter (as we run Roland printers here) and it was the worst cutter I ever owned. Currently running a SW Q30 (made by Graphtec) and it has been great this past year or two.

 

[IsItFasst]

While i'm not familiar with that particular brand, we're still using a 30" Panther cutter we bought from them back in December 2005, so they can offer up some good stuff, for what it's worth...

The Panther was awesome! Was disappointed when it stopped working as it was no longer available so replaced it with that Roland that was junk compared to it.

 

[FCD]

I currently have a small Q series from them, have had it for a few years and had zero issues. Before that I had a Vinyl Express 30" from them for 5 years that ran perfect and only replaced the pinch rollers once on it. They offer great to plotters for the price. I use them as back ups or for smaller jobs where the big unit isn't needed

 

[RG]

I started out 20 years ago with a 24" Anagraph. It was a workhorse for cut vinyl. When I bought my first printer, I had to upgrade to a contour cutting plotter. So, about 15 years ago I bought a Graphtec FC-7000. For it's time, it was OK. When It got older, I could confidently contour cut only 3 to 4 feet. The longer the contour cut, the more it was off. Two years ago I bought a 48" Summa, because at the time I had a 48" printer. I upgraged to a 64" printer last year. That's why now I can use a larger plotter. The Summa contour cuts are perfect and works fine for 80% of my cutting. Just could use a larger plotter for the other 20%. 99% of my cutting is contour cutting. It just doesn't make sense to me to buy another top-of-the-line plotter if I can find an off-brand plotter that does good when contour cutting up to 8 feet.

 

[Jburns]

I would be very leery of using that plotter for your contour cuts - Especially coming from your Summa

What RIP are you using, and does it provide drivers for that plotter?

 

[RG]

I would be very leery of using that plotter for your contour cuts - Especially coming from your Summa

What RIP are you using, and does it provide drivers for that plotter?

I'm using Flexi v12. Flexi does not come with drivers for this plotter. But, you can download drivers form the Signwarehouse website and copy/paste them into Flexi 12 or 19. I have tried to call them for the past 2 days, but no answer. Guess they are all riding out the cold weather storm. I'd kind of like to have some target practice on a certain groundhog myself.

 

[RG]

I did buy this Muse M60 plotter and have been pleasantly surprised at how well it contour cuts printed vinyl. It is spot on. I had to make a catch basket for it, but that was no big deal. It does not have a vacuum to suck the vinyl down against the platen. But, it does have 7 pinch rollers and 11 grit roller positions. Probably all I will ever use it for is contour cutting. It has 2 tool holders and can do etching and put creases in box material (for folding the box material into a box shape). It doesn't have the usual laser to read registration marks. It used a camera for that. It comes with LXI Expert 19. I use Flexi 12. They also have Mac software that you can download.

 

[rickmdc]

I did buy this Muse M60 plotter and have been pleasantly surprised at how well it contour cuts printed vinyl. It is spot on. I had to make a catch basket for it, but that was no big deal. It does not have a vacuum to suck the vinyl down against the platen. But, it does have 7 pinch rollers and 11 grit roller positions. Probably all I will ever use it for is contour cutting. It has 2 tool holders and can do etching and put creases in box material (for folding the box material into a box shape). It doesn't have the usual laser to read registration marks. It used a camera for that. It comes with LXI Expert 19. I use Flexi 12. They also have Mac software that you can download.

Great idea on your catch basket! 2 questions for you;
1) Are you able to do a perf cut to cut all the way through the decals and liner with this cutter?

2) Would you mind sharing the details on how you made the basket? Haha thanks!

 

[RG]

1) I don't know what to tell you about perf cut. I have never tried that, mostly because I don't want to cut into the cutting strip. My guess is that it will perf cut. After all, it will do etching in soft metals. To be sure you should call Signwarehouse and ask for Leisa.
2) The catch basket was fairly easy to make. I didn't have to drill any holes. I used 8 eye-bolts with a center diameter of a little more than .75" (I think they are 5/16"). A .75" aluminum tube is best for the rods that slide through the eye-bolts. A wooden dowel rod will work but won't slide as well. I made the rods for the back side 24" and 18" for the front side. I used a curtain rod front and rear to attach the basket. I used a shower rod in the middle to attach the basket. The basket material is a polyester fabric which doesn't wrinkle and hangs well. I'm not into sewing, so I used iron-on adhesive strips to hem the basket in 3 places. Hope that answers your question.
Last weekend I tried the plotter's segmented registration marks and they worked perfectly. This is a great feature that lets you put more registration marks along the sides of your graphics. This makes contour cutting long runs very accurate.

 

[RG]

1) I don't know what to tell you about perf cut. I have never tried that, mostly because I don't want to cut into the cutting strip. My guess is that it will perf cut. After all, it will do etching in soft metals. To be sure you should call Signwarehouse and ask for Leisa.
2) The catch basket was fairly easy to make. I didn't have to drill any holes. I used 8 eye-bolts with a center diameter of a little more than .75" (I think they are 5/16"). A .75" aluminum tube is best for the rods that slide through the eye-bolts. A wooden dowel rod will work but won't slide as well. I made the rods for the back side 24" and 18" for the front side. I used a curtain rod front and rear to attach the basket. I used a shower rod in the middle to attach the basket. The basket material is a polyester fabric which doesn't wrinkle and hangs well. I'm not into sewing, so I used iron-on adhesive strips to hem the basket in 3 places. Hope that answers your question.
Last weekend I tried the plotter's segmented registration marks and they worked perfectly. This is a great feature that lets you put more registration marks along the sides of your graphics. This makes contour cutting long runs very accurate.

 

[RG]

1) I don't know what to tell you about perf cut. I have never tried that, mostly because I don't want to cut into the cutting strip. My guess is that it will perf cut. After all, it will do etching in soft metals. To be sure you should call Signwarehouse and ask for Leisa.
2) The catch basket was fairly easy to make. I didn't have to drill any holes. I used 8 eye-bolts with a center diameter of a little more than .75" (I think they are 5/16"). A .75" aluminum tube is best for the rods that slide through the eye-bolts. A wooden dowel rod will work but won't slide as well. I made the rods for the back side 24" and 18" for the front side. I used a curtain rod front and rear to attach the basket. I used a shower rod in the middle to attach the basket. The basket material is a polyester fabric which doesn't wrinkle and hangs well. I'm not into sewing, so I used iron-on adhesive strips to hem the basket in 3 places. Hope that answers your question.
Last weekend I tried the plotter's segmented registration marks and they worked perfectly. This is a great feature that lets you put more registration marks along the sides of your graphics. This makes contour cutting long runs very accurate.

 

[rickmdc]

1) I don't know what to tell you about perf cut. I have never tried that, mostly because I don't want to cut into the cutting strip. My guess is that it will perf cut. After all, it will do etching in soft metals. To be sure you should call Signwarehouse and ask for Leisa.
2) The catch basket was fairly easy to make. I didn't have to drill any holes. I used 8 eye-bolts with a center diameter of a little more than .75" (I think they are 5/16"). A .75" aluminum tube is best for the rods that slide through the eye-bolts. A wooden dowel rod will work but won't slide as well. I made the rods for the back side 24" and 18" for the front side. I used a curtain rod front and rear to attach the basket. I used a shower rod in the middle to attach the basket. The basket material is a polyester fabric which doesn't wrinkle and hangs well. I'm not into sewing, so I used iron-on adhesive strips to hem the basket in 3 places. Hope that answers your question.
Last weekend I tried the plotter's segmented registration marks and they worked perfectly. This is a great feature that lets you put more registration marks along the sides of your graphics. This makes contour cutting long runs very accurate.

Thanks so much for the details answer! Definitely answered my doubts. I reached out to Leisa today. I'll update this post once I get a response from her. Thank you

 

[RG]

I found out that this plotter does not do a perf cut.

 

[Gerald Printing]

I'm looking at a Muse60 plotter sold by Signwarehouse. If you have ever used one of these, please share your opinion of it. If you have heard anything about it or even the smaller Muse plotters, share that, too. Thanks.

DO you or anyone else have problems with the Muse M60 Cutting strip? my keeps popping out of the channel after installing it. i have tried to use a screwdriver, double sided tape and everything but it keeps popping right back out.