Suggestions Back after several years, what cutter?

[Gray91]

Hey everyone! I was in the sign making business when I was around 18 or 20. I had a cheap machine that I honestly cannot remember. I took several years off to do other things but now I am back. I would like to get back into sign making and I am looking for recommendations for entry level machines just to get my feet wet and get acclimated again before I dive into a more expensive machine.

I do not need contour cutting, just a simple cutter/plotter for now. I will most likely be using sure cuts a lot for now.

I see USCutter, GCC, Muse, Rogue, Vinyl Express.... are any of these a good starting point to get back into the business? Budget is roughly $1000 +/- until I can gain back some customers and start making money with the cutter.

As always, I appreciate the help.

 

[nolanola]

Uscutter now, summa later.

 

[From 2 Vinyl]

I see many USCutter options, many of which are very... budget friendly. Any suggestions of which one as a good entry level for a Mac user? I’m new to sign making as a business, but not new to vinyl.

 

[victor bogdanov]

I started my business with a copam cutter from uscutter for around 1k, they don't sell them anymore but whatever they have for 1k should perform the same (I think it was 42" or some weird width) The machine worked non stop for 6 months and I bought a graphtec after the copam broke, it more than paid for itself cutting over 100k of work.

There is a pretty huge difference between the cheap cutters and the "real" cutters, if you can buy a good cutter right away

Now I have around 10 graphtecs 8600/9000 and would not buy any other cutter after also owning summa and roland

 

[binki]

You can get by with a US Cutter but for a few bucks more you can get a Graphtec and the difference is quite dramatic. Instead of fighting with a cheap machine you can concentrate on your business with a good machine. You should be able to make your purchase price back on your first couple, if not, your first job.