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Best Cutter for Pre-printed Rolls of Paper?

A

abbyritz

New Member
Hi! I'm looking for cutter recommendations for 36"-wide media. I've never used cutters before, so I'm not sure what the best options are out there :)

I'm pre-printing 20-30 wide format prints per roll on thick paper and rolling them up without cutting between prints. What's the best cutter to run them through when I want to cut them? Each print will be 8-10 feet long.

This will likely be a part of my regular production process, not a one-off job, so I'm looking for cutter options that would help optimize/simplify/automate the process without breaking the bank.
 
E

ewded

.
Not very automatized but I used keencut's Technic ARC cutters installed on all 4 sides of the table, makes very clean and accurate cuts.
 
G

greysquirrel

New Member
Fotobo probably best option or a cnc router...you can get a summa 1612 for like $55k fully loaded...then if you ever move into boards or other medias you have a solution
 
eahicks

eahicks

Magna Cum Laude - School of Hard Knocks
greysquirrel said:
Fotobo probably best option or a cnc router...you can get a summa 1612 for like $55k fully loaded...then if you ever move into boards or other medias you have a solution
Click to expand...
CNC for paper?? I think he is just slicing off from a linear roll of prints.
 
I

iPrintStuff

Prints stuff
I’d go for an XY cutter as previously mentioned, we got one a couple months ago and I’d say it’s cut somewhere between 10,000-20,000 posters/vinyls/signs/banners so far. It’s done the work of about 8 employees in a fraction of the time.

As far as fotoba goes, think of that as top of the line. We got quoted maybe 42k for a fotoba, which comes with all the bells and whistles. We eventually settled on a Flexa miura after seeing a demo of one and have not been disappointed. It’s not as automated as the fotoba but has been a workhorse so far.

The flexa was 1/3 of the price. It comes with three single wheel cutters (for the edges and one down the middle, but you can buy extra single and double wheel cutters, the doubles do jobs with bleeds) - we have two doubles and three single cutters currently.

When I say not automated, I mean you literally need to position the cutter blades manually and then tighten them to suit the specific media type.

Setup for us takes maybe 2-3 mins a roll then it’ll cut a 50m roll of 8”x4” signs in about 8 minutes. (Approx 20 signs)

Cuts a 50m roll of 1m x 0.3m posters (approx 165 posters/roll) in about 15 mins.

If you’re cutting multiple rolls of the same artwork, setup for the new roll is only about 20-30 seconds, just loading the new roll then checking everything is still lined up.

Setup is very straightforward in onyx, takes 2 seconds to switch to using the marks and you don’t need any specific quick sets or that, just change the placement Options to flexa/fotoba marks.

The fotoba did look great though, just for what we needed, the flexa (miura II) has been great. Literally couldn’t have gotten through the last couple months without it!
 
A

abbyritz

New Member
iPrintStuff said:
I’d go for an XY cutter as previously mentioned, we got one a couple months ago and I’d say it’s cut somewhere between 10,000-20,000 posters/vinyls/signs/banners so far. It’s done the work of about 8 employees in a fraction of the time.

As far as fotoba goes, think of that as top of the line. We got quoted maybe 42k for a fotoba, which comes with all the bells and whistles. We eventually settled on a Flexa miura after seeing a demo of one and have not been disappointed. It’s not as automated as the fotoba but has been a workhorse so far.

The flexa was 1/3 of the price. It comes with three single wheel cutters (for the edges and one down the middle, but you can buy extra single and double wheel cutters, the doubles do jobs with bleeds) - we have two doubles and three single cutters currently.

When I say not automated, I mean you literally need to position the cutter blades manually and then tighten them to suit the specific media type.

Setup for us takes maybe 2-3 mins a roll then it’ll cut a 50m roll of 8”x4” signs in about 8 minutes. (Approx 20 signs)

Cuts a 50m roll of 1m x 0.3m posters (approx 165 posters/roll) in about 15 mins.

If you’re cutting multiple rolls of the same artwork, setup for the new roll is only about 20-30 seconds, just loading the new roll then checking everything is still lined up.

Setup is very straightforward in onyx, takes 2 seconds to switch to using the marks and you don’t need any specific quick sets or that, just change the placement Options to flexa/fotoba marks.

The fotoba did look great though, just for what we needed, the flexa (miura II) has been great. Literally couldn’t have gotten through the last couple months without it!
Click to expand...


Awesome, thanks for all the detail. I'm not sure it'll work with the budget, but I'll definitely look into it.
 
A

abbyritz

New Member
ewded said:
Not very automatized but I used keencut's Technic ARC cutters installed on all 4 sides of the table, makes very clean and accurate cuts.
Click to expand...

Might go with something like this for now. Thanks for the suggestion! What do you mean by "installed on all 4 sides of the table"?
 
I

iPrintStuff

Prints stuff
abbyritz said:
Looking at how the material is positioned... Do you think this will cut clean, straight lines on something as thin as paper?
Click to expand...

We also have a similar one to one of these and yeah cuts great. Though we need to change the blade a lot, you just wait until the edges start looking a bit crappy then change it out. Ours was an integra 3.1m cutter (I can find the specs if you need it). Great for one-off cuts and we use it for 3mm hard plastic, 3-5mm corro and 5mm foam boards too. But cuts posters just as well.
 
E

ewded

.
abbyritz said:
Looking at how the material is positioned... Do you think this will cut clean, straight lines on something as thin as paper?
Click to expand...
We have one of these, works just like a utility knife so yes the cuts are ok, but it just make me laugh how easy it looks on the video to cut through that foamboard. In reality it takes at least 3 strokes with pretty hard pushing.
 
I

iPrintStuff

Prints stuff
We cut through 5mm foam board no problem (by we I mean me). But I do regularly visit the gym and lug 50m rolls about for a living so that probably helps. Whenever I see people struggling it’s because they’re putting too much weight down and not along
 
E

ewded

.
iPrintStuff said:
We cut through 5mm foam board no problem (by we I mean me). But I do regularly visit the gym and lug 50m rolls about for a living so that probably helps. Whenever I see people struggling it’s because they’re putting too much weight down and not along
Click to expand...
I need to visit you some time for a lesson or two :D
 
I

iPrintStuff

Prints stuff
ewded said:
I need to visit you some time for a lesson or two :D
Click to expand...

that or we just buy crappy foam board lol. I have found cutting the 5mm corrugated plastic, because we don’t have it bolted down to the table, sometimes I move the whole cutter more than I move the head lol. Really need to get that bolted down. Hate cutting that stuff
 
A

abbyritz

New Member
iPrintStuff said:
We cut through 5mm foam board no problem (by we I mean me). But I do regularly visit the gym and lug 50m rolls about for a living so that probably helps. Whenever I see people struggling it’s because they’re putting too much weight down and not along
Click to expand...

Shoot. I run this shop on my own now, and at 5'2", most of the media I work with is almost as wide as my height with rolls almost half my weight (watching me load a roll is like a live Mr. Bean episode). I could totally see myself being one of those 3-pass operators, getting my steps in just walking from one end of the cutter to the other, with multiple passes.
 
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