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Cheap Replacement To Graphtec

Ditchmiester

New Member
I'm looking for a 24" plotter with an auto alignment system to cut Lexan decals out after printing. Do you have any recommendations?
 

401Graphics

New Member
those cutters dont actually read registration marks. They have a laser pointer stuck on them, thats it. Its useless
 

briankb

Premium Subscriber
you can get a new Graphtec CE5000-60 (24") for $1200-1500 max with stand and delivered. Spend less and you get to waste a lot of your time. Then after you figure it out you buy a quality plotter anyway.
 

OldPaint

New Member
i have seen so many of these pieces of crap. even new they are junk. if you cant afford a new ROLAND, GRAPHTEC, SUMMA.............start with a USED ROLAND, GRAPHTEC or SUMMA!!!!!!!
i have been cuttin Vinyl since 1993. i have YET to buy a NEW PLOTTER!! ive had 4 rolands. why 4? upgrade in size and speed..........BUT NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH THEM WORKING. i have a CX-300, wish i woulda had it from day 1!!!!!
 

Dakotagrafx

New Member
+1 to what every one else has said and if you have a problem with the cutter new out of the box you pay shipping back to get it replaced - or they will send parts so you can tear the new machine apart and replace them until they find the problem. I had the non laser pointer version of this when I started and a capacitor blew up in the power supply in 15 minutes - after they mailed 2 power supplies and 1 motherboard they decided I needed to pay to mail it back to get it replaced. After you get it working it will not cut near as nice as a roland or graphtec - small items will make you pull your hair out and will probably have parts left uncut. Then when you have a graphic too big for the cutters small memory it will stop and cut a diagonal line thru the graphic.

Get a quality cutter to begin with either new or used is a much much better choice!
 

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round man

New Member
I'm actually embarrassed to say I kinda got one of them us 48" cutters dumped on my lap here. I ended up with it after the shop I do tech consulting for parked it in a dusty corner to buy a decent graphtec. I originally setup both machines and while they both cut short runs fairly well the savings in screwed up material will buy you a good graphtec over a year period of time in a busy shop compared to the cheap cost of the us cutter,....in other words at the shop they used the us cutter we soon realized that the material that was being ruined by bad or screwed up cuts didn't take but about three weeks to amount to as much as or more than the plotter itself cost to begin with. This were not beginners but seasoned proffesionals with over ten years plus exxperience running the machine with quality materials,...not el cheapo vinyl. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that the $399 price tag was not worth the thousands of dollars of material waste that was happening. I really didn't like saying to the owner I had already suggested he buy a graphtec or that I told you so but when he asked me how to fix the us cutter that was what I had to tell him. My point was simple,...sure the machine had paid for itself the first month but the long term loss in material waste would more than cover the cost of the graphtec in material savings and actually double his production,...and the advice proved itself true very soon. anyone want a 4' paper weight???? it cuts 36" panels great but I refuse to promise you an 8' consistant good cut,...if you don't turn it off between each and every cut the thing does a haywire diagonal cut right thru your design due to the low amount and poor grade of buffer memory. thus far it has proven very good at collecting dust and getting in the way enough for the shop owner to ask me to get it out of his way for free,....that is the only reason I own one,.

edited ta add... the manual was an adventure in itself with the Chinese version of the English language commonly called engrish,....
 

Ditchmiester

New Member
Thank you to everyone. You confirmed my thought. I'm looking for an entry level plotter with an alignment system to cut printed decals and stickers. I only need a 24" plotter. Any suggestions? Does the Graphtec CE5000-60 have an alignment system on it, if not how do you line up to contour cut decals that are already printed? If you can't tell i'm new to this and appreciate you putting up with my newbie questions.

Thanks,
Ditch
 

Fanaticus

New Member
We have a a Q series (Q100). It's been a good machine for us. As I recall, a signwarehouse saleman told us it is a graphtec with Vinyl Express badges.

We also have a Graphtec FC5100 that is about 4 years older than our Q100.

Both have never let us down and we run them pretty hard every single day.
 
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