Cheap vinyl cutter that's better than this Roland?

[tedbragg]

My Roland printer/cutter is lousy. Want to add a used cheap, smaller cutter for vinyl work that comes thru rather than wrestling with our xr-640 all the time.

Which brands are known for:
1. Good tracking
2. Easy to source parts and blades
and
3. Work with Corel/AI as a printer driver?

 

[MikePro]

cheap & reliable would be to get a used mimaki cg130fx. I see used ones going for <$4k, but if you can come pickup in Wisco I'd let one of mine go for less.

never been a fan of print&cut printers, for a number of reasons but I had two of these plotters and they worked wonderful for the past decade+ before upgrading recently to a Summa with tangential cutting. ...Which I absolutely LOVE! Highly recommended.

 

[netsol]

Comparing new for new, i think roland is the cheapest that isn’t pure garbage

when i am “hunting” for equipment i search ebay, craigslist (expand the search outside your area), offerup and facebook marketplace. Sorted by highest typical price to lowest
BE PATIENT, bargains are out there
if TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE, bite the bullet and pay a little more

 

[netsol]

Ted keep in mind that i have ALMOST NEVER seen a serial plotter (db9 or db25 that had a bad interface.
NOT SO with usb, they are very static sensitive
the older technology is much more resiliant

 

[PHILJOHNSON]

Would a 30" cutter work or were you looking for something smaller than that? The Summa S1D75(30") cutter would be worth considering, and it has great cutting accuracy(up to 26' of cutting accuracy), speed(44 in/sec.), and force(600 grams capable of cutting up to 30 mil). You can get one of those for under 3k brand new, and that would be a much higher quality alternative to buying a used cutter.

Let me know if I can answer any questions about the Summa, or if you would like to see some pricing, and I would be happy to help however I can.

Best regards,

Phil Johnson
Airmark Corporation
(800)527-7778, ext. 112
philj@airmark.com

 

[rawrgraphix]

I have a Muse M60 and live it. I cut 21 mil MX graphics and it is dead on.

 

[rawrgraphix]

I have a Muse M60 and live it. I cut 21 mil MX graphics and it is dead on.

Love

 

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

'Cheap' ?
I'd stick with Roland or Mimaki plotters.
We have an ancient PNC1300 (that's 950 mm wide) and a CGFX2-130 - both are brilliant in work.
BUT you will need the software to get the Mimaki going. However it is better than the old Roland basic Corel>Print preview.

Those Creation P-cut chinese clones - I had 3 friends who got them, and eventually gave them away - hated them.

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

I picked up a Laserpoint 3 from US Cutter to use for a few small projects. Worked ok but lacked a lot of features. But it had mark registration reading and it works great on holographic media, was easy to setup and came with workable software. If you want something that'll last you, pick up a nice used Graphtec.

 

[vondegroot]

I see Summa D Series and older Graphtec's regularly on marketplace. I found a Summa D120 for $1500 CAD
ANd I hate to say it, but it's so much smarter then than all the Roland GX's I've owned.

Tracks so much better, and, I don't even have to cover crop marks on metallic prints.

 

[Joe House]

I think you're request is a little contradictory - you want a cheap cutter that works well. You'll fight yourself with those constraints. You'll always do well going with a Graphtec or Summa. They're the top brands. They both make an entry level version and a Pro version. If the Pro version is out of your budget, their entry level plotters will usually perform better than most other brands. It kind of depends on your needs and budget. But look seriously at the Graphtec CE series or the Summa S1. Or if you go with the used market, you might find some out there, but again, I'd stick with those brands.

Good Luck

 

[tedbragg]

I started off in 1994 w a 24”wide “Lynx” found in the back of Impressions Magazine. It did great and tracked well up to 10 feet. Paid $300 for it. The $11k XR640 at my work goes nuts with anything longer than 60 inches.

 

[cornholio]

A 11k XR sounds second hand to me.(these are high quality PRO4 Rolands if properly maintained) Maybe you should check the pinch rollers/holders...
But then, I'd always prefer a Summa for cutting.

 

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

P.S. 20+ Years ago the rule of thumb among many letterheads was to avoid any plotter named after an animal or bird...

 

[signheremd]

The pinch rollers on your Roland may need replacement. Also, you might need to adjust the offset for the vinyl (plus lam?) to get a better cut. But we went to a Graphtec FC series so our printers print and cutters cut... lol. The time wasted on cutting now means I have more time to print things on the Roland while the Graphtec cuts the laminated jobs (and cut vinyl). Prices are up a bit now, but you can usually find a sale on a Graphtec or Summa if you wait. (We choose the Graphtec over the Summa for price and reliability of an old Graphtec we are still using - like 25 years old.)

 

[MrDav3C]

It definitely has to be Graphtec or Summa. We have been using Graphtec plotters since the early 90s and doubt we would ever change to anything else. They are reliable workhorses, cutting is accurate, the software is good and the customer service is always there if you ever need it.

We did buy a cheap Chinese plotter a number of years ago solely to cut vinyls constantly for a few weeks for an extremely large job to keep our other plotters free for everyday jobs. The software was basic, the X,Y calibration was miles off and there was no way to adjust this within the software and as you would expect the customer service was non existent. We ended up having to disproportionately scale the artwork at the design stage to make it work and on top of all that it sounded like bloody space invaders when it was cutting. It now sits on a shelf collecting dust never to be used again!

When someone tells us they are attempting to cut vinyls on a cheap inferior plotter our response is similar to that when someone tells us that they are creating artwork in Canva!