Graphtec FC7000 vs FC8600

[kevint2005]

I currently have a 40" Roland but have been desperately needing a bigger plotter for a while now. With that being said a 54" graphtec FC-7000 MK2-130 just appeared for sale in my area and i'm thinking about pulling the trigger. New to them so was wondering if there are any major differences in the older model FC7000 compared to say the FC8600? Is contour cutting about the same or have they made huge advancements between the 7000 and 8600? Any input would be greatly appreciated! I'm mainly needing for contour cutting printed decals.

 

[Solventinkjet]

They don't make parts for the FC7000 anymore so you would need to source them from used machines. Not the end of the world as these machines last a very long time but something to keep in mind.

 

[Snydo]

They are very similar machines, I ran both a decade ago, and if you had forced me to pick one to keep, and one to blow up with dynamite, I would have kept the 7000.

 

[pjfmeister]

not sure but the 8600 may be able to do wifi connectivity.....I have an 8000 no wifi and I have a 9000 that has wifi
the graphtecs are very solid so I wouldn't worry to much about an older machine...

 

[ikarasu]

Your 9000 has wifi? Do you mean cat5?

 

[MNT_Printhead]

not sure but the 8600 may be able to do wifi connectivity.....I have an 8000 no wifi and I have a 9000 that has wifi
the graphtecs are very solid so I wouldn't worry to much about an older machine...

Do you have a take up reel on your 9000? I don't know if I got a damaged main board and the installer had never installed once, and didn't know much about the take up system. Running print cut through Onyx, I have to rotate ever cut pattern, the take up more often than not doesn't engage until the cutting is done, which eliminates the benefit of the automated print/cut/take up allowing you to set a full roll to cut and walk away.

Grpahtec Customer service never responded to me, when they used to call me within 3 hours back in 2010,11.

 

[ikarasu]

Onyx changed their layout. They said people load from the front... So that's the front of their machine. I've submitted a ticket to have my "feedback reviewed" about how stupid and ass backwards that is.

Onyx will only take up after it's done cutting a set / full length of marks by default. You can turn on intermediate marks, and in cut server under graphtec tell it to read one set of marks, then it'll cut the 12", read the next set of marks, roll up the vinyl, cut the 12 ", read the next set... Roll up, etc... I forget the exact name for it, but iirc there's 3 options... One to read all marks.and then cut, one to just read the 4 corners and then one go read one set of 4 marks at a time.

It's a bit slower this way since it stops to take up each set of marks, but it's also more accurate.

lf you use the barcode server, you don't have to rotate btw - it reads the barcode and direction from onyx.

 

[ikarasu]

In cut server, when you click preferences... theres a few options under cut job settings.

Segment area correction is the one I'm talking about where it'll read 4 marks, then take up...read 2 more, then take up, etc. I do 15ish ft prints all the time, so having it only take up every 15 ft would suck and not work. This way I can hit barcode cut and have it on the take up reel and walk away for an hour or two and come back to it being completely done.

 

[KoorsSigns]

The biggest issue with the FC7000 MK2 that I can see (other than parts availability) is that you need to use cutting master 3 with it. The latest version of Illustrator it supports is CC2017. I just retired my FC7000 (not MK2) for a FC9000 and it is light years ahead of the old one.

 

[MNT_Printhead]

Onyx changed their layout. They said people load from the front... So that's the front of their machine. I've submitted a ticket to have my "feedback reviewed" about how stupid and *** backwards that is.

Onyx will only take up after it's done cutting a set / full length of marks by default. You can turn on intermediate marks, and in cut server under graphtec tell it to read one set of marks, then it'll cut the 12", read the next set of marks, roll up the vinyl, cut the 12 ", read the next set... Roll up, etc... I forget the exact name for it, but iirc there's 3 options... One to read all marks.and then cut, one to just read the 4 corners and then one go read one set of 4 marks at a time.

It's a bit slower this way since it stops to take up each set of marks, but it's also more accurate.

lf you use the barcode server, you don't have to rotate btw - it reads the barcode and direction from onyx.

This is interesting, Onyx told me that it was Graphtec that switched the front/back feed direction. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge with me, hopefully I will have some time to tinker with the 9000 in about a month and get it sorted out. I do really like this Graphtec after working with an old Summa the last 3 years - being able to cut from Ai is the tits.

 

[Eforcer]

I currently have a 40" Roland but have been desperately needing a bigger plotter for a while now. With that being said a 54" graphtec FC-7000 MK2-130 just appeared for sale in my area and i'm thinking about pulling the trigger. New to them so was wondering if there are any major differences in the older model FC7000 compared to say the FC8600? Is contour cutting about the same or have they made huge advancements between the 7000 and 8600? Any input would be greatly appreciated! I'm mainly needing for contour cutting printed decals.

I have an FC7000MK-2-75 that is ready to retire. Great for 30" but I want to go up to 54" also. I noticed there is no mention of Summas. Any reason why?

 

[pjfmeister]

yes...sorry - it is cat5 not wifi...no take up real...and we had a main board go out on ours also. I replaced it myself. Wasn't difficult and they provided very specific instructions.

 

[ikarasu]

This is interesting, Onyx told me that it was Graphtec that switched the front/back feed direction. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge with me, hopefully I will have some time to tinker with the 9000 in about a month and get it sorted out. I do really like this Graphtec after working with an old Summa the last 3 years - being able to cut from Ai is the tits.

Onyx told me "the vast majority of users sheet cut and notnroll cut, so the need for the direction change was there"

If you look at cutting master 4.. the arrows are pointing the right way. Cm4 isngraphtecs own software... So if graphtec changed it, it'd be backwards in cm4 as well.

I'm still firm in believing it's a bug, and the techs we get to talk to just think it's supposed to be that way and don't pass it on. The tech I talked to argued with me that it's always been this way... So I hooked up my 8600, printed some triangles and showed him it was reverse from how it always isand how you.load the roll from the back, so why presume people areml loading from the front when it's impossible to do .. that's when I got the everyone sheet feeds reply... Which is dumb. We're not Cricut users, people buy a graphtec to do rolls of cuts... Not sheets, but I have up after that reply.

 

[MNT_Printhead]

Onyx told me "the vast majority of users sheet cut and notnroll cut, so the need for the direction change was there"

If you look at cutting master 4.. the arrows are pointing the right way. Cm4 isngraphtecs own software... So if graphtec changed it, it'd be backwards in cm4 as well.

I'm still firm in believing it's a bug, and the techs we get to talk to just think it's supposed to be that way and don't pass it on. The tech I talked to argued with me that it's always been this way... So I hooked up my 8600, printed some triangles and showed him it was reverse from how it always isand how you.load the roll from the back, so why presume people areml loading from the front when it's impossible to do .. that's when I got the everyone sheet feeds reply... Which is dumb. We're not Cricut users, people buy a graphtec to do rolls of cuts... Not sheets, but I have up after that reply.

What kills me the plotter has a take up to do roll to roll and the numb nuts at Onyx think I I am going to load a full roll from the front. Great point about cutting master.

 

[zillion29]

Onyx told me "the vast majority of users sheet cut and notnroll cut, so the need for the direction change was there"

If you look at cutting master 4.. the arrows are pointing the right way. Cm4 isngraphtecs own software... So if graphtec changed it, it'd be backwards in cm4 as well.

I'm still firm in believing it's a bug, and the techs we get to talk to just think it's supposed to be that way and don't pass it on. The tech I talked to argued with me that it's always been this way... So I hooked up my 8600, printed some triangles and showed him it was reverse from how it always isand how you.load the roll from the back, so why presume people areml loading from the front when it's impossible to do .. that's when I got the everyone sheet feeds reply... Which is dumb. We're not Cricut users, people buy a graphtec to do rolls of cuts... Not sheets, but I have up after that reply.

OMG . . . the line "we're not Cricut users" should be enshrined somewhere!