Looking for Plotter Advice

[ubman98]

Hello,

I am completely new to the vinyl business, I have been working in the design and marketing field for over 10 years and looking to expand my services. I have very low startup capital right now so looking for a plotter that is priced $1000 or less that is, well not a complete piece of crap. From my research I have seen a lot of pros seem to go toward the Rolands but of course you want quality like that you have to pay for it. Does anyone have any suggestions on a value brand plotter that while it may not be the quietest or most efficient it will deliver a product that is sustainable until I can afford to upgrade to a better machine. I see a lot of these plotters on Ebay from US Cutter and ArtCut and Master. I have seen a mixed bag of reviews about these cost cutting plotters. If anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Techman]

there are plenty of used name brand cutters all over the place for cheap.
I just gave away a great cutter. It was worth more as a gift than it was for selling it.

 

[tomence]

I just sold my 24" Graphtec CE5000 cutter for a thousand. I loved this little cutter and comparing to the Roland in that price range i think the Graphtec is way better. I've seen both in action and the Graphtec was cutting way smaller sized curvy objects better than the Roland.

 

[7oaks]

I bought a graphtec ce 5000 from Ordray and am very satisfied with it.
Wish I had bought it sooner.

Ken

 

[CS-SignSupply]

I stock the Graphtec CE5000-60 and have good feedback from current and past customers about it.

Feel free to call me with any questions you might have.

 

[royster13]

Well I know the "pros" will have a different opinion, however, I got an Expert 24 from mike@imprintables .com for U$390.00 and love it....Included shipping, 10 yards of sign vinyl, 10 yards of heat transfer vinyl and a weeder....

I was cutting in 15 minutes from Illustrator CS3 (via Great Cut software) and it paid for itself in a few jobs....If you sign in here: http://www.stahls.com/cutter-training Stahls has videos on a number of plotters including the Expert 24....

 

[marcsitkin]

I just picked up a Mimaki CG60-ST, which is a small, very basic cutter. It came with a computer (old, no monitor but working), 16 rolls of vinyl and 4 rolls of mask for $400 off craigslist. It's working well, and I'll have it paid off in a week with new work. First cutter I've owned, been printing 25 years. Looking to get a 54" contour cutting machine by years end.