More automated & faster cutting

[kwwong]

Hi All,

This is my 1st post here.
I've got a small signs & labels company. Currently I am using HP Latex Printer to print on adhesive vinyl, and if customers require the signs to be made with hard substrates, then I would paste the printed adhesive vinyl on a hard substrates such as 1.0mm HIPS, 2.0mm Arylic, or 3.0mm Aluminium Composite Board.

However, due to I cut the plastic sheets manually by hand, it's a rather time consuming process and the end result is not always good.

Therefore I am currently looking for a more automated & faster way (i.e. machine) to cut those plastic sheets.
I buy the plastic sheets (HIPS, Acrylic, ACP, etc.) in the size of 4ft x 6ft, and I need to cut them into small pieces, with size ranging from 100x100mm, 200x200mm, 400x600mm, etc.

I've done some research online and found that either a XY Flatbed Cutter, or a CNC Router would be good for my requirement. My budget would be around US$15,000 or less.

However, there seems to be very few makers for the XY Flatbed Cutter, and the few prices that I've received (e.g. Gerber, Zund) are way out of my budget. On the other hand, I found that there are many CNC Router suppliers, and the price can differ by a lot, ranging from US$4,000+ (Chinese supplier) up to US$80,000+ (Thermwood, USA).


I would greatly appreciate if any of you can advise me on the type of machine that I should buy. What are the things to look for, the specification that's essential, etc.

Thank you.

 

[jtinker]

There are members here that have built their own custom built CNC router machines. I know there are kits online for them that are around 4-10k depending on all the bells and whistles. Maybe you could try asking someone that has done that. here is a kit site, havent tried them but they have more info there if youre interested in that sort of thing

https://buildyourcnc.com/default.aspx/
https://www.inventables.com/technologies/x-carve

 

[SignProPlus-Alex]

If you are looking for comerrtial print and contour cut solution it is more than 15K . AXYZ, Vision, Multicam has one. Adding crop mark recognition cost about $7k on top of the price of the cnc.
I do custom cut ACM with my cnc router. You just print crop marks and align cnc tool path to your print.

 

[kwwong]

Hi Alex

Is Vision machine good & reliable? I visited their website and found that it seems to be targeting more on the sign making industry, which might suit me better.

If you are looking for comerrtial print and contour cut solution it is more than 15K . AXYZ, Vision, Multicam has one. Adding crop mark recognition cost about $7k on top of the price of the cnc.
I do custom cut ACM with my cnc router. You just print crop marks and align cnc tool path to your print.

 

[SignProPlus-Alex]

I don't have any experience with Vision CNC.

 

[kwwong]

Hi Ale,

What brand of CNC router do you use for the custom cut?
Does it come with a vision (camera) system?

If you are looking for comerrtial print and contour cut solution it is more than 15K . AXYZ, Vision, Multicam has one. Adding crop mark recognition cost about $7k on top of the price of the cnc.
I do custom cut ACM with my cnc router. You just print crop marks and align cnc tool path to your print.

 

[Ditchmiester]

We've been looking at a vision router also and have had samples cut and they seem really good but we have been burned by cheap routers with a promised vision system. This was in the 40K range. The biggest part of what you are going to be trying to do is the software that runs the vision system. Make sure you test the crap out of that because a router will be able to cut your materials no problem but the software could turn it into a huge headache like it was for us. We ended up selling the machine Luckily we were able to about break even on the deal.