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Need Advice

Bassbum2

Bassbum2

New Member
I currently only do embroidery and heat transfers, I have had some customers ask about doing tackle twill and some about doing simple vinyl stickers and lettering, would the Roland GX-24 be a good machine for what I would need it to do? I don't really want to be a full blown sign shop, I just want to do enough to stay busy when the embroidery is slow and to be able to cut my own twill.

Thanks for any advice in advance
Russell
 
Joseph Dunkle

Joseph Dunkle

New Member
I'm not sure what tackle twill is but after some googling I am assuming it is a fabric? I don't belive, without knowing much about it, that you would have any luck cutting it with a vinyl plotter.

My mother owns an embroidery shop and she also does signs on the side(she is changing the name to Sign Here, which is my company so I can say "nation wide") and she makes out pretty good doing the two.

Roland is a great machine, Do a little searching on the forum about the roland.

What kind of software do you currently have? Do you have any experience with vinyl? What kind of space can you dedicate to signs? Have you visited a sign shop in your town? Tell them you are opening a sign shop and would like to have a working realation ship. Also call your disributors and ask them for samples. Fellers is great and is nation wide.

You have come upon a great site here, lots of knowledge, I learn every day, and stop by the new member thread and introduce your self.
 
Bassbum2

Bassbum2

New Member
Tackle twill is a fabric, it is used mostly for sports uniforms for crests, team names and numbers. I talked to customer sevice at Roland and they tell me the GX-24 will cut twill if it has a backing on it. On an embroidery e-mail list I belong to, I asked if the GX-24 would cut twill and was told no by people that hace Ioline cutters and have no experience with a Roland so I figured this might be a better place to get some answer. I am going to order some twill tomorrow and see if I can get the local dealer to do a demo for me.

Thanks again
Russell
 
P

Pro Signs & Graphix

New Member
Russell,

The GX-24 is a good machine, but yet an entry level machine. The Ioline users that you make reference to are probably using the older "Classic" models - which were excellent workhorses.

To cut the fabric materials that you are looking for, you should be looking at machines that have 500 grams of force. The GX-24 only has 250.

For the sake of not getting into brand wars, feel free to PM or email for machines that are capable of what you want.
 
gerald

gerald

New Member
Tackle twill is best done with a laser. It cuts a perfect edge and seals the the fabric to keep it from raveling.
 
Bassbum2

Bassbum2

New Member
I think the laser would be out of my price range, I would also like to get something that can do both twill and vinyl, I work out of my house so space is limited.

Russell
 
Joseph Dunkle

Joseph Dunkle

New Member
How do you cut your twill now? I had a crazu idea, plotters come with a pen and you can load the twill, do an outlinewith the pen and cut it by hand
 
Bassbum2

Bassbum2

New Member
Joseph Dunkle said:
How do you cut your twill now? I had a crazu idea, plotters come with a pen and you can load the twill, do an outlinewith the pen and cut it by hand
Click to expand...

What I do now is use the placement outlone from the embroidery design to stitch out the cut line then cut by hand but that is very time consuming, or order pre cut pieces from a place like Stahls, the problem I have with ordering from a place like Stahls is I have to order extra pieces in case of mistakes that I may never use again.

Russell
 
gerald

gerald

New Member
A plotter cutter will only cut things that have a fairly heavy backing on them to hold it together once cut. I think some of the twill has a tape backing. But, the thickness of the twill would make it hard to cut all the way through without cutting the backing.

The idea about the pen instead of the blade sounds like a good option. Time consuming but it would be exact.
 
Jackpine

Jackpine

New Member
Welcome to the group.....The GX-24 is a good machine and so are the Graphtec cutters. Graphtech CE3000Mk2 has more down force than a GX-24....but both are entery level. Something cheaper may be a mistake. Buy good equipment and software
 
S

SignPainter

New Member
My Ioline 24" has 400G downforce.It would probably do what you need.Summa has 500G downforce I think.Both excellent plotters and expensive....8( But then again you don't have to do a whole lot of signs to pay for a $3000 to $6000 plotter...8)
 
3

3CGraphics

New Member
as mentioned - you have to seal the edges unless you kiss cut it with a laser - I spoke to several twill MFG at one of the ISS shows and asked about the Roland - they said it would work but not the best and not recomended - in foact no roll cutter was recomended, they did not say they would not work, just that a flat bed is better and Laser is recomended
 
J

JERHEMI

New Member
I started out with an Ioline Smarttrac 24" about 6 years ago and its still gets used everyday! Never had a problem with it and it is a workhorse! Its paid for itself over and over!
 
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