Hi everyone, I'm really, really new here...
I've got a question that's sort of unique. See, I want advice on whether I can get by with a cheap vinyl cutter, but my circumstances are different than most.
I work with a friend here in Chicago who's been doing vinyl installation for 20 years, 10 of of those years after quitting his job at a sign company where he only installed (and, of course, weeded!). I've been helping him recently on a part-time basis when he needs the help. He has 3 clients who provide the bulk of his work, all temporary installations (less than 6 months), nearly all text, nearly all interior, and generally just in black, white, and grey(s) Oracal.
He's not good at all with computers and has had a local shop do the vinyl work and deliver it. Overall it works, but there are still significant problems. Some are the fault of the company cutting the vinyl (often cut way too deep, sometimes seemingly weeded by trained monkeys etc.) and some of the problems are brought about by the clients, i.e. a public event is on a Friday and they make significant changes to the text the day before.
So, I want to step in and take over about 20% of the business we farm out and take it in-house. I don't have any interest in taking the other 80% of the work from the guys we're using, just the last-minute stuff they can't provide in time, last minute fixing of errors, and a few other misc. things. These days, you can lose a client in a heartbeat.
In short, I don't want a career, just an insurance policy that pays it's own premiums.
So, on a REAL shoestring budget ( I won't even go into why), I need a plotter that can do straight text, including pretty small letters at times, reliably. I mean reliably in a different way, though. See, if the cutter broke down and was offline for a few weeks, no problem, we'd just send the vinyl job out as we do now. And if the machine blew up after a year... it would be sad, but no big deal as I wouldn't be depending on it to keep a roof over my head. What I need is good performance on text, both medium and small. As soon as I could afford a modest Graphtec or Roland I'd get one and put this starter plotter I'm researching right into the closet for emergencies.
Now I've done a lot of searching on this amazing forum, but I can't quite get a handle on the state of the technology as it applies to my needs. I mean, do all the modern machines do medium and small text if set up properly? Does the stepper/servo issue apply significantly here? Do I have to obsess about tracking issues when I'm just hoping to run a few 25"x30" panels of text at a time on a 30" machine?
I'm hoping I'm the ideal customer for one of the less-expensive plotters, because I think I'd rather buy something new than risk buying a used one off craigslist or ebay. I don't have enough knowledge or experience to judge a used machine at this point.
So, to summarize:
What cheap Chinese plotter (if any) will cut small text well....and not burst into flames in the first 6 months?
Also, I am a quick learner. and I have a copy of Corel x3.
Thanks for your time. I love this site. I've learned an incredible amount in the 10 hours or so I've spent browsing/searching through it.
I've got a question that's sort of unique. See, I want advice on whether I can get by with a cheap vinyl cutter, but my circumstances are different than most.
I work with a friend here in Chicago who's been doing vinyl installation for 20 years, 10 of of those years after quitting his job at a sign company where he only installed (and, of course, weeded!). I've been helping him recently on a part-time basis when he needs the help. He has 3 clients who provide the bulk of his work, all temporary installations (less than 6 months), nearly all text, nearly all interior, and generally just in black, white, and grey(s) Oracal.
He's not good at all with computers and has had a local shop do the vinyl work and deliver it. Overall it works, but there are still significant problems. Some are the fault of the company cutting the vinyl (often cut way too deep, sometimes seemingly weeded by trained monkeys etc.) and some of the problems are brought about by the clients, i.e. a public event is on a Friday and they make significant changes to the text the day before.
So, I want to step in and take over about 20% of the business we farm out and take it in-house. I don't have any interest in taking the other 80% of the work from the guys we're using, just the last-minute stuff they can't provide in time, last minute fixing of errors, and a few other misc. things. These days, you can lose a client in a heartbeat.
In short, I don't want a career, just an insurance policy that pays it's own premiums.
So, on a REAL shoestring budget ( I won't even go into why), I need a plotter that can do straight text, including pretty small letters at times, reliably. I mean reliably in a different way, though. See, if the cutter broke down and was offline for a few weeks, no problem, we'd just send the vinyl job out as we do now. And if the machine blew up after a year... it would be sad, but no big deal as I wouldn't be depending on it to keep a roof over my head. What I need is good performance on text, both medium and small. As soon as I could afford a modest Graphtec or Roland I'd get one and put this starter plotter I'm researching right into the closet for emergencies.
Now I've done a lot of searching on this amazing forum, but I can't quite get a handle on the state of the technology as it applies to my needs. I mean, do all the modern machines do medium and small text if set up properly? Does the stepper/servo issue apply significantly here? Do I have to obsess about tracking issues when I'm just hoping to run a few 25"x30" panels of text at a time on a 30" machine?
I'm hoping I'm the ideal customer for one of the less-expensive plotters, because I think I'd rather buy something new than risk buying a used one off craigslist or ebay. I don't have enough knowledge or experience to judge a used machine at this point.
So, to summarize:
What cheap Chinese plotter (if any) will cut small text well....and not burst into flames in the first 6 months?
Also, I am a quick learner. and I have a copy of Corel x3.
Thanks for your time. I love this site. I've learned an incredible amount in the 10 hours or so I've spent browsing/searching through it.
