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New Guy Print/cut machine for heavy wraps

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HighlandSigns

New Member
Hello everyone I'm totally green to the printing side of the sign business. I've been running a small cut-vinyl sign business since 1995. We're in a small isolated community with limited room for expansion, so I've resisted my thoughts of buying a printer and have stuck with cut vinyl, but I think the time has come. I've looked at the HP latex machines (the 115 I'm on a budget), on sale at Grimco until May 1st. Then I was able to get a similar deal on a factory reconditioned VP540i. The place I'd buy the Roland has better support, and the program is a more familiar environment to the Signlab cutting program we've been using for 20+ years. I'm thinking to go with the Roland.

My question is about wraps. I've been reading here and I know it's been tossed about in other threads but many of them are 10+ years old, and may not be relevant anymore. Snowmobile wraps would be an easy and significant place for me to expand, as I have an extremely large circle of snowmobile friends. I want to produce nice heavy thick wraps like sledwraps.com. Can I cut that thick stuff with a VP540i, and a Rite-media 55" cold laminator?

Thanks!
 
Malkin

Malkin

New Member
I have had marginal success using our VP540 to cut motocross graphics that were 12 mil lam and 4 (or 6?) mil vinyl. I would use a fresh 60 deg. blade from Clean Cut, and the pressure was near to or at the top limit. After 2-3 kits the knife would become too dull. And sometimes the results were less than perfect or predictable.

I don't know how tough sled wrap graphics are supposed to be, but if they are likely to be easier or harder compared to what I described, then you have your answer.
 
J

Jburns

New Member
I would use or buy a dedicated Professional cutter for those Thick MX and Snowmobile graphics. i.e. Summa would be my first choice.
 
H

HighlandSigns

New Member
Jburns said:
I would use or buy a dedicated Professional cutter for those Thick MX and Snowmobile graphics. i.e. Summa would be my first choice.
Click to expand...
A dedicated machine for 20 sled wraps a year isn't something I'd consider at all. I'm willing to invest 15,000 Canadian dollars for print/cut/laminate setup. Just looking to find out if these machines can cut the vinyl and 10mil laminate, or if one does it better than the other. Thanks
 
S

SlikGRFX

New Member
I agree. A Roland with the heaters on will soften the vinyl so it can be cut just fine with the right blade. You don't need a dedicated cutter, especially for those quantities.

Some people even struggle to cut thick material on a Summa S Class for various reasons. Big pressures aren't everything. It's all about the blade.
 
J

Jburns

New Member
It may be possible to cut on a print and cut machine. Don’t forget the thickness of convex or substance vinyl - they are made for high energy plastics- about 4-6 mil - so you are at 16mil.

And at full width this can be heavy after a few panels -for accuracy I would setup a feed table
 
H

HighlandSigns

New Member
Yeah that's my concern, but a feed table isn't a big problem for me to fabricate. I know just from running heavy reflective on a small Roland plotter that this can be a big problem, we've always had to follow the blade with our fingers to prevent the blade from scratching the vinyl.

There's always the HP latex option, but the cutter that comes with the 115 only has 3 pinch rollers over 54 inches. However someone said this a actually a Summa cutter and there are additional rollers in the back to keep the material flat, the front ones are only to move the material.
 
A

AKwrapguy

New Member
HighlandSigns said:
Hello everyone I'm totally green to the printing side of the sign business. I've been running a small cut-vinyl sign business since 1995. We're in a small isolated community with limited room for expansion, so I've resisted my thoughts of buying a printer and have stuck with cut vinyl, but I think the time has come. I've looked at the HP latex machines (the 115 I'm on a budget), on sale at Grimco until May 1st. Then I was able to get a similar deal on a factory reconditioned VP540i. The place I'd buy the Roland has better support, and the program is a more familiar environment to the Signlab cutting program we've been using for 20+ years. I'm thinking to go with the Roland.

My question is about wraps. I've been reading here and I know it's been tossed about in other threads but many of them are 10+ years old, and may not be relevant anymore. Snowmobile wraps would be an easy and significant place for me to expand, as I have an extremely large circle of snowmobile friends. I want to produce nice heavy thick wraps like sledwraps.com. Can I cut that thick stuff with a VP540i, and a Rite-media 55" cold laminator?

Thanks!
Click to expand...


So from someone who makes a lot of snowmachine wraps, the convex material is not what I would go with. I do all my wraps with 3m IJ180cv3 and haven't had any issues (guys run the Iron Dog with them) It easier to apply, easy to remove and much easier on the plotter.

Also go with latex for the printer. No fumes, no waiting for it to gass off, no having to keep the printer on all the time.
 
T

Tattoosleeve

New Member
We use Motowrap line of vinyl from Convex for sled wraps . It's rated to lower subzero temperatures than the normal Convex material that we use for MX/ATV/SXS. 7mil proshield laminate on the sleds for a finished thickness of 11.4mil. We are using the Graphtec FC8600 for cutting. We had a feed table set up for a bit which helped but then the tech suggested that we order more pinch rollers to see if that helped with the movement when the feed tables weren't there. Purchased 2 more rollers (total of 5) and now we can run kits up to about 75"long on 54" media without any movement on the cuts.

Another consideration for two machines is workflow. If your printer is cutting it can't be printing.

Also, if you're looking at expanding into sled wraps we sell premium templates for most current makes and models. It's easily the biggest bottleneck for putting out quality wraps and there are lots of garbage templates out there. www.thedecalden.com. Let me know if you have any additional questions.
 
H

HighlandSigns

New Member
Thanks for the info, that's more of the kind of firsthand info I was looking for. The HP115 cutter has no option to add rollers at all. Upgrading to a Graphtec is an extra $3000+, and then there's extra software that's over $1000. All a bit much for my mom and pop operation.

Workflow isn't an issue, we are a one-horse town husband and wife sign business so I don't think we can't handle the laminate/premask any faster than the machine can spit out anyways.

It looks like I'm going to go with a used VS-540i. It should be able to do everything I need to do, cost 2/3 or 1/2 as much, and I know I'll have good tech support.

Thanks
 
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