So, I Joined the Summa Cult... New Acquisition S120 T Series

[Smoke_Jaguar]

Snagged a nice used cutter and am getting the thing dialed in. Loving the tangential and mostly been problem free. The Cutter Control workflow seemed to take some getting used to, but I am really liking it overall. Documentation is a bit lacking on these, but the standard user manual is pretty thorough overall.

Main issue was the dang noise, was pretty bad. Took off the toolhead cover and it seems the screw pulled out the plastic but that held it against the machine. So, might either go for epoxy if the part is unavailable or obscenely expensive. Getting it tightened down helped quite a bit, so no major complaint now. X/Y is still pretty noisy, so might see if there are things that need tightening. The servos they use look like something out of an alien spaceship, and the mounts have intentional play, so I want to avoid messing with that too much to avoid throwing it out of whack. I did clean the carriage rail, that was pretty funky.

So, blades, I know to avoid the cheapies for tangential. But, has anyone had luck with carbide? Didn't get any spares with the machine, but luckily the current one looks great under the microscope. Though, they can and will break, so will be ordering spares ASAP.

 

[Saturn]

If you can find cheap ones, go for it! That's one area the Summa lags Graphtec—aftermarket blades... If you're happy with 36° or 60° blades, Clean Cut can be a reasonable option.

You might find something on eBay too. Lots of cheap drag knife options, but few tangential.

I like the 45°s for what I cut, and I don't think I've ever seen non-OEM in stock anywhere.

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

Landed this unit for a respectable $2250, so pretty dang happy with my purchase. Just gotta torture the oPos with some holographic media next. Thankfully we UV print, and the black gives amazing contrast because it's quite thick ink.

 

[Saturn]

That's one area the Summa lags Graphtec—aftermarket blades...

I should say, that's just for tangential blades.

100 OEM 45° tangential blades $6,200, plus shipping.
100 China 45° drag blades $115, free shipping.

I've never given the drag option a test.... but after doing the math I might have to.

Yeah, good luck with the Holo! Gives some people a lot of trouble, and others none.

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

Not a great solution, but a decent one.

The tangentials do have a drag blade plate that runs about $40. Might be a worthwhile addition for speed cutting less complex geometries.

 

[CMYKENGINEERING]

Appropos of (almost) nothing, are you a Battletech fan?

 

[S2S]

Got a t160 usb dont need...we needed ethernet..got new one to compensate...

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

This one lacks serial, but USB control is fine in our application. Better than anything we could get new in the same price range.

 

[netsol]

p

Got a t160 usb dont need...we needed ethernet..got new one to compensate...

you confuse me. i am a "retired " network consultant/computer consultant who opened a sign shop as my retirement business.

we have 5000 sq ft of space and about 25 pieces of equipment, printers, plotters, engravers, 3d printers & EVERYTHING is networked. (everything talkd to flexi 19

a $60 netgear usb print server converts your t160 to accepting an ip address i would think.
you might have to insert a legacy "capture command" in a batch file

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

Up to 14 pieces of kit, Mimaki stuff is about half of that and totally random for the rest. Should probably network it all, but mostly USB here. I have yet to find a 'pro' RIP asides from Rasterlink for prints that I can find to be remotely tolerable. For cutting, just using Vinylmaster at the moment, simple, sure, but very fast workflow for me. Might need to up my game, but enjoy not having to mess with Adobe/Flexi/Corel/Onyx or any of that unless absolutely necessary. Heck, most image workflow goes through Paint.net, gotten quite good at making plugins for that. Only downside is finding the HPGL or similar commands for switching between standard and flex cuts. With Graphtec cutters, I would just use a force change for perf and generate the perf lines in software. Flexcuts on their own are pretty good, but are less than ideal for really fine details.

Been using the cutter a lot this weekend, playing with random, ever more complicated cutting and the tangential knife is great. Probably better using a drag knife for some stuff, but planning on snagging one of the drag holders for just that. Even had good luck at the 600-1000 speeds, but using those with caution until more blades arrive.

 

[SightLine]

There are not many aftermarket blades for the T Summa's. The few that I've tried over the past 15 years have never lasted as long as the genuine Summa ones.... Your mileage may vary though. The Summa blades are expensive but for us, no others have lasted as long. I did just look and yeah, ouch a 5 pack of the 36 degree ones are now $250... The last 5 pack I ordered was in 2019 and it was $200 then. On the 3rd one from that last pack though and we cut a LOT of reflective (mostly laminated 3M 680). We also pretty much just use the 36 degree ones for everything without issue.

 

[Smoke_Jaguar]

Digiprint lists some carbide tangential blades that might be worth a try. Main issue is chipping, as we have someone who can sharpen tiny blades nearby. For a $5 hit on the whetstone and a couple minutes wait, great for a $50 blade. Can't do much if the blade cracks or chips, but good for squeezing more life out of the things. Thankfully the crosscut blades are a spectacular deal. $0.45-$1.50 each and you get 4 edges to play with.

Also learned my 36 degree blade has a 60 degree nosepiece installed. No other parts came with the cutter, so got to order the proper nose, a drag nose, a drag holder, blade install tool and of course tangential and drag blades. Does Summa have service manuals for these things, or they jerks like everyone else about restricting useful data on their machines?

Just looked up Clean Cut Blades after seeing them get lots of mentions. Looks like they have tangential blades. Not crazy cheap, but well under half an OEM. $22.50 for both 60 and 36 degree blades, not a bad deal.