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Thinking about getting back into the trade, sort of

I

Isaac-1

New Member
I owned and operated a vinyl sign and t-shirt screen printing / copy shop back in the 90's - early 2000's, I have been away from the trade for close to 15 years now and sort of miss it. So I am considering getting a vinyl cutter / maybe printer too so I can do odd jobs in my spare time, personal stuff, etc. My problem is I have lost track of the trade, knowing what is good, and bad, which brands have gone away, which used equipment is now unsupported, etc. This is where I hope to get some help from you.

I am hoping to find a good used vinyl cutter / perhaps with print capacity that I can setup at home, I need something relatively small as my wife does not want some "giant piece of equipment" in the house, say a 24 inch cutter on a stand as max size, a table top machine might be even better for the purpose of domestic bliss although I would prefer one on a stand with vinyl rollers. Whatever I get should support design from CorelDraw, speed is not important to me, printing would be nice, but I suspect most of what I will do will be traditional vinyl cutting. If it does printing it would need to handle outdoor exposure (vehicle lettering, boat graphics, etc.)

I have been considering the older Roland ColorCAMM machines (my first vinyl cutter was an 18 inch Roland PNC-1000, my last was a Mutoh SC-650), but I worry about availability on supplies, print cartridges, heads etc. I don't want one of the little 12 inch toy cutters,I would say 15 inch bare minimum, but would prefer 20-24 inch.

Now you know where I am coming from, what are your suggestions (as to budget it depends, if it is vinyl cutting only probably $500 or so, if printing a bit more, maybe $1,000 )
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
I owned and operated a vinyl sign and t-shirt screen printing / copy shop back in the 90's - early 2000's, I have been away from the trade for close to 15 years now and sort of miss it. So I am considering getting a vinyl cutter / maybe printer too so I can do odd jobs in my spare time, personal stuff, etc. My problem is I have lost track of the trade, knowing what is good, and bad, which brands have gone away, which used equipment is now unsupported, etc. This is where I hope to get some help from you.

I am hoping to find a good used vinyl cutter / perhaps with print capacity that I can setup at home, I need something relatively small as my wife does not want some "giant piece of equipment" in the house, say a 24 inch cutter on a stand as max size, a table top machine might be even better for the purpose of domestic bliss although I would prefer one on a stand with vinyl rollers. Whatever I get should support design from CorelDraw, speed is not important to me, printing would be nice, but I suspect most of what I will do will be traditional vinyl cutting. If it does printing it would need to handle outdoor exposure (vehicle lettering, boat graphics, etc.)

I have been considering the older Roland ColorCAMM machines (my first vinyl cutter was an 18 inch Roland PNC-1000, my last was a Mutoh SC-650), but I worry about availability on supplies, print cartridges, heads etc. I don't want one of the little 12 inch toy cutters,I would say 15 inch bare minimum, but would prefer 20-24 inc Now you know where I am coming from, what are your suggestions (as to budget it depends, if it is vinyl cutting only probably $500 or so, if printing a bit more, maybe $1,000





Wow, you have been away for a while.
 
J Hill Designs

J Hill Designs

New Member
you dont want printing if you will be doing it 'on the side' - maintenance would kill you

Im sure you could find a used off-brand cutter for 500 tho, would need to get something that could be run from a bridge program (cocut etc) if you want it all done from inside corel.
 
I

Isaac-1

New Member
Co-Cut would be fine with me, I used it back in the 90's with my first vinyl cutter. Overall how are the off brand made in China cutters, they were not commonly on the market when I left the trade. I see some of these listed on ebay for under $500 new, and around $300 used.
 
Kottwitz-Graphics

Kottwitz-Graphics

New Member
Isaac-1 said:
Co-Cut would be fine with me, I used it back in the 90's with my first vinyl cutter. Overall how are the off brand made in China cutters, they were not commonly on the market when I left the trade. I see some of these listed on ebay for under $500 new, and around $300 used.
Click to expand...

I'm sure that they make phenomenal boat anchors. To cut vinyl, not so much. They are loud, slow, and not very reliable. They may run fine for a while, but when something breaks, wears out, or what ever, where will you get parts? How accurate will it be?

I have no experience with them personally. I did have a kid show up wanting to sell me an extra plotter, and it was an ebay special, and he wanted more for it than they were going for new....
 
reQ

reQ

New Member
Used GX24 go for around 1000 dollars... way more reliable compare to chinastuff
 
Graphic Destruction

Graphic Destruction

New Member
Kottwitz-Graphics said:
I'm sure that they make phenomenal boat anchors. To cut vinyl, not so much. They are loud, slow, and not very reliable. They may run fine for a while, but when something breaks, wears out, or what ever, where will you get parts? How accurate will it be?

I have no experience with them personally. I did have a kid show up wanting to sell me an extra plotter, and it was an ebay special, and he wanted more for it than they were going for new....
Click to expand...
This is true. Chinese plotters are garbage. Super loud, very inaccurate and more trouble than they are worth if you are trying to run a professional business with them.
 
I

Isaac-1

New Member
Ok, so stay with brand names, any of those to avoid these days, any of the big names go out of business, change owners, etc. in the last 10 years or so?
 
Kottwitz-Graphics

Kottwitz-Graphics

New Member
Isaac-1 said:
Ok, so stay with brand names, any of those to avoid these days, any of the big names go out of business, change owners, etc. in the last 10 years or so?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, you are asking something along the lines of which is better, Ford or Chevy? (And to clear that up, it's Dodge, :ROFLMAO:)

The best thing is to use the search function. This topic is covered at least once a week.... http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?13637-Myths-Magic-Bullets-and-Easy-Buttons
 
I

Isaac-1

New Member
Kottwitz-Graphics You are right, at least when it comes to cars, or course I own a Plum Crazy Purple Dodge Challenger SRT-8, but I was not really asking a Ford vs Chevy question in this case I was wondering if any of the old reputable brands should be avoided due to things like being bought out and existing in name only today with the new buyer trashing the entire inventory of spare parts for the old machines to force upgrades (I have seen this happen more than once in other industries). Also I sort of went down this road with Mutoh when they made Gerber their exclusive north american outlet for a few years, and Gerber would not service Mutoh branded machines even though they were identical except for the label.
 
thewvsignguy

thewvsignguy

New Member
Don't wast your time or money on one of the cheap china cutters. Buy a servo driven (NOT stepper motors) plotter and you will be much happier.

We have been very happy with our GCC 24" Jaguar and our Q54 (re-branded GRAPHTEC)
 
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