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Thoughts On Summa D75r

The brown truck dropped off my new to me Summa D75R today. I bought it from a Signs101 member, he was great to work with and shipped it quickly. UPS was not kind to this thing, the box looked like it had been ran over by a bulldozer, but luckily there was very little damage to the cutter, all cosmetic. I had it put together and running in no time, and the first test cuts on plain vinyl looked great. So I printed a 5' long reflective striping job on 30" 680CR, laminated it and loaded it up in the Summa. Wow... this thing is amazing. It found all of the registration marks on the first try, and then cut everything including some small 5/8" stripes dead on. I'm talking absolutely perfect... not even 1/64 off. I couldn't believe it. After struggling with my old Mutoh and then a newer Graphtec, I am so happy to finally be able to load printed reflective into a cutter and walk away without worrying about how bad it's going to screw it up. I just thought I would post about my experience so far in case anyone is out there looking into buying a new cutter, people are quick to post about bad experiences but not so quick to share good stories. Oh and Phil at Summa is also a top notch guy, I had originally planned on buying a new one until I found this used one, he emailed me back quickly and has been very helpful. I'll update everyone once I put some miles on this thing, but so far it's looking like I'm going to be a Summa fan for life.
 

TDFcustomSL

New Member
I bought a s2 t series from Phil and agree that he was very helpful and quick to reply. Also, I know exactly how you feel about the contour cutting. I was terrified to drop the money on a new cutter but was tired of fighting the old graphtec. After the first 2 contour cuts being dead on it was a huge sigh of relief. Highly recommend a Summa to anyone in the market for a new machine. They are expensive but with all the "off" cuts I had with the graphtec over the 4 years I had it, and all the re dos I feel the Summa was a smart move.
 
I know there are a lot of Graphtec fans out there, which is why I bought the one I have. On plain non reflective vinyl, it usually does ok. But on reflective... it's a complete nightmare. Sometimes it reads all the marks fine and then proceeds to screw up the cut, and sometimes it won't even read the marks. Considering 90% of what runs through my printer and cutter is reflective, it has been a headache to say the least. I'll fully admit that I may not have it set up 100% how it should be, mostly because that thing is way too complicated to get going. But thankfully that's one headache I'm done with now, the Summa has been chugging away today turning out some beautiful cuts!
 

GaSouthpaw

Profane and profane accessories.
Looking at the prices on their website, the Summas don't really seem terribly expensive, especially if you're happy with it and it works well.
 

Tizz

New Member
Thanks for the share. I definitely have one on my wish list. Reading about positive experiences greatly inspires!
 

Bly

New Member
BTW any Aussies wanting a good used Summa we are selling our D160R.
We have an S2 now so the D is surplus to our needs.
There's an ad in the next Wide Format Online magazine.
 

decalman

New Member
The brown truck dropped off my new to me Summa D75R today. I bought it from a Signs101 member, he was great to work with and shipped it quickly. UPS was not kind to this thing, the box looked like it had been ran over by a bulldozer, but luckily there was very little damage to the cutter, all cosmetic. I had it put together and running in no time, and the first test cuts on plain vinyl looked great. So I printed a 5' long reflective striping job on 30" 680CR, laminated it and loaded it up in the Summa. Wow... this thing is amazing. It found all of the registration marks on the first try, and then cut everything including some small 5/8" stripes dead on. I'm talking absolutely perfect... not even 1/64 off. I couldn't believe it. After struggling with my old Mutoh and then a newer Graphtec, I am so happy to finally be able to load printed reflective into a cutter and walk away without worrying about how bad it's going to screw it up. I just thought I would post about my experience so far in case anyone is out there looking into buying a new cutter, people are quick to post about bad experiences but not so quick to share good stories. Oh and Phil at Summa is also a top notch guy, I had originally planned on buying a new one until I found this used one, he emailed me back quickly and has been very helpful. I'll update everyone once I put some miles on this thing, but so far it's looking like I'm going to be a Summa fan for life.

Yes, I got one too and it's perfect for me.
 

Bly

New Member
BTW any Aussies wanting a good used Summa we are selling our D160R.
We have an S2 now so the D is surplus to our needs.
There's an ad in the next Wide Format Online magazine.

This sold in about 2 days.
 

Suz

New Member
The brown truck dropped off my new to me Summa D75R today. I bought it from a Signs101 member, he was great to work with and shipped it quickly. UPS was not kind to this thing, the box looked like it had been ran over by a bulldozer, but luckily there was very little damage to the cutter, all cosmetic. I had it put together and running in no time, and the first test cuts on plain vinyl looked great. So I printed a 5' long reflective striping job on 30" 680CR, laminated it and loaded it up in the Summa. Wow... this thing is amazing. It found all of the registration marks on the first try, and then cut everything including some small 5/8" stripes dead on. I'm talking absolutely perfect... not even 1/64 off. I couldn't believe it. After struggling with my old Mutoh and then a newer Graphtec, I am so happy to finally be able to load printed reflective into a cutter and walk away without worrying about how bad it's going to screw it up. I just thought I would post about my experience so far in case anyone is out there looking into buying a new cutter, people are quick to post about bad experiences but not so quick to share good stories. Oh and Phil at Summa is also a top notch guy, I had originally planned on buying a new one until I found this used one, he emailed me back quickly and has been very helpful. I'll update everyone once I put some miles on this thing, but so far it's looking like I'm going to be a Summa fan for life.
 

Christian @ 2CT Media

Active Member
We have had our Summa for nearly 3 years... It has been awesome. We have a one quirk that wont go away and no one can figure it out but we have a work around. Now I want to sell my iEcho and get a F Series!
 

Tizz

New Member
We have had our Summa for nearly 3 years... It has been awesome. We have a one quirk that wont go away and no one can figure it out but we have a work around. Now I want to sell my iEcho and get a F Series!

What's the quirk? I'm curious... just in case it happens on my end.
 

Christian @ 2CT Media

Active Member
What's the quirk? I'm curious... just in case it happens on my end.
Any contour cuts over 8' won't always finish the last inch... We have done really long runs though with out the issue. Our work around is to make the intermediate marks shorter so there is less of a chance for dropped data as we think it's a memory issue on the machine.
 
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