I'd really appreciate hearing about your thoughts on a VE plotter. I've really been struggling with what to buy and budget is definitely a consideration. I'll do cut vinyl and contour cutting after printing on my flatbed. Thanks
The current Q series, that matches the current Graphtec FC8600 series, is pretty good. I have no complaints about it. Out of the type of "intermediate" line of drag knife plotters, I'd say it was king. We've used VE cutters exclusively since our first Gerber from the early 90s. No other reason than that they work and don't cost as much. We've had the Q30 since 2013 and the Q64 since 2015. Our Q30 doesn't have ARMS because the owner didn't know about it and it was turning into a pain to get the module to install it. That's why I said to make sure it comes with it. Like triple check. The Q64 has it and we typically do 8ft to 10ft runs when contour cutting. It is possible to do longer and I've done up to about 25ft. I see no reason to risk loosing 20ft of material if something messes up 5ft into the roll.
I seriously don't have any complaints about the machines. If I was doing a lot more pop out stickers, then I'd probably get a different machine. I have no issue changing the tool position to switch to perf cut, but I'm just not convinced the drag knife is the best for doing those. However, we knock out square and circle cut decals no problem. It's main purpose is contour cut vehicle graphics and 48in Cast and Calendar cut vinyl.
Accuracy with the ARMS has been well within general use requirements. I wouldn't go so far to say it was spot on, but it appear that it is. When we do perf cut 18x24 graphics to apply to perf cut coroplast, it's almost always a perfect match. So there's that.
The biggest issue with the Vinyl Express machines is Sign Warehouse itself. If you're comfortable with doing tech support stuff yourself, then you'll be fine. If you need to call in for help, I'd find a different machine. We haven't had any issues with our current machines, but have had issues with other products sold by them and were pretty unhappy with the results. Our last machine didn't have issues until about year 10 or 12. We quickly realized we'd need to fix it our selves. It ran another 4 years after that.
This is probably a bit scattered, but I've been running back and forth all morning so I may come back and edit this later. Gotta get back to work!
