Graphtec CE6000-60

[mimosatexas]

Pretty close to upgrading to one of these as the amount of vinyl I do has outgrown my little hobby machine.  I know it is a good machine, and I am not looking at other models, but mainly just wanted to know if anyone had any complaints, or any tips/tricks when it comes to getting the most out of the machine.  Anything it can't do that you wish it could?  How good it the tracking on it when doing larger runs?  I do a lot of names and numbers and would love to be able to spit out 20 yards without worrying about tracking etc.

[zanegun08]

We have a Graphtec CE 5000, it works great, can do contour cutting, long cutting as long as you have a heavy roll, load it good, and leave some margin of error on the sides.

But...  I would highly recommend spending a little more to get a Mimaki that can do Half Cut, and Over Cut, so you can cut diecut stickers out.  We would do more stickers if we could do "die cutting" with the plotter.

You can read about it here - http://www.mimakiusa.com/products/cutting-plotters/cg-fxii-series/

Even if you never use it, at least you could say you could do it!

[Denis Kolar]

Had CE5000-60 for about 10 months. Paid itself off in a month with one big order of truck decals.
Can it track, yes, as long as you keep the rollers about 3/8" to a 1/2" away from the edge.

Got rid of mine and went with FC 8600-130 due to the need of cutting bigger signs.
I wish I went with 60" instead of 54".

It is a good little cutter. If you are getting one, stay with Graphtec or Summa.
Summa is expensive, but well worth the money.
If just getting it for heat press vinyl, any cutter will pretty much work.

[mimosatexas]

We have a Graphtec CE 5000, it works great, can do contour cutting, long cutting as long as you have a heavy roll, load it good, and leave some margin of error on the sides.

But...  I would highly recommend spending a little more to get a Mimaki that can do Half Cut, and Over Cut, so you can cut diecut stickers out.  We would do more stickers if we could do "die cutting" with the plotter.

You can read about it here - http://www.mimakiusa.com/products/cutting-plotters/cg-fxii-series/

Even if you never use it, at least you could say you could do it!

interesting.  I would love to get into stickers more, but honestly I have a local source for those that is well priced and quick, so I wouldn't really use that feature enough to justify the cost increase.  Mostly what I want is a machine that will track the vinyl well for longer/large runs.  being able to use 20 and 24 inch rolls is an added bonus, though I would probably still mostly be using the 15 inch stuff.

[eviltig]

I have one and so far I really like it.
Before I have a Roland PC-600 colorcaMM that would print with ribbon cartridges and then cut but it took forever and the ink was expensive.
Roland discontinued the machine and the ink so 3rd party ink vendors started getting hard to find also.

The Graphtec CE6000-60 is cool for cutting contour cuts around stickers but you do have to slice them later which goes pretty fast if you have a 24" or 36" paper slicer you can whip right through it. of course it doesn't print but screen printing stickers is fairly easy and fast.

I have had no real issues to speak of.

The only think I dont like is while the software is awesome and fast to use, I do miss using final cut a little. mainly because I can export things out. The graphtec cut studio thing wont let it out except in its file format. you design it in there and it can only be used in there.
A few times I made some stickers and would have like to export the eps to make some screens for shirts but ended up having to print it right out of the studio onto the transparencies or do all the art work over in adobe. I did screen shot something out of it one time but then had to fix the resolution which ate up time.

other than that it maps images really really good and cuts great.
I would say get the stand with it though. I didnt have a stand for the Roland and it was a pain but I got the stand with the Graphtec and it makes life so much easier

There are some videos of mine cutting some printed sticker on instagram user name hookedgraphics if you wanna check them out. I tried to link them here but can not figure it out lol

[mimosatexas]

When buying one of these used, what would you look out for specifically?  Any tests I should absolutely run to make sure there isn't a glaring issue?

[ericheartsu]

we have an FC8600, and it cuts through backing paper just fine.

What does Kyle at bumperactive use?

[mimosatexas]

I'm not sure.  I'll look next time I'm in there though.

[ixpoz]

I have the Graphtec 6000-120, which is the 48" version and it has been great to work with, with both thermoflex heat transfer material and digitally printed vinyl for decals.  It has the automated eye for contour cutting decals and other printed sign materials.  We've had this model for 3 years and have not been disappointed with the tracking, although we leave plenty of space on the sides to prevent issues.