Vinyl cutter questions

[Prints _charming _111]

I'm trying to buy a vinyl cutter. I've seen a few shops that actually do cut names and the vinyl cutter they have is usually a Roland . Not wanting to spend s much for a name brand cutter , I guess my question is . What would be the difference ,or the down side of buying a cheaper non-name brand cutter?

[royster13]

Never owned a Roland so hard to comment.....I own 2 GCC cutters.....A cheap Expert 24 (stepper motor) and a little better Cut 3000 which is a rebranded GCC Bengal (servo motor)....Cutters with stepper motors tend to be less accurate and noisier.....

Cutters make money....so even a 2,000.00 investment in a Graphtec or Roland will pay off very quickly....A couple local printers do not have cutters and/or heat presses and I often make more money applying names and numbers than they do printing the shirts.....

[Prints _charming _111]

Yea as far as screen printing goes , it's just smart to invest in pressing names and numbers . You can charge more and there's always a demographic to sell to.

[Sbrem]

I like Roland, haven't used any others. Ours is 23 years old, running on a Mac clone using OS9, still cuts every time we use it, and has almost zero maintenance, a couple of cutting strips as they can get cut up, and a ribbon cable inside, 10 minute repairs. It was a great purchase obviously. However, when that Mac clone finally dies, we'll have to get a new one, because there is no way to connect to a newer machine without a lot of headache. We'll go Roland again...

Steve

[Gilligan]

I have a graphtec CE-5000 15" cutter to sell.

It was our first cutter, bought a Roland, the wife HATED it, sold it and bought the 24" Graphtec.

[Frog]

I have a graphtec CE-5000 15" cutter to sell.

It was our first cutter, bought a Roland, the wife HATED it, sold it and bought the 24" Graphtec.

Can you (or Mrs. Gilligan) give some specifics on the reasons for the  Roland-related hate?
btw, I consider the <$1195 I spent on a new CE6000-40 well spent with no regrets.

[BrianHahn]

Consider the Saga servo vinyl cutters with DragonCut software by VinylMaster. We have had good performance from them over the past 5 years.

[TH Apparel]

We never really looked into too many brands...we did get a roland(print and cut) though and love it.

[Frog]

We never really looked into too many brands...we did get a roland(print and cut) though and love it.

Print and Cut is whole 'nuther level!

[Gilligan]

I have a graphtec CE-5000 15" cutter to sell.

It was our first cutter, bought a Roland, the wife HATED it, sold it and bought the 24" Graphtec.

Can you (or Mrs. Gilligan) give some specifics on the reasons for the  Roland-related hate?
btw, I consider the <$1195 I spent on a new CE6000-40 well spent with no regrets.

We are Illustrator users, and we pretty much build everything in Illustrator to be cut if we know it's going that way.  Even if it isn't it's still pretty simple to create cut lines.

Graphtec's plug in just follows the paths from illustrator and cuts them.  Simple as that.  Only thing that will get ya is if you have two lines sitting on each other and don't see it, then you will double cut.

Roland's software was more like "live trace" where it had to detect edges and such with like a threshold type of tool.  More like using photoshop vs vector software.  Extra steps and just didn't really jive with our workflow.

It felt so awkward I swore we had to be doing something wrong, so I started making some phone calls and emails.  Even Josh Ellsworth from Stahls said "Yep, that's how you use it."

The wife said, "I'm not using that, bring back my 15" cutter"... so we did that and sold the Roland so we could buy the larger Graphtec.

[Doug S]

We use the Qvision cutter.  I believe it is a Graphtec knockoff.  We got it with a bundle when we bought our Mutoh Valuejet in 2008.  It's been a workhorse and paid for itself time and time again. 

[mimosatexas]

I have a graphtec CE-5000 15" cutter to sell.

It was our first cutter, bought a Roland, the wife HATED it, sold it and bought the 24" Graphtec.

Can you (or Mrs. Gilligan) give some specifics on the reasons for the  Roland-related hate?
btw, I consider the <$1195 I spent on a new CE6000-40 well spent with no regrets.

We are Illustrator users, and we pretty much build everything in Illustrator to be cut if we know it's going that way.  Even if it isn't it's still pretty simple to create cut lines.

Graphtec's plug in just follows the paths from illustrator and cuts them.  Simple as that.  Only thing that will get ya is if you have two lines sitting on each other and don't see it, then you will double cut.

Roland's software was more like "live trace" where it had to detect edges and such with like a threshold type of tool.  More like using photoshop vs vector software.  Extra steps and just didn't really jive with our workflow.

It felt so awkward I swore we had to be doing something wrong, so I started making some phone calls and emails.  Even Josh Ellsworth from Stahls said "Yep, that's how you use it."

The wife said, "I'm not using that, bring back my 15" cutter"... so we did that and sold the Roland so we could buy the larger Graphtec.

So much this!  I use Roland and a Graphtec frequently (2 locations, 2 cutters)  The Graphtec works intuitively, from the plugin for illustrator, to how it prioritizes its cuts on the vinyl.  Everything about using it is excellent.  The Roland is ass backwards in so many ways.  The software is garbage.  Their plugin for illustrator is garbage.  The way it prioritizes cuts is garbage.  Both brands are made well, work well, and will make you money, but basically using them side by side I am constantly shaking my head at how annoying using the Roland is in comparison to the Graphtec.

[Maxie]

I have run a Graphtec through Corel for a few years without any problems.
Get the right film, I tested Stahls films lately and got great results.

[Gilligan]

I have a graphtec CE-5000 15" cutter to sell.

It was our first cutter, bought a Roland, the wife HATED it, sold it and bought the 24" Graphtec.

Can you (or Mrs. Gilligan) give some specifics on the reasons for the  Roland-related hate?
btw, I consider the <$1195 I spent on a new CE6000-40 well spent with no regrets.

We are Illustrator users, and we pretty much build everything in Illustrator to be cut if we know it's going that way.  Even if it isn't it's still pretty simple to create cut lines.

Graphtec's plug in just follows the paths from illustrator and cuts them.  Simple as that.  Only thing that will get ya is if you have two lines sitting on each other and don't see it, then you will double cut.

Roland's software was more like "live trace" where it had to detect edges and such with like a threshold type of tool.  More like using photoshop vs vector software.  Extra steps and just didn't really jive with our workflow.

It felt so awkward I swore we had to be doing something wrong, so I started making some phone calls and emails.  Even Josh Ellsworth from Stahls said "Yep, that's how you use it."

The wife said, "I'm not using that, bring back my 15" cutter"... so we did that and sold the Roland so we could buy the larger Graphtec.

So much this!  I use Roland and a Graphtec frequently (2 locations, 2 cutters)  The Graphtec works intuitively, from the plugin for illustrator, to how it prioritizes its cuts on the vinyl.  Everything about using it is excellent.  The Roland is ass backwards in so many ways.  The software is garbage.  Their plugin for illustrator is garbage.  The way it prioritizes cuts is garbage.  Both brands are made well, work well, and will make you money, but basically using them side by side I am constantly shaking my head at how annoying using the Roland is in comparison to the Graphtec.

If we ONLY knew the Roland we might think "there has to be a better way" but would probably be as happy as every other Roland user.

I just can't see how anyone would like the Roland after using the Graphtec.

Well, assuming they are a vector art creator/user.

[BrianHahn]

I have run a Graphtec through Corel for a few years without any problems.
Get the right film, I tested Stahls films lately and got great results.

Referring to heat transfer material? Have you tried the 123 Flex material? It presses in 3 seconds with great results.