I'm in the market for a new plotter soon. I would like a plotter that can cut vinyl in very small details. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Ray
Posted by William DeBekker (Member # 3848) on :
If budget Allows.. Summa.. It all I would ever buy.. Had a 54" Graphtec and It was a real Lemon.
Posted by Kelly Thorson (Member # 2958) on :
The Cricut - after all it is made for scrapbooking. Posted by Michael Gene Adkins (Member # 882) on :
not mine ... unless it is new ... and it ain't ...
One way to superior detail is to buy vinyl with clear silicone backer. I buy it for my worn out roland when I need to cut lotsa text. It creates less drag on blade and that changes everything. Even my Zeta loves it, and it is crap for detail thanx to blade design.
I think it is Scotchcal 7125 ... I get mine from Gregory ...
Posted by Ray Rheaume (Member # 3794) on :
The one with the freshest blade.
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
I'm pretty happy with my Summa also, Ray. I'd buy another.
Beyond the cut, a cutter (like anything really) is only as good as the company's customer service that backs it up....and Summa has been wonderful.
Posted by Jon Jantz (Member # 6137) on :
I would rather drop an Xacto knife on my foot 25 times while wearing flip-flops than weed extremely tiny lettering or graphics, no matter what vinyl cutter it was cut with.....
Posted by Ray Skaines (Member # 3702) on :
I agree with you on that one Jon.
My 17 year old 15" HS Gerber plotter is just about worn out. I like what I'm hearing about the Summa's. I like to purchase products that have good customer & tech support.
Thanks to all that have responded.
Ray
Posted by Michael Gene Adkins (Member # 882) on :
The ability to get the cut right also becomes fairly important when cutting laminated stuff ... will you be wanting this to cut printed and laminated vinyl? I farm out digitally printed stuff, and it really sucks when the pressure is too great and the backing is half sliced up. The reverse of this, where you couldn't weed it because it didn't cut through deep enough would be bad too. Haven't had the latter problem delivered to me yet.
Posted by Bob Rochon (Member # 30) on :
Not quite sure why Bill had problems with his Graphtec, but mine cut letters down to .25 inch flawlessly when I needed that type of stuff. I still use it today and it stack right up there with the 4B on reliability.
Came with a 3 year bulletproof replacement warranty, and never needed it. Posted by bruce ward (Member # 1289) on :
if its smaller than a 1/2" have it printed...aint no way in hell Im weedin somn that small
Posted by Joe Crumley (Member # 2307) on :
I'm with Jon,
I'd rather be eaten alive by Fire Ants.
I have three plotters, two gerbers and one Summa and haven't turn any of them on in a month. That's not to say we're slow on work.
Posted by Dale Feicke (Member # 767) on :
I've got to agree with Bob; I have no problems with my Graphtec.
Much as I hate doing them, it'll cut very tiny letters with no problem. The blades are very thin and tiny and do details well. They also last a very long time......longer than most.
Posted by Henry Barker (Member # 174) on :
I have had Gerber sprint and old S750, I bought a Summa Sign Pro T series with tangential knife a T750 over 10 years ago, its still going strong. We just bought a new Summa an S Class T140, which is also tangential as opposed to drag knife, comes also with OPOS as standard.
We use it with Gerber Omega software but the plotter comes with plugins for Illustrator and Corel.
We bought a 1400mm as we have a Roland Soljet Pro 3, 54" printer and matching 1400 Sallmetall laminator, sometimes you might want to cut printed media abit faster. A tangential head is a big plus on small stuff and also on thicker materials like sand blast resist etc.
Posted by Ray Skaines (Member # 3702) on :
The drum rubber on my old Gerber HS 750 just melted recently. No way I'm going to fork over $1200 for a new drum. That money is going to towards a new plotter. Still undecided but I must say thanks for everyone's input.
I'm going to hire someone to weed my vinyl so's I don't get eaten alive by Fire ants and stuck by knives with #11 exacto blades.
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Rolling On The Floor]](graemlins/rolf.gif)
I agree with you on that one Jon.![[I Don t Know]](graemlins/dunno.gif)