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I have spent the last month trying to decide on what kind of cutter to buy. Next year I plan to buy a printer so I must have something that will work with it. I have looked at Summa, Roland, Graphtec, Ioline,Gerber, and Allen Anagraph both I still can't decide. I want a cutter that will cut very small letters so do I need to get tangent cutting capabilities? I want to be able to cut from Corel & Cocut combination or from Gerber. I love the Gerber cutter but the price. I have an Edge 2 and an Envision 375. What size cutter do you reccomend? The largest printer I would ever go is around 48 inches. Do I go ahead abd spend the money to cutter That size or do I make the step from a 15 inch cutter to a 30? So many questions and no answers for them. Would everyone share their thoughts and what they use? Let's take a pole and see what cutter company wins. Will it be Roland, Graphtec, Ioline or one of the others?
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Gerber & Graphtec, I my opinion are the best, maybe the New Summas. If your planning on getting a 48" Printer Get a 48" Cutter. I have a 30" Graphtec & 44" Inkjet now I'm looking for a new Cutter. If you have an EDGE you know Gerbers Quality & for Graphtec's I've had a 4100-75 for about 2 1/2 years with NO Problems. Tons better then the IOLINE's, I've owned in the past. Roland's have never really impressed me. I know there's lots of them out there. that's just my opinion. Later Gary
------------------ Gary Wiant Vinyl Graphics Unlimited Shippenville, PA
Posts: 66 | From: Shippenville, PA U.S.A. | Registered: Mar 2000
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We have had a Gerber Odyssey 48" plotter for about a year now. We love it, and the speed is incredible at 32 inches per second. It will cut your tiny letters as the blade is very thin, yet durable ( same blade still in ours after one year!)
The bad news is that it wont contour cut Edge printed graphics with any reliability as the electric eye sensors that keep it cutting straight keep adjusting the vinyl to stay on track, thus accurate contour cutting is skewed off course a bit. I still have to use the old slow 4B to contour cut printed stickers and decals.
------------------ Draper The Signmaker Bloomington Illinois USA Be Sure to Check Out My Next Article On "Sign Shop Photography" in the March Issue of Sign Builder Illustrated! 309-828-7110 drapersigns@hotmail.com Draper_Dave on mIRC chat
Posts: 2883 | From: Bloomington Illinois USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Like Dave, I'm partial to the Odyssey for a wide-format cutter.
Almost all wide cutters are friction fed. If you get one, make sure it will track accurately. To my knowledge, the Odyssey is the only one that used an sensor and independent pinch-wheels to keep the vinyl tracking straight regardless of the length vinyl. I can deliberately load a roll of vinyl crooked and the plotter will automatically straighten it at the push of a button.
Tomorrow, I'll be cutting an entire 30"x50yd. roll of reflective with the Odyssey in one shot totally unattended. I've done is several times before and the cutter has never screwwed up.
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I recently bought a Durachrome and a Durasign (52" Summa). I love this thing, easy to align material for quick easy color changes. The contour has worked perfectly on every job (not counting user error ) Its tangential and will cut the tiny letters as well. I dont know about working with Gerber, I have Flexi 6.5 and the drivers are worthless. I have been using Corel with Co- cut which I previously posted about not liking very much but the more I use it the easier it is! I like designing in Corel and cutting is a snap!
------------------ Brian Stoddard Expressions Signs A few puddles east of Seattle
Posts: 790 | From: Monroe, WA | Registered: Nov 1998
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) Its tangential and will cut the tiny letters as well. I dont know about working with Gerber, I have Flexi 6.5 and the drivers are worthless. I have been using Corel with Co- cut which I previously posted about not liking very much but the more I use it the easier it is! I like designing in Corel and cutting is a snap! 
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