Vinyl cutters / plotters

OJ46

OJ46

OJ46

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I know a few people on this forum use vinyl cutters / plotters for making custom logos / cover designs etc and was just wondering if anyone could offer any advice. I'm currently thinking of buying a cheap one for use on future builds but without knowing anything about them it's a nightmare! Any recommendations? Things to avoid? Tips on the best software? etc etc :D

Cheers guys :)
 
Short version: Don't.

I've been in the business doing this kind of thing for over two decades, pay someone a few quid to cut your decals and be done with it, you get what you want cheaply, quickly and without the agro from someone who knows what he or she is doing. You don't want the agro of this, laser engraving, mechanical engraving or sublimation/solvent/laser print in your life if you can avoid it.

If you insist on ignoring that advice then don't buy some cheap Chinese crap plotter - you will find frustration and aggravation included free of charge, yes they are getting better, but i've seen people claim they had versions that were 'worth' using, one now sells Mimaki and the other Roland. They still try and tell me they can give me a superior CO2 laser than the one we have, the reality is I know someone who purchased one, they returned it after the 2nd tube blew in a few months. If it's only small decal's and you just want small then the Grapphtec Cameo or similar are about as cheap/nasty as i'd suggest anyone goes. If you would like vinyl cut cheaply just let me know, you'll find it a hell of a lot cheaper than buying your own cutter/films.
 
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You do have a very good point about it being both cheaper & easier to pay somebody else to do it professionally, but the trouble is I'm a proper OCD tinkerer, so would always want everything done 15 times until it was how I wanted it... Then probably decide I didn't like the colour so do it another 3 times! One current idea is to cut out a design from car window tinting film to use on a reservoir as a fancy fluid level window, but can imagine trying out a dozen different levels of tint + designs before deciding what to go with :p

Strange you should mention the Cameo as I was actually looking at one of those, just over the £200 mark so not too bad as long as it works well enough to knock out a few not too complicated designs. Won't need one for a while as I can't afford to do new build for quite some time, just thinking it could be a plan to get all the tools needed before I start ordering any components :)

Cheers for the info though, will give you a shout if I need anything before I can afford my own / if I see sense and agree they're too much hassle :D
 
I have the silhouette portrait which I use very often. It is a cracking bit of kit and very easy to use but can be a little bit of a pain in the arse to get right.

Tbh, i only have it because I do many builds, but unless you do more than day 5 a year it really isn't worth it. Just get measurements for the things you need and fire a message to someone who has one (hell, if i have time il do them you!) and save the money =)
 
Starting to see a theme occuring here... :p How easy is the software for complete noobs like myself? Guessing I could just import images from GiMP etc and they'd be OK? When you say they're a pain in the arse to get right do you mean like cutting pressure settings etc or just getting the designs right?

Sorry for all the questions guys, just don't want to ***** £200+ on something that turns out to be useless! Cheers for all the help and advice :D
 
OJ46 said:
Starting to see a theme occuring here... :p How easy is the software for complete noobs like myself? Guessing I could just import images from GiMP etc and they'd be OK? When you say they're a pain in the arse to get right do you mean like cutting pressure settings etc or just getting the designs right?

Sorry for all the questions guys, just don't want to ***** £200+ on something that turns out to be useless! Cheers for all the help and advice :D
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Better to ask now than have a £200 box of regret sat under the desk.

To answer your question you can't cut from a bitmap, your plotter works in vector, that is to say lines or paths made up of nodes and lines joining them. So for example if you want your pic you could print it, add an outline and then contour cut it on something like the Cameo. You could also re-draw or trace it depending on what it is. Inkscape is iirc the free option for vector based design but the industry I work in is basically Corel dependent (engraving, cutting and plotting are all based on vector).

The Cameo is a great little cutter for the home user, the software isn't that great (speaking as someone who works in Corel all day), I paid for the upgrade to allow it to integrate into Corel within about 15 minutes of use, it removes a lot of the variables out of what you want to do but it's clunky, the cutter is slow so it's well suited to fine detail work - I have one for acid etch masks on glass as it doesn't tie up my Mutoh doing jobs it's not suited to - but it's slow, very slow, so you won't want to be cutting lots of things out on it and it's just not designed for that kind of work and the size is a pain as the smallest roll's of vinyl are 24" (610mm) wide and you end up having to pay a fortune for vinyl that's suitable or has been cut down, most tints we stock are 1.5m wide, same for carbon though you can get smaller.
 
Awesome, plenty there for me to start getting my head around thanks. So if I've got this correct it's Don't get one > If you must the Cameo is OK for home use / small projects > Use Corel rather than the supplied software > Getting vinyl suitable is both expensive and a PITA. Now to let all that sink in before deciding whether to take the plunge... Cheers once again Avalon & davido :)
 
Yeah, basically as Avalon has said, you basically have to either use the "trace" tool which has very mixed results, import from vector or re draw everything you do.

You can spend quite a lot of time on getting the design right as the software is just a little bit clunky. The cutter itself is very good though imo.

It really comes down to how often you will think you will use it. Have you been ordering a lot of vinyl stickers recently? enough to warrant spending over £200 on, or are you going to be doing this task and maybe a couple others which will cost a few quid each?
 
I've had a Roland Stika for the best part of a decade now, and whilst I only use it for "messing about", it's served me well.
 
That doesn't sound too bad tbh, quite happy to spend the time getting things redrawn until they're looking perfect... Damn OCD! As long as the end results are decent quality then the time wasted doesn't bother me too much, as long as there's Guinness in the fridge I'm good to go!

I know I can't really justify the price when looking at it like that (sensibly) but I'm looking at it from another (stupid) angle, thinking that if I'm going to spend upwards of £5k on a build then an extra £200 - £250 & a few hours of work to end up with a better end product is worth the outlay, especially when it can also be used on all future builds as well as other random projects :)
 
paradigm said:
I've had a Roland Stika for the best part of a decade now, and whilst I only use it for "messing about", it's served me well.
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Just had a quick Google and looks very nice, but unfortunately one of those would be out of my price range atm :(
 
Mine was quite heavily "used". Don't seem to recall it being particularly expensive, but it was such a long time ago I don't recall how much I spent.
 
Will have a quick scout around on the ol' eBay when I get a few minutes, see how cheap they're going 2nd hand :)
 
The problem you'll find with second hand cutters is they're in demand, most branded cutters of it's vintage (Mutoh, Summa, Mimaki, Roland, Graphtec) is they were built to last, my Mutoh is from 1995, it's still obscenely quick at cutting basic vinyl for signs and decals, the only reason i'd not suggest something larger is it will take up space, a Cameo is easy to put in a cupboard etc. a 24" will take over the corner of the spare room and gradually grow to fill it if you aren't careful. It starts with a few rolls for decals, then some window tints, then some wrapping film, then you need a weeding table and some t-shirts, then more storage space for the garment film, then extra stock, then you look into solvent print or DTG and the list goes on and on and on...
 
That's a very good point, not exactly flushed with space as it is so cupboard storable is definitely a priority. It's striking that balance of having a decent sized cutting area & not filling a room, and looks like the Cameo is pretty much right on the mark size wise. Hoping I'll be able to keep it down to vinyl and window tints, I'll tell the missus if it ever gets as far as T-Shirts she's got to put either the Cameo or myself on eBay :D
 
The minimum you're looking at is £225 to buy a new Cameo, add the cost of films, VAT and delivery and you're over £300. For a single build or even 50 of them that's way more than you'll likely pay to get someone else to do the job properly in the first place with non of the agro. Your cost per use will be £300, the cost to get someone else to do it for you £5-10 from what you've described, if you've got money to burn then go for it, if not then just order what you need and get on with the important stuff.
 
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