Anyone have any experience with vinyl plotters for making signs

[lightpants]

Looking on ebay I see all these people selling starter packages with the plotter, software, and vinyl. The prices range from $500 to $3000 and everyone says the on they are selling is the best deal. Can anyone tell me what to look for, and what to avoid?

 

[gwrober]

I bought one last summer, from SignWarehouse.com. I don't know about all of the deals on eBay, but SW sells there, along with a few other reputable dealers.

I got a 24" Vinyl Express cutter. I hear VE, Roland, Summa, etc are good brands. IIRC I paid about 2-2.5 G's for my setup.

I do sandblasting too, so I had to get a cutter with enough downforce to cut through thick masking. If you're just starting out, try one of the smaller (cheaper) Stika cutters.

Try here: Specials at SignWarehouse



G

 

[Schadenfreude]

I'm a complete nub at these types of things, but what's the distinction between a cutter and a printer that they sell? Is it just the type of media they use, or do they serve entirely different functions?

 

[skrilla]

We have a Sticka one here at work and it works fine. Our old one was the same brand and it wore out.


My company does about 3-5 cuts for signs per day and it has been going good for a little over a year. But its not major cutting or anything.

 

[lightpants]

up for the morning crowd.


I am not looking to start a business, but I have a few projects that I would like to do, and after getting estimates from local sign companies, I think I could do them myself.
I am sure if I had the equipment, I could pick up a few jobs here and there and make some of the investment back.

 

[gwrober]

A Stika should work fine, if you only need light cutting done. Or just let me know what you need, I cut vinyl 6-7 times a week!

It's easy to make the $ make, just start some light marketing, make some vinyl for your friends, etc. Both of my cars are almost covered in the stuff. And there's some really cool vinyl out there too...


Schadenfreude - the vinyl cutters are just plotters with blades - no 'printing' capability. Where as the printers can usually do both - and the inks they use are weather resistant (in most cases)...BIG price diff too....

 

[reverend boltron]

I was a cutters helper over the summer. We used an autometrix and it was pretty good. The only thing was that the blades were expensive and the software that we used was uber expensive. That and the fact that a lot of the times we had some problems using it because of the cutter was 80 years old and wouldn't let anyone set the software up properly. Autometrix was a pretty good company, and their tech support was really good too. I don't know what the pricing would be on a normal plotter ours was 50' long.

 

[imported_Pablo]

Originally posted by: reverend boltron
I was a cutters helper over the summer. We used an autometrix and it was pretty good. The only thing was that the blades were expensive and the software that we used was uber expensive. That and the fact that a lot of the times we had some problems using it because of the cutter was 80 years old and wouldn't let anyone set the software up properly. Autometrix was a pretty good company, and their tech support was really good too. I don't know what the pricing would be on a normal plotter ours was 50' long.

Why on earth would you need a cutter that was 50' long?

 

[lightpants]

Is a 24" wide printer large enough to do most projects or should I spring for a 32"? I imagine that you can just break large jobs into 2 or more passes on the smaller printer, right?

 

[dartworth]

What software do you use with the printer?

I see signwarehouse.com includes some, but is it any good?