# Seiki T-870 vinyl cutter --- My review update



## mrwacky

Hi gang,

As promised, I wanted to update you all as to my experience using this cutter. 

After the initial problem setting up the machine to work with my laptop, I ordered vinyl, banner material, and sign material to put this baby to work. I have produced eight--8' X 2.5' banners and 120 18" X 24" signs for our business. I also have made 48 price point signs that are 4" X 9". So far not a singlehitch. I plotter works great. I did need to fine tune the blade adjustment as I had it cutting too deep during the initial test run. But that didn't take much effort.

The Flexi starter software has worked fine as well. I'm not a sign making company, so the upgraded features available in their more expensive versions would be a waste of money. I do wish there were more Font choices.

My initial outlay was $359 which included shipping. I purchased this machine through Amazon.

My two experiences in contacting Seki tech help when I was first setting this up were both positive. He walked me through the problem I was experiencing getting the cutter tointerface with my laptop. The manual was not as helpful as it could be.

At this point, I could toss the cutter in the trash and still be money ahead as it has more than paid for itself had i needed to depend on a sign making company to produce the banners and signs.

I realize thatmost of you desire the more expensive Roland type cutters, but really can't see how they could do a better job than this one.


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## Rodney

Hi Dwight, thanks for posting the review! I agree, not everyone needs a Roland cutter, so it's great to see reviews of the different cutters and the various price points.

Do you have any photos or videos of this cutter that you could share?

Does it seem "loud" to you at all, or does it run pretty smoothly?


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## mrwacky

Hi Rodney,

I don't have any pictures, but a simple google search will take you to soem I'm sure.

The machine does make a racket when it is cutting the vinyl. I have it set up in my home office and at first I would hover over it..being afraid that something bad might happen were it left cutting an unattended. Now I just close the o
ffice door and go about my business, which eliminated the noise issue.


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## laz0924

You do have more font choices, what ever you have in corel x4 will be in flexi, if you have corel.
you can import fornts into corel and they will show up in flexi...


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## laz0924

I also have a sieki, had a lot of trouble at first but finally got it running good the only problem I have is an error can't find port. So I disconnect the printer cable and reconnect and it works fine, still haven't gotten an answer from sieki how to fix this problem..


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## taricp35

This was the worst cutter I have ever seen. Boy did I waste my money. It broke after about 5 months of use. By the time I was able to contact tech support the warranty had expired. The guy suggested replacing parts until I found the problem....yeah sure why not throw more money down the drain. It may work great now but just wait and you will see what i am talking about. You said you could throw it in the trash as it has already paid for itself...well i will bet in a few months that is exactly where it will be. This cutter is horrible!!!!!

Check out the forum and read about all the problems: Seiki Cutters - T Series (SK-720T, SK-870T, SK-1350T)


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## bigwebman

Hey Wacky, you can download fonts from all the free sites, like dafont.com and then copy them to your windows font folder, and they will show up in flexi.


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## laz0924

seiki's support isn't very good either mostly a communication problem maybe we should learn to speak Chinese lol


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## Nvr2Old

laz0924 said:


> I also have a sieki, had a lot of trouble at first but finally got it running good the only problem I have is an error can't find port. So I disconnect the printer cable and reconnect and it works fine, still haven't gotten an answer from sieki how to fix this problem..


I had similar problems with my Laserpoint 24 when I was using the usb cable. I now use a serial to usb adapter cable and all issues were resolved. Don't know if seiki has a serial port though.


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## Nvr2Old

laz0924 said:


> seiki's support isn't very good either mostly a communication problem maybe we should learn to speak Chinese lol


Looks like seiki's support is similar to USCutters. Most support can be obtained by using their support boards rather than by phone SeikiTech.com Sign Making Forum - Index


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## veedub3

Nvr2Old said:


> Looks like seiki's support is similar to USCutters. Most support can be obtained by using their support boards rather than by phone SeikiTech.com Sign Making Forum - Index


Nah I don't think so. I had a Seiki 870T when I first moved into Vinyl and the same guy that answers your question on the form is the same guy that answers your calls if you call them. It is on only the one guy and I think his name is Frank or something similar. 
His English is awful and I was never able to get my issue resolved even though my cutter as under warranty. The machine would be doing something but the cutter arm would not be moving. He said it was off the track but it wasn't. I read on the forum where another guy would unplug it for awhile then plug it back in and it would start back working so I tried it an sure enough it started back working. That told me that I had a problem but they insited it was working fine. It claimed to have 500g of downforce but could not cut Hartco. Would not even make a dent in the material. After a few months I trashed it and purchased a Refine.
Three weeks ago I added a Laserpoint. I think it may depend on your computer as to whether you use the serial or the USB because I could not communicate with the Serial cable but once the tech support set things up using the USB I have not had any problems. My computer is a newer computer that did not have a Serial port so I added one to the PCI slot. The tech at US Cutters said that the serial adapter had to be on the MOBO to work correctly. This is why I said it may depend on the computer as to which connection is best.

Katrina


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## Nvr2Old

Hi Katina,
Maybe this should be a subject in a different thread, but how do you like the LP24 so far compared to the 2 other cutters you've had?


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## veedub3

I have only had the LP 24" a few weeks but so far so good. It does what it is supposed to do which makes me happy unlike the Seiki. It was unreliable and I constantly had issues with it. 
For now I am happy with the Refine and The LP 24". Hope that continues because things are busy now and the last thing I need is cutter problems.


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