# Help!!!!! The Best Vinyl Cutter



## tulacagas (Oct 6, 2006)

FOR X MAS i WILL BE GETTING A VINYL CUTTER. I CANT SEEM TO DECIDE BETWEEN THE ROLAND GX-24 OR A PIRANHA 24 IN. IT WILL BE USED FOR T-SHIRTS AND SIGNS. OR CAN ANYONE RECOMMEND SOMTHING BETTER FOR NO MORE THAN 2,500.00? DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THESE TWO WEED THE MATERIAL? FINALLY WHAT IS THE BEST SIGN PROGRAM, IS IT FLEXISIGN? AND WHERE CAN I BUY IT? 
PLEASE TRY TO RESPOND ASAP AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!.....XAVIER


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## Vtec44 (Apr 24, 2006)

I have 2 Rolands, so I'd pick the Roland GX-24 because of previous experience.


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## autoxtras (Sep 11, 2006)

I would get the roland. I have flexi 8 I bought it from signwarehouse


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## John S (Sep 9, 2006)

I have the GX-24. I got it from imprintables.com. Great service, free training. 
Contact Josh and tell him you are a forum member for a better price. Here is a special offer.
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/tf-classifieds/t7818.html
They sell both units, but favor the Roland. You should ask them why.
The Roland comes with CutStudio, and plugin's for Illustrator and Coreldraw. 

You weed the material. 
Any vector program can create your signs. If you have one, start there and decide if you need Felisign.

Do a little searching on the forum, you'll find some good posts.


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## lauerja (Aug 8, 2006)

Go with the Roland. We had an ol Roland 1100 for almost 10 years and it was used when we got it. The new GX-24 is great,we have 2 now.

I know it does not weed the material for you, but I don't think any cutter/plotter on the market does. That is a pretty manual process for signs or shirts.


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## cookster (May 10, 2006)

The biggest recomendation I can make is to stay with brand name cutters such as SUMMA, ROLAND, or GRAPHTEC. I personally own a Graphtec 24" and love it have had no problems with it. As for the cutting program I use Corel X-3 and also Signlab, most of the local sign shops use Signlab in this area. You may want to download a trial of them and see if you like one better than the other. Good luck.


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## bac (Jun 19, 2006)

I also own the Roland GX-24. This is the ONLY vinyl cutter I've owned, so take my recomendation at that level. I've had nothing but great results thus far. The machine is simple to use, and does great work. The optical eye is fantastic for cutting out opaque transfer paper.

I got mine from Imprintable Warehouse. They have been a joy to work with thus far. Good luck with your choice!

... Brad


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## Twinge (Apr 26, 2005)

cookster said:


> The biggest recomendation I can make is to stay with brand name cutters such as SUMMA, ROLAND, or GRAPHTEC.



Exactly what I was going to say. Though I have essentially nil personal experience in this area, this is what I've heard time and time again both here and elsewhere. Any cutter made by one of these 3 companies should do quite well.

24" is probably the minimum size you'll want to go with as well, though it appears that's what you're already looking at.

As far as weeding goes, I don't think there really is any way to automatically weed t-shirt vinyl, at least as far as I've seen. There are tools available to help automate the process of weeding SIGN vinyl I believe, but these are extra add ons (not built into a cutter).


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## MotoskinGraphix (Apr 28, 2006)

Advanced sign making programs like Flexi, Sign Lab etc can get quite expensive depending on the features. Many times the software is more expensive than the cutter itself.


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## TATER314 (Dec 29, 2006)

Hi... I'm new to the board... and just getting started MORE into the t-shirt business... I started my business about 3 years ago... I did decals, banners, signs, etc. I purchased my plotter off ebay... It was a 15 inch Roland, New, Cost abour $800 with the roland software... However, I found that I was very limited to the size of my vinyl graphics... With limited funding, and the demand for larger graphics, I found myself looking for a cheap vinyl cutter... I found a few cheap ones and decided to take the plunge... I had about $1000 to my name and this new cutter was going to make me or break me... I bought a 24 inch master plotter. I paid a little over $700 for the machine, stand and the software... It arrived at my house in about a week and I was off making large graphics... Now, Since Im a pretty seasoned vinyl cutter, I have been familiar with alot of sign making software, (making some friends along the way that do decals too)... I have seen Flexi Sign Pro 7.5 in action and personally, I didnt see anything that they could do with flexi that I couldnt do with WinPCSign... I asked how much the software cost, and he said that for the full version, he paid over $3500 for it. I about had a heart attack and asked him if he wanted to check out what I use. The fuctions were similar, he didnt see anything that my software couldnt do that his could either. Now, of course, Like we both agreed on, He prefers his flexi because thats what he is used to and learned on. And I prefer WinPCSign, because thats what Im used to and what I learned on. Now, onto the plotter... The master plotter is fast, has adjustable settings to adjust the speed and pressure on the material and it even uses roland blades so that when they wear out, it is easily replaceable... The faults, The plotter is louder than any other plotter that I have seen... Not so loud where you cant hear someone talking right by it, just a little louder than any other plotter, (lynx, roland, graphetec)... However, for the cost savings, I find that this is a suitable fault... I purchased another Master plotter as a back up machine and to run both plotters from the same computer when i have large jobs (multicolor especcialy) and never had any problems with either machine... The Master plotter is faster or as fast as any other plotter on the market... I would deffinately reccomend a master plotter even tho it is EXTREMELY cheap. They are distributed thru desaypc from canada and there ebay id is dcsign....


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