# Cutting force & cutting speed: do they matter?



## jennGO (Mar 11, 2014)

Hello everyone,

I have been reading a multitude of threads regarding which cutter to purchase and I've settled on:

24" cutter with a servo motor 

I am looking at the
Roland GS-24 ($1795 ---desktop)
Graphtec CE-6000 ($1745 w/stand)
GCC puma III ($1250 no stand)

My problem is I don't understand how much cutting force I will need. Right now I am just going to be doing heat press vinyl for apparel and maybe will add car decals later. I am not going to be printing on vinyl anytime soon. Too expensive. 

The cutting force specs:
Roland GS 24 has a max of 350g
Graphtec 300g
Puma 400g

My second concern is cutting speed
Roland 20 in/s
Graphtec 35 in/s
Puma 33.4 in/s

Is there such a thing as cutting too fast or slow? I tried to research but posts I found just discussed adjusting the speed for certain materials. But if I buy a slower machine in exchange for higher pressure will I regret it?

I also noticed that the max cutting width varies with the products

Roland 22.9
Graphtec 23.7
Puma 23.23

Is the loss of material from the reduced cutting width of the Graphtec worth the superior speed?

I'm probably splitting hairs here but without hands-on experience with the machines I'm feeling uncertain. 

Right now I feel like the Roland is overpriced for the specs and the puma is probably the way to go...unless I have misread 

My main goal is to be able to cut something easily and quickly without the machine messing up. I imagine the Corel draw plugins for these machines must be equals. 

One thing I do like about the Roland is it is a desktop model but everyone seems to say a stand is better to hold the vinyl so I'm not even sure that is possible. 

I hope this isn't redundant I just didn't see a post relating these specs to each other. Thanks!


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## janetardis (Oct 16, 2015)

I am wondering the exact same thing right now. Any suggestions?


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## tfalk (Apr 3, 2008)

If all you are going to cut is sign or shirt vinyl, any of the above 3 machines will do the job. I have the GX24, the predecessor to the GS24. If I had to buy another cutter, I'd buy another Roland, it's been just about flawless in the 10 years we've owned it. If you decide on the Roland, contact Imprintables Warehouse, they are a vendor on this forum....

If you are going to cut fabric or anything else that requires more downforce, I'd probably look at one of the 24 inch KNK cutters. I have a 12 inch KNK Zing as a backup to the Roland and we use it mostly for cutting fabric appliques rather than keep changing settings and blades on the Roland. While it took some getting used to simply because it operates a little differently than the Roland, it also is a nice cutter. I wouldn't buy a Zing primarily for shirt or sign vinyl because it's narrower than most rolls.

I don't recall ever running our cutter at top speed, you tend to get pulled up edges and not as accurate cuts... I generally run our GX24 on 7-10 and force around 100.

Also, look at the motor specs... I seem to recall the Roland uses servo motors which have a very long life in this type of use, not sure about the others...


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## krikster (Aug 8, 2013)

Use enough force and speed to get the best cut.....If I am cutting a large no detail design i can raise the speed, the force is either going to not cut enough, cut just right, or cut too deep.....kind of like Goldie Locks and the 3 bears.....you wan the JUUUUUST RIGGGGHT method.

If I am cutting a very fine detail I slow the speed down just to get the detail as tight as I can. If too fast on fine detail you will get a slop and lose some of the details. Just play around with different detail levels and speeds.

Just remember if the vinyl is thick you need more pressure, thin....less pressure.....just do a test cut and write down in notes for the vinyl what cuts the best with your cutter.

Have fun and good luck!


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## janetardis (Oct 16, 2015)

Thanks so much guys for the info. That helps a lot. I haven't cut my fabrics for my appliques with either machine I have for just that reason, Having to change blade settings and such. But when I upgrade I may keep one just for that reason.


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## ernti (Nov 14, 2012)

The roland comes with a small tray with wheels that fits behind the cutter, that holds the vinyl roll,and feeds it into the cutter.
Other than that,no stand, but that's not a problem, it has a small footprint,and i keep it on a small coffee table.
I use a lot of h.t vinyl and flock,clean cut blades, and i never have to adjust the force more than 110g.
Many of my designs have a LOT of really tiny details but i have never touched the speed.
It has always been on the factory settins, 20cm/sec.

Sent from my Lenovo A6000 using T-Shirt Forums


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## tfalk (Apr 3, 2008)

Good point Paul, forgot about the roller tray.... We have our Roland sitting on a wall shelf about table height. 99% of the time, that's where we leave it and we generally cut 2-3 shirt designs at a time since anything larger gets difficult to weed. We recently did a bunch of car windshield banners that were 60 inches wide. To keep the vinyl from jamming up behind the cutter, I took it off the shelf and set it on top of a stand I have for a miter saw... I picked up the stand for around $130 at Lowes a few years back, much cheaper at the time than the stand was from Roland and it does double duty... I think this is the one?

Shop Kobalt Steel Adjustable Miter Saw Stand at Lowes.com

They also make similar stands with wheels, I have my heat press mounted on something similar... much easier to move it around than a fixed table.


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## krikster (Aug 8, 2013)

ernti said:


> Many of my designs have a LOT of really tiny details but i have never touched the speed.
> It has always been on the factory settins, 20cm/sec.
> 
> Sent from my Lenovo A6000 using T-Shirt Forums


Yea my issues came from starting my stuff out on the cheap Chinese cutter from US Cutter.....the MH 721 to be exact. Yes it has gotten my foot off the ground, but I think it has wasted more vinyl than saved. lol I am use to using the Graphtec by Stahls. Love that machine and soon will be upgrading my cutter. Little bit at a time till I get the full bit of machinery for my business.


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## Kenneth59 (Sep 28, 2013)

20 years of cutting vinyl we have never used more than a 100g down force and never more than half speed.


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