# ebay vinyl cutters



## klynnruss (Mar 21, 2011)

Hello everyone! 
About 6 months ago I bought a heat press, and have been making Tshirts using mostly stock transfers in rhinestone and plastisol.....
However, I am looking to get a little more creative, and be able to handle possibly some custom orders (can't do this with stock transfers, and outsourcing to custom made transfers can be very costly), so I am looking into purchasing a vinyl cutter. I am checking out ebay for a very inexpensive cutter just to learn on, and get my feet wet in the world of vinyl (I'd also like to use this machine to make rhinestone templates).
Any advice on the cheaper ebay cutters? Is there any company I should be advised to stay away from? Any advice is welcome.....


----------



## tee09 (Oct 30, 2009)

if you don't mind me asking.. what is your budget?.. there some inexpensive brand name cutters out there.. check out the link below.

link


----------



## tee09 (Oct 30, 2009)

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/vinyl-cutters-plotters-transfers/t160942.html


----------



## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

I purchased a US cutter off of ebay 3 years ago. It runs every day without much issue and we just broke a pinch roller and ordered 2 more and it runs fine. 

support is on their forum or on vinylforum.org.


----------



## klynnruss (Mar 21, 2011)

As I am reading through the forums, and from your responses.....it seems that US Cutter is the way to go for an inexpensive vinyl cutter. Yes, my budget is as such that I don't really need to be looking at vinyl cutters at all... but I do realize sometimes you need to spend money to make money.  Thanks everyone for taking the time to post a response. I have truly learned alot from reading around on T-shirt forums! Thanks everyone!  Happy Saturday!


----------



## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

we paid for our cutter on our first job with it. we do about 50 yards of apparel vinyl per week with it and it just runs and runs and runs. we use clean cut blades and buy them 10 at a time. we only use 60's for everything and it works for us.


----------



## gotshirts2ink (Nov 12, 2009)

Why dont you try to search this forum before you ask your question
This topic has been covered many many times before


----------



## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

because we are here to help, if you dont want to help dont respond.



gotshirts2ink said:


> Why dont you try to search this forum before you ask your question
> This topic has been covered many many times before


----------



## StampedTees (Jun 15, 2011)

agensop said:


> because we are here to help, if you dont want to help dont respond.


x2

Thought that was kinda rude .. Nicer ways of conveying that message.


----------



## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

I bought my laserpoint from uscutter off of ebay. cutter is cool software is straight bull****. i would recommend buying winpicsign2010 or something to go along with it. it has been an exercise in frustration for me fighting with the software on my win7 machine. Im buying flexi next month so i can contour cut with it.


----------



## gotshirts2ink (Nov 12, 2009)

I had the same answer when I came aboard and got the same response from many
I search this board all the time for answers and FIND them 
What does the good book say "seek and ye shall find"
Not trying to be rude at all


----------



## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

you want a new topic, make a new post, dont hijack this one because you have a grudge against new people needing help. everyone was a newbie at one time.



gotshirts2ink said:


> Lets talk about New things
> I had the same answer when I came aboard and got the same response from many
> I search this board all the time for answers and FIND them
> What does the good book say "seek and ye shall find"
> Not trying to be rude at all


----------



## gotshirts2ink (Nov 12, 2009)

No grudge against anyone here, Not rude to anyone here, just follow the rules
I am still new at alot of things and learned ALOT from this site and ask questions from time to time But I search first and Why? because I read the TOS

*No Cross-Posting* 

Do not post the same discussion more than once in the discussion forums or on many forums. Duplicate discussions are hard to keep up with and counterproductive for other members who are trying to help. Duplicate discussions will be deleted.


----------



## tee09 (Oct 30, 2009)

klynnruss said:


> As I am reading through the forums, and from your responses.....it seems that US Cutter is the way to go for an inexpensive vinyl cutter. Yes, my budget is as such that I don't really need to be looking at vinyl cutters at all... but I do realize sometimes you need to spend money to make money.  Thanks everyone for taking the time to post a response. I have truly learned alot from reading around on T-shirt forums! Thanks everyone!  Happy Saturday!


Let us know what type of US cutter you get.


----------



## theflowerboxx (Mar 26, 2007)

I would recommend a GCC Expert. Check out www.heatpressvinyl.com he is a member here and has helped out A LOT OF PEOPLE on this site.


----------



## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

nods roger is a good dude



theflowerboxx said:


> I would recommend a GCC Expert. Check out www.heatpressvinyl.com he is a member here and has helped out A LOT OF PEOPLE on this site.


----------



## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

I really wish when folks made referrals they used sponsors who pay to support this board...

2nd I will never understand how folks can read all the bad comments about US Cutter and then choose to believe only the good comments...Static problems, trial software, short warranties, do it yourself repairs, USB connection problems. etc....


----------



## theflowerboxx (Mar 26, 2007)

royster13 said:


> I really wish when folks made referrals they used sponsors who pay to support this board...
> 
> 2nd I will never understand how folks can read all the bad comments about US Cutter and then choose to believe only the good comments...Static problems, trial software, short warranties, do it yourself repairs, USB connection problems. etc....


 Roger don't pay? He only put in hundreds if not thousands of hours on this board helping people like you out. If it wasn't for the members like him this place wouldn't be anything. No money can buy that.


----------



## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

royster13 said:


> I really wish when folks made referrals they used sponsors who pay to support this board...
> 
> 2nd I will never understand how folks can read all the bad comments about US Cutter and then choose to believe only the good comments...Static problems, trial software, short warranties, do it yourself repairs, USB connection problems. etc....


I never said a us cutter was a great product. I only answered the question on how to get in on the cheap. 

Is it a great cutter? NO. 
Will it work? YES.
Will you have problems? YES.
Will you make money with it? *YES!*

That pretty sums it up from our perspective. I would have rather had a roland but for $1500 more at the time it wasn't an option. 

Now that we do so much vinyl cutting we might buy a better brand so we can run them both at the same time. 

What I can say is we start that cutter at 9am and run it some days until midnight or later with only a dinner break. We cut apparel vinyl, banner vinyl, blast material and 30 mil magnetic with it and it just keeps running.


----------



## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Binki my comment was not directed at you....But they are not cheap after have you pay for a renewal of Signcut, buy Keyspan adapter, waste materials, waste time, etc.....All I am saying is there are way better options for less than 500.00....


----------



## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

royster13 said:


> Binki my comment was not directed at you....But they are not cheap after have you pay for a renewal of Signcut, buy Keyspan adapter, waste materials, waste time, etc.....All I am saying is there are way better options for less than 500.00....


thanks. i dont have experience outside of the lp24 and sb so i can only comment on what i know. we do have winpccut and it seems to work better with the cutter than sb does though. 

every year we go to the iss and nbm shows in long beach and look at the cutters. i would love to add a good one to our shop.


----------



## klynnruss (Mar 21, 2011)

Once again, thanks again everyone for your help. Gettin' ready to check out that link!


----------



## dakotasden (Aug 21, 2008)

+2 on the expert 24 - better machine and better support

but with that said nothing beats a graphtec


----------



## texasjack49 (Aug 4, 2008)

gotshirts2ink said:


> No grudge against anyone here, Not rude to anyone here, just follow the rules
> I am still new at alot of things and learned ALOT from this site and ask questions from time to time But I search first and Why? because I read the TOS
> 
> *No Cross-Posting*
> ...


 The test whether a post is Rude or not is if someone else thinks its rude, Your post was rude and that is also against the rules, so please follow the rules, it is also against the rules to be argumentive which your post has also become. The OP is not cross posting or postiing more than once. While the question has been posted in the past, selecting a cutter has stumped many of us at one time or another and apparently there are people here willing to help so let them. It's an open forum and you are free to use it within the rules but so is everyone else. There is a "bad post" tab for reporting an inappropriate post, and that is in the rules also. The original post started out positive, why don't we keep it that way.


----------



## beecohen (May 14, 2009)

agensop said:


> because we are here to help, if you dont want to help dont respond.


Haha burn!


----------



## Texaslady (Apr 5, 2011)

I noticed that someone mentioned they had a broken pinch roller. I have 2 broken pinch rollers on my expert 24 but dont know how to replace them. I need help!


----------



## Blue92 (Oct 8, 2010)

You might want to start a new post with that issue in the title. 

Along that line I've not yet found an online source for GCC parts. I've been thinking about adding a 4th 'dummy' roller to see if it helps to reduce waves in the vinyl.


----------



## Bmorris (Mar 3, 2012)

what size cutter should I get ? Any insite?


----------



## Carmenrt (Feb 26, 2012)

Hey guys, I purchased the KNK-ZING, it has a pnc feature and its portable, all told after purchase and shipping it only cost about $420.00, definetly a great product and value for the money!


----------



## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

pnc as in print and cut???

you cant really do print and cut that easy with a lazer eye align as you can optical. but it works well once you get the hang of it




Carmenrt said:


> Hey guys, I purchased the KNK-ZING, it has a pnc feature and its portable, all told after purchase and shipping it only cost about $420.00, definetly a great product and value for the money!


----------



## sben763 (May 17, 2009)

I know this is an old post but I have had my us cutter 4 years now never a problem, never a conection problem. The sign blazer trial was annoying but there is a way to bypass this now. I think a lot of negative comments about their cutters comes from the cheap price and a lot of people buy them thinking they will magically do everything. Ok so now I probably jinked myself but for the $325 I paid for it and the thousands I have made off it I would buy it again as a replacement even if I had to replace it every 4-5 years.


----------



## Carmenrt (Feb 26, 2012)

Yeah its print and cut, check it out on youtube, its actually really nice, and it doesnt take much to learn it, once you do, you can cut anything!


----------



## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

I've seen it already, i have a lasperpoint vinyl cutter that has a laser alignment also, i've very familiar with the process 



Carmenrt said:


> Yeah its print and cut, check it out on youtube, its actually really nice, and it doesnt take much to learn it, once you do, you can cut anything!


----------



## raskal (Jan 9, 2012)

Thought I would throw my 2 cents in here. I recently purchased an R31 from Signwarehouse's Ebay store. It was very economically priced and even came with vinyl, banners, signs, some other blanks and a clipart CD. While I know this isnt a professional unit, I feel it is good for someone who hasnt used a machine before and may be thinking of getting into the business.

As many have said the LXi software isnt the best, and the machine is very loud BUT I am impressed with the detail I have been able to achieve. So if youre looking for a hobby machine the SW ones may be for you.


----------



## Toose (Feb 3, 2012)

I'm actually looking at vinyl cutters now, I'm trying to get something between $300-$600, I've been checking out a USCutter package on ebay but based on the comments it can really go either way. the main reason I started looking at this package is because it comes with vinyl (as well as a bunch of stuff I won't be using to make it seem like a better deal) but I have had bad experiences with starter kits in silk screening so I'm starting to think I'd be better off buying a cutter and vinyl separately and probably downloading some software and purchasing some better software later.
I would be using it for vinyl decals/stickers and cutting heat press vinyl.
I realize this is an old thread but can anyone tell me if this (link below) would do the job for me?

34" Vinyl Cutter Sign Cutting Plotter w/ Tools & Supplies - $1,000+ Total Value | eBay


----------



## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

we just ordered a graphtec. it is in the shipping mode right now.


----------



## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

which one did you order??? I just ordered a robo pro. im having to cut more and more a night and i dont want to wake the house anymore with that loud motor. it only a 15inch cutting width but thats MORE than wide enough for me.



binki said:


> we just ordered a graphtec. it is in the shipping mode right now.


----------



## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

Graphtec CE5000-60 24" with Stand


----------



## theflowerboxx (Mar 26, 2007)

Binki you will love it.


----------



## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

agensop said:


> which one did you order??? I just ordered a robo pro. im having to cut more and more a night and i dont want to wake the house anymore with that loud motor. it only a 15inch cutting width but thats MORE than wide enough for me.


What are you cutting?.....With a 15" cutter you can not use 20" or 24" material.....So often times you will waste more material than you need to when you have to use 15" material....A wider cutter will quickly pay for itself with a few jobs you not do efficiently on a 15" cutter....


----------



## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

Thanks, We just added a 4 head emb, merrow machine, cutter, engraver, upgraded digitizing software, hoopmaster and a full set of mightyhoops. Every vendor we have dealt with has been great and very helpfull in getting us what we needed when I described what I wanted to do.


----------



## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

if you read back futher you will see i dont need a 24 inch cutter




royster13 said:


> What are you cutting?.....With a 15" cutter you can not use 20" or 24" material.....So often times you will waste more material than you need to when you have to use 15" material....A wider cutter will quickly pay for itself with a few jobs you not do efficiently on a 15" cutter....


----------



## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

So you want to waste material?.....


----------



## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

how exactly does contour cutting tranfers 24 inch vinyl cutter cutter using a laser pointer waste less material than 15 inch vinyl cutter with an optical eye. How exactly is a 24 inch cutter cutting 15 inch vinyl less waisteful than 15 cutter cutting the same vinyl. how exactly is a stepper motor more efficient than a servo? 




royster13 said:


> So you want to waste material?.....


----------



## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Forgive me for not thinking you will be cutting heat press vinyl....If you are not cutting heat press vinyl, the width of the cutter will not matter.....


----------



## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

again, if you bothered to even read back further like i said, you would see that *I ALREADY HAVE* a 24 inch cutter. So i dont need 2. What i need is a servo motor. But of course all you wanted to do is tell me i was wrong and be on your high horse which you place on top of your soap box. I will say it a gain 15 inch is more than enough *FOR ME*. this is my 3rd cutter. I have been using them since 2004 so please go dictate to someone else how they should run their business.




royster13 said:


> Forgive me for not thinking you will be cutting heat press vinyl....If you are not cutting heat press vinyl, the width of the cutter will not matter.....


----------



## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

if i ever need to replace my laserpoint 24 i may replace it with that or a puma. Getting a servo motor is a big big difference in noise. I wanted to move from my laser alignment to an optical and i could have gotten an expert 24 lx, for like 300 less but i really didnt want the noise anymore. But i will deal with it if i need to do things too wide for my robo. I also hated dealing with vlcd, that software was a nightmare (had a lynx bobcat cutter before the laserpoint which is a gcc) and i didnt want to see that stupid thing ever again. Economy cutters are great once you get them going, its just the getting them going that could at times be a pain.




binki said:


> Graphtec CE5000-60 24" with Stand


----------



## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

No one dictates anything....I do not have a gun to your head.....If you choose to ignore me, that is fine.....If you choose to tell me to take a long walk on a short pier, no skin off my back....I have thick skin any way.....

And what is not useful to you may be useful to others.....This is a "public forum" so do not take anything that I or anyone else says as being directed specifically at you.....


----------



## Fenrir (Mar 13, 2012)

I would keep an eye out for bundles that come with real vinyl like Oracal or Arlon or 3M. Unless you are planning on doing mostly temporary signs for upcoming festivals and garage sale signs for your friends, the cheap junk that comes with most cutter bundles is a complete waste of money. You could use the cheap vinyl for proofing, but if it turns out to be impossible to weed you'll probably throw it in a corner somewhere and forget about it until you close the business 30 years later, and re-sell it to some poor sucker on eBay again.


----------



## ukracer (Feb 11, 2010)

I dont think the cheap vinyl that comes with cutters is a waste of money if you have specific uses for it. We used to sell lots of it and customers came back for more. We did get the odd customer who thought they were buying expensive vinyl very cheap instead of cheap vinyl cheap. BUT yes it does NOT weed as well and it does not stretch at all and marks white at the slightest crease.

As for who to buy from I can tell you who NOT to buy from as I have just been shafted by a guy who I spent two years building his business up and many of his customers are up in arms when they hear what they have been doing and how they have treated me and tried to stitch me up with paypal and ebay. All because I stood up to them and their shoddy business practices.


----------



## Toose (Feb 3, 2012)

thanks the last two posts were actually quite helpful, I'm kind of figuring that bundle packages aren't worth if you have a general understanding of what your doing. however now I'm wondering what my best choice would be for a vinyl cutter between $300-$600.


----------



## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

you have alot of choices. 

you one major choice to make first, do you need a 24 inch cutter or not, then after that it really will depend on 2 things (from my perspective) after purchase support from the vender, and community. My first cutter i bought from signwarehouse all they shipped was the cutter and supplies, nothing else no real instructions and their support was terrible when you called(in my opinon). I had broken pinch rollers i ordered them from them and the just sent them in a box no instructions. but it was a gcc cutter and there were enough people out there using them that i was able to get help from others. My second cutter was a laserpoint 24 from uscutter. decent instructions though i figured most of it out myself. i had never called them in the 3 years i had it until last year when i called because i thought the motor was broken and i needed a new one. (the blade wouldnt go up and down) I never had a call in before and their tech stayed on the phone with me for an hour until i got it running. So while people dont like that cutter (and trust me the issues are all true but it works fine for me) they were top notch on helping (in my experience). And i was an ebay purchaser, i bought it off of ebay and never had any contact with them before then.

So pretty much if you need a 24 inch cutter you have uscutter and their cutter and gcc and their expert line. 

There are a ton of people that sell gcc cutter so you have alot more outlets to get help. I wont bias either way. But the biggest thing for me wasnt just getting the cutter but the support afterwards. 



Toose said:


> thanks the last two posts were actually quite helpful, I'm kind of figuring that bundle packages aren't worth if you have a general understanding of what your doing. however now I'm wondering what my best choice would be for a vinyl cutter between $300-$600.


----------



## Toose (Feb 3, 2012)

from the sound of that i think the gcc would be better for me, I would rather deal with any troubles during the initial setting up process than having consistent problems, and if it's a popular model then chances are there will be someone online with the same problem (for both models I suppose). does either model need a specific software? I haven't purchased any yet but I do have a few different programs that I've downloaded and I believe at least one should work: an old version of adobe illustrator, I want to say v3... i also have inkscape and gimp


----------



## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

corel draw



Toose said:


> from the sound of that i think the gcc would be better for me, I would rather deal with any troubles during the initial setting up process than having consistent problems, and if it's a popular model then chances are there will be someone online with the same problem (for both models I suppose). does either model need a specific software? I haven't purchased any yet but I do have a few different programs that I've downloaded and I believe at least one should work: an old version of adobe illustrator, I want to say v3... i also have inkscape and gimp


----------



## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

inkscape ma*y* work also.



Toose said:


> from the sound of that i think the gcc would be better for me, I would rather deal with any troubles during the initial setting up process than having consistent problems, and if it's a popular model then chances are there will be someone online with the same problem (for both models I suppose). does either model need a specific software? I haven't purchased any yet but I do have a few different programs that I've downloaded and I believe at least one should work: an old version of adobe illustrator, I want to say v3... i also have inkscape and gimp


----------



## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Toose said:


> does either model need a specific software? I haven't purchased any yet but I do have a few different programs that I've downloaded and I believe at least one should work: an old version of adobe illustrator, I want to say v3... i also have inkscape and gimp


Illustrator Version 3.0 is too old to use the Great Cut Plug In.....So with either Illustrator 3.0 or Inkscape you will have to save your files and import them into Great Cut....EPS from Illustrator works fine....Inkscape can also do an EPS but I have had some problems making it work...So when I have used Inkscape I did it via a PDF...Not sure if it just does not work or if I was missing something....I have a newer Illustrator so never spent much time trying to get Inkscape EPS to work....


----------



## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

bundles give you a lot of crap you may never use. we still have embroidery thread that we have never touched because the colors are just flat ugly. And.... we have NEVER printed a single golf ball with our dtg even though we have a holder for them. just give me the machine, a-la-cart and turn me loose.


----------



## Toose (Feb 3, 2012)

thanks guys, I appreciate all the help. I'm probably going to be ordering it this weekend when i get my next paycheck


----------



## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

most likely he means cs3, i dont even think there was a illustrator version 3 for the pc. my first verson was version 5.5 and that was in 96 on macos 7. illustrator 3 would be like ... i dont know windows for workgroups lol



royster13 said:


> Illustrator Version 3.0 is too old to use the Great Cut Plug In.....So with either Illustrator 3.0 or Inkscape you will have to save your files and import them into Great Cut....EPS from Illustrator works fine....Inkscape can also do an EPS but I have had some problems making it work...So when I have used Inkscape I did it via a PDF...Not sure if it just does not work or if I was missing something....I have a newer Illustrator so never spent much time trying to get Inkscape EPS to work....


----------



## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Version 2.0 was released for PC in 1989.....


----------



## agensop (Dec 11, 2008)

so that would mean it loaded in dos  and if he is running a machine in dos or win 3.1 and according to wikipedia there was NEVER a verson of illustrator 3 for windows. it went from 2 to 4.  i still stick by my assumption he means cs3 which he should be able to use with great cut 



royster13 said:


> Version 2.0 was released for PC in 1989.....


----------



## Toose (Feb 3, 2012)

agensop said:


> most likely he means cs3, i dont even think there was a illustrator version 3 for the pc. my first verson was version 5.5 and that was in 96 on macos 7. illustrator 3 would be like ... i dont know windows for workgroups lol


yeah i was referring to cs3, should have specified that


----------



## Nick Horvath (Feb 26, 2010)

The best buy for an inexpensive cutter in my opinion is the GCC Expert 24 and the GCC Expert 24LX (same but has an optic eye).

Many vendors will package this cutter with supplies and materials for a good deal.

Not always the easiest setup, but once you get set up and running its a good cutter.


----------



## PsychoChild (Apr 7, 2012)

I bought a USCUTTER and has had no problems with it yet and have been making stickers now looking to get some heat press vinyl


----------

