# Using plotters/vinyl cutters



## People T-Shirts (Jul 10, 2006)

Does anyone here use plotter/cutters to cut heat transfer papers?

I just think it would be a lot more productive and better looking if I bought myself something to cut the designs from the tranfer paper.

Any reccomendations?


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## hammered (Apr 14, 2006)

If you wanna go this route, youll need a plotter with _eyes_. If youre looking to pick up a good plotter for this purpose, Id suggest the Roland Robocraft. Not using mine for this, I cant help ya with this.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Seems like a lot of people use scissors or an xacto knife (according to this past thread):
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/showthread.php?t=3321

Here's a post about using a vinyl cutter on transfer paper:
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/showthread.php?t=3659

:welcome:


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## suzieh (Feb 8, 2006)

I have a Graphtec 3000. Haven't had time to get it going....but need to VERY SOON.

This Graphtec is tried/true with sign industry, has optical eye. Has "tangential" so helpful for our non-t-shirt stuff.

The Roland (cam24?) doesn't have tangential capability. Also, I think the Roland favors Illustrator. I'm mainly on CorelDraw. 

Other cutter at the Graphtec level is Summa. You can read up at signs101.com or signweb.com


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## JoshEllsworth (Dec 14, 2005)

Roland is Corel friendly as well. It has plug in options for Corel, Illustartor or stand alone.


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## jrford (Jun 29, 2006)

suzieh said:


> I have a Graphtec 3000. Haven't had time to get it going....but need to VERY SOON.
> 
> This Graphtec is tried/true with sign industry, has optical eye. Has "tangential" so helpful for our non-t-shirt stuff.
> 
> ...


I have the Summa as well as experience with Graphtec and a wide range of others. If you can afford to, go with either the Graphtec or the Summa. You will not be sorry because they are real workhorses. Tangental cutting comes in handy on minute lettering but, my current unit uses tangental emmulation and can cut letters as small as 1/8 inch cleanly.

If money prevents getting one of these two brands, Ioline provides a really decent unit at a reasonable price.


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## MotoskinGraphix (Apr 28, 2006)

I agree with just about everything stated here. I have an older Roland CX-24. I got it for doing vinyl graphics and paint mask for airbrush...it can do much more but serves its purpose handily. I do really love the Suma line of cutters. I dont have the eyes newer cutters have but it wasnt purchased for transfers and registration of printed designs wasnt a need. I do quite a few outdoor/indoor events and this thing travels all the time. There is something to be said for equipment that can hold up on the road...set up and broken down on an almost weekly basis. Ease of use and an easy learning curve with settings that can be changed on the fly. There are a bunch of cutters out there with eyes that dont cost a fortune and will cut your transfers easily. Most have the new T blade head technology or an emulation of it...simply put the blade turns in the cutting head instead of the older drag blade technology. I think any plotter will do the transfers if it has eyes. I have found something interesting doing outdoor events. The simple eye my cutter does have for loading vinyl is sensitive. I dont know what would happen outdoors with a full registration mark sensing cutter. Sometimes it gets very moody in the wrong light. Cutting 1/8 inch letters is just silly...if your work is that intricate for the most part you probably need a full print cut system. I hate weeding small letters with a passion. I havent really looked at the print cut systems in a while but I am sure there is something out there for the transfer market.


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## People T-Shirts (Jul 10, 2006)

By "eyes" you guys mean vinyl cutters that have a sensor to detect pre-printed material, right? Or is it something else?

So, it's safe to say that as long as I get one with "eyes" it'll cut my transfers?


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## JoshEllsworth (Dec 14, 2005)

Yes, it needs to have an optical eye sensor, to cut printed transfers easily.


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## Ken Styles (Mar 16, 2006)

ok so I have a question and I hope I can explain it

Lets say you have a vector file in Illustrator.

Can't you print it from Illustrator to your printer. Then take the transfer and place it in the cuter. Then cut the same image out?

As long as the image placement from the computer to the printer and from the printer to the cutter are in the same position and the vector is not touched during the process?

Assuming that both the printer and the cutter are compatible with the vector program you are using?


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## jrford (Jun 29, 2006)

To do this you must include registration marks on your printout that the printer will recognize. Different printer's/software use different registration marks so the correct ones must be used. The cutter uses these marks to locate the graphic on the printout and then follow the cutting path you created in your drawing program.


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