PDA

View Full Version : Cutters and Software. Which?



arko
11-08-2012, 10:15 AM
Hi guys. Im looking at purchasing a cutter/plotter and have been amazed at the vast selection currently available. My question is, which would be an ideal all-round model for starting out with? Also, Do they all use their own software or are they compatible with all the major names? It seems that whenever I am looking at models, they all have CorelDraw in common. Is this just the design software or is it also used for the cutting/plotting translation?

WorthDoingRight
11-08-2012, 02:03 PM
Well, the choice of plotter/cutter will depend on a few factors the many ones being:
A) What your budget is
B) How much of a learning curve you are willing to put up with
C) How big you want to plot/cut

If you are looking for a 12" width cutter with good software and the ability to do cutting/plotting then the Silhouette cutter at around the £275 price is often the model of choice.

If you need bigger than 12" say 24" or 48" (or bigger) then you either have to buy a chinese machine if your budget is limited (from around £200) or have deep pockets for the higher quality graphtec/roland machines where £1,000+ likely to be your budget.

Trouble is chinese machines are notorious for terrible instructions and are reliant on you having a bit of pc knowledge normally to configure whatever software you decide to use with it.

Recently a lot of members have bought the Silhouette on here and seem to like the machine (and I would be lying if I said there are not days I wish I had maybe gone down this route)

I on the other hand recently bought a chinese Liyu 28"? plotter as I wanted the ability to feed larger rolls of vinyl etc through. I have not been disappointed by the machine, it cuts nicely and for me with a bit of pc knowledge it has been no hassle.

My first sign vinyl attempt was a 2' wide 6" deep multiline layout for a friends office window. This could have been cut on the Silhouette also. However he know wants some very tall single letters for his signs and this is where the larger cutter is necessary.

I am off to now try to cut a rhinestone template which is one job that I am sure the Silhouette is much better at along with the Silhouettes cutting mat that I imagine makes a lot of jobs much easier.

Coreldraw is just one of the industry standard design packages for Vector artwork along with Illustrator - however there is the free Inkscape if you need something to try. A number of cutters claim they have plug-ins for Coreldraw to cut directly from the program however I feel that most users will probably export and cut in another software package.

Anyway hope this helps.

arko
11-08-2012, 02:55 PM
Well, that certainly was a great comment. Thankyou very much. I will go take a peek at the Silhouette. I have seen the Liyu advertised all over eBay (SC361) for around £250, although I thought it was a 24" model. I have around £450 budget for this so maybe I could afford some good software to go along with the Silhouette if I decided on that route. Youyr info has been very much appreciated. Cheers! :)
Ian.

Paul
11-08-2012, 03:21 PM
If you will go for chinese cutter i would recomend flexistarter10 or older v.8
I use that and love it.
But as far as i know loads of the cutters come with the software any way...


I am off to now try to cut a rhinestone template which is one job that I am sure the Silhouette is much better at along with the Silhouettes cutting mat that I imagine makes a lot of jobs much easier.

I prove you soon that cutting mat is just unneeded gadget for rhinestones :cool::wink:

Dave271069
12-09-2012, 09:06 PM
is the cameo ok for t-shirts , hoodies etc, the main you tube video ive seen kind of shows off its card making skills, im also finding it very difficult to learn all the termanolgy for the flex rhinestone, and everything else you all go on about,:confused:

Paul
12-09-2012, 09:26 PM
cameo will be fantastic for flex and flock. only limitation will be the size. but I dont think you would often cut biger then A3 any way for t-shirts.

PAul

WorthDoingRight
13-09-2012, 12:37 AM
I dont think you would often cut biger then A3 any way for t-shirts.

Well not for most shirts - not too sure about those for bigj2552 and me though lol :rolleyes:

WorthDoingRight
13-09-2012, 12:44 AM
Well I now have two cutters. My first is a a Liyu TC631E which is a stepper motor based 600mm cutter that I run via a serial cable and although it makes a fair amount of noise it cuts fine. The wife then bought me a SAGA-1350II cutter, this is a servo motor based cutter, is twice as big as the other cutter, looks fabulous, works perfectly on windows 7 64bit with drivers to print from coreldraw etc and flexi starter 10.5 via USB and best of all it is almost silent in operation! Never heard of this brand till the wife bought it off eBay last week but must say she seems to have found a big gem. I am not sure if this SAGA is somewhat similar to Paul's SEIKI? model but looks a similar grey colour.

bigj2552
13-09-2012, 12:46 AM
Well not for most shirts - not too sure about those for bigj2552 and me though lol :rolleyes:


tell me about it.....i,m an XXL....51" CHEST LOL :cool:..and it aint fat ...double :cool:

Charlie_
13-09-2012, 09:12 AM
[QUOTE=WorthDoingRight; I am not sure if this SAGA is somewhat similar to Paul's SEIKI? model but looks a similar grey colour.[/QUOTE]

Back to the over 560's again I see Richard lol

GoldRapt
13-09-2012, 09:12 PM
If you use corel, download Cutting master 2, it's free and it works.

arko
14-09-2012, 10:11 AM
Thanks Goldrapt. Just took a look at Graphtec. Seems interesting. I have bookmarked for future reference. :biggrin:

arko
14-09-2012, 01:56 PM
Just noticed that it states that their software will not work with CorelDraw pirated or patchked software! Hahaha!
CUTTING MASTER WILL ONLY WORK WITH:
COMPLETE/RETAIL VERSION OF ADOBE® ILLUSTRATOR AND COREL DRAW®

WARNING:
CUTTING MASTER WILL NOT INSTALL INTO PIRATED OR PATCHED COPIES OF ADOBE® ILLUSTRATOR OR COREL DRAW®
I got it work on my version!!! (just kidding!)

soulclaimed
25-09-2012, 11:35 PM
please could you tell me where you got the saga or where i could get one the almost silent part is good for me due to living in a flat

WorthDoingRight
25-09-2012, 11:56 PM
I bought my SAGA from eBay, it is the servo motor version not the stepper motor version - my Liyu stepper motor version is much noisier.

Renniwano
26-09-2012, 01:10 PM
There's also the new Silver Bullet machines.. I have the older style Cougar and use it for everything as it can cut anything from vinyl through to thin leathers and matboard.. great if you're after something that can do everything.. not so great if you just want to do vinyl though lol.. I use Signcut and Corel with mine but they are compatible with other software.

Good luck with your search :)

arko
26-09-2012, 01:23 PM
Good luck with your search :)

Thankyou. I now have signgo, corel draw and a cheapo cutter. (damn instructions though are a pain!.... there isnt any! hahaha... Maybe I will post a tutorial if I get the thing to work!

WorthDoingRight
26-09-2012, 01:40 PM
Thankyou. I now have signgo, corel draw and a cheapo cutter. (damn instructions though are a pain!.... there isnt any! hahaha... Maybe I will post a tutorial if I get the thing to work!

Well if you give the name of the cheapo cutter someone may already be able to help you :wink:

arko
26-09-2012, 02:16 PM
haha... yup, forgot that..... Ramtin EH720. It only came with 4 very short videos which basically say nothing... how to put the stand together, install the blade, and installing the driver (which my pc did automatically from the internet once I had connected the serial/USB to the machine.) There is no display for the pressure or speed, which you can do manually, or apparently it is suppossed to be able to be configured from Signgo. Thats about all the info I have. Im still playing around with signgo, well... reading the built in manual.

WorthDoingRight
26-09-2012, 03:13 PM
Well the EH720 has been a cheap and cheerful cutter for a while and from what I have read it does the job well. If it cuts out vinyl fairly accurately and is supported by your software then that is most of the battle won.

arko
26-09-2012, 03:16 PM
Sorry, its the UK720... apparently an upgraded version.

WorthDoingRight
26-09-2012, 04:33 PM
Sorry, its the UK720... apparently an upgraded version.

Well not sure what has been upgraded. It might just be the first two letters lol. I think there is a lot of rebadging going on of the same models of chinese cutters to make one suppliers seem superior to another - whether there is infact any difference is hard to tell as the instructions are often as good as non-existant. When I bought my first Liyu TC631E cutter the instructions were so bad I couldnt even work out how to put the stand together let alone put the cutter on the stand!! Luckily I did not need the rubbish instructions to actual attach the machine to the PC or I might have still been trying now!

arko
26-09-2012, 05:02 PM
Im starting to figure it out.... The cutting rail is 720mm wide but the blade starts at 80mm as the blade carrier is this wide, it can cut then right up to 690mm on the rail before the carrier stops. I can then feed my material through anywhere from just under 80mm to minimise waste. If I say at about 70mm then I know that I will have a 10mm border as an offset in my signgo programme.... The rest I havent worked out yet apart from the mirror image setting is such a small button it is real hard to find. Will update soon! hahaha!

Heatpressuk
26-09-2012, 08:02 PM
When you do approach companies selling the low to mid range cutters make sure they supply spares and ask what back up service they give. I work alot on the technical side with cutters and find that even years down the line customers still need assistance. Most models you will find are generic even with different names however the quality can differ from one to the next.

soulclaimed
26-09-2012, 11:09 PM
I searched saga on ebay and couldnt find anything?

Horse Pop
03-03-2013, 02:53 PM
Just bumping this because I have a similar question.

My wife is after a cutter / plotter which can do paper / vinyl. Other materials is not such a big deal. She wants to do cards, t-shirts, stickers etc.

She needs something compatible with CorelDraw.

It seems like my options at our budget are the Cameo and Cutwizard or a variety of Chinese plotters.

What I am wondering is:
What the limitations of the Cameo are. I gather it will only do certain materials for example.
How good/bad is cutwizard for working with stuff from Corel?

How bad are the Chinese plotters? Preliminary research has led me here among other places and I see a lot of complaining about some of them.
Sounds like the software can be a bit hit and miss and there can be build quality issues.
What is the least painful plotter/software option if we go for Chinese?

What would you guys suggest?

Thanks.

Heatpressuk
03-03-2013, 03:41 PM
Just bumping this because I have a similar question.

My wife is after a cutter / plotter which can do paper / vinyl. Other materials is not such a big deal. She wants to do cards, t-shirts, stickers etc.

She needs something compatible with CorelDraw.

It seems like my options at our budget are the Cameo and Cutwizard or a variety of Chinese plotters.

What I am wondering is:
What the limitations of the Cameo are. I gather it will only do certain materials for example.
How good/bad is cutwizard for working with stuff from Corel?

How bad are the Chinese plotters? Preliminary research has led me here among other places and I see a lot of complaining about some of them.
Sounds like the software can be a bit hit and miss and there can be build quality issues.
What is the least painful plotter/software option if we go for Chinese?

What would you guys suggest?

Thanks.

Check this out about Cameo: http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Silhouette_Cameo. It covers a part on Corel for more information I would give Graphtec a call.

The chinese manufactured cutters (which are most models on the market even ""branded"" ones) are quite generic in the way they are manufactured. However they do differ in quality of cut and quality of finish. I would always check with whoever you buy from if they support their cutters with spares and along with setup. A company who is easy to talk and offers backup would be the way to go vs buying the cheapest cutter with no help.

I've been able to in the past, cut direct from Corel with a specific driver however you can use Corel in conjunction with a freeware cutter program (that would come with a cutter) and still produce what you desire. Some of the freeware programs shouldn't be entirely dismissed for e.g. Artcut, I knew a chap who took 3 days learnt everything there was and was able to do produce exactly what he needed without the initial expense of a professional program.

Hope this is some help.

Horse Pop
03-03-2013, 03:43 PM
Cheers, having a look.

Justin
11-04-2013, 04:15 PM
I'd like to keep this thread going a little :-) My MH721 is playing up so I'm thinking about either going back to a Roland or buying a Graphtec. I have a Cameo which is fine for smaller work.

I'd like to cut straight from CorelDraw as I used to on my old Roland CX24 (Oh why did I sell that...twice!) but maybe buying a better cutter will allow this option without having to mess about trying to find drivers etc.

logobear
12-04-2013, 02:05 AM
most roll media comes in 500mm rolls, the cameo is fine, small on the desk, but wastefull coz you have to cut down media, and hence slow if you get a large order. Try for a s/h Graphtec or Roland if you can - they last for ever!

RogerC
12-04-2013, 04:59 AM
I'd like to keep this thread going a little :-) My MH721 is playing up so I'm thinking about either going back to a Roland or buying a Graphtec. I have a Cameo which is fine for smaller work.

I'd like to cut straight from CorelDraw as I used to on my old Roland CX24 (Oh why did I sell that...twice!) but maybe buying a better cutter will allow this option without having to mess about trying to find drivers etc.

Justin...if you want print/cut I highly recommend a Versacamm and if only cutting then the Graphtec is excellent......Verscamm cuts via Corel export as eps file to Versaworks and Graphtec cuts direct from Corel I have both and am well pleased with them. Remember though the Versacamm with more than 2 print heads whilst desirable is pricy to repair and/or contract with Roland.

Justin
12-04-2013, 01:03 PM
I've managed to sort my MH721 but cutting is still a bit of a pain.

I've been considering a versacamm.

Horse Pop
14-04-2013, 10:32 PM
Bought a Cameo just to make life simple and so far I think we're pretty impressed with it. I'm sure I'd have heard about it if there was a problem.

Bought one from Italy via ebay and it was v, v cheap.

It's a good little machine.

Dave271069
15-04-2013, 10:41 AM
I have a cameo and as nice as they are as soon as you try and print anything bigger then the 12x12 mat it just slips and ruins your work, its a pain in the butt especially as ive just started to do wall art and ive ruined loads because of slipping ahhhh