So You Want to Buy a Vinyl Cutter By Jeff Simon
Now that you’ve been airbrushing for a while, you want to make the jump and purchase a vinyl cutter, also known as a computer driven plotter, to cut per- fect lettering, stencils and any other image you can draw on a computer. So you google “vinyl cutter” and search E-bay and you are inundated with so many different brands and prices your head starts spinning and confusion sets in. For this article I interviewed Nick Horvath from Stahl’s Cad-Cut Di- rect, a manufacturer of heat applied products and equipment for garment decorating. Nick is Stahl’s company ex- pert on vinyl cutters and has personally tested many different brands of these machines and can provide an objective, unbiased opinion on what to look for when purchasing a vinyl cutter. Stahl’s has a lot of useful information on their website. If you go to
www.stahls. com and search down the left side of the home page, click on Educational Videos Products, it will bring you to a page with various videos. On the right, middle portion of the page, look for a box with the title: Vinyl Cutter Training Video Series and click on a button that says view videos, which will bring you to a sign in page. You are required to sign in to view the videos, which will allow you to see Nick’s review of ten of the most popular vinyl cutters. Also, if you search under Technical Support, you will find some lessons on how to use Corel Draw.
Nick, can you tell us something about your background and experience with vinyl cutters as well as your company, Stahl’s Cad-Cut Direct?
Stahls’ ID Direct™ is a world leader spe-
cializing in the development, manufac- turing, and distribution of heat printing technologies. Stahls’ ID Direct provides customers with the most cost effec- tive and efficient ways to decorate gar- ments and is the premier source for CAD-CUT® materials, CAD-PRINTZ™ Digital Transfers, Hotronix® heat presses, pre-cut letters and numbers, pre-positioned names and numbers, custom logos, appliqué, cutters, and more! Established in 1932, Stahls’ ID Direct is a privately-held, family-owned company and headquartered in St. Clair Shores, MI. Michigan native Nick Horvath began his career with Stahls’ in 1991. He started as a Customer Service representative and also worked in the Product Testing laboratories where he put his knowl- edge of heat transfer materials to the test for more than four years. Nick at- tended Roland® University’s Cutter Training and serves as an expert re- source on using vinyl cutters. He has several vinyl cutters surrounding his desk at all times and answers custom- er questions on a daily basis. Nick is a frequent contributor to T-shirtForums. com and is currently part of the CAD- CUT® Direct sales team.
Q - Nick; I see vinyl cutters ranging in price from a few hundred dollars to over $2000. Most of us in the airbrush and custom paint industry will only be using the cutter a few hours a week and not running yards of vinyl through it like a sign shop, so is there any rea- son we shouldn’t buy the cheapest ma- chine?
A - Many of the cheaper cutters have little technical support, no printer driv- ers, difficult to set up, and can only use the software that comes with the ma- chine. Basically, it’s a roll of the dice. Some work ok and some do not. If you run in to difficulty, many times there is
no where to turn for technical assis- tance.
Q - I know you and your company have tested a bunch of different cutters. Can tell us something abut the difference between the lower priced and higher end machines?
A - A lot of the inexpensive cutters you see on E-Bay lack customer support and you are basically on your own once you receive it. Also these cheap cut- ters tend not to have a printer driver so you’re relegated using the software that comes with the machine, which is usually not very intuitive. Quality wise some of these low priced cutters are not very good, although there are some really good ones, such as the GCC cut- ters. For a cutter under $500, the GCC Ex- pert 24 does very well. It has its own printer driver so you can not only use the Great Cut software that comes with the machine, but you can cut from any sign cutting software and even some graphics programs such as Corel Draw and Adobe Illustrator. Also, GCC has an office in the United States and provides good customer support. The GCC Sable and GCC Puma are a step up from the Expert 24. These have servo motors, which are more reliable, quieter and durable than the stepper motors that are in most of the less expensive cutters. The Roland GX24, Suma and Graphtec cutters are some of the best cutters you can buy, but also come with a rather expensive price tag. As far as high end cutters go, I like the Roland GX24. It is very turnkey and one of the easiest cutters to set up and use.
Q - Let’s talk about software as the cutter is useless without the software to design and cut the vinyl. Do most cutters come with software or is that
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32