hi, everyone :)

[stickerbus 0]

new to participating here but an old(ish) member. i have a small vinyl cutting biz but am looking to expand and offer more fun stuff. i'm hoping to get lots of advice from the veterans in the business and happy to return the favor if i can. i know the possibilities are endless but there is so much to learn!

 

we started on a very simple machine a few years ago and surprisingly it is still going strong. but we really want to upgrade and open the door to new opportunities so i am anxious to learn as much as i can about machines, printers, etc.

 

looking forward to getting to know you!

 

christina

[rlvied 292]

Welcome to the forum Christina. There are plenty of good people here to answer your questions. Nice site you have.

Bob

[mabscotthandyman 1,410]

Hello and welcome Christina. I like your screen name by the way. You will probably find that Graphtec will be the hands down favorite ... Next would probably be Roland and there are a ton of other professional cutters and value cutters then several mid range cutters. I would suggest reading the specs on all the cutters and reviews is any are avaliable and make an educated choice. Good luck

I just checked out your website very nice

Dan

[dwp99 283]

Hello and Welcome Christina,  Don't over look the Summa,  I've got an old D-60 that I think is great.

[stickerbus 0]

hi again!

 

thank you sooo much for your kind words. it means so much to me. many months (years even) of hard work and still so much to learn.

 

my husband and i were shopping around a couple of months ago and came across a Roland machine that looked promising but it's not large enough to do things like wall decals which is something i'm interested in doing.

http://www.mclogan.com/shop/roland-printer-cutter-c-245.html

 

but honestly, that's really the only one we've looked at so i'm grateful for the suggestions you've given above.

 

christina

[slice&dice 2,450]

Stickerbus, eh?

 

[mabscotthandyman 1,410]

This is the roland I was talking about it cuts up to almost 24 inches wide but does not print. If you want something wider you can always tile your cuts ( that just means cutting your design in two or more pcs ) but like I said take your time there is a lot of cutters to look at.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

The roland printer you looked at is very limited in media availability - look at the 30 or 54" if you have room.  I have the 30 and love it - I think I am the only person I know of though that went from a 54 to a 30"  does about 95 percent of what I want to do and is only about 8' long instead of 12' long.   they are pricy and do require weekly maint though

[Wildgoose 4,200]

You're definitely going to want a machine that at least does 24" vinyl. I, like dakota downsized. I originally bought a 48" machine from USCutter but never ever actually cut any 24" vinyl. The only thing I ever did was a plotting operation with the pen tool on some 50" paper for a welcome home wall banner that they colored by hand after I used the cutter to outline the text. When I upgraded I went with a new SummaCut D75 which is 30". When I started up I had erroneously assumed that I would be cutting these huge full sized 4'x8' signs which I could have but most of them are simpler (and more cost effective) to just cut the various lines of text and assemble on the signboard. Also if you mess up then you haven't ruined a 48" sheet of vinyl.  The Summa is expensive but I love it. I have heard the Graphtec and Roland machines are nice too. If you can justify the initial cost it is real nice to have a professional cutter over a hobby model. 

[stickerbus 0]

hello!

 

@slice&dice, you know... it wasn't until about a year after i purchased the domain (2009?) that i started seeing links to and photos of "The Sticker Bus". i thought i was being so creative when i came up with the name. i wanted something easy and fun to remember. 

 

@mabscotthandyman, thanks for the suggestion. 

 

@dakotagrafx, so 30" sounds like a good way to go then.

 

@Wildgoose, it's funny you should mention the larger signs. we made some 6' x 18" signs for my brother in law and they were so difficult i wanted to cry. aside from just being so cumbersome to work with, my little machine kept creeping so the sticker would not cut straight along the axis and would hit the reset button before it could finish the cut. i wasted so much vinyl. never thought to do the larger signs in sections. i have to ask though, isn't it harder to line them up correctly when you do them in pieces?

 

thanks again for all the input. i'm truly grateful for the advice.

 

christina

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

personally I am the only person I know of that started with a 54" and downsized to a 30" but for what I do it is perfect - the 20" is very very limited in media - the 30" is better and I have to admit the 54" has the best selection of media but with either of the smaller ones the media can be cut down if you can't find it - so far I have found 95 percent of what I want in 30" size

[Wildgoose 4,200]

 i have to ask though, isn't it harder to line them up correctly when you do them in pieces?

 With a little practice it comes easier. I try to avoid tiling anything if I can. Like Dakota said, 30" vinyl will do almost anything. Usually even 4'x 8' signs have enough break in the design to be able to do them in 24" material. I have found it handy to be able to get 30" vinyl due to occasionally buying from the local supply and they might have a color I want but only in the 30". (If I had a smaller cutter I would just chop off whatever I couldn't feed through the cutter and be fine. ) I almost exclusively buy 24" vinyl. Sometimes locally I will buy some 15" but too often things go a little over the 15" mark and the 15" is punched on the sides for the sprocket style cutters so you can't even cheat and cut outside your pinch rollers. 

[mabscotthandyman 1,410]

Stickerbus, eh?

 

[img=http://8020.photos.jpgmag.com/2424818_140691_1101a08020_p.jpg]

Slice you must be a wiz at web searches lol