New and looking for feedback

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

If you are on a budget then you cannot go past the Titan 3 with RazorCut because the software has full blade compensation that you can adjust for the machine in YOUR shop which means within a few minutes tweaking you will get just as good a results as any Roland or Graphtec cutter.

 

The other major advantage the Titan 3 with RazorCut has which Roland, Graphtec, Mimaki and Summa do not is the ability to contour cut yards and yards (meters) of decals with super tight registration and within a 16th or mm or two... 

 

I saw the machine working in Shanghai and I've never seen anything anywhere near as accurate as the Titan 3 (Saga) and RazorCut... there is a video here:

 

while I agree that that titan3 is a great machine i was wondering did you have the titan3 and razorcut shipped to austrailia - and did the machine in shanghai use the razorcut that usc had private labeled and altered just for them?  it isn't offered anywhere else and thought this would be an expensive shipment overseas.  just want to clarify that this is first hand info and razorcut appeared in both places?  Australia and shanghai? 

[Wildgoose 4,200]

The other major advantage the Titan 3 with RazorCut has which Roland, Graphtec, Mimaki and Summa do not is the ability to contour cut yards and yards (meters) of decals with super tight registration and within a 16th or mm or two... 

Mat I don't know who has been blowing smoke up your rear end but you better get your facts straight before making inflammatory statements like these. I happen to own a Summa and while I can't speak for the other two (Graphic and Roland) Summa will perform at higher tolerances than the Titan (not knocking it specifically but that's the facts). Summa actually invented contour cutting and is the world leader in that regard. Summa OPUS X can scan long runs with multiple markers to compensate for material calibration so don't go around spouting that the titan has some new technology that no one else does. I think I read that Mutah will read multiple registration marks too and I would be surprised in Grahtec wasn't able to.  

 

 

To the Original Post, I have not owned a Graphtec or roland although I spent a lot of time researching and some hands on with a Graphtec before deciding to go with the Summa. Locally the Graphtec has much better support for blades and parts or service although from that research they don't have very many issues so service it a relative item. I never heard any bad things about the  Roland but the local sales people don't sell them around my area. I would recommend looking into your local options just to get a feel for it. I personally settled in for the more expensive Summa mostly because I decided it was a better value. (Not a cheaper machine, mind you, more expensive actually)

 

To answer your question about contour cutting that may still be hanging, I would be surprised if you NEED to contour cut 1 in 50 times. Like Dakota mentioned if you do a lot of printed t-shirt logo work and wanted to contour around them as a time saving method then you might want to be sure you have a contour cutting machine. My Summa does it although I rarely use it. I even do a fair amount of printed shirt work but each one is usually a one off design and you need a certain amount of open space around whatever you print to allow for the registration marks meaning that there ends up being a lot of wasted space if you want to contour cut it. Me, I usually just grab an Xacto knife and cut them out in about a minute by hand. If I was doing 50 then it would pay off to build the file and let the machine do it but not for just a few. So if you are doing more vinyl shirt graphics than printed then the contour cutting is less important and both the Graphtec and the Titan contour anyway so for most work you're going to be fine. What is a used Titan going to be worth in 5 to 10 years? A used Graphtec will hold it's value like a Toyota pickup and for the very same reason. Tough and dependable and not much more money than the Titan. I went Summa for a host of reasons but they are another step up the cost scale. I have been where you are at and I know how hard it is to get a clear solid answer. You will not regret buying a name brand cutter and if I were advising you I would say go with the Graphtec since you are a newbie and not sure to what extent you will utilize your machine. I had ran for a couple years with a P-Cut budget cutter and had established that it wold pay a good ROI before I made the leap. 

[Sal316 166]

Maybe mat works for USCutter and sales on the Titan3 are lagging...

 

Other than that I can't see why anyone would recommend the Titan series over a Graphtec, Roland or Summa.

[mat 0]

All I can tell you is what I've seen at various shows and demos and if you have a couple hundred decals of different sizes to cut over 20 feet none of them remain accurate by the end of job, but the Saga I saw cutting at a show did and even after 20 feet it was still cutting around each decal to within a 1/16 of an inch around the edges of each decal! It's the only machine and software I have ever seen do this consistently.

[jaybyrd 3,770]

If this is the only machine you have ever seen do this you haven't looked very closely at the other machines out there. I've never been hands on with a titan 3 so I'm not questioning it's ability but I have seen other brands hold thear own and would bet that they hold their own against ANY machine out there. None on my machines are contour cut capable but considering tracking is guaranteed to 50' on them and only 35' on the Titan 3 I find some of your claims hard to believe.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

So they are demonstrating the software that only USC sells and the private labeled cutter in austrailia too? Like goose,said I think you have not had enough exposure to the Roland or graphtec to be making that statement - that is what smells funny. Both and the summa can cut as long as any cutters out ther accurately. With the razor cut only being sold in the is with certain machines the endorsement is suspicious at best. Not saying it might not be able to do it just all things considered it doesn't pass the smell test

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

I'm not doubting it does a great job just the BS meter was going off the scale

[mat 0]

You're mixing up two completely unrelated issues - cutting vinyl signs and contour cutting long lengths of printed artwork from any printer.

 

I'm not saying the other brands don't track well, they do - very well (I still have a FC2100-50 which tracks well after 20+ years)... but every cutter loses accuracy when it goes back and forth dozens of times and a small loss of accuracy over a few feet soon becomes a much larger number as it is multiplied by the number of movements back and forth, and this is the problem when cutting lots of small decals over a long distance, where each decal has a tight registration of say 1/32" around the edges. 

 

This issue is far less apparent or an issue when just cutting vinyl.

 

Of course the other issue is the accuracy of the printed artwork itself which is often done by a third party. The results from printer to printer with regards to actual print size, skew, rotation, and the bow the print carriage may have can be quite significant when measured.

 

So what I am pointing out is that the Saga (Titan) with Dragon Cut (Razor Cut) deals with this problem by working down the roll of printed artwork using their ARMS controller and the laser sensors which continually adjusts the cutter to match the printed artwork, meaning that even after cutting for 20 feet or more on skewed and warped print files it is still amazingly accurate.

 

Unfortunately, at trade shows and at demos most manufacturers tend to demo only a couple of feet of contour cutting that in no way proves the cutter is very accurate over very long distances.

 

What impresses me is that Saga put their cutters to a real life test in front of everyone at a huge trade show.

 

My point being, that even if a Summa etc. can contour cut 20 feet or more of detailed printed artwork without losing any accuracy along the cutfile that’s great.  

 

But so can a Saga with Dragon Cut or a Titan with Razor Cut and for a lot less money - plus they’ve proven it in the field.

 

So if you’re on a budget it’s a good choice.