VinylRevamp 93 Posted September 21, 2015 Never actually posted on this intro page. From NY...moved to FL about a year ago. Fairly new to this world. Got myself a LP2 but since has made enough to buy a better cutter. Deciding between a graphtec or a titan. I mostly do HTV work By the way....you guys/girls in here have been very helpful whenever I had a question. Thanks! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ghost1 12 Posted September 21, 2015 I'm new to this forum as well, but I concur...very helpful indeed welcome aboard from a fellow New Yorker! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mr300s 1,272 Posted September 21, 2015 Welcome do a search on the Graphtec on here I think you might like the results 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slice&dice 2,450 Posted September 21, 2015 Hi, with over 200 posts, you obviously have been an enterprising participant here for a while. I have a question --- what is it about the LPII that's insufficent for you? When I hear people say they want to upgrade, I always wonder how their current machine is failing to satisfy them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VinylRevamp 93 Posted September 21, 2015 @slice - yeah I've been here a bit. Just never actually introduced myself. I see that a lot of you know each other (online) pretty well. LP2 has been good to me, but when it comes down to fine details, I see myself having problems. From what I hear, the higher end cutter are a lot better in that "field". Other than that, for the most part, its been going smooth. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slice&dice 2,450 Posted September 21, 2015 I run an MH cutter, and have been able to cut lettering into the realm of 1/4" Is a Graphtec more capable of finer details? Yep. However, in my sign-making shop, that's irrelevant, since I want lettering and graphics as BIG as I can fit, not miniaturized stuff. For those who are going into the other end of the spectrum of size, perhaps the Graphtec or Titan3 suits their needs. This same discussion is very common on these Forums, as you know. There are countless threads about the subject. Here is the decal I cut and apply to pens, those letters are 3/8" (look at the holes in the B and A -- I can just barely pick them out with my weeding tool because they're so tiny) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VinylRevamp 93 Posted September 21, 2015 That is pretty good! But like you said you want graphics and lettering as big as possible. I mostly do HTV on shirts and when you get lots of request for designs or saying that are in script font....and small....that's when it gets frustrating. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VinylRevamp 93 Posted September 21, 2015 Im not knocking the LP2. Its being good to me. I've made the money on it back plus some. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wildgoose 4,200 Posted September 21, 2015 I started out with a P-Cut and can both agree and disagree with slice. My budget cutter was capable of cutting some fairly small stuff if dialed in perfectly and I built my current business on the back of that cutter so in that sense you can get by with a budget machine in most instances. However, Things that DO make the difference are very noticeable after having a top of the line machine are as follows: Budget cutters may turn out a decent stand alone product but when you are doing a multi-layer design that has tight tolerances where the colors interact such as punched out text that has to align perfectly with the surrounding layer the accuracy difference is night and day. I used to have to design specially loose and sloppy so you couldn't tell that the two layers didn't actually match that well. Also along the same line of thought when doing very large graphics that were tiled in two or three sections the budget cutter couldn't get things close enough that all the parts would line up. Using the weeding lines in your cutting program can be a sketchy thing if you own a budget model. I basically hand cut all the weeding lines when I ran a budget model because i would cut into the design regularly if I tried to let the cutter do it. Servo cutters have no issue. Many copies of designs are probably the single biggest reason to switch over. My business increased to where I often make many hundreds of copies of a given design and by budget model could only handle about 8 or 10 at a time without a problem and even then I felt the need to hover at the cutter then whole time it was working in case something went wrong and I would need to catch it before it ruined all the rest. My Summa I can literally load a whole 10 yard roll on and let it cut the whole thing while I am off to the store or in the other room weeding some other part of the project. Also contrary to popular opinion the tiny cuts made on servo machines DO in fact weed a little better than the ones made on budget machines due to the accuracy of the cut and no hanging chad. No tiny text is very easy to weed but it does help to have a servo. So in the end you CAN get by with a budget stepper cutter but the benefits of a higher end servo cutter are real and very well worth the investment especially if you are trying to make a business out of it. Sometimes the start-up money isn't there and that's ok too because many a small business has started from very little, mine included. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ghost1 12 Posted September 21, 2015 ^^^^^^ quality post, there buddy! I have learned more from two of goose's posts than hours of googling and "browsing". Thanks! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VinylRevamp 93 Posted September 21, 2015 Nicely written goose! Again, the LP2 is giving me the chance to buy things to improve my overall "business". A new laptop...looking into a new cutter and heat press. One thing goose said that stood out was the "hovering over the cutter". I actually do that everyone once in a while lol 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MadHatterGraphix 1,258 Posted September 21, 2015 I think we all hovered over the value cutter(s). I noticed the difference between the MH series and my Graphtec and corners are sharper and never had an issue with trying to weed fine cut details. And Goose's post brilliant. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
