NWAWraps 3 Posted October 5, 2015 Hello everyone! My name is Justin. I'm starting my own decal/wraps business here in North West Arkansas to provide supplemental income while I go to school at University of Arkansas. I'm a bit older than all the other kids, so trying to provide for a family, while getting an education, without the help of my parents is a bit tough! I actually just purchased a USCutter MH-871 bundle that comes with USCutter vinyl, etc.. Figured that would get me started! The reason I chose this cutter was because the good reviews far outweighed the bad reviews, and from what I understand, if you set it up correctly and take care of it, it'll perform above its cost. Anyways, I look forward to interacting and meeting all of you, and definitely look forward to learning the ins and outs of vinyl cutting! Thank you, Justin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mr300s 1,272 Posted October 5, 2015 Welcome and Good luck, I would say you are a long way off from doing wraps, but it good to think ahead. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rlvied 292 Posted October 5, 2015 Welcome and good luck with the new venture Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wildgoose 4,200 Posted October 5, 2015 Welcome from Idaho. Whatever you do don't put that Green Star vinyl on a car. It has it's uses but vehicle graphics is not one of them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NWAWraps 3 Posted October 5, 2015 Thanks everyone! Yea I understand getting to wrapping won't happen overnight, but with smart business and financial decisions, I'll get there in no time. Wildgoose, I was actually going to start a new thread in the vinyl forum asking about that vinyl. Just for educational purposes, why wouldn't it be good for vehicle adhesion? Would it be ok for window decals? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rpmrpm 32 Posted October 5, 2015 Just for educational purposes, why wouldn't it be good for vehicle adhesion? Would it be ok for window decals? Greenstar will adhere just fine. It just has a low outdoor lifespan. My experience in Soothern California as car window decals (my family & friends) Greenstar has only lasted max 1 year before discoloring and/or cracking. Oracal 651 is the lowest cost vinyl I would "sell" as a car window decal. And for on paint Oracal 751. I do use Greenstar outdoor for temporary signs or hobby projects. I like the outdoor mat finish black & white for indoor signs and plaques. Has the nice glare free finish but has a good full adhesive. (sell lots of this to crafting groups) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NWAWraps 3 Posted October 5, 2015 Thank you Dakotagrafx! Rpmrpm thanks for the reply! Any ideas on the best place to purchase vinyl in bulk? Maybe a wholesaler? I've been browsing the forums earlier today and came across a recent thread that insisted Fellers was the best place to get vinyl. Is this the best place for cost effectiveness? The plotter is a 34" plotter, so I figured I'd buy 30"x50yd rolls to keep cost as low as possible. If it makes a difference, I do have state and federal tax ID's from a previous project venture that I could use to purchase wholesale. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rpmrpm 32 Posted October 5, 2015 I have searched pretty good & have found it hard to beat USCutter prices and the one time a issue came up it was handled properly. I also try to save up a order to maximize on the $9.99 flat shipping. EDIT and PS. Do not overlook the less expensive cost of the smaller size rolls (length & width) Yes you will save approx $30 on a say 30"x10yrd vs 30"x50 (approx .20c cheaper per linear foot for the 50yrd roll, .20x150=$30) But do out some math. Say you want to stock 10colors in 30"x50yrd 10 at $107.25 (colors are $130 a roll) at the end of all this you save 10x$30= $300 but you have had to invest $795 over the cost of 10x$27.75=$277.50 (30"x10yrd) not worth the $795 additional investment in my opinion. I have seen most of the smart guys on here (NOT ME) keep 50yrd rolls of white, black and maybe a silver then 10yrd rolls of any other color they want to stock. Also the cost per square foot of 24" vs 30" is almost identical (less than 1/2 cent difference) So you could lower the investment cost to 10x$21.99 = $219.99 (for 24"x10yrd) A little planning and a 24" roll goes a long way. Just saying, or was that too much...........and waiting for the professionals to correct me.............. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dwp99 283 Posted October 5, 2015 Hello Justin and Welcome. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NWAWraps 3 Posted October 5, 2015 I see what your saying. The initial investment is killer. It would make sense for a guy like me, who is just starting out, to purchase the 10yd rolls at an overall cheaper initial investment. I appreciate the input. I'll take your advice. Thank you dwp99! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wildgoose 4,200 Posted October 6, 2015 30" vinyl will be a waste of money, tougher to work with and bigger than you think. I have a 30" machine but only cut 30" once or twice a year at most. 30" is harder to mask off too. Either you buy a 100yd roll of app tape or you lap it and likely get some bubbles. Applying app tape that wide takes special tools too and you will be screwing it up and doing it over. I recommend sticking to 24" rolls. More common and usually better color availability. If I am buying for a specific job and 15" will do that's what I buy. The other problem you don't know you have yet is your MH cutter. There is a reason it's the bottom of the barrel cheap. It will not cut accurately on large things. Basically the first time you try to cut an 8ft or 10ft sign or graphic your going to have a mess on your hands. IF it has enough memory to actually do the job it will not track good enough to do it correctly. There are possible cutting programs that can help you get by until you can afford an upgrade. SignCut Pro is one and Flexi is another that will allow you to cut in increments. SignCut calls it Step-by-Step cutting. Basically you tell the cutter you want to cut in 10" increments and it will cut everything within that 10" part of the job and then move on to the next 10" and so forth until it gets to the end. The bad part about the budget cutters is often they can't even keep on track good enough for 10" to get all the lines to match up so you will find yourself with an Xacto knife cutting the little connected pieces and trying to make the curve of a large C or O still look right. Your MH can turn out decent work up to about 20-30" long. They don't do tiny things all that well either but can be dialed in to get you by on a one off job now and again. The MH is a hobbyist cutter at best. It's about 1 small step better than the CriCut they sell at walmart in fact in some scenarios I think the CriCut may out perform the MH. I really hate to break that to you but someone has to. As soon as you have a multi colored design that has tight tolerances of alignment you are going to hate your cutter. I used to have a P-Cut which is a couple steps up the chain and I was often unhappy with the ability to maintain precision alignment. I don't thing I fully understood what was really the problem until I got a high end cutter and BAM all of a sudden things line up like I thought they would. Other than White and Black I would wait until you need something special and order the roll in at that time. At least that way you know you will sell SOME of it. You will gradually build an inventory and many of them will hopefully be repeat customers for the colors you brought in. If you go buy a whole bunch of rolls you will find yourself out of money and trying to push colors on someone who wants something else. (ask me how I know this!) Most of us use white and black the heaviest then I tend to use bright red third favorite. After that you are into greens and blues which each have so many shades it makes your head spin. For vehicles I use cast vinyl other than sometimes a smallish window decal I might go with a name brand calendared like Oracal 651. The vinyl cost is really a small part of a well priced sale and I prefer to give the client a great product rather than an iffy one. Oracle makes fantastic vinyl that is easy to work with and hold up well. 751 is sufficient for most vehicle work unless you are getting into a lot of rivets or body contours, at that point I go for 951. Do some searching on Cast vs Calendared and you will learn a lot. Cast is high performance for vehicles and what I would call permanent signage like DiaBond business signs whereas calendared is for semi-permanant signage like property for sale signs 2-3 years (and Grean Star is for short term signage like 6 months although I rarely even sell it for that) Cast will shrink and swell with the sides of the vehicle (and glass) where calendared will develop stress cracks from the movement and begin to look bad sooner. I truly hope I haven't burst your bubble. Vinyl cutters are an absolute blast to own (even an MH). If you're diligent and a decent salesman you can easily make killer money. Good luck with all the new info and when you get stumped the guys and gals on the forum are super helpful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NWAWraps 3 Posted October 6, 2015 Wildgoose, that's some good information. I'm definitely not expecting a Roland quality cutter out of the MH cutter. I at least can say that! Haha. I understand it's a budget cutter, and I did a significant amount of research on the different USCutter machines and all have good and bad things. I will say that the MH appeared to have the better reviews based on what you get for the price. I also read that setup plays a huge role in how the machine performs. I was honestly looking at the laser point II, mainly because of the contour cutting (if I am looking to eventually get into wrapping, I would need something with contour cutting), but really couldn't find a lot of reviews to feel comfortable spending $400 on it, and still have to come out of pocket with a starte vinyl kit. I figured the $250 I spent on the MH package would be sufficient to get me started and learning. I'm hoping to upgrade within the next year, if everything goes well. I've done quite a bit of research on the difference between cast and calendared vinyl. What I didn't think about was demand on colors. So thank you for opening my eyes on that. I was about to go out and spend the $150 I saved buying the cutter on vinyl. After I read your post, I started thinking about what I see on the road as far as vinyl, and most cars have either white, grey/silver, or other various colors that stand out from window tint. That's good insight. Thank you! I still have to get the different vinyl numbers memorized and what they are used for. So I will definitely get the ball rolling on that. You definitely haven't burst my bubble, or deterred me away from cutting. I appreciate any and all input/criticism because that just allows me to get better on the subject by researching and paying attention to everything I do from buying equipment/products, to cutting and selling. I definitely appreciate your post! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wildgoose 4,200 Posted October 6, 2015 It's all good in the end and the things you will learn from your MH will only help you in the long run. IMO you won't need a contour cutter for wraps as they are full coverage and trimmed at the body panels. And buying a budget cutter to contour cut is also a waste of time. If you are going to contour cut you will be wanting one that is automatic not manual registration. You can actually manually contour cut with any cutter if you have the correct software to do it. You just align the knife over the points. The LP2 has a laser but it's still manual so it's a bit deceiving to the uninitiated. There are plenty here who make do with the MH, they're just quirky. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GraphxNMore 282 Posted October 6, 2015 WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! PIG!!! SOOIEEE!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KYSIGN 233 Posted October 6, 2015 The MH series cutters are hit or miss. I have my old one in storage that I used with no problems. I liked it so much I ordered a second one to help speed production. The second one never worked correctly and got exchanged for a Graphtec. The Graphtec cuts so fast I don't need two. Remember, don't work for free. I see people selling decals for pennies over cost every day. They drive the market price down and go out of business only to be replaced by the next fool in line. Rinse and repeat. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wildgoose 4,200 Posted October 6, 2015 WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!PIG!!! SOOIEEE!! What is this some sort of OurKansas thing? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NWAWraps 3 Posted October 6, 2015 RAZORBACKS!!! Kysign - yes. I've noticed a lot of people on eBay are basically giving their decals away. It's kind of hard to believe that after shipping cost, these businesses are making any money. Wildgoose - yes! It's an OurKansas thing! Haha 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GraphxNMore 282 Posted October 6, 2015 <blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="Wildgoose" data-cid="404681" data-time="1444166117"><p> What is this some sort of OurKansas thing?</p></blockquote> Beats the hell out of "ArkansaR" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hhsg 43 Posted October 12, 2015 Welcome. I know what you are going thru with family and school. Good luck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
