Best plotter cutter for absolute detail work? (less than 5mm characters)

[Jonesy 1]

Hello guys, I'm curious to know if there's any plotter cutter that will do excellent work for characters less than 5mm in height. I've had a Graphtec and currently have a Roland and they do pretty well, but upon close inspection you can see they're not perfect - is there anything that's a step up or is it simply not possible?

 

Edit* Just read the spec sheet for the CE6000 and the FC8600-60 and for the CE it says the min character size is 5mm, and for the FC8600 it states 3mm.. is there any difference in the real world?

 

Thanks

[knucklehead 530]

SUMMA, just what I've heard, I don't do little stuff anymore.

[slice&dice 2,450]

I wouldn't want to weed stuff that small -- but hey, that's just me.

[Jonesy 1]

SUMMA, just what I've heard, I don't do little stuff anymore.

They do have tangential cutters which I believe cut more accurately, but they're upwards of £6000 here in the UK.. I'm looking at spending no more than £3000.. I'm interested in the FC8600-60 since it states it can cope with characters around 3mm in size. The characters I'm cutting will never be any smaller than 3.5mm in size. I have had experience with the CE6000 cutting 3.5mm characters and as I say it did a pretty good job, but I'm looking for something that recreates the designs flawlessly. Since the CE6000 spec sheet states it will do 5mm characters, and in actual fact it does 3.5mm characters reasonably well, do you think the FC8600 which states it will do 3mm characters will easily cope with the 3.5mm I'm looking for?

[Jonesy 1]

I wouldn't want to weed stuff that small -- but hey, that's just me.

It's actually not too bad with a very small pair of tweezers, and the item in questions sells well so I'm not too bothered. Just looking to produce the best products for my customers.

[knucklehead 530]

They do have tangential cutters which I believe cut more accurately, but they're upwards of £6000 here in the UK.. I'm looking at spending no more than £3000.. I'm interested in the FC8600-60 since it states it can cope with characters around 3mm in size. The characters I'm cutting will never be any smaller than 3.5mm in size. I have had experience with the CE6000 cutting 3.5mm characters and as I say it did a pretty good job, but I'm looking for something that recreates the designs flawlessly. Since the CE6000 spec sheet states it will do 5mm characters, and in actual fact it does 3.5mm characters reasonably well, do you think the FC8600 which states it will do 3mm characters will easily cope with the 3.5mm I'm looking for?

 

You said you wanted a machine, to produce the BEST product, for your customers. There's also Graphtec, and Summa, with better precision, flatbed cutters.

[Jburns 239]

I like my FC7000- for best detail, which I have done a ton of, you need a cleancut 60 deg. blade, premium cast material, (oracal 751 below)  slow speed, correct blade depth, etc. etc.

 

[Jonesy 1]

You said you wanted a machine, to produce the BEST product, for your customers. There's also Graphtec, and Summa, with better precision, flatbed cutters.

Yes - within reason. What I'm basically asking is if a £3,000 machine will produce high quality results for what I'm looking for. At the moment the quality of the work is questionable. Don't get me wrong, the machine is perfect for the larger decals I do, but for the small stuff? Nah. It's alright, but not great.

 

Not sure where the attitude is coming from, I'm obviously just asking if the FC8600 will produce better results.

[Jonesy 1]

I like my FC7000- for best detail, which I have done a ton of, you need a cleancut 60 deg. blade, premium cast material, (oracal 751 below)  slow speed, correct blade depth, etc. etc.

 

 

Thanks for the example, that's beautiful work! Is the FC7000 just the previous version of the FC8600 or is it a different model line entirely?

[Jburns 239]

actually two versions behind the FC8600.

[Jonesy 1]

actually two versions behind the FC8600.

Interesting.. that work definitely looks cleaner than what my Roland does. Do you know what size the characters are?

[Jburns 239]

cant' recall- cant find the file- maybe i didnt save it. but its all blade depth, pressure, speed- you can barely see the blade out of the tip of the holder. - only the tip is sticking out.

[Jonesy 1]

cant' recall- cant find the file- maybe i didnt save it. but its all blade depth, pressure, speed- you can barely see the blade out of the tip of the holder. - only the tip is sticking out.

Ah yes, I've played around quite a lot with blade depth, pressure, speed, the smoothing option, and offset.. the cutter cuts fine, it's just for detail work it doesn't seem amazing. It's not bad though, and I love it for larger decals.. they are beautiful!

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

personal experience is a graphtec will cut much finer than anything else I have tried regardless of model - haven't tried a summa but had several roland and graphtecs and even the OLD fc 4100 would cut the finest detail i could try

[knucklehead 530]

Yes - within reason. What I'm basically asking is if a £3,000 machine will produce high quality results for what I'm looking for. At the moment the quality of the work is questionable. Don't get me wrong, the machine is perfect for the larger decals I do, but for the small stuff? Nah. It's alright, but not great.

 

Not sure where the attitude is coming from, I'm obviously just asking if the FC8600 will produce better results.

 

No attitude brother, just answering your question, "Hello guys, I'm curious to know if there's any plotter cutter that will do excellent work for characters less than 5mm in height".

[Jonesy 1]

No attitude brother, just answering your question, "Hello guys, I'm curious to know if there's any plotter cutter that will do excellent work for characters less than 5mm in height".

Sorry about that in that case, I misinterpreted it!!

 

personal experience is a graphtec will cut much finer than anything else I have tried regardless of model - haven't tried a summa but had several roland and graphtecs and even the OLD fc 4100 would cut the finest detail i could try

Thanks for the reply, my Graphtec probably was marginally better than my GS24 for cutting very small detail, but there wasn't a lot in it. Maybe I'm remembering things wrong though!

[Wildgoose 4,200]

i own a summa drag knife (D75R) which is probably about the same small cutter quality as the FC variant of the Graphtec. When I researched the cutters I was originally going with the FC8000 (now FC8600) and then started hearing about the Summa. Basically Summa is reported to have better tracking than anything out there and I have seen enough since I have owned it that I believe it. I don't think the tracking will play into tiny cuts so much so that's why I would say probably neck and neck with the FC on small stuff. The longer tracking might play a role on really big work where possibly the Summa would edge out the FC. On the flip side the FC has more cutting force so there are potential gains in that direction. I was looking for a 30" machine with a stand and in that market the Summa was considerably more affordable than the FC. If you need the higher pressure cutting from Summa you then jump up to a true tangential machine which will cut in drag knife of true tangential modes depending on your need. I think true tangential is much slower but I cannot confirm that. 

 

If you are already doing 5mm work then you have already learned that weeding can be challenging at that size regardless of the cutter but I can say with certainty that the extra precision helps because it finishes the cuts right where it's supposed to allowing the easiest weeding possible. Still tough though especially if you are doing any sort of volume. I often cut multiple copies and then just rip the weed off violently and see if I can get a few that come up good. This works pretty good with the right vinyl. So far best weeding I have found for super tiny things is from Gerber/3M 225 cast on the clear carrier. 

[Jonesy 1]

i own a summa drag knife (D75R) which is probably about the same small cutter quality as the FC variant of the Graphtec. When I researched the cutters I was originally going with the FC8000 (now FC8600) and then started hearing about the Summa. Basically Summa is reported to have better tracking than anything out there and I have seen enough since I have owned it that I believe it. I don't think the tracking will play into tiny cuts so much so that's why I would say probably neck and neck with the FC on small stuff. The longer tracking might play a role on really big work where possibly the Summa would edge out the FC. On the flip side the FC has more cutting force so there are potential gains in that direction. I was looking for a 30" machine with a stand and in that market the Summa was considerably more affordable than the FC. If you need the higher pressure cutting from Summa you then jump up to a true tangential machine which will cut in drag knife of true tangential modes depending on your need. I think true tangential is much slower but I cannot confirm that. 

 

If you are already doing 5mm work then you have already learned that weeding can be challenging at that size regardless of the cutter but I can say with certainty that the extra precision helps because it finishes the cuts right where it's supposed to allowing the easiest weeding possible. Still tough though especially if you are doing any sort of volume. I often cut multiple copies and then just rip the weed off violently and see if I can get a few that come up good. This works pretty good with the right vinyl. So far best weeding I have found for super tiny things is from Gerber/3M 225 cast on the clear carrier. 

 

Interesting. I like your idea of ripping it up and trying to get lucky with a few. Fortunately for me the small jobs I'm doing are reverse weeding jobs which makes things significantly easier!! That said, the detail is still very important!