Does Size Matter????

[JP123 3]

Hi All,

I can't thank everyone enough for all of the incredible information found in these forums!!!

Here's my question regarding a first purchase...

24", 28", 31.5" or 34"?

I understand all of the brands, motors, eyes, lasers, photons and tractor beams

I need a home based cutter for experimentation and templating.  I have access to 2 Roland Soljet printer/cutters whenever I'd like, but it's a 60 mile round trip and tons of time.  I'd like something for my home office to work with and then do production runs on the big boys.

Could I please have some input as to whether you have a 24" cutter and wish you had a bigger one or if you have a larger cutter and never really use its full width.  For informational purposes, I'm primarily a "sales person" and my business partner is a printer.  He wants to expand his business and I want to sell more stuff!  

There are some things that I'd like to create that will be over 30 inches, but should I just skip the home cutter for those projects?

Also, with regards to the software I plan to use (hope it's not the wrong place to ask)... I've had it beaten into me that I need to learn AI.  I'm NOT a graphic designer and hate using Photoshop, much less learning AI.  I was going to use Flexi 12.5 Cloud.  It seems worth it to me for the monthly expense since it look a lot easier to learn the basics than AI, especially features like automatic scaling and vectorizing. My friend's workflow is Photoshop to an older version of Flexi to Versaworks.  Seems like a lot of effort to me, but it works for him and his staff.  I'm trying to simplify the process and be able to create files here and then take them there, load them up and go!

Any and all advice, positive and negative, is greatly appreciated.  Thanks again for the forums!!

[darcshadow 1,626]

24" is probably the most common size of vinyl rolls and even designs larger than 24" can usually be broken into pieces so that you can create something much larger. And if they can't you can simply tile the design so that it's broken into 24" wide stripes that you just need to line up when installing.

You're question has been asked over and over again on the forums, and most people that have or have had a large cutter say they rarely needed the full width, and 24" was usually more than enough.

[JP123 3]

Thank you very much!  I'v read the topics before and was asking specifically if there were some folks who had some differing opinions.  I won't be making signs or lettering.  Only graphics. And as my original question points out, there are some designs that are over 30 inches, so my question was whether I should leave those to the larger, $25k cutters rather than a home cutter.

Vinyl is not an issue as I will not be buying it.  It will be supplied to me.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

I had 1 50" cutter and all the  rest of been 24-28" ones.  after your try to weed and apply app tape to a 48" wide graphic and then try to apply it  you realize almost all graphics can be broken down into segments that are easier to handle and thus can be done on a smaller plotter

[JP123 3]

Thanks Dakotagrafx.  You know, to be perfectly honest, I didn't think about weeding here, much less masking.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

heck I didn't think about it till I tried it the first time - that is the great thing about the forum, lots of info to search thru!

[Wildgoose 4,200]

AND... unless you have the $$$ to spend on a good name brand cutter you won't have good luck cutting something that large anyway. Go with 24 or maybe 30"

[JP123 3]

Thanks Dakotagrafx and Wildgoose.  It's cool to get replies from people who have educated me so much!!  You know, to be perfectly honest, I didn't think about weeding here, much less masking. (thought I sent this reply yesterday).  Just found a couple of older cutters used in a household environment.  Which would you all recommended...   Roland Camm 1 CX 24/12 or  Camm 1 PNC 950?  Same owner...  both were purchased used, used for the past 2 years and have only the power cables.  The story doesn't make complete sense, but it seems like there's been some sort of "break-up"...lol.

 

By the way... asking price is $850 ($300 for the CX and $550 for the PNC) for both, some wiggle room and used for t-shirts.

 

By the way... feel free to say neither.  Just figuring out that they must be really old!

 

I'm going to carry the next question to a new post... it will include pictures for reference... found here...