Educational Bundle

[BrianWCS 0]

I am a middle school technology teacher and I was looking into the following package:

http://www.uscutter.com/Ultimate-Sign-Makers-Decorating-Education-Bundle?promo_name=End+of+Summer+Sale&promo_id=Sublimation+Printer%2C+Heat+Press%2C+%26+Vinyl+Cutter+Bundle&promo_position=stripe_middle&promo_creative=UltimateDecoratorBundleBanner.png

Can anyone recommend this bundle (or any other bundle) as easy to use and dependable equipment.  I intend to use this for projects for over 400 students a year.  Students will use the equipment to enhance their project work with a school logo, wording, templates (so they can paint decals on wood and plastic).  I would like to make tee-shirts as well as place pictures on wood projects.  Can the heat press work on wood? I expect that it can.  If anyone has used it for this application, I would like to hear from you.

I would be interested in hearing of any projects that you have done and the success of them. I am looking to allow students to be creative with personalizing the finishing process.  I think using graphics is an up to date technology rather than old fashion painting.  Most project sizes are limited to 12". 

Thank you in advance for any recommendations.

Brian

 

[Cal 393]

Welcome aboard Brian.  Looks like you are planning to have a pretty fun class; it should spark a lot of creativity in those students.

The only piece of that equipment that I can speak to is the SC 25" cutter.  I have one and it has been a reliable workhorse - but, and this is a large but - it is quite noisy.  IMHO, you will not be teaching anything over that when it is cutting out a project.  Are you well versed in AI or another design program?

Cal

[Wildgoose 4,200]

Not a bad starting set. As clhyer mentioned, the cutter and most of that bundle are lower budget starter equipment but that may suffice for your needs.  You will not have a lot of success with a heat press onto wood, especially a clam style but you can stick regular vinyl on wood. It goes better when painted. 

[BrianWCS 0]

Would you recommend any other machines that are in the same ballpark in cost?

When you say loud, can you give me a comparison?  Can you compare it to a shop-vac that you can't talk over or like a loud dishwasher running?  I only ask as I will have it located in the corner of the room and I will have to have several activities going on at the same time, I just want to know what I am getting myself into.

Thank you for the feedback!

I really appreciate it,

Brian

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

any stepper motor cutter is loud = you have to step all the way up to at least a titan2 to hit the servo motors that are quiet and more accurate 

 

[slice&dice 2,450]

Hi Brian,  a few things for you to consider.

1. Ink.

2. Starter vinyl is a very limited amount (5 feet of each color)

3. No mention of app-tape, squeegees, knives, picking tools, app-tape dispenser (roller)

4. Pre-loaded (full) vector graphics clipart library is not part of the VM Cut version

5.  I've owned the SC, the MH and the LPii cutters, and the noise is not shop-vac loud on any of them. You'll find it acceptable in a corner of the room, no big deal.

6. VinylMaster is only licensed/registered online for ONE computer. --  Highly suggest you provide students with their own SignBlazer copies and Inkscape (both available for no-pay download) and it wouldn't hurt to have IrfanView loaded onto their workstations (for displaying .eps files)

 

[ShaneGreen 131]

Hi Brian,

I bought the LPII education bundle recently and I'm pretty happy with it.  It came with a nice starter assortment of all the misc. stuff that can add up fast.

"The Cut Media Educational Kit - w/ LaserPoint II Vinyl Cutter"

As for the sound, are you old enough to remember dot-matrix printers?  The high speed, wide carriage dot-matrix printers used stepper motors and sounded a lot like these cutters.  It's a high pitched whine with occasional crunching.... a dot-matrix played over an old school dial-up modem.  I wouldn't want to be on the phone when it's cutting, but other than that it's just another annoying office noise.