PM-Performance

First impressions of the Prismcut P28

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You're getting the hang of it, and will indeed grow into the unit and take advantage of whatever specific capabilities you may require.

We appreciate your putting the effort into making User videos! Especially love the fact you're doing them in your underwear! (just kidding!)

This is a machine a friend of mine got recently, (a cheapo Vevor off-brand Chinese unit for $300 or so, and she LOVES the lighting effect, she actually runs the thing in a darkened room, just for the ambience it provides).

20200505_211957.jpg

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Not quite in my underwear, but I have been lounging in shorts and a T to work since in quarantine. I deff don't do myself up for videos as you can tell. lol. 

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To be honest if it was not for watching PM-Performance and his videos I wouldn't have bought this machine, I would have bought the Titan 3 and I am still up in the air about whether to go with the Titan 3, just don't want to end up with a machine that isn't as good as the Titan 3 from what I have read. Certainly don't have money to burn on a machine that might eat the vinyl up from what I am reading. 

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30 minutes ago, Stephen H. said:

To be honest if it was not for watching PM-Performance and his videos I wouldn't have bought this machine, I would have bought the Titan 3 and I am still up in the air about whether to go with the Titan 3, just don't want to end up with a machine that isn't as good as the Titan 3 from what I have read. Certainly don't have money to burn on a machine that might eat the vinyl up from what I am reading. 

So are you having problems?  If so, please explain. 

Most new buyers see instructions for setting the blade depth with the thickness of a credit card or post it notes.  This is just plain wrong. The myth just keeps on going.  Set your blade like this. Set your blade depth correctly and start running your cutter slow, until you learn it. 

This is correct way to set your blade depth.

To start with, you should set your blade depth correctly, by taking the blade holder out of the machine, and in your hand, firmly cut across a piece of scrap vinyl, you will be cutting. You should only be cutting the vinyl and barely a mark on wax paper backing, Adjust blade to get there, Then put the blade holder back in machine, and use the force of the machine to get there, same results, only cutting the vinyl and barely a mark in wax paper backing. You should just barely see and feel your blade tip out of the blade holder.

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If you are having issues with your Prism Cut, I encourage you to start a new threat and title it appropriately. That way it will be easier for other members to track and assist.

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1 hour ago, haumana said:

If you are having issues with your Prism Cut, I encourage you to start a new threat and title it appropriately. That way it will be easier for other members to track and assist.

Machine arrives tomorrow and as I said if it were not for the videos from PM-Performance I wouldn't have bought it. There just isn't enough videos and information out there about this machine. One thing I was surprised to find out reading this is that the Graphtec doesn't have a ruler either, or as many pinch rollers. As someone mentioned I don't know how many of these have been sold and for how long, so hard to judge if it will be a reliable product and performance. Great price though.

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2 minutes ago, Stephen H. said:

Machine arrives tomorrow and as I said if it were not for the videos from PM-Performance I wouldn't have bought it. There just isn't enough videos and information out there about this machine. One thing I was surprised to find out reading this is that the Graphtec doesn't have a ruler either, or as many pinch rollers. As someone mentioned I don't know how many of these have been sold and for how long, so hard to judge if it will be a reliable product and performance. Great price though.

I am not sure what a ruler on a plotter would be used for after 12 years of use.  While I don’t know about the prism cut the graphtec use a fan to pull down the vinyl and no need for additional pinch rollers 

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6 minutes ago, Dakotagrafx said:

I am not sure what a ruler on a plotter would be used for after 12 years of use.  While I don’t know about the prism cut the graphtec use a fan to pull down the vinyl and no need for additional pinch rollers 

Thank you for sharing that as it does help calm my nerves about if I made the right choice. I guess it is just fear of the unknown. I have only used the Cameo and Cricut and so that was one other reason I found those videos interesting as it seemed like we were on the same path.

 

3 hours ago, MZ SKEETER said:

So are you having problems?  If so, please explain. 

Most new buyers see instructions for setting the blade depth with the thickness of a credit card or post it notes.  This is just plain wrong. The myth just keeps on going.  Set your blade like this. Set your blade depth correctly and start running your cutter slow, until you learn it. 

This is correct way to set your blade depth.

To start with, you should set your blade depth correctly, by taking the blade holder out of the machine, and in your hand, firmly cut across a piece of scrap vinyl, you will be cutting. You should only be cutting the vinyl and barely a mark on wax paper backing, Adjust blade to get there, Then put the blade holder back in machine, and use the force of the machine to get there, same results, only cutting the vinyl and barely a mark in wax paper backing. You should just barely see and feel your blade tip out of the blade holder.

Thank you as well for the input. I am going to miss the auto blade from the Cameo for the fact it adjusts the blade for you. As I recall someone said in one video about adjust a blade that you should barely be able to feel the blade poking out is that correct?

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 Adjust, your blade to the vinyl, as I stated in the instructions.  It will be correct. Vinyl is only 2-3 mil, so you only cut with the very tip of the blade.  I have a 30" Graphtec, it only has 2 pinch rollers,  Tracks great.  I have never needed a use for a ruler on my vinyl cutter.  Put the pinch rollers the equal distance on the vinyl edge.  Approx 1-1.5" .   Never pull from the roll while cutting, always have enough vinyl free and slack to do the entire order. 

That cutter is a rebranded Skycut. You can find videos on youtube for it.   I guess there is a slight difference in the Control panel from what I have read, 

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My LaserPoint has a ruler, but it's metric, not that it matters. The only useful purpose for that for me, is when I'm feeding a sheet into the cutter - I jog the vinyl back and forth and see how it tracks compared to the tick marks on the ruler. That tells me how crooked I am, and which way I need to make adjustments.

If there's a CleanCut Blade for the Prism, I'd look into getting a 60* and 45*, if they don't - I'd still get a 60* blade, because that will be helpful when you cut small stuff, intricate designs, or tiny text.

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On 9/10/2020 at 5:31 PM, Stephen H. said:

To be honest if it was not for watching PM-Performance and his videos I wouldn't have bought this machine, I would have bought the Titan 3 and I am still up in the air about whether to go with the Titan 3, just don't want to end up with a machine that isn't as good as the Titan 3 from what I have read. Certainly don't have money to burn on a machine that might eat the vinyl up from what I am reading. 

this machine is plenty capable. I really feel like most of my issues are software related. Here and there I will see some scratching on my vinyl, but again I cannot say for certain what causes it. Otherwise, I have been cutting a ton on this and learning more and more each time. 

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On 9/10/2020 at 9:16 PM, Stephen H. said:

Machine arrives tomorrow and as I said if it were not for the videos from PM-Performance I wouldn't have bought it. There just isn't enough videos and information out there about this machine. One thing I was surprised to find out reading this is that the Graphtec doesn't have a ruler either, or as many pinch rollers. As someone mentioned I don't know how many of these have been sold and for how long, so hard to judge if it will be a reliable product and performance. Great price though.

I am actually uploading a video right now on the contour cutting. Someone on Youtube asked me about this, just don't remember who. Stay tuned as that will be up within an hour or so

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So I am currently looking for a cutter to use for creating labels and prototyping packaging ideas. Ideally I want something that can both cut and score for folding 100lb 270gsm Cover Paper (thin cardstock). I initially liked the Graphtec CE7000-40 because of the Cutting Master 4 Illustrator plugin but was disheartened to learn it didn't have the scoring/creasing capabilities the my projects require.

So, I have found myself here looking into either the PrismCut P20 or SkyCut D24 but really am not sure if either of these and their software can do what I need. They just aren't as well documented as the Graphtec offerings. 

But here is the gist of my needs. Many of my jobs would require that I print my design on my printer, load it into the plotter to run the score/creasing lines, and then cut through my cut lines. So I am essentially looking for a Print-Score-Cut or a Print and Multi-Cut. Is this possible with the PrismCut P20? I know there is a scoring tool but can you set a job up to stop after one type of cut so that you can change the blade and resume to the next cut? 

I hope that makes sense. I figure it would be no different than doing a job where one layer of paths is a kiss-cut for stickers and the other layer of paths is a die cut for cutting the sticker backing.  

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Your using the wrong terminology in this business. Vinyl cutters do not die cut.

A member Darcshadow described it pretty good back on another post "And just a point of clarification, die cutting is done with custom made dies which are stamped onto the media and cut it, kind of like a cookie cutter cutting through dough".

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Not really . I really don't understand what your trying to do.  A Graphtec can set different conditions.  You can set 8 different conditions. for cutting. pre set.   You can't do that on a Prism cut.   A Graphtec can Perf cut. like dotted lines, That is using 2 different conditions. And you won't hurt the cutting strip.  You would need a carrier sheet on a Prismcut to not damage the cutting strip. 

The Graphtec has 2 different places to put the blade holder. 1 place so your not hurting the cutting strip and 1 for regular cutting over the cutting strip. Maybe you should look thru the user manual and see how the Graphtec operates more.  

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wowee! that is a very cool tool for a cutter that cannot be bought on a Prism budget.

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2 minutes ago, haumana said:

wowee! that is a very cool tool for a cutter that cannot be bought on a Prism budget.

The pounce tool is pretty awesome also.   There are plenty of good used Graphtec FC still out there.

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I essentially am looking at making small product boxes, cards, and boxed labels out of cardstock. While the Graphtec CE7000-60 can do the perforated cut I'm looking for more of a scoring/creasing ability where the paper is not cut but I can still make my paper folds easily.. All of the scoring tools I can find show they are only compatible with Graphtec's FC model which comes with a creasing head option or their table plotters. I don't have room or funds for either lol.

I gravitated to the PrismCut due to it's clear cost savings and because it sells an optional scoring tool but the documentation is so minimal that I have been unable to determine how it would handle my specific job need. No where have I been able to determine if it's print and cut feature will allow you swap out the scoring tool with the blade during the job lol.

I apologize that I'm rather green in this area but I figured it might be the best place to see if PM Performance has had any success with similar needs. 

 

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You might want to do a little searching on Ebay or Fbook Marketplace. Many times you can find a good used FC for the price of a new value cutter.  I got my last FC 8000-75 for $1000 free ship.   I don't know where you live, but someone might need the money. 

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I have only seen a couple people on here with a Prismcut.   There is a Skycut shown on youtube that has  dual heads, One for creasing and one for cutting.   One on each side of the carriage head. 

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There is an older CE 5000  and Craft Robo Pro software  doing the score crease and cut to make boxes. Video. on youtube.

 

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For the creasing, if the plotter has the ability to use a ball point pen you could use that with a pen that has run out of ink and just up the pressure. If the plotter doesn't have a native pen tool, the holders are not that complicated it would not be too difficult to make something that would fit and do the job.

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