JHew84

I've been scouring the internet for a few days now and haven't really found a good answer to my question. I went to order a zencut green the other day because they appeared to get one back in stock but I was out of luck, so now I have some credit towards another cutter and I'm thinking about making the jump to a graphtec. The driving force behind my decision on the zencut was the price and the servo motor. The graphtec isn't as nice of a price but I'm still interested in getting a machine that does a better job than my current MH series. I talked to someone who claimed the CE6000 was mostly superficial updates over the CE5000 and that I would be better off saving some money and getting the CE5000 starter kit (less money, plus a bunch of supplies). So my questions: Is this true? What are the real differences between the two models? How much value would you place on the updates to the CE6000? At this point I'm already pretty well established locally and I have a good selection of vinyl and tools. So while the extra supplies that come with the starter kit wouldn't go unused I also don't necessarily need them, but if the CE6000 isn't much of an improvement it would still make sense to pay less money and get more stuff. That's what I did when I bought a DSLR years ago, I bought the previous years model at a drastically reduced price. The only difference was a slightly larger LCD screen which didn't bother me. I'll be upgrading from an MH 871-mk2, so really anything will be better. I Just want to make sure I get the most for my money as I'm still a small operation. I don't have a printer so I only do die-cut decals, business would really have to take off before I could afford to get into printed decals.

I've had this happen a few times but it wasn't as big of an issue in the past. Something about the boundaries around the actual image cause the cutter to not complete minor parts of the path outside of the bounding/transform box around the image. It's most noticeable on graphics that have a curved top, instead of following the curve from one side to the other when it gets to the top it will make a straight cut then go back to complete the rest of the curve, effectively lopping off the top of the curved piece. Is there a setting that I have the tolerances set too tight on? When I go into Inkscape I can see the minor overlap of the bounding box on top of the image itself. It's very minor and I would have never noticed it had the final product (cut decals) not looked funny. This in addition to it happening on both my machines is what leads me to believe it's something in Inkscape rather than an issue with the cutting software or the cutter itself. I've done a few searches but can't seem to find an answer to this problem, I'm sure it's out there I just don't know what it's called lol. Any help is appreciated, thank you.

No stroke, I've found that stroked vectors don't actually cut around the outside edge but rather the path itself. Unless I was doing something wrong. If I zoom in close enough there is a node that is actually outside of the boundary box itself. Also I have the canvas size set larger than the image itself. I went through those steps above and it didn't seem to change anything. More observations, went back to edit some other files that had the same problem. If going from an SVG to an EPS it doesn't matter how the image is selected it still cuts the top off. But if the file is already opened as an EPS saving without the boundary box doesn't cut the top off. Might not be a connection but it seems to be working this way lol.

It's not the machine it's the image itself. Zoom in and look at how jagged the lines are in some areas, then go into node edit and look at how many extra nodes there are. If you simplified that part of the image it would cut much cleaner. Did you make the vector yourself or convert it from a picture? I noticed a huge increase in detail going from my MH to the graphtec. Decals that always cut smoother/faster on the MH suddenly had a TON of detail from an overabundance of nodes. I had to go through and simplify a few of them because the graphtec spent so much time on the small details that it drastically increased the cut time. Which is a good thing, but decals that I may not have noticed issues with in the past suddenly stood out like a sore thumb lol.

I'm not on the inkscape forums otherwise I'd make a post. I may go make an account at some point just to do some more searching about different features but now that I have a solution the reason has been bumped down my list of things to research lol.

Coaster36, I think you may be onto something with how a file is saved. I was playing around with that image again and when I imported it next the circle was whole. So I removed the circle, deselected the image in inkscape and resaved the file. Loaded it into SB and the top wasn't lopped off even without the little circle above it. I'm still confused as to how this could make ANY sort of a difference whatsoever, as a transform/boundary box is not part of the image itself. But at least I have a solution. If anyone has an answer for why I am still interested though.

Yeah I have no idea. It's weird, it's not like the transform boundary box should have any real impact on the actual image itself. And if it does why is it inside the actual boundaries of the image itself? Maybe there is no link here, I'm just seeing a correlation. But I have no idea, glad other people are having issues with it as well. for the time being I've simply added a small circle to the top of the image, annoying but whatever, I'm willing to waste a small amount of material to make sure the decals I produce aren't deformed in some way. Oddly enough look what happens to the small circle, I just don't get it. And it doesn't do it on all my images, only the ones that have curves at the top most part of the decal. So it has to do with the curve. Pointed, angled, straight, etc, all cut just fine.

here's a picture of the screen in signblazer (this also happened in signcut when I used it before). The top curve shouldn't flatten out like that, it should keep curving. In inkscape the nodes keep it curving but the bounding/transform box overlaps that small portion at the top, it's still there in inkscape (just overlapped) but in the cutting software it's gone. it's also doing it a little on the sides, but that's not as noticeable. Also I used to think it was because there wasn't a node at the "peak" of the curve, but this graphic actually does have a node there.

I have an MH 871 and there were a handful of things that always bothered me about it, so I changed them haha. This is all in addition to the obligatory grounding modifications. Which came after the first motherboard was fried and further grounding after the second motherboard and carriage. The first was the measuring strip on the front of the machine. If I didn't feed 4-5" before starting the job it would catch that strip every time without fail and sometimes cause problems with the job itself. I hate wasting material so something else had to be done. My first "fix" (spur of the moment) was to fold up the edge of the vinyl after getting it loaded into the machine. This became annoying quickly and wasn't always effectinve so I also taped pieces of paper to the front of the machine to smooth over the lip created by the measuring strip. This worked but was also annoying, especially if I was trying to figure out how far apart I needed to run the pinch rollers. Shortly after that I got so fed up with it that I pulled it off and re-glued it above the carriage track. Now there's nothing for the vinyl to catch on and i still have a size reference on the front of the machine! Next was the media rollers. Every time I switched rolls I had to readjust it to line up with the far right side pinch roller. So I took a small strip of vinyl and ran it right next to where the roll should be placed so there's no adjustment needed after loading it. Lastly was the cheap wheels that come with the stand. They didn't swivel properly and half the time would just slide across my floor. So I went out to home depot and snagged a set of wheels designed for nice hardwood floors (softer wheel material). Not only do the always swivel and roll but the locks are also much easier to use. Anyone else do things to their machine to make it a little more pleasant to use?

That's also a really good idea, way less trouble than using paper haha.

I just got my CE6000 working with SB as well. Mine finishes the job at the end, it doesn't put the carriage back to the starting point. I just checked my settings and I do have the "advance after cut" box checked but it is set to 0. I have a few jobs to cut tomorrow, I can play around with the settings and see what it does.

Yeah that is another thing on the to-do list. Yours looks really nice!

I don't see anything wrong with it. It looks like the sign next door is probably not permanent anyway. It obviously doesn't stand out as prominently as a solid purple banner, but if that's what she wanted she should have requested it.

Just a follow up, I ended up getting the CE6000-60. I looked over everyone's suggestions here, found a few more opinions in various places and watched a bunch of videos of each machine operating. In the end I decided they did update enough things on the 6000 that I deem important to justify the difference in value. Better tracking is definitely a big deal. This is exactly the kind of insight I was looking for! I don't run a lot of longer pieces but I have run into tracking issues even on large quantity cuts of smaller decals. I think the longest thing I've cut to date was 8' long, a set of stripes for a mustang. I'll probably be doing more of that at some point as well. Thank you! This played into my decision a lot. I do a lot of adjustments on the machine itself and like you said the 6000 seems to be more convenient for that. I also finally found an explanation for what the media brake is for. I basically do the same thing manually on my MH series, which isn't very inconvenient so I'm not even sure how much I'll use that feature. But it is there. I also picked up an FC7000-130 for a song and dance that was listed locally. It was damaged in shipping, seems to work fine but some of the pieces are tweaked a little bit and it for sure needs a new cutting strip and blade. Also one of the pinch rollers was damaged. It may be an option down the road but I'm not sure it's worth putting the money into right now (hence why I pulled the trigger on the CE6000). After I got it home I found more information on repairing the pinch rollers and while the part is affordable the repair isn't something to take lightly. Time will tell if I part it out or put the money into restoring it. Thanks for all the input everyone. I really appreciate it. Looking forward to getting the graphtec and using it on some upcoming jobs!

I do most of my sales locally to car clubs/bands/business'/etc. I do some online sales, and I do cut larger graphics, but most people don't want stuff so large that I would need 30" rolls for. I bought a few early on because the cost per sq/in was cheaper, but found I was wasting more when someone only wanted a few in that color. I could offer some larger graphics online but I'm not setup to ship them at the moment, maybe something I could explore later on. But the MH does bigger graphics just fine, I've never had a problem with it. So if the need arises I will have it on standby. But for my bread and butter business the precision of a servo motor and nicer machine will pay off.

I don't anticipate having to use the MH either. I have cut 2 decals over the past year where the 30" roll was useful. But I also could have oriented one of them differently and cut it on a 24" roll as well (wasting a lot of vinyl). The other was a massive stripe kit, which the MH will do just fine if I ever need to do it again. It's the small stuff that it struggles with which is 99% of my business lol.

I did a lot of reading when I bought my MH series. That's why I bought it over going straight into a more professional unit. All of the advice said get a basic cutter, see if it's something you even want to do. So I did it, stuck with it for a year, and now I'm ready to step up to something that will provide my customers with even better decals. Sometimes reading isn't enough though, I learned so much more after I unboxed my cutter and started playing around with it, suddenly the things I was reading made more sense. I've been doing a lot of reading for this upgrade as well, I was just looking for some help filling in the blanks before pulling the trigger. The MH was an expense I could have afforded to be a complete wash, I can't do that with this purchase tho.

I hadn't, thank you for pointing this out. Honestly the pricing I have been presented for the graphtecs is basically the same as the price on that unit. Otherwise I would be much more interested. As long as it has at least 300g of force I'll be happy. I don't anticipate needing more at this time and definitely can't afford the cutters with servo motors that have it. I'm not even sure if I'll run it that high on a nicer machine. Part of why I run high pressure on my MH was because it helped smooth things out. That might not be the case with higher end cutters.

I didn't expect anyone to own both concurrently, or to even have owned both over different periods of time. But it seems reasonable that someone here would know more about it than me and have done the research about which model is a better choice and why. I've been looking for a few days and haven't come up with much as far as the differences go. I'm also not very familiar with all the features (such as the brake being on the rollers and why that is better) of vinyl cutters so assistance there would have been nice as well. I basically taught myself how to work on cars by actively doing it and reading up on it through web forums and books. Although there is A LOT more information readily available when it comes to cars, so when I couldn't find more details on the information I was after I thought I would just ask. Many car forum members will put together a comprehensive guide including intricate differences in certain models without even being asked. That doesn't seem to be the case on these forums. I am still in the learning stages with cutters so I figured someone here would be able to toss some advice/information my way. You clearly know something about these machines but for whatever reason would rather shoot out snarky replies than an honest answer. Before I even made that post I did a few quick searches for the advantages of having the brake on the rollers but didn't find anything, hence why I asked. I'm sure the information is out there but it's much easier to find when you already know what you're looking for. Sometimes I take my decade+ of experience working on cars for granted when people ask seemingly stupid questions. But I try to give them honest answers anyway because at one point I was there too. I didn't come here to argue or be rude, I just wanted what I thought would be some simple answers to a question I was having trouble finding more detailed information on. But apparently that's not the kind of environment the plotter/cutter community likes to foster. Lesson learned, don't ask questions.

Gee, thanks? I guess I mistook the use of a web forum as a place for people to help each other out... I'll try not to make that mistake again Like I said, the zencut green was discounted because IT was being discontinued, not the Puma. I don't want to pay $1250 for a Puma, if I did I would have purchased one months ago. Thanks for your help thus far, clearly you're not wanting to provide more. FYI I did send an email to graphtec already but haven't heard back yet. I'm also expecting them to have a biased opinion just like the vendors, which was why I wanted first hand experiences from people without an agenda. And just more opinions in general. Again thank you for yours.

What does this mean exactly? I don't know what the advantage is here.

The green was the Puma, you are correct. But the green wasn't going to run me $1250, if I'm going to spend that much money I'd rather buy a graphtec honestly.

Ah you're right, well partially, the CE6000-60 has a speed of 35in/s compared to the CE5000-60's 24in/s. But really the pressure is all I cared about and you don't get that until you upgrade to the bigger machine. Glad you caught that for me. So effectively the only advertised advantage the CE6000-60 has over the CE5000-60 is a faster cutting speed?

I did read it, the only difference between it and the description on UScutters website is graphtec says it's an updated version of the CE5000 while UScutter's description says CE3000Mk2. Here's the product description for the CE5000, it's literally identical. I've read the descriptions for both, it outlines the same features. The only differences I've come across are an increased cutting pressure and speed for the CE6000. Is that the only notable improvements they've made or are their more? I'm aware the zencut was a rebranded GCC. But a major appeal of the zencut was it's price point because it was being discontinued. The new GCC units are more expensive, if I'm going to spend more money I'd rather step up to a graphtec plotter.

Thanks for the insights! At the moment I don't have plans to branch out beyond basic decals but it's good to know the increased pressure could be useful if I did. I've seen a lot of features like that just tossed on to make something look more advanced when you'll never really use them. I agree the inherent value of extra supplies offsets the overall cost more than the initial $50. But even just the $50 is a couple rolls of vinyl whose value in decals is significantly greater. Every penny counts when it's a side business lol. In the product descriptions... CE5000 "A FREE 1 YEAR Service Choice Program (a Graphtec Service) Extends Warranty by 1 Year (A total of 3 years)" CE6000 "This product includes a 2 Years warranty." Just because it's newer, and therefore has the opportunity to use more advanced technology, doesn't mean it is actually using it. Companies use the same parts through multiple revisions all the time, realizing this has led me to spend less money on equipment (be it automotive, camera, or home theater related) many times by not buying into the idea that "just because it's newer automatically makes it better". In a lot of instances newer models do possess more advanced technology, but often times they don't. That's really what I'm trying to get to the bottom of, if the CE6000 is utilizing more advanced technology WHAT is it and WHY is it better than the older technology used in the CE5000? I'm not trying to be rude but if I was just looking for a 'yes' or 'no' answer I would have already purchased a CE5000 because a vendor flat out told me the CE6000 didn't receive any significant improvements. A lot of people online share the same opinion. But I'm looking to gain a little more knowledge from people with first hand experience. I've taken a lot of your advice on machine settings with my MH series, with good results, so I know you're an experienced individual. But I would still like to have a better understanding behind your opinion as opposed to just blindly listening, if that makes sense. I've been using a rudimentary cutter for the past year so I'm not very familiar with all the features and technology the higher end cutters possess. That's why I asked the question in this forum, I figured people here would have hands on experience with one or both of these cutters and could explain, with at least a little detail, what has/hasn't changed and why it is/isn't better. The zencut green was an easy choice, I wanted a servo motor and it's price point came in well below the rest after it was discontinued. Unfortunately I didn't pull the trigger fast enough on it so now I'm left weighing more expensive options, even if they do come with higher recommendations.