New Member Looking for the best cutter for our car club

[bbreault 0]

Hey everyone. New to the forums and I decided to join because I am president of a car club and plan on buying a vinyl cutter within the next couple weeks. I was super excited about cutting vinyl until I see that even some of the more pricey machines have a hard time tracking and all of them have thier quirks about them. I was hoping that it would be a simple setup and go deal. lol. Shouldve known better. Anyway, Im going to keep looking around in the forums to get my own feel as to which cutter might be best for what I would like to do, but any advice would be nice also.

Here is what I was looking for:

*A large width cutter for full side graphics on automobiles (I was looking at the 48" cutters)

*Trying to stay under $1100

*Will be doing graphics up to 10', so good tracking is needed

*Contour cutting isnt needed but I can already see how I could possibly use it

*Something semidurable. I plan on using it alot, and then when I get up enough money, buy a better cutter.

I was looking at the value vinyl cutters just to start with but Im not quite sure if I would really need the 48" cutter. I dont even know where to buy 48" vinyl rolls. But if someone could point me in the right direction as to cutter choice then that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[bamafan2277 50]

From what I have learned so far the 48" would mostly be used to contour cut the larger printed stuff more than anything.

For your budget I would tack on about $300 more and go with a Graphtec. Their 24" models are solid and track real well.

I am running a Pcut right now but I am getting a Graphtec as soon as I have the cash built up from my work with the Pcut.

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

this sale might help you both out

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-CE-5000-60-Graphic-Vinyl-Plotter-Combo-w-Stand-/380137862915?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5881fb770

[bbreault 0]

so are you both saying that a 48" cutter would be pointless for car graphics? Id like to do complete side graphics and Im worried that if I get a 24" cutter then I wont be able to alot of stuff that I would like to. Im also considering doing some business signs for some extra cash maybe once I get good at it and i know business signs can be pretty big.

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

Remember you can rotate the graphic to cut it - so if you do a side graphic will it be more than 24" tall?

[mabscotthandyman 1,410]

You can also cut a graphic larger then 24 inches by tiling the cut (or making the cut in two or more PCs.) a larger cutter would be nice but if you don't do large cuts the price difference would not be justified you could start with a co-pam but with a price like that on a graphtec i would go with that

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

so are you both saying that a 48" cutter would be pointless for car graphics? Id like to do complete side graphics and Im worried that if I get a 24" cutter then I wont be able to alot of stuff that I would like to. Im also considering doing some business signs for some extra cash maybe once I get good at it and i know business signs can be pretty big.

Actually my main business is vehicle graphics, have done for 4 years, and I use a 30"  Graphtec cutter,  I have never needed larger.  most of my graphics average 20"-28" wide by 10-16ft.

[ms_sign 5]

Welcome from Fort Worth, Texas. 

Have fun,

Jon

[hockeygirl 30]

Welcome from CA!

[bbreault 0]

Thank you for the warm welcomes.

I think ive decided to go with the 24" COPAM cutter. Its got good tracking, its a step up from the value cutters and even tho it is only 24" I think I can make due with it. Its within my budget and its a good learning machine. I want to keep start-up costs to a minimum while still keeping integrity and quality in mind and it seems that the COPAM fits that bill. I am curious though as how to panel graphics. Say you had a customer who wanted a 30" graphic but only had a 24" cutter. How would you do that? Im going to look on the forums but figured Id ask here as well.

Once again. Thank you for all your support and welcomes. 

[MZ SKEETER 4,709]

most cutting software has a tiling feature to it. 

[bbreault 0]

Just bought my COPAM 24" Cutter! Along with a package of the Greenstar vinyl to practice with, extra blades, the CorelDRAW essentials, and the minipack vector designs to mess around with. Im hoping this is a good start to a future small business. I hope I dont run into the same problems some people have had with the COPAM with the blade pulling up material. We will see.

[Guest kenya]

Welcome from Florida...... you've made a great decision. The Copam is a great cutter. 

Take your time to set the blade correctly, you'll love the cutter's performance for the price.

[Alien 11]

Welcome From West Tennessee

[Guest Marek]

Welcome from Canada .

[cut man 1]

welcome from ny. i just got the copam 2500 24" and its great i just started 2 weeks ago and have made teeshirts and sold them. have fun i am.