smoovlatino 0 Posted March 30, 2007 Hello... I am new the use of cutters/plotters. My first questions is very basic - what exactly is plotting and what can it be used for? My second questions pertains to graphics and cutting. I have been fooling around with the cutter and can cut vinyl out of solid colors without a problem. The cutter cannot print, however, I've seen images of cutters cutting graphics that appear to have been printed elsewhere. Is there a way to print the graphics on a standard inkjet printer and then cut them on the cutter? How would you be able to do this? Any help would be appreciated!! Thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TaterNuts 3 Posted March 30, 2007 A plotter is a machine that can be used for vinyl cutting, sign making, engraving, printing, mapmaking, etc. The plotters that nearly everyone are talking about in this forum are US CUtter equipment, which its primary goal is to cut vinyl. You can also cut other material with it as well, like, stencil board, magnet material, etc. It also has a pen for pen plotting. With our equipment, the best way to get a multi-colored graphic is to layer the diffent color vinyls ontop of each other. The cutter cannot print, however, it *is* possible for you to print a decal with your standard inkjet printer and then cut it out, but it is a really pain the butt to align everything correctly. I have done it only a few times with opaque t-shirt transfer material, but the results were far from my expectations. I dont reccomend this as you will need special paper that will last awhile, and something that its going to be ink-receptive. Most of the multi-colored decals that you see are printed with Eco-sol, or solvent based inks. A standard inkjet printer uses pigment or dye based inks. If you cut a piece of white vinyl, and print on it, you will just see little dots that bubble up on the vinyl (I've tried it.) And to even get it to work half way, you need a print/cut program like flexi or winpcsign. Signcut simply doesnt have these types of features...... Basically, you can try it yourself, but it is a royal pain in the butt... you will probably waste more material then what its worth. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest fivestar Posted March 30, 2007 But you can airbrush it or paint it with Krylon Fusion paint. I have painted some with Krylon but never airbrushed it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
smoovlatino 0 Posted April 2, 2007 Ok... thanks for the responses! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
