LASERPOINT 3

[LonnieSmith 4]

Has anyone tried out the Laserpoint 3 model yet?  It's still pretty new, and there are zero reviews or videos outside of the US Cutter trailer video.  I like the specs and look of the machine, but don't want to be the first guinea pig to try it out.  Any feedback you can provide will be much appreciated!

[LonnieSmith 4]

Yesterday, there was a 1-star review of the LP3 on the specs page.  Today it is gone.  Wondering if the poster rescinded it or if US Cutter deleted it.  There is finally an short unboxing and demo video on YouTube, and the guy that posted it says he is pleased with how it works.

[MZ SKEETER 4,726]

Hard to say, but you will find out with a lot of items like vinyl cutters, new people think these are some kind of plug and play items that should run perfect right out of the box without any fine tuning.  They see other people running one and think it is "super" easy.  The value cutters will need fine tuning,  This is considered a skilled job. People don't want to take time to learn their machine or even read a user manual, then complain it doesn't work right. It will be easier after experience. This is not a job that you learn in a day. We see new people taking orders before they even learn their machine which is nuts. Then they are on here so overwhelmed, they are ready to throw the cutter out the window. I took a month to learn my machine and experiment before I started taking orders. We still learn new stuf and tips all the time on here. What did the review say? 

[slice&dice 2,467]

Hey Lonnie ---

Have you ever used a cutter before? If yes, the LP3 will not disappoint, I'm willing to go out on a limb.

 

[LonnieSmith 4]

I have, I use a Graphtech fc7000, 8000, and 8600 at work.  I'm pretty familiar with adjusting settings for the blade depth and pressure, and adjusting speed as needed.  I'm sure the LP3 will probably be a little more finicky and temperamental than these much more expensive machines, but that won't be a problem for me and I'm willing to put in the time to get it dialed in.  I just want some decent tracking length, and having the contour cut option down the road will be a big benefit, and this machine offers both at a very reasonable price.

[MZ SKEETER 4,726]

Well,  you working with all the Graphtecs is nice,  but a stepper motor will never cut as sharp and clean as a Graphtec.  A Titan servo will get you closer.  Some can get some nice cuts, with a lot of fine tuning,  but still night and day stepper vs servo.  And you would know the great fine details that a Graphtec can cut over even a Roland. 

But on another note, buy the best that you can afford. 

[LonnieSmith 4]

Lol, yeah, those Graphtecs are quite nice.  I'm using them while working at a $30+ million a year sign fabrication facility, can't afford that same level of machinery on my home budget haha.  I'd love to be able to afford something that swanky, but I'm okay with starting out small. I may wait another month and see if I can afford something with a servo motor, just because my fiance is probably going to hate my workroom sounding like an 80's arcade while that stepper is running.  I've already gotten a few potential customers lined up, and I'm doing some contract install work on the side to stack up a little extra cash.  What machine are you running, Skeeter?

[LonnieSmith 4]

Ugh.  I see now there are 8 days left on that sale price of $500.  Probably not going to have the extra money before that timer expires. Had to replace my vehicle a week and a half ago and dipped a little further into my savings than I would have liked.

[MZ SKEETER 4,726]

FC-7000-MK2-75   

 

[Wildgoose 4,200]

That seems odd that the control won't let you jog the cutter head. I bet either you have a bad button or you're not doing something right. You should be ablate move the head to where you want it including feeding some vinyl back and forth and then you usually use the origin button to zero out at that spot and cut from there. 

Often small sample sized pieces of vinyl will come rolled too tight and can be a problem. I would use the pen attachment which most cutters have (hopefully yours does) to learn the overall cutter control before wasting vinyl. Then be sure and set the blade up properly. Search MZ SKEETER posts and you will find tried and true method for setting the blade depth. This is the most critical set up item and the one most often missed by newbies. WAY WAY more problems due to too much blade exposed than any other single item and it is not the kind of thing that you would expect to be a problem so your common sense flag will not trigger if you weren't warned. Do NOT go 1/2 a credit card as some of the literature and videos imply that's about 10 times too much. 

[MZ SKEETER 4,726]

The ORIGIN button is not supposed to show you doing anything.  You push that button before you send your design to cut. That is your measuring point, X,Y measures from that point, when you push the Origin button.  ORIGIN makes X,Y  0,0.

Just glancing at the user manual,  put the cutter on LOCAL, then jog the cutter head, then go back online again.  On Local is when you change settings. Looks like to me. 

[haumana 1,228]

I don't have a LP3, but I'm guessing it kind of functions close to what my LP does. You need to take the machine "offline" before you can use the arrow keys to jog the vinyl, or more the blade carriage.

As far as setting the pressure - it really depends on the vinyl, and that's what the test is for. it's cut a small box and you can see if there was enough pressure dialed in to cut through the vinyl. I have some carbon fiber vinyl, and it requires a ridiculous amount of pressure, but that is probably going to differ depending on the manufacturer of the material.

"Test" will save you vinyl if you're not sure.

[MZ SKEETER 4,726]

21 minutes ago, madmorgan said:

i understand the origin button but if you cant roll the vinyl into the corner or cant move the head to the left... its all ok im waiting paitiently to give it a review on ebay. it probably wont be to many good thing i say about it.

Did you push the LOCAL button first? Before using the arrows.  The Local button allows you to move the vinyl with the arrows..  What about the UP and DOWN arrows? They have a purpose also. 

[MZ SKEETER 4,726]

 From the USCUTTER.com website SUPPORT> user manual  Laser3. Page 21

[MZ SKEETER 4,726]

And complaining about 'loud"  on a value cutter is useless.   All value cutters (with stepper motors ) are loud.  If you wanted quiet, you should have bought a cutter with a servo motor.  And if you can find another vinyl cutter with an Automatic Registration Mark Sensor  A.R.M.S  laser at that price, stand and all,  show me where it is.  

 

[slice&dice 2,467]

I would love for someone to chime in with an exact photo of all positions of the pressure-rollers gaps on the LP3. 34" and/or 24'

 

[MZ SKEETER 4,726]

4 minutes ago, slice&dice said:

I would love for someone to chime in with an exact photo of all positions of the pressure-rollers gaps on the LP3. 34" and/or 24'

 

Did you look at the Main  front picture on the UScutter website?  Looks like 6" between them.  Looks like my Graphtec  spaces.  My cutter is 30"   First 2 right pinch rollers are side by side. 

[slice&dice 2,467]

"First 2 right pinch rollers are side by side."

Thanks, that is what I was wondering.

[LonnieSmith 4]

Looks like they've dropped the price again   Down to $450 this time.  

[LingLing 0]

Do you guys recommend spending more for the 34" over the 28"?  Does the 34 allow you to do that much more instead of having to split a design in half with the 28?  Or have you found yourself wasting a lot of vinyl with the 34?  The area of coverage I would be referring to are yard signs, t shirts, car doors / tailgates, and store front doors.  Thanks!

[darcshadow 1,641]

For the stuff you referenced, a 28" would be more than big enough. I only do this as a hobby have have a 24" cutter, but I've never had a need to bigger. The few cases where I had a design larger than 24" it was simple to break the design into segments that could easily be cut on a 24" cutter and then pieced together during application.

[MZ SKEETER 4,726]

I have always had 30" vinyl cutter, and I would not want a cutter smaller or a cutter bigger.  I also carry 24" and 30" width vinyl.  Over 20 different colors.   Vinyl is not wasted. The scraps can be saved and used for other projects.  I only sell online.  I create designs to use that 28" width of the vinyl.  The money is in big decals.  I don't have to split anything.  I may cut a design that is really 28" w x 60" L.  No splits.  Bigger decals bigger money.  I don't think the $60 for the larger cutter is out of line.  That cutter was on sale last week.  It is not a matter of will you use that size, create designs to use that size.  You really have to create a niche' first or your just going to be competing with everyone else who has a vinyl cutter. You have to stand out.   You can read the specs on USCutter.com   but this is what is posted for width   24/31/48 in  for the 3 different sizes

[haumana 1,228]

1 hour ago, darcshadow said:

For the stuff you referenced, a 28" would be more than big enough. I only do this as a hobby have have a 24" cutter, but I've never had a need to bigger. The few cases where I had a design larger than 24" it was simple to break the design into segments that could easily be cut on a 24" cutter and then pieced together during application.

Same here! Been doing the hobby thing for over 10+ years, and have only needed to outsource once - and that was because they wanted it a 30" 3-color. My 24" LP has never failed me. I can creatively section and tile stuff.

[LingLing 0]

Thanks for the advice guys.  Skeeter, I forgot that you can put 24" vinyl in a 30" cutter...lol good idea.  I haven't come up with my own niche yet, theres just so many directions to go with vinyl it's hard to know which isn't oversaturated.  But I think I'll start with getting the LP3 instead of the SC2, even though I'll never use contour cutting, just seems higher quality.

[MZ SKEETER 4,726]

You can use pretty much use any smaller vinyl than 30" in a 30" cutter.  I have a Graphtec with ARMS contour cutting and I don't use it either.  I bought the Graphtec for a great quality vinyl cutter.  If you can afford it, just go up to a cutter with a servo motor,  More accurate and quiet.