Few Presales questions

[Case 0]

Been overlooking the forums for a while now and also been watching the sales on Selltopia and the prices seem all most too good to be true. But any way I have some questions. How much abuse will the CP-2500 and the MH721 take? and how much of a learning curve is there for some one that has never used it before?

This purchase is for a student orientated environment so it will get some minor supervised abuse but more importantly how hard is it for a student wanting to learn to use it actually be. We only have a little left in the budget after all the money we spent and looking to squeeze in a plotter cutter for small use that will not get used consistently but the jobs it will get I do not imagine will be simple and will range into the highly complex range.

I hoped Fearstyle?s material question would get answered because I do have the same question. How broad of a range will the Refine and Copam series cut, what exactly is possible and what isn?t. Students consistently come up with odd things to cut. Mostly interested in making cuts for masking materials for painting as well as sandblasting polishing, sanding, and template making and various other tasks in our metal and wood shops.

Another thing he brought up im a bit confused about was the warranty, The refine series from what I caught is the warranty is provided by Selltopia, is that the same for the copam? Is the Copam rebranded or not?

Don?t know about the whole shill bidding thing and don?t care, because we can?t use paypal or make purchases over ebay here that leads me to my next question. Does US Cutter Direct accept checks? If I get this approved the School will have to make the purchase directly via a check. If not what other options are there so I can make any special arrangements.

Next question is what are the disposable costs general as far as blades go, what?s the typical life span? Need to write out a full proposal including how we would handle charges in using the plotter, I feel it would be best just to charge by the inch or foot to the student at low cost if they provide the material and even than we may end up providing some material free with their department fee. So is there any other disposables I should be aware of?

[thredz 1]

Most of the people who buy the cutters use them for vinyl mainly,calendered,cast or heat transfer.That is why you don't see much in the way of other materials in the forum.But they both can cut a wide range of materials.The copam is a sturdier machine,but in all honesty it takes a little getting used too compared to the mh721.I never owned a cutter until last august when I bought R2 and I had half of my wife's truck covered in vinyl the first day I had the cutter.But I have been in the graphics business for quite a while and I was using flexisign to design with long before I bought a cutter.It shouldn't be a major task teaching students to use the cutters and I have put both of mine through hours and hours of plots and cuts with no problems other than the ones I created.As for the check thing,you would have to contact Marcus.But I'm shure the school could cut a cashiers check from their bank.The blades have different life spans depending on the material you cut with,but they will run quite a few cuts.You will need to have a few squeegees to last you for a years budget and application tape.You might also want to budget in some 4 x 8 sheets of different colored coroplast so you can cut them down to what ever size the project may be.And the razor knifes with the breakaway blades.I use a dental pick to weed.Some people use x-acto's,some use push pins.Hope that helps.

[TaterNuts 3]

The learning curve can be a bit tricky since a cuttable image is in a vector format compared to a raster image.  However, with this forum, we can get you up and running fairly quickly.

Abuse?  I cut on my machine everyday for at least an hour a day... Still in tip top shape...

I only have the Refine plotter and so far, Ive cut regular vinyl,(cast and calandared), Reflective Vinyl, Metal like vinyl,(chrome), paint mask, heat transfer materials and magnet material...  I have seen where others have cut other materials as in stencil board, however, I cannot verify this.

Warranty on the Refine is this... You can pay $549.99 and get this machine from US Cutter direct with a 1 year warranty, or bid on it on ebay, and pay $50 more for the warranty... Not too sure on the Copams

Disposable Costs - 3 pack of blades on US Cutter direct is 12 bucks, that $4 each... Blade life is determined by the material that you are cutting, and how often you are using your machine.  If i cut only vinyl, my blade will last for months running it for about an hour a day or so.  I tend to change the blade every month or so because they are relativly cheap.  Vinyl is pretty cheap, If you purchased a 50 yd roll of it, 24 inches wide, for $75 bucks, yyour cost per inch would be a bit over 4 cents per inch... Thats 50 cents per foot... so... 25 per square FOOT...

Transfer tape - application tape - premask   ---is another disposable that you need to keep in mind and you need it to install most vinyl graphics...

You can get a log of it for around 100 bucks, normally comes in 48 inch lengths, most shops will slit it for free, so you could have it the size you needed it....  

You will also need some supplies to start as weeding tools, razor knifes, and squeeges.

Hope this helps

[Case 0]

Thank you for the replies it has explained a lot so far. Still curious about the Copam.

About sandblasting mask, that?s one thing I have not seen much info on? I know the copam gives a bit more pressure I think its 400 vs 500g I have to look but I think its only 100g difference. Is that something that is worth paying the extra money for? Also the optical eye what is the major benefit of it?

[Beardown 0]

The grams of force IMP do noot matter because you can adjust the blade depth and the blade holderitself manually ....so the force is not an issue at all !!!

Copam looks cooler and it rated high than the 731 .so if your school pays for it first try for the copam ....Yes I do belive that US CUTTER Accepts checks ...you will just have to wait about 3 weeks for the machine ...ie 10 days for the check to clear.......

Also I really apperciate the way you wrote your post ...It seems you put effort into it ...most posters to not care to go in depth ...! so thanks !! Also dont even think about it,,,If you can get approved  get one and you will be happy !!! And this is from a user !!! !

DOWN

[thredz 1]

From a personal view point,if it was me,and I knew there were going to be a lot of people potentialy using a cutter over an extended period of time,I would go with the copam.It's a better built machine and would stand up in the long term.But then I have had no problems with R2,and I use him and the copam a lot more than an hour a day.Just go ahead and buy both.That way the students won't have to form a line to the right to use the cutter.Jm2c.

[Case 0]

So just one question stands? Any one cut successfully sandblasting mask? From my understanding it is a rubber like material that is resistant to sand blasting. The only post about it is here: http://uscutter.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=2&topic=61.0 and does not say much.

[thredz 1]

I don't think it would be a problem with either cutter.The only problems I've seen with people cutting any sandmask hasn't been with the down force as much as the fact that you have to go to a different blade than a 45 or the blade will skip instead of cut.You would probably want to figure in 60's blades with the budget.I think they make different ones and speciality blades,but I really haven't checked in to that.

[Case 0]

Such a long processes waiting for the school to consider and okay a purchase since they are now considering getting a 12? and a 50? so in the meantime I actually decided to buy a 25? for myself because I do a lot of stencils by hand for various things such as airbrushing as well as masks for sandblasting and just think this would make my life easier to own one and maybe make a little side money since I know a lot of friends with small store fronts.

So im thinking about different possibilities for projects and I was thinking I can drop a pen into the plotter and it hit me?

http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/8420p.html

What would stop me from dropping something like that into the pen holder?  Printed flexible circuit boards!

Second question is if I was to do a pen drawing how does one do more than one pass accurately with 2 diff pens without too much of a offset?

Also What?s the Physical dimensions n the 25? US Cutter, looking to buy a dust cover.

[kenimes 42]

The cutter comes with a dust cover. I have not plotted with more than one color pen, but I think billy has.

[Case 0]

is it worth getting the extended warranty?

[kenimes 42]

Yes, it is recommended and worth it.