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FC7000 vs. CE300Mk2

WVB

New Member
It has come time to upgrade my cutter from my 24" Panther to around a 48" cutter. I was looking at Summa but I think the pricing is too high. So I am leaning towards the Graphtecs over Roland due to OPOS only (Wish Roland offered it!). My question is what is the real difference between the two Graphtecs. I know the 7000 has up to 600 downforce vs. 450 and the speed is up by around 10-12ips. I would never cut as fast as the Mk2 so the increase in speed is silly on the 7000. I will eventually move into dig printing full solvent over eco, hence the need for OPOS on my plotter.

Thanks in Advance
 

bob

It's better to have two hands than one glove.
TVG said:
It has come time to upgrade my cutter from my 24" Panther to around a 48" cutter. I was looking at Summa but I think the pricing is too high. So I am leaning towards the Graphtecs over Roland due to OPOS only (Wish Roland offered it!). My question is what is the real difference between the two Graphtecs. I know the 7000 has up to 600 downforce vs. 450 and the speed is up by around 10-12ips. I would never cut as fast as the Mk2 so the increase in speed is silly on the 7000. I will eventually move into dig printing full solvent over eco, hence the need for OPOS on my plotter.

Thanks in Advance

Neither the additional down force nor the additional speed mean anything per se. You'll never use either. What they do mean is the the machine with the larger limits is operating with more normal parameters in a more controlled manner. The farther down from maximum, the more control. Generally.

The thing that the 7000 has is its soft landing. Via some magic or another created via droping the blade and picking it up once at the start of the plot in order to gauge the media, it knows, somewhat, just how thick the media in the machine might be and tries to adapt itself to those circumstances. You seldom cut into the release liner if your set up anywhere near to reasonable on force and blade depth.

I do believe that the 7000 routinely uses 4 point registration and the other uses 3 point. I think. I have a 7000 and wouldn't swap it for two of anything else.
 

Howard Keiper

New Member
To amplify Bob's point...you get to appreciate that part of the soft landing scheme when you realize the signifigance of knowing exactly where the the surface of the medium is and adjusting the cut depth downward from there, as opposed to adjusting that blade extension based on the distance from the platten upwards. One of the benefits is to be able to repeat a cut over and over itself any number of times, never cutting any deeper unless you adjust the blade. This is a fun thing to do. I think so, anyway.
 
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