Need Plotter advice....

[National Sign Co. - Print]

We are in need of a new Vinyl cutter. Our Mimaki plotter has seen better days and I refuse to tie up our Zund to cut vinyl.

If you could choose any plotter 54"-60" + (budget is no issue) What machine would it be..

We are looking for reliable, fast and easy to use. This will be just for cut vinyl no prints will be cut.

We would be running out of Illustrator not Corel.

Thanks.....

 

[Ski Sign]

I would get another Mimaki. We have had our CG-130 FX for about 3 years, and I love it. It is a workhorse that hasn't let us down yet. We cut from illustrator with the Finecut utility that comes with the plotter. It does everything it needs to do for vinyl cutting at least as well, if not better than Signlab. And it's free w/ the plotter. I only wish I could run my Summa plotter w Finecut. Speaking of which, my Summa is a great machine as well, but only 24". I don't know if the greatness scales or not, but probably. That is two answers, isn't it? I guess prefer the Mimaki because of Finecut. My $0.02.

 

[FatCat]

If budget is no constraint I would get a Summa. Don't know if you'd really need the more expensive features like tangential heads, etc. - I would think with the Zund you'd have that covered. Get a D140 or D160 - easy to use, bullet proof and best tech support in the biz.

 

[Cmind335]

I agree 100% with Ski Sign. We've also had a Mimaki CG 130FX for 3 years now and it works perfect. I've also learned the hard way that if something is wrong with it, it is a 99.9% chance that it is something I'M doing wrong. It is a work horse.

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

my first choice would be a summa. great machines, great customer service (if you need it) i know many users who have never needed to utilize customer service. if you are going with tangential cutting, i would be asking some pointed questions these are the only summa plotters that i have heard of ppl having issues with (they love them but in the past the heads have needed replacing with no good solutions other than regular replacement or swap them out for drag knife).

As mentioned you can't go wrong with a mimaki ... they are a good machine as well.

either brand of machine will serve you well.

 

[ddubia]

We're using a Mimaki CG160FX and FineCut out of Illustrator. Agree with everything Ski Sign says.

 

[National Sign Co. - Print]

We have a Mimaki CG160FX and it is horrible. I hate any and all Mimaki solutions and will never buy a product from them again...

Thanks for all the input.. I bought the Summa 63" as many have suggested.

Just needed a good machine for single color cad cut vinyl...

Thanks to all for the 2 cents.....

 

[Browner]

We picked up a D140 a month or so ago. Couldn't have been easier to set up, had it cutting vinyl within minutes!

Tracking is phenominal. Lined it up, and went through an entire 50 yard roll (48" 3M 180C) without having to re-adjust once.

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

i'm curious what issues you have had with the mimaki? typically they are reliable workhorses. your shop definitely would put any equipment you bring in through it's paces so it would be interesting to hear what you experienced.