Printer/Cutter vs. Stand-alone Cutter

[NickB]

I have a coworker that isn't really in the graphics industry. He also tends to suddenly become an expert in whatever conversation comes up. The topic was Printer/Cutter being entry level equipment, but eventually one would need to get a standalone cutter. Excluding volume of work, is this true? His stance was that combination machines are entry level, I'm on the side of the technology is at a level where one machine can perform both at a perfectly reasonable level. I realize not all machines are created equal, but I think the technology has grown enough. Am I wrong in assuming that one needs a separate machine for each being an old school line of thinking? I could certainly see having a large volume of work justifying a need because one needs both machines operating simultaneously.

 

[brdesign]

I currently have a Mimaki Cjv printer/cutter, after 20 years of using separate machines. I was hesitant to get it, but I just don't have the room for a separate plotter right now. It's kind annoying waiting for it to switch back and forth between the printing head, and the cutting head but it gets the job done. The workflow is slower having to laminate and reload back into the same machine. On decals that without a bleed, don't need laminating and can be cut right away, it's perfect for those jobs. I would prefer to have a separate printer and plotter but it does everything I need to do for now. Hopefully it will get me to the point of being able to afford a bigger space and separate plotter for higher production.

 

[Bengt Backhaus]

I have almost always worked with separate printers/cutters.
But at a place i worked in for four years only had a printer/cutter, a Roland something or other, and it was a real pain to work with.
To be able to free the printer up for new jobs while cutting the previous jobs in the plotter is worth a lot to me.
And i've always found that the accuracy in cutting is better this way.

 

[signheremd]

We have a Roland XR-640 and it prints and cuts. At one point we thought about adding a second to handle increased volume, but we ended up add a Graphtec 9000-160 plotter instead (was less money and we definitely needed another plotter). The end result was increased capacity as the printer could be kept printing and the plotter could cut the prints and various cut vinyl. If you have the money, get a printer and a separate plotter - it will cost a bit more, but you will have the ability to handle larger volume and make use of the plotter day-to-day for cut vinyl (including large format cut vinyl).

 

[d fleming]

I have a roland print cut and a graphtec plotter. The difference in speed, quality of cut and registration for print/cut is obvious. If you have time a print/cut in one is fine, other than decreased cut quality. When you have both and both are running, you're having a good day.

 

[bob]

In general, specialized tools are superior to a multi-purpose tool.

 

[netsol]

"I have a coworker that isn't really in the graphics industry. He also tends to suddenly become an expert in whatever conversation comes up"
and we thought covid was contagious. (believe it or not, i have had a bout of it myself!)

 

[NickB]

"I have a coworker that isn't really in the graphics industry. He also tends to suddenly become an expert in whatever conversation comes up"
and we thought covid was contagious. (believe it or not, i have had a bout of it myself!)

In my defense, I'm at least verifying. Which I feels earns at least a point or two curbing ones ego. I've still got a long way to go in learning. Certain person just gets on my nerves, which in hindsight, I should have left the commentary out.

 

[RabidOne]

Have a buddy that has one of those Rolands for his business. He has it dialed in perfectly and it works great for him, plus takes up less space.
Its all about what works for each business, and of course specialized tools are usually better.

 

[netsol]

it isn't horrible to have 2 machines, especially on those days that one is down for repairs
a single, combination machines eliminates the need to reload properly, however

 

[Stacey K]

I have a separate cutter. I can tell you that MANY, MANY, MANY times I am printing large graphics or banners for several hours and then sending other jobs to the cutter at the same time. I'm SUPER glad I have 2 machines. And I'm just a one person shop. I can't imagine a larger shop with a bigger volume having just one machine.

 

[petepaz]

there is no right or wrong answer for this one. this debate has gone on this site for years.
you have to get what will work best for the business you have.
i can only give you my experience for 20yrs we have had roland print cut machines and they have worked fine for us. never had a back log in production due to not having a stand alone cutter.
in those 20 yrs we have had 2 roland eco-solv print cut machines and i don't believe we have ever had to print on only one and push jobs to the other for cutting.
now one thing you might want to keep in mind. if you have enough business to justify 2 print cut machines as we did make sure to get the same brand. with the two roland print cut machines and both run by versa works rip that makes them compatible.
so if we did run in to a problem you can take the job you printed on machine A and cut it on machine B. this was good for use after about 10yrs that's when we got the roland LEJ uv printer. that machine is print only but we could take what we printed on the LEJ and cut it on one of the solvent print/cut machines

 

[Saturn]

Many shops couldn't make things work with just a print/cut. Especially if the printer is the main moneymaker. I see "sticker" shops usually running like 2-to-1, cutters vs printers (or more.)

No shame in the standalone, you can always buy another cutter in the future. In fact, that would be a good problem to have, assuming it's workload related!

 

[Joseph44708]

I'm running three Roland print / cut printers but don't use do cutting on them.
I cut on Graftec 8600 and 9000 cutters.
Everything I print today I cut tomorrow.
12 to16 rolls of 54"×100' gloss vinyl every week.

 

[garyroy]

Take a look on YouTube, do large decal factories print and cut on the same machine? They would never attempt.
I have 3 Rolands, love the print, but I do not love the cut.
They are not accurate and skew all the time. If you have the space, a separate Graphtec will get it done right, and faster.
Your friend was not far off.

 

[OprintLee]

I have a coworker that isn't really in the graphics industry. He also tends to suddenly become an expert in whatever conversation comes up. The topic was Printer/Cutter being entry level equipment, but eventually one would need to get a standalone cutter. Excluding volume of work, is this true? His stance was that combination machines are entry level, I'm on the side of the technology is at a level where one machine can perform both at a perfectly reasonable level. I realize not all machines are created equal, but I think the technology has grown enough. Am I wrong in assuming that one needs a separate machine for each being an old school line of thinking? I could certainly see having a large volume of work justifying a need because one needs both machines operating simultaneously.

i have printers and cutters separately and they are working good as i can print and cut at the same time - save time

 

[Notarealsignguy]

We have a Mimaki CJV150 and it cuts dead on. We added a Graphtec 9000 this year but still use the mimaki to cut in addition to the plotter. Whenever we replace our current printer, it will likely be with another print/cut machine just for the convenience of it and it's nice to have a backup cutter.

 

[Aedwards01]

I have thought about this a-lot as well. In my experience at one shop I worked at we mostly used the Roland to print and cut are decals and heat vinyl transfers. Especial if we laminated the decals because it seemed to take more time and patients to try to set it up on the Graphtec. I was always under the assumption that separate cutter was nice though because you could do more advanced cutting finishings.

Guess you could say it depends on preference of the business like most are agreeing with and how effectively you know how to run your machines. The shop I worked at never really new how to use their large Graphtec cutter. Which I though was a bummer but they had a-lot of other mediums going on.

 

[Stacey K]

Just yesterday I had 12 banners to print, a 4' sheet of decals to print and about 24"x 8' of cut vinyl. I printed the decals then switched over to the banners. While the banners were printing I was able to laminate and cut the decals then do my cut vinyl job...works well for me to have 2 machines.

 

[garyroy]

Don't work yourself out of a job, but just subbing out the banners to a wholesale printer would have saved you a ton of time.
It's not just the printing, but it's the finishing that's a time killer.