Printer/Cutter vs. Stand-alone Cutter

[Stacey K]

I usually only print small quantities of banners in house. Problem with these was I got the file the night before the first school meet. Just trim and add 4 grommets, no hemming on those thank goodness! I use Signs365 for banners otherwise. Quick turn around.

 

[Sando]

Having to pull it off, laminate it, put it back on and cut it makes the Printer Cutter options small space machines. If you have the room, a dedicated plotter is far more accurate and efficient.

 

[cornholio]

I allways recommend separate devices. I was installing a Summa flatbed at a customer this week. They were running 17 Roland VS and 4 Summa S2...

 

[DL Signs]

Depends on workflow & space. If you only have the room for one, or don't do such a volume that you need to both print and cut at the same time, there's nothing wrong with using a single print/ cut machine. The one thing I have learned over the years are the better stand alone cutters are way more accurate. I really wouldn't label them "entry level" by any means, but a printer's main design function is to print, which it will always do better than cut.

 

[Pauly]

Your friend would be correct.

Combo machines are generally entery machines. Good at many things, great at none.
Combo meaning 2 complete different tasks.

If your printer prints at 10sqm hour and also cuts at 10sqm an hour. Your printing then cutting at a total of 5 sqm/ hour.
If you had a separate cutter that cuts at the same speed. You've doubled your throughput.

But infact your cutter will actually cut faster and better than the printer cutter unit, you could run it at 2 or 3x the speed. So you could add another printer, print up to 20sq/hour and not bottleneck the cutter.

Max thoughput volume per day using dollars:
Printer cutter (5sqm/h) $1000 per day
Printer + cutter (10sqm/h) $2000 per day
2x printers + 1 cutter (20sqm/h) $4000 per day.
2x printer cutters (10sqm/h) $2000 per day
4x printer cutters (20sqm/h) $4000 per day.

Factor in maintenance and consumables of 2 printers vs 4 printers. And 1 blade vs 4 blades.
4 printer cutters will cost more to run.