Punching/sprocketing machine for making my own Gerber vinyl?

[SlikGRFX]

Does anybody know if it is possible to buy a machine that will punch the holes into the edges of vinyl so I can run it though the Gerber?

It's really hard to get hold of vinyl here in Sweden. Everything has to be imported from the UK or US and the choice of colours is limited. It would be awesome if I could order vinyl pre cut to the correct width, then simply punch out the holes myself.

 

[Billct2]

Do you have to use a Gerber? It may be easier to get a different plotter.

 

[GaSouthpaw]

I'm with Bill- it might be easier (and far less expensive, time-wise) to purchase a friction fed plotter instead of a sprocket fed model.
If you're talking about an Edge, though... try Oracal? They have a plant in Germany and make punched media in their high performance lines. It might be cheaper than US/UK suppliers.

 

[gnemmas]

Does anybody know if it is possible to buy a machine that will punch the holes into the edges of vinyl so I can run it though the Gerber?

It's really hard to get hold of vinyl here in Sweden. Everything has to be imported from the UK or US and the choice of colours is limited. It would be awesome if I could order vinyl pre cut to the correct width, then simply punch out the holes myself.

 

[gnemmas]

We save those punch release liners, as in a emergency, we can lay vinyl onto itl and run on Gerber Edge or Gerber Plotters.

 

[SlikGRFX]

Thanks for the replies!

Sorry I should have been more specific, it's vinyl for the Edge. We print onto a lot of specialist vinyls such as neon, reflective etc. These are crazy expensive in 15" sprocketed so I'm just trying to think outside the box a little. The Oracal distributor here doesn't offer 15" sprocketed. I'll try contacting Oracal in Germany.

gnemmas - thanks, we used to do that but we don't have much spare release liner available. Everything we produce is mailed out to customers on the release liner.

 

[signgirl]

Sometimes I have taped vinyl over the hole punched vinyl not covering the holes and ran it through the edge

 

[alistair]

A machine has become available

380mm ROTARY/PUNCH SPROCKETING MACHINE
MANUFACTURED BY T&P (TOOLS & PRODUCTION) INC - USA

Is this what you're looking for?

 

[Titch Sanders]

Mmmmmmm one in the bay of e!! But i guess you're going to have to warrant it...

 

[SlikGRFX]

Thanks, great! That sounds like exactly what I'm looking for, but I can't see a link and and no hits with eBay search?

 

[Titch Sanders]

In Stevenage UK. Item number: 182752572759. Hope you find it

 

[SlikGRFX]

Found it, cheers!

 

[alistair]

Did you get this?

 

[SlikGRFX]

It's still available, but it's a bit expensive and we have to ship it to Sweden.

I've been in touch with Oracal and we can pretty much order any vinyl we want, cut and sprocketed.

 

[alistair]

OK cool, it is pretty expensive

 

[Gaugeco Inc.]

Sorry to bring up an old post but I am very curious and wondering if I could get some more information on what everyone found out.

The options that ya'll have come up with are:

1. Using a friction fed plotter. This is the route we have been going but I take the material, feed it through our friction fed plotter and using the pounce and some deep cuts have reproduced the gerber punch holes which I have attached on my post for anyone wanting to give it a go.
2. Taping material on top of some Gerber punched material. I haven't tried this but sounds time consuming, would work in a pinch.
3. Going through Oracal directly. This sounds pretty expensive, what price range and minimum was required???
4. T&P INC 380mm sprocketing machine. The company no longer makes the machine and only supplies the dies. I did speak to them and they gave me the name of a company that could help called EMT International but from the looks of their website they supply and make equipment for companies like Oracal and dropping 300K on a machine is not an option.​

 

[Jburns]

Durangedesign,
Thank you for your information, and you template! Very cool. If I come across one of these original machines I would purchase.

 

[SlikGRFX]

In the end we just went direct to Oracal. Then Oracal made us go through their Swedish distributor who aren’t the best. But anyway that’s another story.

We mainly order fluorescent colours. The minimum order is 50m with a 6 week lead time. We don’t pay any extra charges or anything like that.

Durangedesign...don’t Hyatts stock everything that you need? Our issue is that we are in Sweden and the Gerber isn’t a popular machine so it’s hard to get hold of Edge ready materials.

 

[Gaugeco Inc.]

Yes Hyatt's has a ton but when it comes to back cuts to make our product look professional Gerber Equipment just makes it so easy. We use a carbon fiber and a woodgrain vinyl and they simply don't come in the 15" punched. We actually spend about 15k a year on two different colors of Oracal vinyl and that is why I was asking about price and minimum since in our case I think it would be easier to go straight to Oracal.

 

[jfiscus]

I might be looking for one sometime also, it seems vendors are always running behind on stocking punched colors. If yall ever see one for sale, post up!