Vinyl Cutter Size

[Indecisive]

I'm thinking about buying either the Epson S40600 or the S60. The Epson S40600 is sold with a 54 inch Graphtec cutter. Wouldn't it make more sense to buy a cutter that is a matching size to the printer? There's a 10 inch difference in this case. I'd be limited to using 54 in rolls due to the 54 in cutter. But yet i'd have a 64 in printer...

Does anyone have a recommendation for a cutter and laminator? I'm interested in the Summa OPOS-CAM S2 TC160 Vinyl Cutter (but it's cut size is only 62 in, so i still couldn't run a 64 inch roll through it right? So this still isn't a good combo?)

 

[Saturn]

Have you done any research on the actual sizes of rolls the substrate you'll be using comes in? Most come in 30", 54", or 60", with 54" probably being the most common and available.

Also keep in mind the manpower and table space needed for large rolls. Many smaller shops still use 30" inch rolls despite having printers that will do 54" or larger.

 

[Indecisive]

I'm thinking about buying either the Epson S40600 or the S60. The Epson S40600 is sold with a 54 inch Graphtec cutter. Wouldn't it make more sense to buy a cutter that is a matching size to the printer? There's a 10 inch difference in this case. I'd be limited to using 54 in rolls due to the 54 in cutter. But yet i'd have a 64 in printer...

Does anyone have a recommendation for a cutter and laminator? I'm interested in the Summa OPOS-CAM S2 TC160 Vinyl Cutter (but it's cut size is only 62 in, so i still couldn't run a 64 inch roll through it right? So this still isn't a good combo?)

I just figured out the answer to my question above.

 

[Indecisive]

Have you done any research on the actual sizes of rolls the substrate you'll be using comes in? Most come in 30", 54", or 60", with 54" probably being the most common and available.

Also keep in mind the manpower and table space needed for large rolls. Many smaller shops still use 30" inch rolls despite having printers that will do 54" or larger.

Very good advice, I'm glad you mentioned that. I've had in mind that if I have a have a 64 in printer that I will be printing on 64 inch rolls. Maybe not so much case.

 

[jfiscus]

We have Epson S60600 printers here and our most common rolls to print & cut are 54" rolls.
We do print on larger 60" rolls often, but hardly ever print/cut them.
Files that are larger print/cuts can usually be separated into if it is necessary to print them to fit a specific cutter.

FWIW, we have plotters here from the following manufacturers: Summa (junk imho), Mimaki (ok but old), Graphtec (good).
Our FC9000 cutter is awesome, we plan on getting another one soon and retiring another older slower plotter.
It has barcode capabilities with the Onyx rip, so it saves a ton of time reading the barcodes and doing all the cuts on its own.

You will also need a laminator if you're printing, if you haven't looked at them yet, check out GFP laminators.

 

[Indecisive]

We have Epson S60600 printers here and our most common rolls to print & cut are 54" rolls. We do print on larger 60" rolls often, but hardly ever print/cut them. Files that are larger print/cuts can usually be separated into if it is necessary to print them to fit a specific cutter. FWIW, we have plotters here from the following manufacturers: Summa (junk imho), Mimaki (ok but old), Graphtec (good). Our FC9000 cutter is awesome, we plan on getting another one soon and retiring another older slower plotter. It has barcode capabilities with the Onyx rip, so it saves a ton of time reading the barcodes and doing all the cuts on its own. You will also need a laminator if you're printing, if you haven't looked at them yet, check out GFP laminators.

We have Epson S60600 printers here and our most common rolls to print & cut are 54" rolls. We do print on larger 60" rolls often, but hardly ever print/cut them. Files that are larger print/cuts can usually be separated into if it is necessary to print them to fit a specific cutter. FWIW, we have plotters here from the following manufacturers: Summa (junk imho), Mimaki (ok but old), Graphtec (good). Our FC9000 cutter is awesome, we plan on getting another one soon and retiring another older slower plotter. It has barcode capabilities with the Onyx rip, so it saves a ton of time reading the barcodes and doing all the cuts on its own. You will also need a laminator if you're printing, if you haven't looked at them yet, check out GFP laminators.

We have Epson S60600 printers here and our most common rolls to print & cut are 54" rolls. We do print on larger 60" rolls often, but hardly ever print/cut them. Files that are larger print/cuts can usually be separated into if it is necessary to print them to fit a specific cutter. FWIW, we have plotters here from the following manufacturers: Summa (junk imho), Mimaki (ok but old), Graphtec (good). Our FC9000 cutter is awesome, we plan on getting another one soon and retiring another older slower plotter. It has barcode capabilities with the Onyx rip, so it saves a ton of time reading the barcodes and doing all the cuts on its own. You will also need a laminator if you're printing, if you haven't looked at them yet, check out GFP laminators.

We have Epson S60600 printers here and our most common rolls to print & cut are 54" rolls. We do print on larger 60" rolls often, but hardly ever print/cut them. Files that are larger print/cuts can usually be separated into if it is necessary to print them to fit a specific cutter. FWIW, we have plotters here from the following manufacturers: Summa (junk imho), Mimaki (ok but old), Graphtec (good). Our FC9000 cutter is awesome, we plan on getting another one soon and retiring another older slower plotter. It has barcode capabilities with the Onyx rip, so it saves a ton of time reading the barcodes and doing all the cuts on its own. You will also need a laminator if you're printing, if you haven't looked at them yet, check out GFP laminators.

We have Epson S60600 printers here and our most common rolls to print & cut are 54" rolls. We do print on larger 60" rolls often, but hardly ever print/cut them. Files that are larger print/cuts can usually be separated into if it is necessary to print them to fit a specific cutter. FWIW, we have plotters here from the following manufacturers: Summa (junk imho), Mimaki (ok but old), Graphtec (good). Our FC9000 cutter is awesome, we plan on getting another one soon and retiring another older slower plotter. It has barcode capabilities with the Onyx rip, so it saves a ton of time reading the barcodes and doing all the cuts on its own. You will also need a laminator if you're printing, if you haven't looked at them yet, check out GFP laminators.

We have Epson S60600 printers here and our most common rolls to print & cut are 54" rolls. We do print on larger 60" rolls often, but hardly ever print/cut them. Files that are larger print/cuts can usually be separated into if it is necessary to print them to fit a specific cutter. FWIW, we have plotters here from the following manufacturers: Summa (junk imho), Mimaki (ok but old), Graphtec (good). Our FC9000 cutter is awesome, we plan on getting another one soon and retiring another older slower plotter. It has barcode capabilities with the Onyx rip, so it saves a ton of time reading the barcodes and doing all the cuts on its own. You will also need a laminator if you're printing, if you haven't looked at them yet, check out GFP laminators.

 

[bob]

For some years now I've run a 48" printer and a 30" plotter. I can't recall that I've ever wished I had a larger plotter. I don't want to wrangle vinyl wider than 30" nor banners wider that 48". In those odd and rare situations where having a larger plotter would have made some job or another more straight forward, I've always managed to figure out a satisfactory way to accomplish the same thing with the smaller plotter. 99.99% of the time lamination is liquid laminate which may not be quite as tough as its vinyl counterpart but it's UV characteristics are far superior to vinyl laminate. The other 0.001% of the time I'll figure something out, most likely farming it out or laminating by hand. This translates into "I don't have a laminator and I don't want one."

 

[signheremd]

FWIW, the Graphtec FC9000-140 is their 54" plotter and can take rolls up 60.19" wide (better get them in straight...) and cuts up to 54" using their new ARMS registration system. The FC9000-160 is about $900 more and cuts up to 64". So, maybe they would let you upgrade or maybe there is a shortage of the 64" plotters. Either way, you get a good workhorse

 

[PHILJOHNSON]

Just wanted to also point out that if you ever did get in a situation where you needed to cut wider than the 62.2" width on the S2T160 you can use the extended load feature and set your origin points outsider the outer two pinch rollers. That will give you an additional 2.25" to work with. Just keep in mind that the outer pinch rollers leave an impression on the material and if you cut over those areas the impression will show up in the finished cut.

Also, not sure when you were looking to purchase one of these cutters, but there is a deal right now where you can get a free upgrade from the S2 D Series to the S2 T Series. In this case you would pay the S2D160 price and get the nicer S2T160. Promo pricing is good until December 3rd. Feel free to PM me or send me an email if you would like any additional information on the promo.

Best regards,

Phil Johnson
Airmark Corporation
(800)527-7778, ext. 112
philj@airmark.com

 

[MNT_Printhead]

Get the larger 64" cutter if you can afford it, I have two 63" printers and the most common material that goes through the 48" cutter I have had is sized 54". I and my help have been having to trim rolls as we laminated for the the last 3 years. So much wasted labor, time, and material!!!