Looking for a vinyl plotter

[greg lindsey]

Hello all, I am new here, so don't flame to hard please. I have been in the laser buisness for 10 yrs, but I have a customer who owns 19 business parks and wants me to start making signs for the centers, typical vinyl on poly stuff, no real graphics.

So I have been looking through various websites and Ebay and the prices and machine's vary so much that I thought I would ask you Pro's out there, what should I look for. Not looking to break the bank here, but need a machine that will do the job. Any suggestions.

BTW, I was thinking probably 32"or larger.

Thanks in advance for any advise, and If I've broken any kinda rules here I apologize.

[Scott Shepherd]

Are you looking for quality or price?

You have all the chinese models out there that are very inexpensive, then you have the professional lines that are bit more expensive.

Which one are you interested in?

[greg lindsey]

Thank you Scott. I would guess price first, but I am only looking at simple text cutting at this time, so I really dont know how much "quailty" plays in at this time. Will the difference of quailty make that much of a difference, ex, speed over quality of cutting.

[Scott Shepherd]

Yes, speed and quality is a huge factor in cutting. Also, with the better machines, they are all USB and work with plug in's from within Corel, while the other machines are serial ports and require additional software to get the plotter to cut.

I've had both (still do), and if I had to start all over again, I would have skipped the cheap one. I would suggest looking at the Graphtec plotters. You can get the one that does nothing but cut (no registration eyes on it) and it'll do you well. I think they have a 3 year warranty as well.

If I had to buy another plotter today, it would be a Summa. But they are at the top tier of it all.

We paid $3500 for our plotter with the eye (I think that's right), and it paid for itself many times over in the first year. So don't underestimate how much you can make with it. You can crank out some work with a good plotter.

[Joe Pelonio]

I agree, Graphtec is well worth the money and the prices have dropped since I paid $4,500 for mine.

[Larry Bratton]

Take a look at Ioline also. I have an Ioline Smartrac that I have had for a long time and it still works like new. If they haven't changed, they provide tech support forever. They are not cheap but they are good machines, American made.

[Joe Pelonio]

Take a look at Ioline also. I have an Ioline Smartrac that I have had for a long time and it still works like new. If they haven't changed, they provide tech support forever. They are not cheap but they are good machines, American made.

I had an Ioline too, and it held up pretty well for about 3 years then the head wore out. While the manufacturer is just a few miles up the 405 from me, they no longer supported it, and referred me to a repair place in Seattle that wanted $1,200 for the part. That's when I bought the Gerber
(which lasted a lot longer) before the graphtec. It may be a matter of use, mine ran 8-10 hours a day 5-7 days a week.

[greg lindsey]

great info so far guys, thank you very much, the jury is still out for me on this one. I let you know what happens.

[Scott Shepherd]

Greg, I know the price can be hard to swallow. Probably $2500 for the one that is just a plotter, large enough to go over the 30" you wanted, but believe me, that thing will flat out make you some money. I'm doing a $2,000 job right now that is all vinyl cutting and it's not more than a day's work.

This is a repeat order as well, so while you might not see the value now, since you are just getting into it, once you get it and learn a few things, I think you'll make some serious money with it.

[Larry Bratton]

I had an Ioline too, and it held up pretty well for about 3 years then the head wore out. While the manufacturer is just a few miles up the 405 from me, they no longer supported it, and referred me to a repair place in Seattle that wanted $1,200 for the part. That's when I bought the Gerber
(which lasted a lot longer) before the graphtec. It may be a matter of use, mine ran 8-10 hours a day 5-7 days a week.

well as much work as u do Joe, you would wear out a freight train!