Vinyl Plotter Question

[Steve Middleton]

This may be in the wrong place, please feel free to move. I've been looking for a vinyl plotter/cutter to cut sandblasting masks. Any comments or suggestions on this machine would be appreciated. https://www.amazon.com/Graphtec-CE60...dblasting+mask

[Kev Williams]

boy, the prices of vinyl cutters sure have come down--

That said, when I checked out the Graftec, the first machine below in the 'related products' is a US Cutter machine for all of $370- If all you're going to do with it is make sandblast stencils, the cheap machine will work just fine...

[Real Mercier]

The first question I would ask is what are you using for the sandblast mask? Is it a paint mask for simple blasting or are you using a thick rubber mask (Anchor type)? The Graphtec may handle the rubber mask but the US Cutter may not.

Real Mercier

[Kev Williams]

That US cutter shows 350 grams max downforce, that's nearly 8/10ths of a pound; that and the right cutter should do it-- but yes, asking the seller would be a good idea

[Steve Middleton]

That US cutter shows 350 grams max downforce, that's nearly 8/10ths of a pound; that and the right cutter should do it-- but yes, asking the seller would be a good idea

Sellers comments say "will not cut Sandblast Resist". I'm thinking wine glasses, mirrors, etc so for the difference in price this might be a good place to start?

[Joe Pelonio]

My Graphtec cost $4,400 back about 2004, and I have cut a lot of Anchor stencil for sandblasted wood signs on it. I haven’t used it in a few years but it was still working well, and when I had the sign business it was cutting vinyl every day for 6-8 hours. It was my 3rd plotter, and none of the other two lasted more than 4-5 years.

[Kev Williams]

Sellers comments say "will not cut Sandblast Resist". I'm thinking wine glasses, mirrors, etc so for the difference in price this might be a good place to start?

Alrighty then, so the fabulous price likely includes 1/100,000th horsepower stepper motors!

[Steve Middleton]

Alrighty then, so the fabulous price likely includes 1/100,000th horsepower stepper motors!

I didn't find an answer to that question but found enough negative reviews to cross it off the list. Sure is a lot of difference between$400 & $1700(: I'll keep looking.

[Steve Middleton]

I searched for "Sandblast Resist" material and came up with this and it's 8mil or about .320 thick. http://www.whittemoredurgin.com/7271-vinyl-resist-12in

Is that right or am I misreading the info?

[Scott Shepherd]

8 mil isn't 8 millimeters, it's 8 mils. That's about .008" of an inch thick.

If you guys are frightened off by the $1700 one, don't look at a Summa Cutting thick masks, for doing things like bricks, you'd want the Anchor rubber masks. For those, a drag knife will struggle. A tangential knife helps a lot. The knife direction is controlled by a computer, not which way it's being dragged. When it gets to the end of a cut, it lifts the blade out, rotates it to the new line angle and goes back down. Doing small text on rubber mask with a drag knife is going to make someone very unhappy

Then again, our Summa's list price was about $10,000.

[Steve Middleton]

I thought that sounded wrong so I checked. DUH....Thanks for clarifying the cutting process. There's SO MUCH I don't know(:

8 mil isn't 8 millimeters, it's 8 mils. That's about .008" of an inch thick.

If you guys are frightened off by the $1700 one, don't look at a Summa Cutting thick masks, for doing things like bricks, you'd want the Anchor rubber masks. For those, a drag knife will struggle. A tangential knife helps a lot. The knife direction is controlled by a computer, not which way it's being dragged. When it gets to the end of a cut, it lifts the blade out, rotates it to the new line angle and goes back down. Doing small text on rubber mask with a drag knife is going to make someone very unhappy

Then again, our Summa's list price was about $10,000.

[Steve Middleton]

Ok I had a talk with my "inner tightwad" and decided on the Graphtec machine mentioned at the beginning of this thread. I'll be using it for wine glasses, etc and possibly for ageing/distressing wood which seem appropriate based on your comments. If bricks come up enough to make sense then I'll look at the $10k machine, lol. Thanks to all who responded!

[Mike Null]

Steve
I bought mine--same model-- from this company. https://www.coastalbusiness.com/vinyl-cutters.html

Look into the vinyl for apparel as well. It's easy.

The machine is a good one. I sold mine when I downsized but it's still in use and works very well. Graphtec is good stuff.

[Steve Middleton]

Thanks Mike!

Steve
I bought mine--same model-- from this company. https://www.coastalbusiness.com/vinyl-cutters.html

Look into the vinyl for apparel as well. It's easy.

The machine is a good one. I sold mine when I downsized but it's still in use and works very well. Graphtec is good stuff.

[Scott Shepherd]

Ok I had a talk with my "inner tightwad" and decided on the Graphtec machine mentioned at the beginning of this thread. I'll be using it for wine glasses, etc and possibly for ageing/distressing wood which seem appropriate based on your comments. If bricks come up enough to make sense then I'll look at the $10k machine, lol. Thanks to all who responded!

Totally the wrong machine to do masks for wine glasses. That’s photopolymer type masks. We do that too. Done 1000’s and 1000’s of them. We have a 400 piece glass order in house now. Done with Ikonics photoresist mask. You can make a dozen or so masks in 3 minutes. Google Ikonics sandblasting. All you need is the box of film to print the negative on in a laser printer or inkjet printer. Then you expose the film in a UV light source and it’s done. A zillion times easier than cutting and weeding masks.