Best Vinyl Cutting Machine, Plotter - Commercial, Industrial | Omniprint

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Silicone curing sheets used for curing DTG (Direct To Garment) inks on fabric with a heat press. The silicone coating allows the sheets to be used for several cures. Available in packs of 100, 250, 500, and 100Subscriptions Now Available  - Automatic Reoccurring Purchases!...

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Protect the upper platen of your heat press and leave a matte finish on heat transfer material. Subscriptions Now Available  - Automatic Reoccurring Purchases! Save time and money by avoiding ink or supply shortages with our new subscription option! By selecting a subscription option,...

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Just went through this exercise. Ended up with the Cricut Maker. Would likely be fine with an Explore Air.

Goto cncvicut to know more.

Basically, like the GF, the only downside is the relatively limited work area; 12"/x12" or 12"x24" (which, in both cases, is really a little bit less width than that).

Note that the Cricut is also a cloud based system. Unlike GF, it has been down every now and then (not catastrophically so) and, also unlike GF, there is no community forum of this nature to speak of. I generally learn about downtime details by watching their Twitter or FB feeds.

Annoying.

But, on the other hand, Cricut’s customer support-- online chat-- has been top notch! I have learned a lot by working through problems with their software with them.

And the software is actually pretty good. Has some quirks, but it does work. Interestingly, the iPhone/iPad app has some very powerful additional features not found in the pure-web “app”. The iOS app also allows you to work standalone via BlueTooth.

I’m happy with it and have been having a blast cutting vinyl bits to stick hither and yon.

Ok, you don’t really need a Maker. I had an older Cricut that require cartridges, so I can’t speak to the newer version, but my Silhouette Cameo does not require cloud services and you can work with your own files, of course. Although the mats are limited in size, you don’t need to use a mat when cutting vinyl, so you can cut it as long as you want (12” wide).

I don’t know that either brand is that much better than the other so I guess at some point it just comes down to the smaller features and drawbacks.

Let me tell you, weeding vinyl is no fun and if you have dreams of doing a lot of glass, or intricate designs, you are going to have second thoughts before long. But it does work well, if you set your expectations accordingly. An inexpensive cutter should be OK for occasional stuff that doesn’t have super complex artwork.

Here is something else to consider: a film you put on your glass, then you put the item in the laser and blast away the film where you want the etch effect; then etch as normal. It looks really cool and easy, but it is expensive, and you are limited to items that you can fit into the Glowforge. I am dying to try this stuff!

There is one other major category of glass etch masking available, and that is photoresist. You print your artwork on a good quality laser printer or inkjet printer. Then, you place the artwork and a special photo-sensitive film into a UV exposure unit. THEN, you use a high-pressure water spray to wash out the un-exposed film, leaving you with a mask that you can apply to your object.

This is neat because there is no weeding and you can reproduce fine detail, even halftones. But a good exposure unit is a few hundred bucks, or requires ~$100 and a DIY commitment. You also MUST have a decent printer. A tired laser printer with a streaky drum will not set you up for success.

Anyway, on cutters… I have a KNK machine and it is very nice. They come in various price points and are a step up from the Michael’s-grade Cricut machines. If I was looking at ~$300 for a Cricut I would definitely consider stepping up to a KNK.

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit vinyl cutter plotter.

US Cutter and other commercial-style shops carry more serious gear too. I honestly do not know much about the brands carried here but have gotten a generally decent impression over the years.

At the higher price point you are considering, you may want to look at low-end commercial grade plotters. They will not hold you hand the way the hobby-grade machines do, and depending on your needs they may be overkill, but if you want to work with 24” or larger roll material then that’s the way to go. UsCutter and signwarehouse both carry house-brand plotters that are fine production machines. Signwarehouse (dot com) also sells (to the public) the higher-end commercial grade plotters from Graphtec, Roland, and Mutoh.

Looking at the prices on a commercial grade machine may help justify the price of any hobby-grade machine. It’s also worth checking craigslist, plenty of used ones out there in fine condition, often with some amount of free vinyl (lots of people that think they can start a sign-business and get rich quick, only to find that it’s a lot of work and very competitive)

I have a Graphtec FC-100 and it is an absolute workhorse. At this point I wish I had gone for the larger model to handle 60”-wide material, but at the time the 42” cutting width seemed huge. I use it for full-time commercial production, I would never b able to justify the price if it was just a personal/hobby/part-time/art toy.

Agree totally on the Gazelle, it was my go-to machine for heavy duty cutting before the advent of the laser. Also agree on the original KNK machine - not so much for the machine which was fine, but the software was extremely difficult to use compared to the other options available at the time. (It would be easier now, I’ve learned to use Inkscape.)

They all cut vinyl just fine, so a less expensive machine is a smarter choice for vinyl cutting. Right now, the Silhouette line is my favorite since their Studio software is absolutely superior for a lot of things.

But any of them will work just fine for vinyl, and you’ve got a laser for everything else. (A gal pal of mine likes the Silver Bullet just fine… all vinyl cutters are pretty much the same, it boils down to choosing the software.)

The original KNK machine had problems with accuracy, which matters a lot for the sorts of things I wanted to do with it. Some pop up card designs, for example, may require accuracy down to less than one millimeter. They used a cheap serial chip in it to save a buck and, it dropped nodes when cutting. So, cuts were often off by several mm over larger areas. The company misled people about the issue and, censored even cordial discussion of the machine’s issues or limits in their forums with a very heavy hand.

I’m likely to stick with my Gazelle until I want to do something it can’t or, it dies. I can see some other things besides vinyl where I would choose it over the Glowforge. I’ve done some experiments with integrating electronics into paper art (e.g., https://evermorestud.io/garden-lantern-pop-up-card-with-integrated-electronics/ ), and, have used the gazelle to cut conductive fabric and copper tape. I have used it to cut foil-covered paper stock where the Glowforge would not cut through (e.g., https://evermorestud.io/hart-of-winter/ ). There are also some cases where laser cut edges ruin the aesthetic of a design.

Of course, I’m not sure any of that is more challenging for the cutter than vinyl.

I’ve always done my designs in a dedicated vector art program (mostly Corel Draw) and, just imported into whatever software to cut (mostly MTC with the Gazelle, unless I need print-and-cut).

Interesting, do you remember which model that was? I have a KNK Maxx Air 24" and it’s been a trooper. One time I remember seeing a path closure being off by about 0.5 MM on a 24" wide piece. Other than that it’s been flawless.

That said, if I was doing it all over, I would look much more seriously at the sign shop house brands, Roland, etc. I made the mistake of buying a Maxx Air in part for its high downforce, dreaming of cutting thin plastics, fabric, etc. Well, you can do those things with a drag cutter but I found it to be a PITA and rarely did it. I probably would have been better off with a more professional unit that was specialized for vinyl.

Anyway, it is a gas to be able to make up a T-shirt on the spur of the moment. I have a big stash of HTV and a modest stash of cheap blanks from JiffyShirts. Good times. I recommend anyone who likes making stuff to get some kind of vinyl cutter!

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