‘What vinyl cutter should I buy?’** and ‘Can this vinyl cutter print as well?’**

We constantly have to wrestle with these two emotional questions that pop up whenever customers engage us around these machines. Let’s address the second question first. Our vinyl cutters do not print anything. Zero, nothing. They only do cutting and plotting. Okay? For cutting, these creatures must be fed (by a human being) with pre-printed material, for it to do the cutting. You would have printed registration marks around the printed work on

Red Pointer Shows Registration Mark

your sheet. When you load the printed vinyl into the cutter, the cutter head has something to line up with the printed reg marks. You will have already set up your cutting software with cut outlines around the printed graphics. By telling the cutter where the registration marks are, the cutter then knows where the vinyl is with regard to the cut outlines. When you hit cut, it cuts those outlines, regardless of where the actual printed graphics are. So, if the cutter gets a bit off, or you aren’t very precise in calibrating the cutter to the reg marks, the cut lines will be off slightly. Simple, Simon.

Let’s then address this one, an exigency of the moment: Is there a difference between a vinyl cutter and vinyl plotter?** If so, what are the differences? The short, simple answer is, that’s one and the same thing. A vinyl cutter/ plotter does both. You load the blade attachment to cut vinyl, or you would load the pen attachement to plot on paper.

So, before you think of sacrificing a few features, merely to save a few rands, let me say this. We’ve been using the V-Series, an entry level vinyl cutting machine and the V-Smart (the industry workhorse) for a while now, and most recently the magical V-Auto, which is fitted with the latest and most efficient Servo Motor Driving System with 0.001mm driving precision. The V-Auto is very quiet and powerful. There is a slight difference between the three, but and the following guidelines will help you make a good choice before you put that call through.

1). The V-Smart: This is a user-friendly, versatile, and affordable machine. It features digitally controlled servo system for smooth and accurate cutting of most materials for creating signs and decals. It allows you to cut directly from the USB Drive. It’s Contour Cutting system uses a laser optical eye which reads multiple registration mark patterns on pre-printed media to obtain accurate contour cutting for the production of decals, stickers, heat transfer and packaging in the print and cut operation. The recent (2015) model runs at a speed of 50 – 500 mm/second.

The V-Smart Vinyl Cutting Plotter

2). The V-Auto: Now performance has found a new name. Here is the fast-paced, accurate, and high-performing arrival. Now this is evolution. Accurate cutting. Automatic detection of registration marks. Ease of use. It supports Wi-Fi connection, allowing this model to connect several computers simultaneously. Surprisingly, this early bird comes with Roland compatible blades with 5 free complimentary blades: three which are 45 degrees, together with the 30 degrees and 60 degrees respectively. For start-up entities looking at doing minimum cuts of 2mm high letters, the V-Auto is an ideal product. It is also able to Direct Cut PLT files from USB Flash Drive, with no computer connection required. It is fitted with the EPSON DX5 Printhead, this product ensures accurate cutting quality.

The V-Auto Vinyl Cutter

The final consideration, and arguably the most important, when choosing a vinyl cutter isn’t some feature on the equipment. It is how difficult or easy it is to get after sales support and spares from your dealer, and this is where we all have head-aches. But believe me, you will fall asleep at night knowing that the Advanced Machinery technical support team is always ready to help you with remote assistance.

To get a good knowledge of the different vinyl cutters we have, and how they work, please feel free to contact us, and may be drop by for a demonstration. You may also vist our website for more: http://am.co.za

Kindly click on this link to view our recent pictures of the V-Auto vinyl cutter, or watch this Video