Discuss the various aspects of heat pressed vinyl transfers. Popular and new types of vinyl media, suppliers, vinyl cutters /plotters, press times, quality, how to instructions and more can be found in this heat press sub forum.
Ok i have been told and i have seen work that was done to prove it that you can take on old Plotter and use it as a vinyl cutter. Any suggestions i have 3 old plotters and instead of selling them ill use them if it is in deed possible to accomplish. So if you have done it or know someone who has or if there is a site other than luberth.com that has details on this please tell me about it.
Lots of people have been trying this, and some even succeed. If you do, great! if you don't, try a used cutter.
One of the biggest things you need are the drivers for your plotters. Once you have something to drive the pens, you can replace the pen with a knife. They rarely have much downpressure, but should be fine for heat transfer and regular vinyl. It probably won't be sufficient to cut thicker stuff like retro-reflective vinyl, adhesive stencil resist, non-adhesive stencils, mylar, or scoring leather and cardboard.
But you get both the fun of building the conversion, and the pride when it works. I love tearing apart stuff, which is why i've enjoyed the site listed above so much.
Re: ok!!! I have heard this from numerous sources and seen some of the work done with it
I would wonder if you could even get Win 2000 or Win XP drivers for the old pen plotters. I have a friendly competitor with one Win 98 and one Win 95 box because he still uses CASMate, which was wonderful software a decade ago, but is no longer supported today.
I go to him when I need something cut on a 48" plotter (I only have a 30"). He only upgraded to Win 98 last summer when he bought a seven year old surplus computer from the local library for $50.
I don't understand why he still struggles with the ancient equipment. It's not like he isn't making a good living. Sometimes you have to let go of old junk and spend money.
Re: ok!!! I have heard this from numerous sources and seen some of the work done with it
Sometimes you develop a fondness for an old beast. I still play around with my AppleIIGS with the desktop software that windows was copied off of.
And there's also the challenge of building something. Yeah, I could have bought a battery powered travel charger for my ipod, but i bought a "minty boost" PC board and built one into an altoid's gum tin. A cinnamon one for my husband, and one for me. Built a PVC greenhouse frame 10 years ago from scratch, no plans, for the same reason. Just wanted the satisfaction of saying "I made that. and it's useful."
Admitedly, there are so many cheap cutters out there that I think he should do both. If he can get software to drive an old plotter, there's no reason he can't replace the pen with a knife, and it would be fun. If he wants to cut a lot, or a lot of different materials, he should probably go with a new one. I got mine for $800 from Duluth Sign Supply. Admittedly, that was mostly because they're only a few miles from me, but also because that's a price that's hard to pass up and shipping then wasn't an issue. Shop around a bit, you can get a cutter pretty cheap these days. Word to the wise- Get one with a full, pro, professional, etc. version software, not a starter, basic, letter, beginner, etc. Otherwise you'll regret it in a hurry, and at $399, SignGo Pro is the only full version out there that isn't $1,000-3,000. So upgrading software usually costs more than buying the cutter with the pro version in the first place.
This is a discussion about Turning an old plotter into a vinyl cutter that was posted in the Vinyl Cutters (Plotters) and Transfers section of the forums.
Turning an old plotter into a vinyl cutter 
