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.
hey there
my name is ben, ive been doing graphics since i was 13, and im now 18, living at home, going to school at FIU im miami florida.
so...
i read the faq and some posts here and there but didnt find any definite answers.
i need a vinyl cutter.
it will be used mostly for clothing and stickers. also walls and glass if possible, but stickers is priority with clothing as a close second.
so, does that fall under different stocks or different cutters?
2nd, i need very fine detail. so, i need a cutter that can handle that
i DONT need huge sizes, but the bigger the better. however, low price is more important.
i cannot afford the Roland GX24, please dont tell me to save up as i need this asap
also, for stickers, is there simply adhesive vinyl stock or do i need to go through some sort of process?
and lastly, i saw on the faq a "where to buy vinyl" thing, but are there any local stores that anyone knows about around south florida that sells? no hobby shops around that i know of...
and if not, what website do you guys reccomend?
and i want the budget to be somewhere less then 500 or so. really i dont even want to spend the 500, but if need be, so be it.
what do you have for a computer setup? the reason i ask is you'll need a vector graphics program like illustrator or coreldraw to design and output to the cutter (if the cutter doesn't come with it). the detail thing could be a problem. the finer the detail you need cut the bigger pain it will be to weed. when pulling away the unwanted vinyl alot of times stuff that small will come up as well. it can be done but i don't know about a one point stroke. and i don't know what kind of a quality cut the cheaper models/brands can handle. i've got the gx-24 and when you're talking about that small of a cut it gets iffy. now the decal thing is where i'm confused. are you going to print them with your inkjet and then cut them? if you're talking a print and cut machine, you're talking like the $13,000 roland versacamm. if not you'll have to print them on special film for inkjet and the vinyl cutter will have to be able to contour cut. which usually means spending around at least $700. i think the cheapest is the uscutter laserpoint.
as i said ive been doing graphics for about 5 years now, including motion graphics and effects. so im good on computing...
"now the decal thing is where i'm confused. are you going to print them with your inkjet and then cut them? if you're talking a print and cut machine, you're talking like the $13,000 roland versacamm. if not you'll have to print them on special film for inkjet and the vinyl cutter will have to be able to contour cut. which usually means spending around at least $700. i think the cheapest is the uscutter laserpoint."
huh??
i was under the impression that i get a vinyl cutter and some vinyl, and the cutter well...cuts the vinyl, i take out the parts i dont need and stick em on something.
what does that have to do with an inkjet printer?
thank you
no sorry, it doesn't but so you're gonna be kinda limited to how many colors and no gradients etc. they do make the material that handles inkjet ink and you could use your cutter to cut out things that are more intricate than say a square or circle if you have contour cutting capabilities. think about it it gives you another option that's a pretty big one. if doing shirts you can cut around your designs as to not give you that yellow left over junk that alot of transfer paper will leave behind after pressing. oh and you'll need a heat press for doing shirts. don't mean to tell you stuff you might already know, just rambling after a couple of drinks.
can i use an iron instead of a heat press lol?
look, right now shirts are not a priority, but i want to be able to expand to them later.
and yes i can tell youve had a couple of drinks because your english is atrocious haha
can you make bullet points so i can understand it easier?
i dont need gradients, multiple colors can be cool, but cant i do that with multiple vinyls?
and vinyl cutters cant cut intricate shapes? this is very confusing, they NEED to be contour cutters to do cool ****?
can you list the steps needed to make a small detail sticker?
see i don't know about making signs or decals although the principles are the same: design/cut/adhere. you can make multi-color decals shirts using more than one color of vinyl but the draw back there is the layering of all the material on top of each other makes the end product thick and heavy. i guess that's not so bad for a decal but wearing a shirt with all that feels like wearing one of those yellow rain coats.
and yes cutters cut intricate designs. it's just how intricate a cut that they can do before the vinyl is whacked all to hell. imagine a xacto blade point of the blade being passed over an area over and over at a very high speed. the material just doesn't hold up. the vinyl is stuck to a plastic backing by an adhesive but that adhesive isn't that strong to hold everything together if cut too intricately and too close to other cuts.
and the term contour cutting refers to the process of the cutter being able to read registration marks and lining up the material being cut via those marks. not all cutters offer this and it's usually the cutters that are more expensive. check it out by typing in contour cutting in the search function above. oh and by the way. me englash is just pine! (hiccup!)
The sign vinyl already come with adhesive, all you need to do is just cut the vinyl and weed the unwanted parts.
Check youtube and the US cutters forum.
You should be able to get a 24" cutter for under 500 USD.
hey! new, need some quick help 
