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.
I am very new to vinyl, as I have been DTG printing for awhile now. I'd like to be able to make digital vinyl transfers and digitally cut them out. Can someone recommend a good Cutter? for this? Also, can you all fill me in on the good and the bad of Vinyl transfers? Can white transfers for lettering be made? Can intricate artwork be made? Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I don't know much about this process. Thanks a ton.
Hey Kevin guess who haha. It really depends on what you are wanting. I have a graphtec cutter and love it, but I only cut solid color vinyl. It does have a contour cutting feature, so If I were to print a transfer I can contour cut it on there. For cutting printed vinyl it seems the versacamm's and those types of cutter/printers are alot better. The reason is the material you are able to cut and print, in my opinion is better then the transfers you can print on a regular printer and cut on the cutters that dont print.
Roland does have the smaller printer/cutter, I think it is the versacamm 340. This one is I think around 34 inches wide print area, and also cuts the printed material. Its cheaper then the larger printer/cutter. Here is a thread that tells a bit about it Video Demo: Roland Versacamm SP300v.
So I guess it really depends on whether you want to print on the higher quality vinyl with a machine that also cuts. Or if you just want to be able to contour cut materials that are pre printed, or solid color vinyl letters and designs. If you are just looking for a cutter that does not print then the graphtec or roland gx24 are both good. But if you are looking to print and cut, then the versacamm series would be the way to go. The good thing with the versacamms is you can also do printed banners as well to make extra money
Well anyways hope this helps some.
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Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest. ~~~Mark Twain BobbieLee
Lol, you're everywhere Sunny! Thank you for the info, man, you are awesome. I was just looking at the GX 24, just now researching what I can. I'll have to go look at the versacamm here. Since you DTG, you might know this. I basically want to be able to both print and cut my own designs, but the designs I want to do this with are the more detailed designs. I was thinking I'd do this to cut down on using white ink, and also to have more vibrant color with vinyl? All my designs are very small, so I wouldn't need anything big. I do want top of the line print quality, but I'm also working on a budget. Is the vinyl quality like screen print, or plastisol transfers?
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Originally Posted by sunnydayz
Hey Kevin guess who haha. It really depends on what you are wanting. I have a graphtec cutter and love it, but I only cut solid color vinyl. It does have a contour cutting feature, so If I were to print a transfer I can contour cut it on there. For cutting printed vinyl it seems the versacamm's and those types of cutter/printers are alot better. The reason is the material you are able to cut and print, in my opinion is better then the transfers you can print on a regular printer and cut on the cutters that dont print.
Roland does have the smaller printer/cutter, I think it is the versacamm 340. This one is I think around 34 inches wide print area, and also cuts the printed material. Its cheaper then the larger printer/cutter. Here is a thread that tells a bit about it Video Demo: Roland Versacamm SP300v.
So I guess it really depends on whether you want to print on the higher quality vinyl with a machine that also cuts. Or if you just want to be able to contour cut materials that are pre printed, or solid color vinyl letters and designs. If you are just looking for a cutter that does not print then the graphtec or roland gx24 are both good. But if you are looking to print and cut, then the versacamm series would be the way to go. The good thing with the versacamms is you can also do printed banners as well to make extra money
There are several people that have invested in versacamms to be able to do vinyl on darks instead of using white ink. The vinyl has more of a feel then the dtg, and you can feel it more. But people that do not like the white ink have bought them and then just switched their dtg's to cmyk, and use the versacamms for darks, so that they dont have to deal with the pretreatment, and maintenance of white ink.
I have felt both the vinyl and the dtg ink, and to me I did not like the feel of the vinyl. But they do have much more vibrant ink then the dtg's. The versacamms use solvent inks, so they do hold up better then a standard pigment or dye ink in smaller format printers. I think as far as cost, it could save money in the long run because you would not have as much wasted ink, like with the dtg's. I guess it just comes down to whether you are ok with the feel of the vinyl. It does not feel like plastitol at all. It is a more smooth feeling like regular vinyl, but you are able to print on it. I myself would not use regular transfers that are contour cut. I use to do heat transfers, and that was one of the reasons I invested in my dtg, was I hated the feel of the transfer papers and the fading they would get. The versacamm vinyl is nicer then regular transfers in my opinion, and last much better. You are also able to cut pretty good details as well.
__________________
Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest. ~~~Mark Twain BobbieLee
I have seen several members find good deals on used versacamms, I would look into that as well. Yes it is made by Roland
The weeding is removing the excess vinyl out of the design with a weeding tool. Its a pointed tool with a sharp point that you grab the edge of the excess vinyl and pull it off the sheet with.
__________________
Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest. ~~~Mark Twain BobbieLee
Does anyone know if the Versacamm or the GX-24 would print on and cut thin cardstock?
The GX24 is a cutter only, no print functionality. Neither would be able to cut card stock as well due to how the cutter operates. It's not a matter of the blade going deep enough, but rather the cutter only cuts by moving the material in and out, while moving the blade left and right only. If you think of it like a printer, the paper isn't all printed at once, instead the printhead moves left and right, while motors pull the page up. Without a backing, the cardstock would fall apart as it's being cut and jam up the cutter. Most cardstock is cut utilizing a die cutter, which is similar to how a cookie cutter works.
Kevin, I think you and I and Bobbi Lee need to just combine shops already, we're all ending up with almost the same equipment
If you are going to buy just a cutter, I'd take a serious look at the Eagle that Sandy Jo just got for doing rhinestone templates. It's priced higher than the GX24 but it has much more downforce for cutting the rhinestone template material. If I had the money to buy one right now, I'd probably sell my GX24, even as much as I like it... We bought ours from Imprintables with the Twill Stitch Pro software for doing twill applique embroidery but I use it a lot for heat press vinyl as well.
New to Vinyl and Need Help 
guess who haha. It really depends on what you are wanting. I have a graphtec cutter and love it, but I only cut solid color vinyl. It does have a contour cutting feature, so If I were to print a transfer I can contour cut it on there. For cutting printed vinyl it seems the versacamm's and those types of cutter/printers are alot better. The reason is the material you are able to cut and print, in my opinion is better then the transfers you can print on a regular printer and cut on the cutters that dont print.
