[Ken Styles]

Does anyone have any experience with this cutter?

Here is a link to a site that sells them.

Pro's? Con's?

Thanks

Ken

http://signsupply.com/Hardware/Roland/Stika.asp

 

[jdr8271]

I have the SX 15. It works fine for me. It does everything that it is advertised to do. Vinyl can be time consuming to weed.

I will eventually buy the Roland GX-24, as it is a better and faster machine.

Funny thing about the ad (http://signsupply.com/Hardware/Roland/images/sx12.jpg) on the page you linked to is that they make it appear that the vinyl comes out of the machine already weeded. Actually youll have to do that by hand with an exacto knife.

 

[Ken Styles]

yeah I've noticed that most vinyl cutter ads show it like that in the pictures

what kind of transfer paper do you use for that cutter?

Ken

 

[MotoskinGraphix]

If all it does is cut vinyl it wont be any faster or better....just larger!!!!!

 

[JoshEllsworth]

The GX24 cuts vinyl, twill, and has the optic eye for cutting around pre-printed transfers. The Stika line of cutters were just redeveloped and released at the beginning of this month. The new Stika features instructions and software to manually register a printed image so that it can be cut around. This is, of course, more complicated than using the GX24 with the automatic registartion, but definitely a great advancement for folks operating on a budget.

 

[JoshEllsworth]

FYI, the new line of Stika cutters is the SV series, anything with an SX model number would be the last model.

 

[Ken Styles]

Thanks Josh,
Does imprintables sell a compatible heat transfer paper that can be cut with this machine?

I just bought a SX-12 and I just want to be able to cut letters and numbers on paper for dark shirts. (Comes with drivers, printer cable and software).

I wonder if I can cut directly from Illustrator ..I'll figure that out when I get the unit

Also do you guys sell the power adapter? Apparently the lady that I'm buying it from lost it during a move.

 

[neato]

I'd forget the Stika. I haven't used one personally, but know that people sell them as fast as they buy them.

For the same amount, you could by a used 24" Roland, Graphtec or Summa. All great brands. It would serve you much better. I see them all the time in the $800 - $1000 range used.

 

[Ken Styles]

I understand that.

It's my first one just to try it out and do some letters and numbers.

Nothing fancy. I'll upgrade once I learn the basics and need it for more difficult designs

 

[Ken Styles]

Hey I found the vinyl heat transfer paper on imprintables

going to try the spectra sample pack.

 

[JoshEllsworth]

I'd forget the Stika. I haven't used one personally, but know that people sell them as fast as they buy them.

For the same amount, you could by a used 24" Roland, Graphtec or Summa. All great brands. It would serve you much better. I see them all the time in the $800 - $1000 range used.

Stika is a Roland machine. They definitely have their uses for the hobbiest or someone wanting to do small production runs. Also as I mentioned before, the have upgraded to the new SV models that include a manual registration feature, which is huge for cutting around preprinted transfers. A used 24" would be a great find at that price though, I can agree with you there. However, if you are relatively new to a vinyl cutter in general, you'll probably want some support from an authorized distributor (I would think).

 

[JoshEllsworth]

Thanks Josh,
Does imprintables sell a compatible heat transfer paper that can be cut with this machine?

I just bought a SX-12 and I just want to be able to cut letters and numbers on paper for dark shirts. (Comes with drivers, printer cable and software).

I wonder if I can cut directly from Illustrator ..I'll figure that out when I get the unit

Also do you guys sell the power adapter? Apparently the lady that I'm buying it from lost it during a move.

I think you might have some registration issues with the SX units. The new SV models allow for cutting around these images. However, I remember someone mentioning on here before that they used their Stika SX model for this purpose. You might want to seek out that thread. Different styles of paper for this process are available from a lot of sources, we do carry one type currently.

 

[StitchShoppe]

I Have a GX-24 with Cut Studio software, If you are going to use it to cut out printed transfers the SX 12 sounds like it should be large enough for 11x17 paper. Like I said I have "Cut Studio" make sure that the "Cut Choice" will print and cut. The GX-24 has an optical eye for registration. I can just speak for Cut Studio. I've used just about every brand of inkjet paper in mine and they all seem to work fine. Just so you understand the printable area is only 9 X13 for 11 X17 paper, as the unused is what the cutter requires to hold the sheet in place while cutting.

 

[Ken Styles]

I Have a GX-24 with Cut Studio software, If you are going to use it to cut out printed transfers the SX 12 sounds like it should be large enough for 11x17 paper. Like I said I have "Cut Studio" make sure that the "Cut Choice" will print and cut. The GX-24 has an optical eye for registration. I can just speak for Cut Studio. I've used just about every brand of inkjet paper in mine and they all seem to work fine. Just so you understand the printable area is only 9 X13 for 11 X17 paper, as the unused is what the cutter requires to hold the sheet in place while cutting.

Good info thanks!

Hopefull I can print out a vector and then cut around it?

When I get it I will do some experiments

 

[prometheus]

Anybody get one of these to work with Vista?

 

[fruitjars]

I have a SX-15 that I bought used on eBay because I wanted to get into vinyl. It's working perfect for us and is exactly what we need right now, especially with very limited funds. We were having transfers made by Transfer Express but now we have the ability to do quick jobs, short runs and experiment with different designs, colors, etc. We love the durability and opacity of vinyl. Still using Transfer Express for larger jobs. One day we are planning on upgrading to something larger and fancier!

 

[thrivers]

does a stika 12" print & cuts like GX 24"?

 

[thrivers]

josh,
do you know if a roland stika 12" can print & cut ? i'm doing inkjet printing too and i just want to try cutting the image with it.

 

[prometheus]

It doesn't do print and cut as well as th GX-24. You have to manually line up the registration marks, where as the GX-24 recognizes them optically.

 

[Kisskrazed]

The only disadvantage with the Stika's (I have the 15" model) is your limited as far as sizes you can cut. With the 15" model you can only cut 13.3" wide & 39" long. If your making signs this can really bite. I also have a 24" Roland & it'll cut everything from regular vinyl, reflective vinyl to Thermoflex with minimal adjustments & you can cut 23" wide by numerous feet long if needed. We started small & wished we would have gotton the larger cutter almost instanly. There good machines , don't get me wrong, but if your only cutting small stuff it'll do you fine. Just my .02.