Looking into a plotter, need help.

Chad.S

Chad.S

Oldtimer
I started thinking about getting a plotter for use in making my bead rolled panels, it takes me to long to draw them out so I thought about looking into a plotter, problem is that I know nothing about them or how easy they really are to use.. I thought about using it to cut transfer paper and then I can trace around it and I also thought about using it to draw on a piece of vynl and then just bead rolling through it.. I'm not sure if i will get the detail I am looking for with the second method. but as I said I don't know to much about this. Thought maybe somebody in here may know.
 
JimC does his own vinyl work and stuff..he should be able to chime in and help ya with this. I think the first method would work best. I think this would work really good once you get the hang of the specific program to do the drawing. Especially if you are doing duplicate panels or more of the same patterns.
 
Yes I would like to be able to duplicate panels, which is why I started looking into my plotter options. plus I could get a bunch of these ready and then just focus on the bead rolling.
 
ok well i guess first thing is you need to know or teach yourself some sort of vector based graphic arts software like adobe illustrator or coreldraw. you dont need to know the whole program for what you are doing. you just need to know how to draw in it so not too bad to learn really. as for the plotter, i dont know what size your looking for. just like anything, dont get a cheap chinese knockoff one. nothing but issues. i have a 42" graphtec. they are one of the best vinyl cutters. great machine and i have had no issues with it. its about 7 years old now. a vinyl cutter wont cut transfer tape. it will cut vinyl. that vinyl can be easily removable spray mask which may help you. just apply it to the panel then pull it off when your done. to do another panel just cut out another one. in any case it cant cut completely through something otherwise it would all fall apart as it cuts it. vinyl is on a paper backing so it cuts through the vinyl but not the paper then you remove what you dont want. my plotter has ink pens i can replace the knife with as well. for that i can put a big roll of white paper in it and it will draw a design on the paper. that may be another option for you.
 
I didn't realize it only cuts half way through, that makes more sense to me. I was wondering how I would get the transfer paper to the paint mask. For some panels I could just have it draw the design right on vynl or low adhesive product and then stick that right to the panel and roll through it, In some instances on basic panels it may be easier because I have less worry of scratching the panel if it's protected by the vynl. As I swear this aluminum scratches if you look at it.

Thanks Jim. that gives me some info to begin with.. I'm still deciding what to do. I thought about calling the signwarehouse to see what they have. I won't spend thousands on something that I'm just using to speed up my panels a little bit. At least not at the moment. I could honestly probably get by with a 24" desk top plotter.
 
What about illustrator/coral draw? Are these expensive programs? I need something with a outline/trace feature and something that can import my own lettering with various fonts.
 
corel draw is easiest for me, but we also use Illustrator. Both just take getting used to. There are free programs out there like inkscape to give you some ideas. Flexi 10 is the software I use for the plotter, it even has its own graphics. We mostly use it for the industrial side to cut masks for our powdercoating line, but have done the diamond plate pattern we sprayed on the jeep and also cut out the rally stripes for the camaro. Having a stiffer mask really kept the lines and radius straight.
Programmed the gauge housing we will put on top of the console to make bending and hole punching easier.
You can search for vinyl cutter software, there are a bunch, I think there was a windows cutter software we were thinking of trying, but what we have works with the flexi as long as its saved in the right format. Getting comfortable with the graphics program is most important. I am still using illustrator 4 and an old corel from Ebay, so getting new older version will save some money and still work, but most of the cutters you buy will have packages that include software too.
 
I don't think I'm going to rush this one. Going to look around a little bit. I really don't want to spend thousands to get illustrator for what I am looking to do with it.. I'm actually thinking about just getting a desktop plotter. It would be fine for my panel work. But as you say, everything I have seen mostly comes down to the software.
 
I think I paid 149 for my Illustrator CS4, 99 for the Corel Draw graphics suite X5. Even direct from Corel its 99.00. Alot of the free trials you see will link up to buying the software, so its complete. The main thing you want in a program is easy view scale. Draw a simple rectangle any size, pick it, then go right to the decimal scale and enter your sizes. Moving the artboard to center at zero allow you to just punch in positive and negative numbers to work off the center. Rounded rectangles are good in fab too, just need to put in the radius and its drawn. Definitely dont need to get the latest and newest software, just finding one with a forum like this to ask question if its no longer supported will be helpful, but most things are easy enough to search thru their help..

All the new stuff is great if you are using for graphics, drawing, animations with so many one click options to 3D stuff, but its never gonna be used with a standard cutter plotter. I would just do an ebay search for older software, preferably new in box though. Illustrator allows two computers to run the software so if the program is active anywhere it just wont work. Flexi 10 has a usb key you need to use when the software is working. At least that way eventually you might find a cheap version to try if you dont want to download a sample software.

all I know is most plotters just want the work saved either in AI, PDF or EPS formats to work. Thats really the only thing you need to lock up with the plotter you choose, make sure your program will save the file correctly.
 
That makes it sound a little easier.. $150 for a program is do-able. When I saw thousands I was thinking maybe this idea wasn't such a great one. lol. Entering a real life rectangle would be awesome to start with. As well as working off of center for my lettering. I am not in any hurry to do this just yet, but knowing it's within reason helps.
 
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