There is very little discussion here about plotters or large printers to make banners, backdrops, etc.. Does anyone have insight into these 2 things. I'm considering upgrading into large format vinyl cutting and banner printing. Is there a combination plotter/printer that does both? What are people's opinions on getting into one or the other? What are the preferred manufacturers' for such equipment? I know Roland and Graphtec can't be the only good ones.

That's because screen printing rules!!

LOL... no really;

I’d love to buy a vinyl set up too so anyone who has one or maybe used one please chime in here with your experiences. I think it’s about time a get one even if it’s just to round out my product offerings.

I'm seriously considering getting a SC plotter from USCutter. It's a "value" cutter so it's not meant to be a workhorse like Roland or Graphtec. But, it is affordable at $400 for a 34" with stand. It also does contour cutting, so if I want I can print stickers and such, and cut around just the image. My main purpose though is to make my own vinyl transfers and heat press sport apparel and such or to do one-off shirts with simple text.

I saw where you gave USCutter a +like earlier - oddly enough, I'd been checking out their site and looking at plotters the past couple of days. From what I've read on t-shirtforums, they're pretty darn good for being a Chinese plotter ("USCutter" indeed!). The only complaints I've really seen are the noise and the fact that it has trouble with sharp corners and very fine detail (to be expected with a stepper motor vs a servo motor). But in all, it looks pretty nice. Plus, you can get a 2nd year on the warranty for another $50 which also seems pretty good for a piece of import equipment. If you go for it, DEFINITELY give us a review!

That's pretty funny Andy. Yeah, I've talked to their sales reps a couple different times. I'm told they are a bit louder than most servos but you can still have a conversation over them. Can also cut 1/4" pretty easily and sometimes smaller with some luck. I'm thinking about the added 2 year warranty but at the same time I consider the cost of warranty to unit price itself. So I'm not sure if I'll get the added protection considering this. I need to upgrade and this seems like the best option for me when I factor in price, quality, capabilities, support, etc.. I thought about the LaserPoint II also but that is geared more towards doing a lot of contour cutting and costs a bit more. They also have an eBay store that has bundle packages with a ton of other stuff.

Nice information guys, Thanks for sharing. It’s true, not all Chinese products are garbage. In fact some of our favorite electronics come from there as you all know. So this unit is interesting. I’ll have to take a look. Feel free to post links about where it’s available for purchase or you can link out to T-Shirt Forums to share the posts there about it.

Actually, I found a good review/comparison of 4 low end cutter units on Stahl's blog which includes two units from US Cutter and good explanation of the differences between a low-end cutting unit and a mid-grade or pro one.

http://www.stahlsblog.com/cheap-cutter-review/

Also, USCutter has their own forums for support and discussion of their units, signmaking, vinyl cutting, etc at http://forum.uscutter.com/

It's cool to note that they have a special forum group for "complaint posts" for folks to see, so they don't try to whitewash bad reviews

This is what I'm looking at:
http://www.uscutter.com/USCutter-SC-Ser ... t-Software

I've done as much research on it as I can find. I think overall it has around a 90% positive rating. Having unbiased forums around is awesome. As Andy said, even USCutter's own forum includes a complaint section. Which was very helpful. If all goes well with it and I need to upgrade to a pro model down the road I'll be sure to order from one of your vendors Jonathon if feasible. I can't stress enough how much I appreciate all you do.

Very cool guys. Thanks for the added information. Please know that on the Catspit Forum you can post any links you like in your sharing and helping one another. I don’t mind any posts to ecommerce sites or competitor’s sites. Just as long as it’s honest sharing and it is not spam. We don’t want commercial users to bombard us with useless information simply to post a link to their ecommerce site.

I may follow up from time to time with a suggestion from one of my vendors if appropriate but that’s because that’s what I’m supposed to do. Not because I don’t like the other links. You can always search the Catspit vendors too to see if there is something that can help out there if you would like to help support the educational program. But I will not edit links posted with good intentions.

I protect the YouTube comments, Facebook and Twitter a little differently than I do the Catspit Forum. Those venues I use mainly to promote my project so I want those to be more sterile so to speak... LOL.

Anyway, this is a very cool thread and I appreciate you guys creating it

Catspit Productions wrote:I may follow up from time to time with a suggestion from one of my vendors if appropriate but that’s because that’s what I’m supposed to do.

Absolutely! I usually start most of my "what brand should I buy" lines of thought at the Catspit vendors page

Speaking of which (and feel free to branch this into another topic if you'd like) but do you know/recommend any heat presses that would work in a standard household outlet, Jonathan? I was looking at the Ricoma's, and sadly they pull a little too much amperage for an apartment circuit =/