plotters

[SkaBob]

yeah yeah so plotters are for cheaters blah blah blah

my MOM of all people wants one, and I figure I can use it to cut some stencils for my buddy's site, and we want one that is easy to use (ie- doesn't require jumping through hoops or photoshop wizardry to get the right image format) and pretty affordable. I know various models have had good and/or bad things said about them in threads here, but I don't recall a thread just for saying "oh yeah, this plotter is the bee's knees" or "oh man this plotter is SO bunk!", so like...hook a brotha up...what ones are good, what ones suck chocolate salty balls?

[Solty]

...chocolate salty balls?

too funny!

[adamb258]

...chocolate salty balls?

too funny!

I think you read it as sOlty balls and got excited =P

[Solty]

...chocolate salty balls?

too funny!

I think you read it as sOlty balls and got excited =P

shhhh

[SkaBob]

OK...now that we've talked about balls enough, can someone answer the question? My mom's looking to purchase this week, so if nobody answers, she's gonna have to take a wild, flying guess at what one to buy and probably pick the wrong one...

[Thommie]

what do you consider to be affordable? is it for scrapbooking? or for actually considering a business? or are you using the cover of your mom to actually stencil your discs?(which i would applaud...though i'd be the only one here..stupid purists)
plotters can range between used on ebay from 100-400 brand new between 230-a loan is needed.. it really depends on what you're trying to do.

[SkaBob]

She intends to use it for scrapbooking, but ideally we'd like one that she can use for that and I can use for cutting stencils for some mass produced dyes for discs.

[Thommie]

and now the killer of hopes and dreams....

what's your price range?

100-200 the cricuit cutter is pretty neat-o...for her... not for you because you cannot use your own designs you have to use there print cubes.. which defeats the purpose of mass producing vinyls for dying unless you just want to print words.
200-400 any stika would work fine sv8, sv12, sv15 you can find them all used in this price range if you search long enough.(personally i'd go with the sv'15)
ebay is always a good thing... but do your research you may find an amazing plotter and when you get you forgot to realize that you need model specific software to cut.
there are free sites but again do your research, they are not all compadible.

or you can just post on here there are plenty of people that will help you out. make what ever you want and im sure you can even work out a deal. i do vinyl work. acidbath666 does great work(im sure there are others)

[AciDBatH666]

I've got a Pro-cut CR630 I think. Great BIG (24") budget plotter, horrible software support. But I'm keen with computers and stuff to eventually make it work. The manual for it looks it was literally made in MSPaint. But I figured it all out anyways.
Software was another issue. I had to look everywhere for answers, only to find out that I was gonna have jump into it myself and figure it out.

[Thommie]

ebay has flexi starter 8.6 for 99$ or if you have a friend that knows how to get things, and you by chance have some first run buzzes or bar stamped beauties..im sure it can be alot cheaper. maybe even get the full 6 disc version..

[SkaBob]

Hey Acid,

How horrible is the software support on that one? I'm rather good with computers, so if I can find a workaround I can teach to my mom, that'd work for us...

[AciDBatH666]

It's been a while, but I think I had to manually force the plotter to read as COM1 or COM2. Because it was coming up as 7 or 8 or something. It's been a while so I cant remember exactly what I had to do.
When I plug it up, it doesn't show up in my list of devices. So there's no drivers or anything for it.

If you know computers, you can prolly somewhat follow what the booklet says you need to do and accomplish. Their steps are garbage, but if you know what you're supposed to be doing you can prolly get it with minimal effort.

[SkaBob]

What about the software to get the images to the plotter? Can you geed it .jpg and such, or is it a proprietary format or something stupid like that?

[marmoset]

File formats are probably going to be .si, .fh, .svg or something along those lines.
I'm having a hard time seeing how a plotter would cut from a .jpg

The good news is: Inkscape, the free vector program. This program should make whatever file type you will need. I've never used it but I hear it is just like FreeHand/Illustrator.

[ErinH]

I have been soaking up all the info on these dyeing forums and its been really helpful. Great threads..

Heres my deal. I plan to use a plotter to dye 30+ discs for my disc club. I have spent hours researching plotters &
what you people think of them. It seems like everyone looks right past the readily accessable cricut plotter.
The thing about the cricut is you can cut out any design you want with this plotter, and do not need to use the cartidge bullcrap. In fact the software that runs the cricut seems much better and more user friendly than what you get from uscutter etc. The software is called SCAL and there are support vids on Youtube.

I think the cricut has some good things going for it. It's basically designed so a 5 year old can run it. Millions are being sold, and parts like blades and mats are cheap and easy to get and will continue to be. The price will keep coming down, and from what I have read it cuts vinyl/transfer paper no prob.
So besides being a looser for using a plotter instead of an ecksactow, wheres the error in my plan?