Ok, I completed in depth testing on this unit months ago and I finally have the resource to post my findings. So here they are….This vinyl cutter is truly a beast! Don’t – and I repeat – don’t pay attention to the specs of this unit vs other cutters! This cutter is way beyond what the great specs even exemplify. For those cutters that make there advantages sheet off of inflated product specs, first and foremost, lets cover the things that every vinyl cutter should do. Every vinyl cutter should have the ability to effectively cut heat transfer vinyl and sign vinyl. Well the GX-24 definitely does that with absolutely no problems. However, for your reference I have tested cutters that boast the so called “best specs” that will not even cut a 19″ wide, thin heat transfer vinyl effectively. The reason being is that the fan or motor is not powerful enough to hold the material flat when feeding through the machine. I’ve actually had to tape a weight on the side of the material that was feeding through in order to get it to work. However, that’s neither here nor there, so back to the GX-24. In addition, to the ability to cut the standard types of vinyls, this cutter has an awesome feature called an optic eye sensor. In simple terms, this is a laser sensor that will allow you to trim around pre-printed images. How does this help you? Well if you’ve ever used heat transfer paper and applied it to a shirt you know that it leaves a horrible looking square box around your design. Well, this feature allows you to eliminate that excess box without having to mess with scissors. You just print from a registration template with your printed image on the same transfer sheet and then feed it into the cutter. It automatically reads the template and begins trimming around your design. This process does work for both light and dark transfer papers! So, don’t let anybody tell you that it doesn’t, because you can call me and I will walk you through it step by step. Now, on to the next great find! This cutter actually has the ability to cut pressure sensitive tackle twill material for applique work. This is HUGE. If you do embroidery you can definitely understand. Trust me when I say that no other “roll style” cutter on the market will do this with the precision cut that the GX-24 does. The GX-24 is even warranted to cut twill. So Beware: There are lots of cutters out there that are said to cut twill. So when someone makes a claim that the cutter they sell cuts twill, ask them if it is warranted to do it day in and day out. If it is, get it writing! To add to this feature, I should also make mention that there are software programs available to automatically creat the sew disc fo the twill. Ok so if that wasn’t enough, let me make mention of some other materials that I have cut during my testing: reflective film, flocking, magnetic material, a flexible plastic that was for a special application in a car, sticker material and the list goes on…. Now, what good is a cutter without the software. No this cutter does not come standard with a bunch of bundled “fluff” software that you’ll never use. This unit comes with a free copy of Rolands Cut Studio program. Once again, there is a bunch of technical jargon that I could rattle off, but lets be honest, that is boring. The features that make this software stand out over others for me are as follows. First and foremost, end the debate about which is better, because the software is compatible with both MACs and PCs. Also end the design software debate, because the Cut Studio features a plug in for either of the two most popular design programs CorelDRAW or Adobe Illustrator. In addition to this, my favorite feature is the Image Outline feature. You can import a JPEG or BMP graphic and automatically runs a trace on it to convert it to vector art. This trace feature allows you to adjust the threshold as well, so that you can basically pick and choose what you want it to trace around, an awesome feature for the print and cut process. There are many more things that I could rattle off about on the review of this unit, but I need to end my rant for now and I’ll update my findings as I continue to experiment with this unit. Be sure to check back for tutorials and more step by step instruction on the GX-24.
Jamaican Blue Mountain Blend
30 NovAt 6:45 am there’s nothing better than a strong cup of coffee and a 30 mile drive to get the gears turning. Today, I stopped off at Getgo for a tall cup of the Jamaican Blue Mountain Blend. An excellent starter if you ever get a chance to pick one up. While sipping my cup on my drive, I was thinking how could I start this off and what better way to get an idea sparked than from some good music. Well, I guess you could say it was the sounds of James Taylor’s Sweet Baby James that got the ball rolling. It wasn’t necessarily the lyrics or even the sound of the song, it was more of an association that it brought up. A couple years ago while shopping on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California, my wife and I got to create our very own custom mix CD of James Taylor songs. Of course, we could have burned the songs from our home computer onto a CD, but this was more of an experience, an experience that we still remember. The store was Hear Music. When we walked into the inline store you could buy a cup of Starbucks coffee, and sit down at one of about 20 stations that included headphones and a computer and start to sample tracks from a touch screen and create a custom made cd. When finished, this CD was yours from the custom selected songs, to the custom labeling and of course the experience that was above and beyond memorable. So where am I going with this and how the heck does it relate to heat pressing? Well, think of yourself opening a similar store, I have. But not music, how about t-shirts. And not just any t-shirts, personalized t-shirts. With the way personalization is skyrocketing and the way ecommerce businesses that allow users to customize t-shirts online are capitalizing, why not an inline store or even a mall kiosk? If you know the advantages and quick capabilities of cadcut material or photo transfers then you see where I’m coming from. Imagine this, when your Christmas or back to school shopping you walk into a store where you’re greeted with a cup of coffee (at a charge of course) and you are able to go through racks and racks of apparel to pick out a shirt. After you pick your shirt out, you sit down at 1 of 20 design stations and begin to personalize your creation! Drag clip art, type custom text, scan in a photo, upload one from disc or memory card….the possibilities are endless. Some would probably personalize a whole warddrobe. Anyways, my lovely cup of Jamaican Blue coffee is gone and so is my time. I hope you enjoyed the first of many “thoughts on the go”…please feel free to leave a comment if you wish. By the way, Hear Music has opened 4 more stores since my last visit.
 |
 |
