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Hand cut or machine.....??


Guest jakestint

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I have tested this for myself. I do dealer work and was doing about 200 of the same cars per month. So I tried out the plotter. It took more time, way more time, for the plotter to cut the film. And when you go through a whole roll of film cutting doors, the blade gets dull and sometimes it doesnt score it well enough so when you peel it its not clean. Aggrivating...Granted this was a few years back, things may be better now. I cut at least two cars per car. In other words I cut 4 piecxes on one door. And when I was doing that many cars I would cut like 3 or 4 cars per car. Anyway here was my conclusion...I could cut the film way way faster manually. The plotter really wasted my day. Also sometimes it wasn't accurate. However, the nice thing about the plotter was you could set it to cut within millimeters of eachother and save on scraps. I figuerd I got about 4 extra doors out of a roll using the plotter. In the end that was definitely not enough to make me keep it. I would think maybe in flat glass applications it could be very usfeful. But as for an experienced tinter, I think manual is best. Hope this helps...

I have a plotter set up at a dealership that I tint for. Ive only had it for 6 months. When I first started using it, I had the same problem with it not cutting well enough. I wanted to kick the plotter all the time. When using a plotter, you have to do test cuts every day to keep everything right. I change the blade every month and a half or so, and change the teflon strip it cuts on every 2-3 weeks. The teflon strip is what messes everything up. It gets a groove worn in it and you constantly have to adjust to cutter. The plotter makes work so much faster. I am doing 2 Altimas every hour (granted I cut patterns in the morning for cars I will do). I can cut 10 patterns for an Altima (35% front 2/20% on rest) in about 15 minutes...that includes the back window, no more using a light in the back to cut it out!!!

I still do hand cuts at my personal shop b/c I dont want to cart the plotter everywhere.

So here is my challege...for those of you in Houston that say they can cut faster than my plotter, come by and try to beat it. If you can beat it cutting all doors and back windows on just one car, I will pay you $100. If I win, you pay. I used to think I was faster, but the plotter has proven me wrong...now I love this thing.

BTW you can pick any car on the lot. :rollin

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Guest h0wld0g

Plotter... If you have a "helper" you can heat shrink the back glass and have it stuck and have the doors on the board ready to stick. Also it helps having a car cut out before the customer gets there.

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I have tested this for myself. I do dealer work and was doing about 200 of the same cars per month. So I tried out the plotter. It took more time, way more time, for the plotter to cut the film. And when you go through a whole roll of film cutting doors, the blade gets dull and sometimes it doesnt score it well enough so when you peel it its not clean. Aggrivating...Granted this was a few years back, things may be better now. I cut at least two cars per car. In other words I cut 4 piecxes on one door. And when I was doing that many cars I would cut like 3 or 4 cars per car. Anyway here was my conclusion...I could cut the film way way faster manually. The plotter really wasted my day. Also sometimes it wasn't accurate. However, the nice thing about the plotter was you could set it to cut within millimeters of eachother and save on scraps. I figuerd I got about 4 extra doors out of a roll using the plotter. In the end that was definitely not enough to make me keep it. I would think maybe in flat glass applications it could be very usfeful. But as for an experienced tinter, I think manual is best. Hope this helps...

I have a plotter set up at a dealership that I tint for. Ive only had it for 6 months. When I first started using it, I had the same problem with it not cutting well enough. I wanted to kick the plotter all the time. When using a plotter, you have to do test cuts every day to keep everything right. I change the blade every month and a half or so, and change the teflon strip it cuts on every 2-3 weeks. The teflon strip is what messes everything up. It gets a groove worn in it and you constantly have to adjust to cutter. The plotter makes work so much faster. I am doing 2 Altimas every hour (granted I cut patterns in the morning for cars I will do). I can cut 10 patterns for an Altima (35% front 2/20% on rest) in about 15 minutes...that includes the back window, no more using a light in the back to cut it out!!!

I still do hand cuts at my personal shop b/c I dont want to cart the plotter everywhere.

So here is my challege...for those of you in Houston that say they can cut faster than my plotter, come by and try to beat it. If you can beat it cutting all doors and back windows on just one car, I will pay you $100. If I win, you pay. I used to think I was faster, but the plotter has proven me wrong...now I love this thing.

BTW you can pick any car on the lot. :twocents

I'm with you man-I can jam on my old plotter too! :dunno

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