I presume you're talking about a vinyl cutter? I could be wrong, but don't see a laser cutter going that cheap.

Have a look at the Silhouette Cameo club to see how people are using vinyl cutters in their restoration projects (including insert lettering).

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/silhouette-cameo-pinball-restorers-club

Don't cut vinyl on a laser cutter it gives off styrene gas which is poisonous.

You probably mean one of these $250 vinyl cutters:

ebay.com link: NEW Your Best Value SignMakers Vinyl SignWarehouse Cutter Vinly Sign Plotter

You can use them to cut your own cab stencils too.

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Is there something special about that kind of vinyl cutter versus something like the Silhouette cameo? Is the vinyl cutter designed to work with materials that pinheads like us care more about?

It uses regular Roland blades, so you can always get them cheap.

It is a 31" wide cutter, so even deep Jpop style cabs can have their stencils cut by it (if it says it's a 31" machine, that probably means it can cut to 29", lol).

It has enough cut force to cut real painter's stencil; that material can trip up small cutters.

You might also looking into silk-screening them, if not too elaborate.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/silkscreens-for-insert-repair#post-567154

You can use a vinyl cutter to cut the Rubylith to make the silkscreens, too.

Then you can skip the exposure step.

I do like that example of using the silkscreen repair, because you can easily do the color white.

It's more like a stencil vinyl, that does not allow paint to creep under the edge.

They make it in solvent resistant or water resistant formulas, depending on what you are shooting.

Huh. So if the vinyl cutter is ~$250 and the Cameo is ~$250, there's really no reason (other than space concerns) to get the Cameo over the vinyl cutter, is there?

I've never seen a Cameo, but I imagine replacement blades are more than standard Rolland ones.

The vinyl goes in and out of the machine while cutting , so if you are cutting a long piece on a desk, you would have to clear the desk both in front and behind the cutter for the length of the material.

That stand is probably worth $250 of headache all by itself (unless you have a big, empty desk....)

Why not go all out and get one of these you can print and cut... BIG PRICE!
http://www.rolanddga.com/products/printcut/versavsi/

I started my career working for a company that created software for cutting and printing it was fun playing with all the large format printers and cutters. We would get tons of free vinyl and other media to cut and print on. Wish I still had access to all that technology.
Joe

Do you think the big vinyl cutter can make precision cuts to allow me to make masks like Gov did for his Taxi?

1502854_1502839449965324_5203868607141954775_o.jpg

Indeed they do- they are by far the most common variety. Most can cut an unlimited length of material. Precision varies but almost all are well more than accurate to do what you want. With a Cameo you woukd have to cut it in two pieces and its limited to a fairly short cut lenght- not for cabinet etc

Searh cameo here and restore and you will find a lot of information -

It probably could but you need to be good at some art program like corel, adobe, or photoshop or you will go crazy trying to figure it all out.

The software part I can deal with. I just want to make sure my ~$300 goes towards the right tool for the job. I don't see needing to do cabinet work in the future, but you never know. If the bigger vinyl cutter/plotter can make the cuts at the needed precision to mask all the little curves and stuff for the art on a Taxi playfield, then I think I'll end up going that route.

Yes, although I went with one that has a servo motor rather than a stepper motor. They cost more but are more accurate on small cuts and track better when making long cuts. Here's some more info you may find helpful.

http://www.signwarehouse.com/blog/basic-guide-vinyl-cutters/

http://www.heatpressnation.com/gcc-expert-24-vinyl-cutter-plotter-geni.html?gdftrk=gdfV27783_a_7c2327_a_7c10363_a_7cEX_d_24&gclid=CISutLimi8YCFdgBgQodIWkA-A

This is the best bang for the buck .... There is a lot of cheap crap and very expensive plotters... This is a solid machine

The GCC is a very good product if you can get away with the smaller format. I've got a friend with one and he just splits larger graphics into sections. Seems to work fine. Like any tool it depends on how much you're going to be using it as to whether some features are worth the expense. Same issue with the stepper motor.

Plus, you can cut Mylar discs for under the pops, or custom shapes of Mylar to fit a difficult area.