What Is a Printer Cutter?

A ‘printer cutter’ is a broad term that covers a range of equipment that can print and cut business graphics and signage of all sizes, shapes, and materials. The integrated capabilities of these machines help save time and resources by expediting the printing and cutting process.

Printer cutters allow you to produce high-quality vibrant signage and printed items with an assortment of materials including paper, vinyl, plastic, and other flexible materials. The built-in functionalities of wide-format printer cutters are designed to reduce your workload and can help improve the speed and productivity with which you can create signage and printed products for your business partners and clients.

 

Features Often Found With Printer Cutters

Printer cutters are used for a variety of purposes from the creation of billboards and banners to car wraps and stickers. For this reason, they usually offer a wide range of capabilities to accommodate different printing and cutting needs. 

A few examples of the leading-edge features included with newer printer cutter models include:

  • Eco-friendly inks that deliver superior-quality print results and adhere to coated and uncoated media (e.g., foils, paper, clear film, 3D objects, vinyl, etc.)
  • Intuitive and easy-to-use touchscreen panels that visually streamline the printing and cutting process
  • Built-in ultraviolet-LED lamps for ink curing (a more sustainable solution that offers increased reliability and efficiency, lower power consumption, and increased lamp life)
  •  Comprehensive warranties
  • Staggered print heads to support a greater range of color options
  • Adjustable media take-up units to more easily accommodate different print jobs

These features allow the machines to print and cut materials of almost any shape and color.

 

Precision Makes Better Signage

Signage is a part of our daily lives. From the sides of buildings and vehicles to roadside billboards and wayfinders, signs and banners deliver the information we all need. The graphics and content contained on signage serve multiple purposes such as the advertising of products and services, safety awareness, directions and locations, and much more.

Given the importance of signs, you want to make sure the ones you create effectively inform, instruct, persuade, and educate those who see them. One way to do this is to choose a reputable manufacturer of printer cutters like Roland. This brand is known for producing signage of all sizes in vibrant colors and with the laser precision you need to elevate the effectiveness of your signage, brand, and messaging.

 

Considerations for Choosing the Right Printer Cutter

Today, there are more than 100,000 print-and-cut machines available on the market that range from compact desktop models to heavy-duty, high-speed, wide-format printers that can handle just about any print job. With such a dizzying number of device options to choose from, it can be difficult to figure out which printer cutter is best suited for the volume of work and the type of projects you have. The bottom line is that you want to make sure that you purchase a machine that expedites turnaround times without sacrificing quality.

Before investing in a quality printer cutter, you need to ask yourself a few questions. What types of media will be used? Can the machine you’re considering be configured to print and cut all of these materials? Do your existing computers have enough processing power and meet the specifications needed to support the software that operates the printer cutter (or will you need to budget for a new system)? Where will you put the machine when it arrives at your business? What type of learning curve is involved?

 

Head to a Leading Supplier

If you want a machine that can handle a variety of projects, AirMark will help you navigate your options. We have thirty years of experience in the field, are committed to improving productivity for our clients in diverse industries, and deliver unparalleled levels of support even for the most complex projects. Our team of experts also supports the software used by sign-making equipment.

AirMark stocks a variety of printer cutters, as well as the blades and bits, inks and ribbons, vinyl and media, software, and other supplies and accessories needed to run an efficient signage operation. If you don’t see what you have in mind, just ask. We are here to help!