A vinyl cutter is an entry level machine for making signs. Computer designed vector files with patterns and letters are directly cut on the roll of vinyl which is mounted and fed into the vinyl cutter through USB or serial cable. Vinyl cutters are mainly used to make signs, banners and advertisements.

What does a cutting plotter do?

Cutting plotters use knives to cut into a piece of material (such as paper, mylar film, or vinyl film) that is lying on the flat surface area of the plotter. The cutting plotter is connected to a computer, which is equipped with cutting design or drawing computer software programs.

What is the difference between a plotter and a cutter?

The Knife v/s The Pen

A major difference between a cutter and a plotter is the use of knives and pens. Regular vinyl cutters use knives to cut and shape the vinyl, whereas plotters use pens to design and print on them. The knife allows the cutters to print a design on the vinyl or any other material it is working on.