Getting Started with a Vinyl Cutter

There are 4 important factors to consider when getting started with a vinyl cutter.

1. Heat Press

If you don’t already have a heat press, you will need one to heat apply the designs that you cut with your vinyl cutter.

Getting Started with a Heat Press Checklist.

2. Vinyl Cutter

A vinyl cutter cuts heat transfer material, vinyl decals, rhinestone transfers, and twill appliqué. When selecting a vinyl cutter, you’ll want the ability to cut the widest range of products with accuracy and efficiency.

See the 5 Reasons Your Business Needs a Vinyl Cutter

Vinyl Cutter Benefits:

• Most cost effective for quantities under 24 pieces, including as little as one personalized item.
• Cut materials when needed; don't have to wait for production or shipping time.
• Ideal to create individual names and numbers for athletic uniforms.

Compare All Vinyl Cutters

3. Design Software

You may already have experience with Corel® or Adobe® software; if not, consider one of the following options for ready-to-use artwork:

CadworxLIVE™
CadworxLIVE™ features an online design studio and Easy Teams® creator for generating cut-able artwork, fast and easy. There are hundreds of predesigned layouts that feature editable text and clip art.

4. Heat Transfer Materials

The material choice is typically based on the type of fabric of the garment/piece being decorated.

Be aware of polyester fabrics; they tend to bleed through heat transfer materials. When decorating polyester fabrics, select CAD-CUT® Thermo-FILM® to prevent dye migration.

Regardless of the heat transfer materials, start with basic colours. White, black, red, royal, navy, and athletic gold are top sellers.

For help with selecting the best materials for your project, review this chart of popular heat transfer material and fabric combinations.

Popular Heat Transfer Materials and Fabric Combinations

Best for	Sports/ Uniforms	Lightweight Fabrics	Stretch Fabrics	Special Effects
CAD-CUT® Heat Transfer Material	Best for: Thermo-FILM®	Best for: Fashion-LITE™	Best for: Premium Plus™	Best for: Glitter Flake™
Benefits	Benefits: Blocks dye migration	Benefits: Great for T-shirts	Benefits: Great for performance wear	Benefits: Hottest selling special effect material
Suggested Fabric Types	Suggested Fabric Types: Polyester	Suggested Fabric Types: Cotton	Suggested Fabric Types: Lycra®/ spandex	Suggested Fabric Types: Cotton or polyester

View all Material & Fabric Combinations