Best Vinyl Cutting Machines for T-shirts

1. Silhouette Cameo 3

The Silhouette Cameo 3 has earned the title of being the ultimate DIY machine. It does an incredible job of transferring designs from the software to the heat transfer vinyl. So, all you need is to place the vinyl on a cotton t-shirt under a heat press and the design will be imprinted on the tee shirt.

One thing that we really like about this gadget is that its design software is quite advanced. It enables you to use a wide variety of vector designs and fonts from your computer.

What’s more? Unlike other machines on the market, it comes with PixScan compatibility. So, even if you are not good at designing stuff, you simply need to scan an image of your choice and this machine will do the rest for you.

What’s more? The Cameo 3 comes with an auto-blade which is quite a great time saver. Its settings are pretty accurate and so there isn’t any guesswork involved when working with it.

Last but not least, the Cameo 3, just like its sibling the Cameo 2, comes with a TouchScreen (full-color touchscreen) which makes it highly user-friendly.

In our view, this unit is beginner-friendly. It could have had a wider cut area but you really don’t need that when working with a standard-sized vinyl.

2. Cricut Explore Air 2

If you’re looking for a vinyl cutter that’s super easy to use, you’ve got to see what the Explore Air 2 has to offer. Its smart dial feature is one of those that make it absolutely worth investigating.

So, what exactly is this feature all about? You might be wondering. Well, this is a piece of highly intelligent technology that enables the machine to automatically adjust its cutting depth based on the material you’re cutting.

This ensures that your vinyl is cut with unique precision and that you end up with high-quality results after peeling it off.

One of the key reasons why we find this particular machine to be slightly better than the competition regards the fact that it has incredible cutting speed. Most machines tend to struggle with speed as far as cutting complicated designs is concerned, but this one doesn’t.

3. USCutter MH 34in Vinyl Cutter Bundle

This is one of the leading vinyl cutters out there in the world currently. Part of the reasons why this machine has garnered such widespread popularity is that it provides you with a complete vinyl cutting bundle.

Most importantly, it comes with access to the basic edition of the VynylMaster Cut software. This is a highly advanced software system that enables you to enjoy lettering pinstriping and even printing of logos.

What’s more? As part of the package, you get a knife, magnetic blanks, transfer tapes, and vinyl rolls. So, if you are just getting started in vinyl cutting for t-shirts and don’t really know what materials you need to buy for the job, the US Cutter provides you with a ready-to-use package. And that way, you won’t need to make any wild guesses especially if this is your very first time exploring this passion.

However, compared to its advanced competitors from Cricut and Silhouette, it isn’t really the best choice when you need to make intricate cuts. But at its $300 USD price, we think it surpasses ordinary expectations with what it has to offer.

One thing we noticed is that this machine is quite large. So, if you are after a machine that you can conveniently carry around, this might not be the right machine for the job.

And to top it all up, the company behind it provides awesome customer support. This, in our view, provides anyone with a great opportunity to learn the ropes of t-shirt printing.

4. Silhouette Portrait

Since it came to the markets in 2012, the Silhouette Portrait is yet to disappoint. One of the reasons why it continues to dominate is that it is quite reasonably priced. Therefore, it offers a perfect starting point for entry-level crafters.

Compared to its more advanced brother the Cameo, this one is small and more compact. So, it is a better choice to have if you hold onto the idea of taking the machine with you anywhere you go.

If anything it comes with the Silhouette Studio software. This is probably one of the best design and cutting software programs out there. It is easily accessible and offers a wide variety of ready-made designs as well as fonts.

Of course, this might just be the extra nudge you need to unlock your creative juice. But even then, this cutter seems designed for making basic cuts. It tends to get really slow when exposed to complicated designs such as logos.

This might not be a major issue if you’re cutting just for fun. But if you’re considering going fully commercial, you might want to invest in something that cuts a little faster than this one.

5. Roland GS-24 Vinyl Cutter

Considered a great improvement from its predecessor the GX-24, the Roland GS-24 promises nothing but flawless vinyl cuts. But does it live up to expectations?

The first thing we like about it is that it has an incredibly wide cutting width – 22.9 inch wide to be precise. So, you can confidently use it handle ultra large designs if you need to.

What’s more? It has a relatively good cutting speed. In fact, it can comfortably cut up to 20 inches per second.

The only area where it seems to fall short is of cutting force. The machine delivers a partly 350 grams of blade force. That’s not too bad but it’s not great either.

To make up for that, it provides you with a relatively straight-forward user-interface. You simply need to interact with an LCD panel through which you can customize your settings and get the cutter up and running in a few minutes.

And to top it up, the Roland comes with the CutStudio software program which besides giving you the freedom to resize, rotate and mirror images also enables you to upload all manner of file types ranging from AI, STX, and JPG to BMP.

6. ASC365 24-Inch Vinyl Cutter

The brand name ASC365 simply stands for All Service Center 365 Days which is the name of the manufacturer who is based in Toronto. The company produces many industry-specific supplies including hot stamping machines, heat press machines and lately vinyl cutters.

Our background research of the company reveals that they are still new on Amazon. But that should not discourage you from trying out their t-shirt vinyl weeding tool which we happen to think is quite well made.

For starters, this machine provides you with a 500-gram cutting power. As such, it cuts most types of stickers quite well. In fact, not just stickers but any kind of heat transfer media you might need to use when working on t-shirts – flock, colored paper, etc.

The unit comes with a highly advanced but simple software that can be operated on Windows 7, Vista or XP. So, if you have an iOS device, this machine might not work for you.

That said, we think that this machine works quite well. It is just enough to get the job done. Plus it comes with a variety of supplies to get you started. In fact, you can buy the vinyl cutter along with a heat-press as a combo.

So, if you’re feeling adventurous and would like to try something a bit huge and muscular, you might want to give this one a shot.