Roland SG-540 Vinyl Printer/Cutter
The Roland can print and cut various vinyl up to 52″ rolls. It can print stickers/labels, heat transfer vinyl (for application to fabric), banners, posters and other marketing materials. If you need printing, chances are this machine can help you out.
Versaworks and Roland Basic Operation
Roland VersaWorks 6 RIP How-To’s – YouTube Playlist
Cost: Fab Lab Equipment/Material Cost Sheet
Printing/Cutting Length -Max. media size is 52″
File Types – .EPS, .SVG, .AI (Adobe Illustrator), .CDR (CorelDraw), .PDF, .JPG
*Note, the software (Versaworks) that sends a file to the printer/cutter only accepts .EPS, .PDF, and .JPG but you can design in any file format but what you send to the printer has to be in these formats.
Software – VersaWorks is used to send the files to the printer. You can design in any vector or photo program that you want.
We have CorelDraw and Adobe Illustrator but any vector/graphic design program will work. (see below for some free/low cost software options). You can find an Education version of CorelDraw for around $129.
Free/Low Cost Software:
Some examples of free or low cost programs:
- Free – installation required
- Inkscape*** – big in the hobbyist community
- Krita – emerging in the hobbyist community
- Free – web based
- Gravit*** (personal favorite right now, lots of capabilities)
- Vectr (seems good but less bells and whistles than Gravit)
- BoxySVG
- Vecteezy
- SVG-Edit
***Highly recommended
Paid
- Affinity Designer (similar to Adobe Illustrator) – about $55 (no annual fee or cost)
- Affinity Photo (similar to Adobe Photoshop) – about $55 (no annual fee or cost)
- Affinity Publisher (similar to Adobe Publisher) – about $55 (no annual fee or cost)
Files/Examples:
Free
Low Cost
- Etsy.com – search for vector files of anything you want
- https://designbundles.net/ – search for vector files of anything you want
