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Author Topic: Home brew media basket  (Read 365 times)

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nitsuj

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Home brew media basket
« on: February 02, 2012, 06:44:14 PM »
So I bought a Graphtec a while back, and it's been a great machine. I've been doing mostly small stuff, but recently was asked to do a 3'x15 banner. Not having some sort of catch basket on the front sucked. The vinyl would hit the carpet in my office, and the static would pick up every piece of dust, lint, dog hair and whatever else. It bummed me out. Graphtec wants $415 for the media basket. Seriously. I know you can't expect quality at a cheap price, but, holy cow. $415?!? 1/3 the price of the cutter for a stupid cloth sling. I have no idea how they justify that. I figure it must be priced for purchase by large companies who don't pay attention to prices.

So I made my own, and I must say, mine looks every bit as good as the one they sell. The stand was predrilled and tapped, all I did was take a few pieces of scrap steel, drill it to match the holes in the stand, drilled a couple extra holes to hold the ends of the basket. Then bolted them on the stand. I went to the fabric store, and bought some black fabric stuff. BTW, some real grumpy women in that Jo Ann fabrics. Anyhow, I dug out my old sewing machine, cut the fabric to width and length, sewed up the sides to keep them from fraying. Sewed a loop in each end and ran some 5/16 all thread through the loops I made in the fabric. Added some nuts to hold it steady. For giggles, I added my logo to the new basket.

I know this is all a pain to follow, but it will make sense from the pic.

That's it. Home built catch basket, total investment, maybe $20. $395 savings!

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mark-s

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Re: Home brew media basket
« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2012, 06:53:05 PM »
 :thumbsup: Looks good.

mark-s
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Openco

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Re: Home brew media basket
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2012, 06:53:19 PM »
Absolutely Fantastic!  How much to make me one?  I have the Graphtec ce-5000 also.
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crshirts

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Re: Home brew media basket
« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2012, 07:01:56 PM »
Looks Great!!!! not much to them at all
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JoeBlow

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Re: Home brew media basket
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2012, 07:37:33 PM »
Top job :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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nitsuj

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Re: Home brew media basket
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2012, 08:03:43 PM »
Quote from: Openco on February 02, 2012, 06:53:19 PM
Absolutely Fantastic!  How much to make me one?  I have the Graphtec ce-5000 also.

If I was a little more in practice with my sewing, I could probably do it for you cheap. But as it is, it takes me a while to sew up the fabric. I couldn't really do one for less than say, $150. Not because I'm trying to rip anyone off, just because it's time consuming.
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Dakotagrafx

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Re: Home brew media basket
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2012, 08:10:08 PM »
Tony, I did mine with a piece of flat aluminum stock from Home depot and some 3/8" rod.  Had the lady at the upholstery shop do a fabric part for not much out of a non static producing material.
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nitsuj

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Re: Home brew media basket
« Reply #7 on: February 02, 2012, 09:08:24 PM »
Quote from: Dakotagrafx on February 02, 2012, 08:10:08 PM
Tony, I did mine with a piece of flat aluminum stock from Home depot and some 3/8" rod.  Had the lady at the upholstery shop do a fabric part for not much out of a non static producing material.

That one thing I didn't take into account. I don't know fabric, I just grabbed a black fabric that looked cool. It's polyester, sort of like a cordura. Like what you'd make a back pack out of. But like Dakota said, you cold make one super easy out of aluminum, steel, even wood or plastic then have any upholstery shop, seemstress or even friend who knows how to sew do the fabric part. It took me a while, but a person who actually knows how to sew could do it in like 10 min tops. I taught myself how to use grandmas old sewing machine a few years ago for another project, then never used it again until I made my media basket. So I had to screw around just trying to remember how to thread the thing.
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kenya

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Re: Home brew media basket
« Reply #8 on: February 03, 2012, 04:49:43 AM »
After seeing Scott's, I decided to make one using some aluminum out of our shop. Picked up a yard of material at Wal-mart & dressed it up with some heat press vinyl.
Works great..... a must have for big jobs.  :thumbsup:
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Openco

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Re: Home brew media basket
« Reply #9 on: February 03, 2012, 05:58:39 AM »
 ;D  I was sure I could make one because my MIL sews.  I like the way Kenya's looks like it's set up as a supply basket as well as a take up basket.  (It's a pain when the small or stiff rolls decide to hop off or fall through the supply rollers).  I suppose if I ever get any more jobs, I'll look into it.  :(

All of those baskets look great - post more photos!  So I think the reason they are so expensive to purchase is that the suppliers think, "If a customer is not handy enough to make one, then we can charge what we want!"  devil.gif
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Bill Hughes

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Re: Home brew media basket
« Reply #10 on: February 08, 2012, 09:46:16 AM »
 :thumbsup: :thumbsup: They all look great!!!!
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