Cameo Silhouette

[Michael Mash]

Originally Posted by Wulf111

let me know how everything works out for you. i will try and help anyway i can.

Thanks Wulf!
The info is appreciated.
Mike

[BobRo]

I hope to take delivery of one later this week.

[Wulf111]

Originally Posted by BobRo

I hope to take delivery of one later this week.

i hope you have as much fun as i have with it. I finally figured out the Silhouette Designer, it takes a little time but i am now confident i can tackle just about any model format now. maybe i should do a few tutorials to help out.

[BobRo]

I got it set up ok . I have made some georgian windows on different thickness of card by drawing squares , grouping them and resizing. I am pleased with the result, although I need some practice with the blade depth settings. I managed to import a page of a card kit. I managed to use the trace tool but the yellow lines are too thick. I am still working on it.I will try to find some tutorial on you tube on cutting out card kits.

[aansorge]

i had (have) one from several years ago. I remember giving up on the trace function and using instead the drawing tool to 'draw' the lines to be cut. Because the trace function created too many vertices.

Then I figured out how pleasant the feel of scissors is. If I were to attempt the Eiffel Tower, though, I might go dig out the silhouette. La Tour Eiffel - Paper Modelers Gallery

[Wulf111]

Originally Posted by aansorge

i had (have) one from several years ago. I remember giving up on the trace function and using instead the drawing tool to 'draw' the lines to be cut. Because the trace function created too many vertices.

that exactly what i have done. the trace tool is almost useless. depending on how many parts there are i can have a page ready to print and cut in about 15 minutes average.

[kcorbin]

What I am not seeing said here is the limitations of how accurate the Silhouette Cameo machine is. It is not very accurate. There is backlash in it that will on occasion offset your cutting lines. It does not cut accurate small circle and arcs. Within a year of owning one it would no longer apply sufficient pressure to cut 65 lb cardstock even with multiple passes. Of course I did cut a lot on it compared to the casual user who cuts an occasional model a few times a month. It was always frustrating because it simply did not have accurate resolution for very small details or good repeatability of position. What should have been a vertical line would go off at a slant. With a click blade holder sometimes you end up cutting too deep into the mat because the next position lower is minutely too shallow to cut through the material.

I have since upgraded to a much better quality machine. Of course one of those will put you up closer to the $750.00 or more range. But it was well worth it in terms of increasing my production capabilities and reducing my frustrations. Now my pieces look they way they are supposed to. Good arc and circles, vertical lines are vertical instead of at an offset slope. Intersections of lines are always where they are supposed to be.

With the Cameo I had to deal with many thousands of chads to remove from the windows of the micro sized paper buildings I make and sell as kits. With the new machine I can fine tune the blade depth and the overcut so that I now rarely have any chads to deal with. Plus now the tiny arc topped doors and windows and any circles look like they are supposed to instead of being weird and or offset from the correct position. I no longer need multiple passes. The new machine also cuts faster. My production time has significantly decreased which of course means more time available for however I want to spend it.

[Karl]

That is all good information Kcorbin.
Any chance you can tell us what the new machine is?

[kcorbin]

I purchased one called "Silver Bullet Cutter" as it had the highest cutting force I could find in that class of machine. But it is just one of a number of good machines that are available. If you are cutting standard thickness of light to medium weight cardstock you will have a lot of choices in machines. All of them are coming out of China. What happens is they get branded by various companies with their own logos and some variations such as the display interface on the machine. Then the middle man company will choose a software package to go with them.

If I were to go shopping for a new machine in the intermediate priced cutter range then I would be going over to US Cutters headquarters here in the Seattle area and test drive this machine they just started carrying. Table TITAN 3 Contour Cutting Craft Vinyl Cutter It has servo motors and there are some advantages to that such as it won't drive your family round the bend with the machine noise. If you query the specs you will likely find the same machine but branded by another company somewhere over in Europe.

Be sure you get something with at least 700 grams or more of cutting force or you will have trouble cutting through the heavier cardstocks. You also have to watch the thickness it will cut as you will have a cutting mat plus the material you are cutting to account for.

[Karl]

Thanks for the info.