Scan and Cut!

[JohnM]

Originally Posted by Wad Cutter

Are you kidding me Murphyaa? I thought I was the only ones or among a few others who had that problem. Nice to know I'm not alone. Thank you. wc

Hee hee. Join the Mucky Fingerprint Club guys ... Why d'yer think my pictures are always slightly out of focus? Mind you, with the destructive influence chemotherapy has had on my fingers, I ain't got no finger prints now. They've gone all smooth, with very little sense of touch, but I wouldn't recommend you try it.

And briefly back on subject ... I made a model bird that was cut out on Tonyceri's A3 Silhouette Cameo. (Thank you Tony. Any more in the offing?) Perfection was the name of the game, and I was severely tempted, but, although I could afford it I decided against buying one.

For me, relaxing back in an armchair, snippin' away and getting covered in little triangles, is one of the things I really enjoyed doing, and I didn't want to pass that pleasure onto a machine. OK, now my fingers are a damaged and I can't snip so good any more ... maybe I should reconsider, but I have even more trouble putting things together, so there's not much point. I guess I'll just have to keep on re-educating my fingers with bigger models.

Unless my eyes go too ... I WILL GET BACK TO THE BIRDS EVENTUALLY.

[N96HBK]

Originally Posted by Gene K

You can select to trace just "Outline" ... or you can select trace lines to ignore ... or you can import cut lines you made in Illustrator ... or .... Software dependent.

Gene K
(only had the cutter one week, and I'm giving out "advice"????)

Goodgoodgood! That's amazing!!

[murphyaa]

I've decided that if I post any more pictures of my builds, I'm gonna use a daguerreotype, slightly out of focus, with a 10 second exposure in a dark room.

[airdave]

Old thread...old topic...something we might have discussed to death...but what the heck...

let me preface this by saying although I lean towards the idea of hand cutting for a variety of reasons...
pleasure, pain, accuracy, and cost cutting...
I'm always interested in learning about ways to make things a bit easier,
especially for those who must deal with eyesight problems or hand/finger issues.

So, I regularly get sales offers from Brother...I have a Brother printer which I love....
and this latest flyer led me to this item on sale:

Brother CM350 ScanNCut2 Cutting Machine https://www.brother.ca/en/p/CM350
Outside of Canada, you'll probably have to search the Brother site for sales that apply to your location.

It once again raised the question of "would this work for my paper model projects?"

So, as I often do, I head over to youtube and do a search for the machine
and try to find a review or demonstration of how this machine works.

And the very first review I found happens to be a very good one that not only answered my questions
but will explain it well for all of us (who are interested in this particular scan and cut machine).
I'm sure there might be other reviews and videos, I haven't searched too far yet...
but this one really did lay it all out quite clearly.

Heres the video for you to check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1o5vLRnL1A

I have a few comments from things I see in the video....

1. You need the sticky mat for holding whatever sheet you are scanning and cutting.
You'll need to take care of this mat and keep it clean, and probably replace it regularly.
I see no reason to assume it will harm your model sheets.

2. Important...the scanner, is only about 400dpi
...the higher the resolution, the better the scan and the better the cut outline will be.
But the demonstration appears to show a fairly accurate scan result.

3. Nice to see you can adjust and set the cutting outline.
In case you want to cut outside the outline contour and leave extra material, or cut right on the outline, or even cut inside the scan outline.
The adjustment for this appears to down to thousandths of an inch.

4. In the video demonstration, the operator chooses to leave a small edge outline(border) around all cut parts.
Even in the low quality video, you can still see that the registration is ever so slightly off
and the outline is slightly thicker on one side of each cut part.
This leads to me to assume that if she had chosen to cut directly on the outline of each object
the cut would have been slightly off the mark.
This isn't a big deal for a "sticker" or craft thingy...
but for a scale model part, that kind of inaccuracy could be a serious issue.

I think this is the biggest factor when thinking about using a scan and cut machine to cut preprinted models.
(When I say preprinted, I am including any printed page, whether it be from a retail kit or your own printed model pages.)
If this device cannot scan accurately, and then cut accurately, on the outline of the parts
then it is useless to anyone who is trying to build printed models accurately.

Its possible the machine allows you to adjust the registration and you can try to cut again.
But in many cases, you may have only one chance to cut a printed sheet.

So, while I am impressed with the machine and its features and its price,
I'm still not sold on this idea.

[JohnM]

This may be relevant to some ...



Pepakura Designer v.4.1.1 is now out and the above is just below it.

https://tamasoft.co.jp/pepakura-en/download/index.html

[airdave]

Originally Posted by JohnM

This may be relevant to some ...

Pepakura Designer v.4.1 is now out and the above is just below it.

https://tamasoft.co.jp/pepakura-en/download/index.html

Yeah, but not related to scan and cut
...which is what I was trying to address with this thread.

I assume the Pepakura option allows for you to output a print file (to your printer)
and then a DXF file to your Silhouette cutter.
You can then put the Printed Page into the Cutter to finish the job?

How accurate this is, would be the most important question.
Having registration marks is what the Silhouette cutter needs to align things properly.

But this still doesn't suit the builder who is just looking for a scan and cut option.
Talking about taking a preprinted model, or or home printed model,
and then scanning and cutting each sheet without the need for any specialized software.

You don't even need a computer!
The Brother Scan-n-Cut doesn't even connect to anything...it just needs power.

[JohnM]

Sorry if I intruded. I only brought attention to it as the Silhouette cutter has been mentioned a few times in this thread, and to the best of my knowledge there isn't another thread discussing the subject.

[Butelczynski]

I had to google what "coffee creamer" is ..

I have e to get out and talk to people

[airdave]

Originally Posted by JohnM

Sorry if I intruded....and to the best of my knowledge there isn't another thread discussing the subject.

Not trying to be rude...but with all due respect,
there are a crapload of other threads about Silhouette Cutters.
All you had to do was search or start a new thread.

I originally started this thread called "Scan and Cut".
I posted about the Brother Scan n Cut machine.
I wanted to address the repeated question about a machine that could handle the cutting of preprinted pages
I was also addressing the issue of having to deal with Pepakura or any other design software,
tracing or creating a vector pattern,
dealing with exporting of different file types,
understanding registrations...
most people just want to get their parts cut without all the fuss.

But the thread got sidetracked to Cameo cutters and I got a little pissed about it.
My problem, I left it alone.

A year later, I come across a bit more info on a Brother Scan Cut machine and so I post it
to an almost expired thread.

And what do you know... the first damn response is about Pepakura and the Silhouette Cameo.
LOL LOL LOL SOB SOB
So I reacted.

I should start using coffee creamer.

[dhaugh]

I have a Brother, haven't done much with it yet but at least it's on a table. As for postings, I recommend that you just drink your creamer straight, who needs coffee. Dave H