JohnT

Just got home from the East Anglian show (I only live about 5 miles away) having seen Grantham for the first time. And Wow it is impressive! And there is still so much more to come. Thanks to everyone involved in making it happen and for bringing to my doorstep. It was the highlight of what was a really good show. I look forward to seeing it again if that is possible. John

When is a CB09 blade holder not a CB09 blade holder? The variations keep appearing. But not actually fitting in the cutter sounds like a good case for a replacement or refund under the ebay heading "not as described". John

Both holders seem to take the same blades. Just look for CB09 blades on ebay or amazon. There are UK suppliers but they are more expensive. If you mean Type 2 holder suppliers then it is a bit of a lottery as there seems to be no distinction made by the sellers. Personally I would look for a seller who shows the holder in pieces like I have above. John

The "Type 2" that I have is an altogether better engineered holder than the "Type 1". The blade is held up inside the body by a strong magnet and the housing that contains the blade and magnet is fixed to the end of the adjuster screw. This housing is allowed to rotate freely by tiny (ball?) bearings which connect it to the adjuster. The blade is then further held up by the spring supplied and the lower part runs in a plain brass bearing inside the plastic end cap. Is this the same for other people's "Type 2"? Or are there other types out there? John

Hi Has anyone else noticed that there appear to be two different types of CB09 blade holders? The first, which I am calling type 1, is shown below: Note that there are 4 separate parts, the position of the black stiffener on the adjuster and the shape of the chamfering on the outer body. There is also a hole all the way through the adjuster. And type 2 is here Note there are only 3 separate parts (although there is a brass guide inside the black plastic part which is fixed), the position of the black stiffener on the adjuster and the shape of the chamfering on the body. There is no hole all through the adjuster. This type also features a magnetic blade holder not in the Type 1. I find that Type 2 performs really well and produces consistent results. Type 1, on the other hand, is a bit of a dog! The blade is very dificult to insert as it is not retained in the body at all, but the worst thing is that it drags the blade across the surface of the item being cut leaving scratches in all directions. Most of the offerings on ebay and Amazon seem to be Type 1 (by the shape of the body). But the only way to really tell is by looking inside which some sellers do show by extra pictures. John

This information appeared in post no 1018 I know this post is now about 2 years old but I would like to try this out. However, I am strugling to understand how to modify the blade. Any chance of a sketch showing original and modified please, as I find the pictures are dificult to see. Thanks in advance. John

Hi Jason Well I think I now know how to manipulate Bezier curves to follow a set path. The Video was very interresting but did not really shine any light on how to use them. I had already looked at Mikes tutorial but still only understood what can be done. However, when I looked at the pear The light gradually came on! All I did in the end was put the first 5 points about where they were in the second pear by drawing straight line segments using click at the first point, then at the second and so on until I got back to the first point where I ckicked and pressed enter. I was not very acurate with this last click so I joined to last 2 nodes together manually. It was at this point that I was momentarily stuck for what to do next. So with the node editer selected I tried clicking on a line segment - not a node - and dragged it. To my surprise the line started to curve towards the required path. I was on a roll so I pulled all the lines until I was closer to the goal. Then by continuing to pull the lines and move the nodes the shape gradually became correct. I then started to show off and added a couple of nodes at the top to better match that part of the pear. My result can be seen here: pear1.svg Thanks for posting links to all the information Jason and to Mike for the Inkscape tutorial. For the first time in my life I now feel able to USE Bezier curves rather than play with them in the hope that the light will come on only to eventually give up and admit defeat yet again! John

Hi Jason Thanks for a very detailed reply. There is a lot there and I will need some time to digest it all. I will let you know how I get on soon! John

Hi Jason Did you actually create those drawings in Studio. If so that is amazing. I found it so limited and could not seem to draw anything acurately. Hence my use of Inkscape which can be infuriating at times but has always come through in the end. Has anyone produced/seen a video/tutorial on using Inscapes Bezier curves to actually create a required shape? I have watched lots of examples showing WHAT can be done with them but none on HOW to create an actual shape. Is it just load and scale the shape you need as an image and then drop a Bezier curve over the top and waggle the nodes and handles until it fits? I have managed to trace an object but the result is usually lots of short curves and sometimes extra segments which take ages to rationalise. John

Hi Mike That is an excellent answer, and the difference is now very clear Thank you. Th problem I was having is that if I view three rectangles as you have shown - original, object to path, stroke to path - and then select them using the select tool they still look identical. I need to show then as paths/nodes to see the difference. Then it is very obvious. Thanks again. you have closed a very big hole in my understanding. Now so many other things start to make sense as well. John

Thanks for trying anyway Jason. It's always good to get a second opinion. After plotting directly from Inkscape a couple of times I find that the lack of control over cut parameters is too much of a retrograde step for me so I have gone back to the Inkscape-dxf-Studio route but I have added a step before I actually cut styrene. I load the cutter with paper and pen and plot the design at the same setting as I intend to cut. I run it a couple of times waiting for problems! If there are none I proceed to the cut styrene stage. It slows down the process but I can bu**er off and do somshing else while it proceeds. Finally an Inkscape question. What is the difference between the Path>Object to path and Path>Stroke to path commands? How do you decide which one to use? John

Hi Jason. looks like our posts crossed in the ether! I will answer your questions one by one. Is it the same file that causes a problem each time, or are there others? It has happened on different files. What software were the problem file(s) created in? If more than one drawing file, were the problem files all created in the same software? All files were created in the same version Inkscape. Was there any intermediary software involved? That is, did you use a second piece of software to do something to the drawing? No. All files were sent from Inkscape via dxf to Studio. Although seemingly random, are the issues consistent? That is, do you get the problem every single time you attempt to cut the problem file? Prior to yesterday: Each time the error occurred I did not happen on the next attempt. Yesterdays file, however was different. The error occurred every time I cut the file. John

I have been playing about today with my Acer laptop. The first thing that i noticed was that, since uninstalling and reinstalling Studio, I now have another printer in the list called Silhouette Portrait (copy 1) which was not there before. I tried using this to cut directly from Inkscape and it works! I then decided to experiment along the lines that Jason suggested yesterday. First I ran the file I was having trouble with directly from Inkscape. It 'cut' correctly. This is the righthand (upsidedown) part of image 1. Then I repeated yesterdays attempts using Studio to 'cut' the image with all the same settings as before. It 'cut' correctly! See the lefthand part of image 1. Then I realised that, because I am actually plotting not cutting, I had inadvertently set the speed to 5 so I ran it again, over the top, at speed 1. It failed as you can see at the top of the lefthand window. I then ran it again with single instead of double cut. This time it 'cut' correctly. Then I drew some shapes in Studio and 'cut' them at speed 1 double cut. which 'cut' correctly. See image 2. Finally I drew a set of shapes in Studio which are more representative of the original file. This also 'cut' correctly at speed 1 double cut. See image 3. I am not sure if this proves anything but it does sugest that there is a problem with the translation process from Inkscape to Studio as is alluded to through this forum topic. John

Hi Jason Yes I am really pleased to have found a solution. I am very happy to try things out for the benefit of others. This thread has helped me enormously and I am happy to be able to give something back if possible. You say that when you had the problem your pc crashed completely? In my case it had happened randomly about 3 times since I first got the cutter until yesterday when I hit upon the combination that failed every time I tried to cut it. However, in every case only the Portrait crashed and just needed a power cycle to restore its sanity! Did you create the file in Studio or import from Inkscape etc? In your first paragraph you say "the other computer". Do you mean the Acer or the HP? What do you think I should draw in Studio? would a large group of circles of varying sizes be a good start or did you have something else in mind? I could also try sending the original svg file via dxf from the HP to Studio. But I don't really want to load Studio on the HP if I can help it in case it messes with the printer driver that I could not get to work on the Acer. Has anyone loaded Studio and the printer driver on the same PC and then been able to communicate with the cutter from both? John

Thanks for trying to help me out but I have now understood where the problem is and got a suitable workaround. Actually nothing that is not already mentioned on this thread. Yesterday I was working entirely on my Acer Win8.1 64bit laptop and having the problems. Today I fired up my HP Win8.1 64bit laptop which has never seen Inkscape or Studio. I installed the driver for the portrait and then Inkscape. I have not installed Studio. When I opened Inkscape and selected print the Silhouette Portrait driver was there. I then loaded the cut file (svg) from yesterday that was giving all the trouble and told Inkscape to cut it using the Portrait driver. Success! No hang ups or crashes from the cutter. I was actually using a pen and paper in the cutter as I have almost run out of 10thou plasticard. After several successful 'cuts' with pen and paper I dug out a piece of 10thou plasticard and cut it, twice to simulate a double cut, and it again worked perfectly. So in future I will be using this pc for all my cutting. Th main problem, I suspect, is with the dubious compatibility between Inkscape and Studio via dxf. This is well know on this thread and all over the internet. However, the incompatibility is only expected to cause minor cutting problems like drawing a straight line instead of a curve. I think there is a possibility that a major malfunction of the cutter is also possible and my experience from yesterday seems to support this. Beware! John

I did try to cut directly from Inkscape. Loading the driver was dificult but eventually got it in. But Portrait did nothing when told to print as the job got stuck in the print queue and never moved on. John

Windows 8.1 64bit John

Hi All Just encountered a problem with my Portrait. It has been having intermittent problems with curves for a while but today it has become impossible to use. I am drawing in Inkscape and using shapes that I made ages ago just in different places. Then export to dxf and open in Studio. Almost every time it comes to a curve it fails. It just seems to give up and wander off back to somewhere near the origin, usually with the blade down, and stops. Restarting is useless as the origin has moved much like taking out the job and reinserting it in a slightly different place. I can't decide if the fault is in the software in Studio (V3) or in the Portrait itself. I have a suspicion that it is a usb problem. So I tried to print directly from Inkscape using Mike's tutorial. I finally got the Portrait to appear as a printer but when I click on it the printer window disappears immediately and the Portrait does nothing. If I hover the pointer over the Portrait selection in the printer window I see that the previous job is in the queue but it never starts the Portrait. Right clicking on the Portrait selection allows me to select from a whole list of options one of which is the setup for the Portrait printer. But nothing gets the cutter to start. I then tried to go back to Studio after a complete power down (pc and cutter) only to find that Studio could now not drive the cutter. Afer uninstalling/reinstalling Studio and removing the printer driver it now works again but still has the problem, I am stuck at the moment and about to give up. Has anyone got any ideas what is going on? John

Thanks Alan and Mike. Wizard state that they only supply at exhibitions but Hobby Holidays ship by post so I ordered 100ml. This turned out to be one of those times when a Google search comes up blank so thanks again for the help. John

Useful information Mike, I was under the impression that it was less aggressive than Humbrol Liquid Poly, Thanks for warning me. I have been looking for a source of d-Limonene but because our beloved Post Office will no longer carry liquids the only delivery choice is a carrier and their costs seem very high. Amazon don't seem to offer it so I can't use a free Prime delivery. Do you have any reccommendations on where to buy d-Limonene? John

Thanks Mike I think the solvents I use (Liquid Poly or Plastic Magic) may be more agressive than d-Limonene. I think I will get some and try it. John

Hi, I purchased a Cameo a couple of weeks ago and with the help of this a other related threads I have managed to successfully cut both 10 and 15 thou plasticard. I have been slowly working my way through this very informative thread (and Mike's excellent Inkscape tutorial) and I am well advanced into my first building project which will be a large warehouse. I do have a question, which I have already found the answer to on one of the threads that I have been reading but I can't now seem to find it again so I apologise for repetition. I want to know what is the recommended hole size and spacing to allow the solvent to vent from laminated layers of plasticard. Thanks again for a excellent thread. John p.s. I have been using plastic card from Station Road Baseboards for some time now.

Hi again Tried to order some 00-SF gauges from C&L only to find that they have no stock at all. I spoke to Peter this morning and he is not expecting any for about 6 weeks. I am ready to start building track now so is there anyone out there with some spare gauges that they are willing to sell to me? As a minimum I think I need a couple of track gauges and a check gauge. I say 'sell' rather than lend/hire as I have quite a bit to build and I am not the fastest modeller in town! Regards John As you were! Just had a call from Peter at C&L and he has found some 00-SF gauges and they are now on their way to me. Regards John

Thanks Martin, for that extra piece of advice on gauges. Regards John

Thanks Martin, That is exactly what I needed and very little cleaning up to do. The more I use Templot2 the more amazed I am at the versatility of the package, it appears to do everything. There are just so many options that I confuse myself sometimes. I am now off to find some 4-SF gauges! Regards John