Chris121 Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Hi Allan, That was quick! Thank you. I too originally bought the Cameo with the idea of labour saving (plus 'skill' enhancing) on cutting out Scalescenes models, and I am still working on ways to get the best out of it for this, but since getting it I have become intrigued by its wider potential. The largest job I have done so far was a pair of decorative guards for swords for a production of 'Midsummer Nights Dream' - sorry nothing to do with modelling, but it shows the versatility of the Cameo. Straightforward vector cutting in layers of card, curved to shape, laminated and spray painted silver. Not a million miles off coach bodies - apart from the silver (unless you are modelling certain very specialised stock!). If you do try any thicker styrene in the Silver Bullet I would be fascinated to know the results, but please don't destroy any blades on my account. Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted January 18, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 18, 2014 Following the plea for Windows testers I like the last two steps of the Windows Installation guide: - Work more magic - Let us know if you succeed! I think he's relying on the magic bit I've had a quick go at installing and getting some error messages. I'll send the developer some info. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rods_of_Revolution Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 I cut corrugated/ribbed plasticard this evening so I thought I'd report back on how the printer handled it. I used Evergreen 4525 which is .040" (1mm) thick and has the most narrow spacing between the ribs (0.75mm/0.30") of all the Evergreen sheets. The ribs make up about 0.2mm of the total 1mm. The initial problem with the Evergreen sheets is that they are narrow (153mm wide), they will go between the rollers even on my little Portrait! So I had to stick some scraps of plasticard onto the cutting mat to give the rollers something to hold. The next problem is the length, because it's too narrow for the rollers, without scraps of plasticard to extend the support the rollers will fall of the end of the plasticard! I had to leave a bigger cut free margin at one end, then feed it in the other way around to cut at that end (it was easier than cutting up plasticard purely for support). I set the cutter to 33 thick, the slowest speed, double cut and had the blade at 10. The cutter didn't seem to have much trouble dealing with the ribbing and the cuts were smooth, even through the curves, though not quite as smooth as plain plasticard. You could hear a slight shudder as the cutter cut across the "grain" but apart from that it seemed to be little different from cutting the usual plasticard. I was worried that the ribs would lead the blade astray, but this didn't seem to happen. As I wanted to represent corrugated iron sheeting I decided to engrave the shape of the panels. Without ejecting the cutting mat, I adjusted the blade depth to 8 and ran the cutter again to cut the lines into the plastic. The small triangle truss was cut just to see how the cutter would handle the fine lines. The actual cutting wasn't bad, but it was tricky with the knife to extract the pieces. The outside frame is 0.75mm thick and the webs are 0.5mm thick. Cheers, Jack 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTrice Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Following the posts related to blade depth versus styrene thickness for clean cuts - I have carried out a string of test cuts on both 10 & 20 thou styrene Keeping the speed at 1, and the thickness/pressure at 33 Carried out the same Cut - a 10mm x 10mm rectangle 10 thou styrene - Single Cut Blade depth set at 1 - No breakthrough Blade depth set at 2 - No breakthrough Blade depth set at 3 - Breakthrough - Clean cut Blade depth set at 4 - Breakthrough - Clean cut Not necessary to increase blade depth further This appears to confirm a blade cut depth of 0.1mm per blade depth setting 20 thou styrene - Single Cut - Blade depth set at 1 thro 10 - No breakthrough 20 thou styrene - Double Cut - Blade depth set at 5 thro 10 - No breakthrough 20 thou styrene - 4 Cuts - Blade depth set at 8 thro 10 - No breakthrough 20 thou styrene - 6 Cuts - Blade depth set at 10 - No breakthrough 20 thou styrene - 8 Cuts - Blade depth set at 10 - Breakthrough - Clean cut It appears that initially the increased number of cuts increases burr height as the blade cut depth increases, and repeated cuts tend to compress the burr height as the blade approaches breakthrough The total height including the burr height after cutting measured 24.8 thou Hope this helps Ron This is VERY cheeky of me to ask, but given the information provided is so useful, is there any chance you might be able to provide comparable feedback using 15thou sheet? Thanks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted January 19, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 19, 2014 That'd be interesting. I'm in the middle of a marathon cutting session here. I have 50 three hole railing posts slowly taking shape in .020" card. The first light double cut took 40 minutes. Only eight full strength double cuts to go! Meanwhile, I'm watching a film. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted January 21, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 21, 2014 Well I gave up with the marathon session. The Cameo just didn't want to but railing posts out of .020" thick Evergreen styrene. I tried quite a few different things, including stopping the thing an cleaning the blade every now and then, but it kept having different issues such as the blade getting stuck in a hole, the computer suddenly deciding that the Cameo had wandered off so that it stopped sending information to it, and then overcutting 20 times without the blade breaking through the card. I know when to call it a day, so I've decided to get on with something else. Alan, I'm about to get the scalpel out! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium uax6 Posted January 21, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 21, 2014 It's a use tool this cutter you know.... I broke a halfshaft in the rear axle of the moggy van ten days ago. I was lucky I wasn't in a rush, nor had I managed to get more than 3 yds up the (rising) drive. Out with the halfshafts, and yes the one that broke had do it just after the splines, with the broken bit mushroomed into the diff. Out with the similar bits from a spare axle (and my mrs moans about all the junk I have!) and jobs done.... except that I have no gaskets, and I know the ones you can buy are too thin. So with a bit of work I produced both diff gasket and hub gaskets out of corn flakes packets, cut by the portrait. They had to be cut through with a scalpel, but they fitted first time and were much neater than the ones I used to make by hand! I've got them stored on file, so I can just cut them when I need them. Great!! Andy G 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeOxon Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 So with a bit of work I produced both diff gasket and hub gaskets out of corn flakes packets, cut by the portrait. Sounds like you have the basis for a lucrative business there! Much better than trying to sell bits for model railways Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium uax6 Posted January 21, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 21, 2014 Ah yes, but someone would complain about them being the wrong sort of cereals.... ;-) Andy g 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Londontram Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Ah yes, but someone would complain about them being the wrong sort of cereals.... ;-) Andy g Allways use boxes from frosties, they used to say put a tiger in your tank now you can put one on your gaskets..........I'll get my coat! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted January 22, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 22, 2014 I came across this yesterday http://www.createandcraft.tv/_294295.aspx?matchtype=_EVT_CHA&gclid=CNu94pSvkbwCFRLMtAodlSgAOQ It looks ideal for direct 'scan to cut' work. Anyone with views on it? On the video, they claim that it will cut 3mm felt. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Budgie Posted January 22, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 22, 2014 I came across this yesterday http://www.createandcraft.tv/_294295.aspx?matchtype=_EVT_CHA&gclid=CNu94pSvkbwCFRLMtAodlSgAOQ It looks ideal for direct 'scan to cut' work. Anyone with views on it? On the video, they claim that it will cut 3mm felt. I notice that it will not take the usual computer files, and they are working on something non-standard to allow you to connect your computer to it. I wouldn't trust anything that scans things in to cut; there is too much room for distortions and other errors. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metalhip Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 From the demo's I've seen it doesn't seem that accuracy is a big feature,for print and cut of Scalescenes type stuff I think it would be hard work to get the cuts where needed,especially using that tiny touch screen. It seems aimed at crafters for making cards and stuff where a scan and cut is probably accurate enough. Allan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeOxon Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 At present, it only seems to be available in the UK from one supplier - always a concern when it comes to buying replacement parts in the future! I had a quick look around on the web and couldn't find any hard facts, such as blade pressure or dimensional accuracy. I note that it can read in computer image files, via a USB memory stick, but only in Brother's own custom format, though they do provide an on-line converter from SVG files. At present, I can't see any advantages over the existing machines, if you plan to work from computer-drawn precision images. Scanning sounds a good idea but we need to know the cutter precision and how it deals with scanned lines that will, inevitably, have a finite width. This problem already exists when trying to use the 'trace' function in other machines, since, at some point, a scanned image has to be converted to vector instructions to the cutter. Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium uax6 Posted January 22, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 22, 2014 (edited) Well it's arrived and I've had a chance to play today... The Engraving attachment that is, from Amy Chomas. It's a heavy steel lump with a carbon steel tip ground to a 45* cone: It drops striaght into the cutter holder. How to use it: On lines you want to scribe select 'sketch pen' and slowest speed and highest force. I kept double cutting for the first pass, and then went over it again with a single cut. Result: Looks promising. I think it gives a much better score than the blade alone, and it doesn't have that 'swarfe' type rasied edge that the blade gives. As I want to use it to do matchboarding on coaches I thought the best way to try it was to do a side. Here is the result with primer applied and then wiped off: This effect shows you the scoring, and although it isn't deep (it just shows on the back of this bit of 10thou) it shows ok. I then applied a full prime coat, and three quite thick layers of BMC damask red (or LMS red to you sir!) with the result: The camera doesn't seem to like this red colour! Anyway some more pictures, the left hand end has had slightly thinner layers on that the right hand end: Then with them standing up like they will be: These are a bit more difficult to make out, but you can see it, in fact these look like the photos you often see of HR coaches! And then at an angle to catch the light: Overall I quite like the effect, its not deep and obvious like say Slaters matchboarding, it's more subtle and probably more to scale. A bit of weathering might bring it out more. I can propbably do two passes at double cut and it might be a bit deeper. I suppose I need to find out how many passes until it is through! BTW there appears to be no stretching of the side. Andy G Edited January 22, 2014 by uax6 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted January 22, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 22, 2014 Cheers Andy! Well that certainly looks like it'll do the job then. The fact that it doesn't distort the sides is also great, I'll put my order in. In the meantime, I'm talking to the person who's been programming the Silhouette cutting utility for Inkscape that Mike Trice linked to a few days ago. The developer doesn't use Windows, so although the utility works in Linux, it doesn't yet work in Windows. I'm testing the changes he's making, and hopefully between us we'll have something up and running soon. Once done I've agreed to put together the installation instructions, so hopefully they'll be comprehensive. Luckily I've not had to learn the programming language to get it all working! I'll let you know when it's ready. cheers Jason 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTrice Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 (edited) In the meantime, I'm talking to the person who's been programming the Silhouette cutting utility for Inkscape that Mike Trice linked to a few days ago. The developer doesn't use Windows, so although the utility works in Linux, it doesn't yet work in Windows. I'm testing the changes he's making, and hopefully between us we'll have something up and running soon. Once done I've agreed to put together the installation instructions, so hopefully they'll be comprehensive. Luckily I've not had to learn the programming language to get it all working! This is good news however I am considering a "Plan B" if that should fail. On the subject of Aluminium or in this case Steel scribers I have seen reference that the extra weight of the Steel/Ali tools might harm the machines so be warned. Edited January 22, 2014 by MikeTrice Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted January 22, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 22, 2014 I should have said "I'll let you know when or if it's ready." But the developer is very keen indeed, and the only issues so far seem to be where he's hard coded in Linux stuff instead of making it generic. It's looking promising. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeOxon Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 This is good news however I am considering a "Plan B" if that should fail. On the subject of Aluminium or in this case Steel scribers I have seen reference that the extra weight of the Steel/Ali tools might harm the machines so be warned. Does this caution apply to the Ali CB09 cutters? What references have you seen? Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTrice Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Yes, see here: http://ramblingsofababymakingaddict.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/replacement-blades-for-silhouette-cameo.html Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted January 22, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 22, 2014 And here's her update http://ramblingsofababymakingaddict.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/silhouette-cameo-blades-update.html Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeOxon Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 And here's her update http://ramblingsofababymakingaddict.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/silhouette-cameo-blades-update.html Yes, see here: http://ramblingsofababymakingaddict.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/replacement-blades-for-silhouette-cameo.html Many thanks, both. It seems to me that the main concern is trying to use longer blade settings to cut thicker materials, which strains the machine. I liked the idea of cutting from the back so as to avoid raised edges on the front-surface Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted January 23, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 23, 2014 (edited) I've started a new tutorial on creating bogies using the Silhouette cutter, it will help keep me on track with mine. I've drawn a lot of inspiration/shamelessly stolen other people's ideas from this thread and from my own, so thanks everyone for chipping in. The aim is to go from scanning in a diagram, resizing it, drawing over it in Inkscape, cutting it out, and putting the whole lot together. I've other things on as well, so it'll be a tutorial that will be progressed over the next 7 days or so. cheers Jason Tutorial: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/81360-using-inkscape-and-the-silhouette-to-create-coach-bogies/ Edited January 23, 2014 by JCL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metalhip Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Cutting thicker materials is dependent on force available and number of cuts. Extending the blade further than is necessary to just cut through the media will not make any difference apart from cutting the mat and possibly damaging the blade. From memory the Cameo max thickness stated for card was about 350gsm thick or approx 0.5mm,however things might have changed since I last used mine. This was the main reason I bought a machine with more grunt so that I could cut 1mm card stock. Allan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTrice Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Two things I have discovered. Apparently Cricut cuttings tools can be modified to fit the Silhouette: http://danitasdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/using-altered-cricut-blade-holder-with.html. The reason this may be relevent is that Cricut produce a scriber tool for around £10. I have also recently bought a pack of Cricut Carrier Sheets containing 2 sheets for around £9 which look as if they might be a suitable, cheaper, alternative to the Silhouette products. P.S. With Jason starting his new tutorial I better get my finger out and post some more tips in my Inkscape thread. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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