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  1. 1. Do you currently own a cutting machine?

    • Yes
    • No, but I want to in the next 12 months
    • No, I have no plans to buy one
    • I'm undecided at the moment


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Is that the free software supplied with the cutter or the paid for version?

 

Sorry I'd missed ScRSG's post last week - I'm one of those who is very happily getting good results with the standard free software that comes with the machine - I can draw in AutoCAD, but have decided its ot needed for the Portrait cutter, so I just use the Silhouette Studio software, turn 'show grid' on, set to 1mm squares and 10 subdivisions, and with 'snap to grid' turned on, its like drawing on very accurate graph paper.

 

Remember the target audience for these machines is 'crafters' and a lot of those, in fact I suspect the vast majority, won't know CAD. They can download pictures from the suppliers library, or draw their own in a simple to use software supplied. 

 

If you are not sure its for you then download the free software and have a play - I'll try and do a quick tutorial if I get a chance, and I've just had an invite to demo the cutter at the CMRA show at Stevenage in January (as a change from resin casting) if you want to come and have a look.

 

Jon

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I had a quick try at using Silhouette Studio for drawing parts for a loco. I imported an image of the drawing and started drawing lines over it. I found the line drawing wasn't as easy as with Inkscape, and I accidentally moved the image. At this point I decided that Inkscape was far better, and gave up! In Inkscape, I can put the image in a locked layer, so it won't move, and cover the workspace with guidelines to snap my drawing to. I can also use separate layers for different parts of my drawing, so I can lock bits I'm happy with while working on new parts. It may well be that I could overcome these obstacles with a bit of practice, but i decided it's not worth it. And anyway, there's no Linux version of Silhouette Studio. I'm using a Windows machine to do the actual cutting, but want to do the designing on my main, Linux, computer.

 

I also want software that creates standard files so I can use it with other machines. I've just ordered a cheap CNC milling machine, that I hope I can use to cut thicker materials than my Portrait will handle, and mill PCBs for the electronics that I'm using on my layouts.

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post-10059-0-16300100-1509892146.jpg

 

The gate is finished. It comprises of 12 layers of 10 thou pasticard of which the middle two have the central spans in three pieces for the horizontal wires to pass through without the need to drill holes. The two outer uprights also have small recesses to accommodate the same wires - which are there for show and don;t perform any role in strengthening the gate.

 

Amazingly, the vertical copper tube was affixed to the brass plate at 90º so I'm not too sure how it has ended up at a different angle.  The vertical post is two different cross sections of Plastruct hollowed square tube.

 

The vertical wire through the copper tube has two split pins soldered to it, which have had holes drilled in the gate to take them. A further two split pins, which are not soldered to the wire, have had holes drilled in the post and are designed to take the weight of the gate.

 

We'll cut a hole in the baseboard and the whole unit will (hopefully) be a friction fir therein. This allows us to remove fairly easily for maintenance and to save someone having to lie under the layout other than for connecting the servo lead to the MERG Servo4 board.

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I also want software that creates standard files so I can use it with other machines. I've just ordered a cheap CNC milling machine, that I hope I can use to cut thicker materials than my Portrait will handle, and mill PCBs for the electronics that I'm using on my layouts.

 

This would be the ideal, surely. Are you suggesting that Inkscape could be classed as a de facto standard for designing projects for all these types of machine? In other words, if we learned this piece of software then we could produce items from a laser cutter, 3D printer or any other type?

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I also want software that creates standard files so I can use it with other machines. I've just ordered a cheap CNC milling machine, that I hope I can use to cut thicker materials than my Portrait will handle, and mill PCBs for the electronics that I'm using on my layouts.

 

This would be the ideal, surely. Are you suggesting that Inkscape could be classed as a de facto standard for designing projects for all these types of machine? In other words, if we learned this piece of software then we could produce items from a laser cutter, 3D printer or any other type?

It's the "software that creates standard files" bit that I think is most important. Inkscape will create DXF files (even if the current version makes the object the wrong size!), that is a very common format. It imports into Silhouette Studio, and should work with lots of other software. It also creates G-code for CNC milling, laser cutters etc., although I haven't tried that yet, as I'm waiting for my new toy to arrive and get assembled first. It's not a 3D program, so is no use for 3D printing.

 

I quite like Inkscape. It's free, there are Linux and Windows versions, and it does the things I want to do pretty well. Other Silhouette users seem to agree. If I had access to, or experience of, other software, I'd use that, as long as it creates files that I can transfer to the other software I need. Silhouette Studio doesn't do this.

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my first question on this thread.

 

can someone who is experienced confirm that neither the Cameo nor the Portrait can cut plasticard thicker than 30 thou?

 

TIA

 

Tim T

Hi

 

10 thou plasticard is about the limit of both machines, anything thicker just gets scored.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

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my first question on this thread.can someone who is experienced confirm that neither the Cameo nor the Portrait can cut plasticard thicker than 30 thou?TIATim T

If you put 20 thou through a few times it's possible to snap it out depending on the size of what you require, or a few strokes with a scalpel will cut out smaller pieces.

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my first question on this thread.

 

can someone who is experienced confirm that neither the Cameo nor the Portrait can cut plasticard thicker than 30 thou?

 

TIA

 

Tim T

 

You may find the Cricut has a greater cutting force. From articles I've seen on the interweb, it 'can' cut 2mm card.

 

Ian

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I drew a 100mm square on the file before exporting it as a DXF. Then opened the DXF in Inkscape and the square was 93.something mm on both sides. So I used Edit > Select All, scaled everything up by 106.something %, and saved the DXF. When I reopened it, the square was still 100mm, and also when I opened it in Studio. My test cut was the right size. I deleted the square before cutting.

 

Now I just need to experiment with my cutter settings, as they were all lost in the computer reorganisation, and I might actually get to produce something useful at last!

In this post, I reported that version 0.92 of Inkscape now uses 96 dpi, whereas version 0.91 used 90 dpi.  This leads to a 100mm line ending up as 93.75mm when saved as a dxf or opened in Silhouette Studio.  Accordingly, I had to stop using 0.92 and revert to using version 0.91 for the drawings to cut at the correct size without rescaling.  Also, note that in that post I said that I have to edit the document properties to set the general units to mm and the "custom size" units to px (if the custom size units are set at mm then the size of the object is reduced by about 20%).

 

Micvk

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In this post, I reported that version 0.92 of Inkscape now uses 96 dpi, whereas version 0.91 used 90 dpi.  This leads to a 100mm line ending up as 93.75mm when saved as a dxf or opened in Silhouette Studio.  Accordingly, I had to stop using 0.92 and revert to using version 0.91 for the drawings to cut at the correct size without rescaling.  Also, note that in that post I said that I have to edit the document properties to set the general units to mm and the "custom size" units to px (if the custom size units are set at mm then the size of the object is reduced by about 20%).

 

Micvk

From what I read in the bug report I think I linked to, I get the impression that people are getting a variety of different sizes. Reloading the DXF, scaling it up, then saving, seemed to be OK, so I'll carry on with that in 0.92.

 

My next challenge is trying to create G-code for my new toy that's on its way!

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Hi everyone.

 

I confess that I've not been on here for a long time, but I saw I had a PM from an RMWeb member earlier asking about acrylic. I've never tried using it, and I don't even know how thin the stuff goes. Has anyone tried using acrylic on the Silhouette?

 

cheers

 

Jason

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4D modelshop have 0.5 mm acrylic. Thin sheets are actually more expensive than thicker

sheets (say 2 mm). 

 

http://modelshop.co.uk/Shop/Raw-Materials/Plastics/Frosted-or-translucent/Item/Plexiglass-translucent/ITM3890

 

£4-50 for 250x250mm

 

EMCO plastics go down to 0.2 mm. You need to ask for a quote.

 

http://www.emcoplastics.com/acrylic-precision-thin-sheet/

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Silhouette have just released a new version of the Portrait machine - the Portrait 2 to replace the previous version (at a higher price).  Yolo in the UK are offering £10 off the £166 price of the new machine until 30th November, by entering the code "CUTTER10" at checkout.

 

The blurb on the Yolo website includes "This brand new and updated model brings the Portrait® more in line with the Cameo® 3 in a smaller and more portable package. The Silhouette Portrait® 2 now features Bluetooth wireless connectivity, can generate deeper cuts up to 2mm and is fully compatible and shipped with the Silhouette Autoblade cutting blade. The beauty and the appeal of the Portrait® has always been its smaller frame and the same can be said of the Portrait® 2 as it hasn’t grown in size but it has with its feature count." (my emphasis)

 

It also includes some FAQs, which I reproduce in full:

 

"What materials can the Silhouette Portrait® cut?
The Silhouette is designed to cut a variety of materials including vinyl, paper, specialty patterned papers, cardstock, vellum, iron-on heat transfer material, fabric (when using Silhouette Interfacing products) and sticker paper. It will also cut a variety of other specialty materials. The Silhouette has a cutting force of 210gf and includes a blade that can extend to approximately 1mm in depth when using the standard blade or up to 2 mm in depth when using the Deep Cut Blade to accommodate thicker material types.
However, there is still a limitation depending on the material type's density and make up. Certain materials that are overly dense (such as thin metals, acrylic or acetate, for example) may not be able to be cut well or at all and can impair the blade. On dense materials such as mylar, doflex and plasticard you are limited to around 120 micron with the Silhouette machines due to the density of the material – any thicker than this and the blade will not be able to completely penetrate the media. Certain materials that have abrasive natures (such as thicker chipboard or sandpaper) may also impair the blade or dull it very quickly. On the other side of the spectrum, certain fibrous materials (such as select felt materials or handmade papers) may not be held together densely enough for successful cutting.
Testing can be performed on special material types to find whether or not they can be cut successfully by using the Test Cut feature."

 

This statement is taken from the FAQs on the Silhouette website, but the clause in italics is omitted on the Yolo website, while the sentence in bold has been added by Yolo.  Interestingly, 120 microns is approximately 5 thou, so how Yolo come to this conclusion, I don't know.

 

Mick

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Hi to all...this is my first work with the Cameo. I bought the maschine last december but haven't used it much but now the time has come. The coach is a Greek one. All the work has been done with 0.5mm and 0.25mm polystyrene from Evergreen. The railing has 0.4mm line thickness and I have to say I am very pleased. The railing is two layers of 0.25mm Polystyrene. I have now more projects on the go :-)

 

post-20206-0-84440600-1511338219_thumb.jpg

 

Cheers

Andreas

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Can a silhouette expert confirm if this is likely to be successful please?

 

I am nearing completion on a scratch built tank wagon and need to produce a walkway to go on the top, nothing suitable is available from the trade so it will have to be bespoke. While ideally I would get the part etched, its going to be a very expensive route to get one walkway. I was wondering if it would be possible to cut the mesh out of 10thou plasticard with the silhouette, then mount on two strips of evergreen strip and glue to the model. I would need to cut a mesh of something like 1mm square holes, with 0.3m of plastic between them.

 

 

Before I start drawing it up for the silhouette I’d like to confirm if what I am intending to do is possible or if I should look again at alternatives.

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Can a silhouette expert confirm if this is likely to be successful please?

 

I am nearing completion on a scratch built tank wagon and need to produce a walkway to go on the top, nothing suitable is available from the trade so it will have to be bespoke. While ideally I would get the part etched, its going to be a very expensive route to get one walkway. I was wondering if it would be possible to cut the mesh out of 10thou plasticard with the silhouette, then mount on two strips of evergreen strip and glue to the model. I would need to cut a mesh of something like 1mm square holes, with 0.3m of plastic between them.

 

 

Before I start drawing it up for the silhouette I’d like to confirm if what I am intending to do is possible or if I should look again at alternatives.

 

Hi,

 

I have managed to cut mesh in 10thou for a small item on the Sri Lanka project. The minimum width that could be achieved of the bars was 0.5mm with the holes also 0.5mm wide

 

I aligned all the horizontal lines - left to right, and the vertical lines - top to bottom. Cutting at speed 1

 

The finished mesh was a little warped but dipping it in hot water for a minute or so, and drying it pressed flat under a small weight cured the warping

 

Ron

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Thanks

Sounds like it’s definitley going to be worthwhile drawing up the mesh and running it through the cutter, then taking it from there.

 

Can you draw up just a small area that has the smallest cuts and see how that comes out?

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