A Guide to using the Silhouette Cameo Cutter

[MikeTrice]

Thanks for the reference just noticed your Thompson thread which i'd shall be taking great interest in in the very near future. I had the same trouble with my concertinas which I had use some string to keep them at bay. Also out of curiosity how do your coaches tolerate curves with this amendment? 

The amendment still allows the outer face to pivot. The restraining strap is not under tension when the coaches are coupled. At present the bellows are too thick and I need to cut some thinner ones, however the machine is out of reach at present so I have been unable to recut and retest. Hopefully tomorrow.

[bgman]

I decided that I would try producing my first carriage using the Silhouette and as I haven't seen a commercially available version of this vehicle here are my efforts so far.

 

 

 

It is my representation of the GWR 45' Dynanometer Car which entered service in 1901.

The basis for the main carriage are two old Hornby clerestory bodies which have been cut 'n shut and the sides removed. The new sides are made of three layers using 10 thou plasticard.

 

I was very pleased to also produce the wheel which is shown rather unceremoniously blue tacked to the rail.

 

It is currently on-going but it gives a flavour of the final model I hope.

 

Grahame

[Mikkel]

Looks very good Grahame. I have to ask how you did the curvy parts?

Edited April 22, 2017 by Mikkel

[bgman]

Looks very good Grahame. I have to ask how you did the curvy parts?

Hello Mikkel,

 

Hope all is well with you.

 

Thank you for your comment, it's my first real attempt using the Silhouette and finding out its limits so to speak.

 

The cutter has produced reasonable fine overlays as shown below

 

I assume By the "curvy" parts you're referring to the central observation window. The lower part was made with three pieces of plasticard laminated together and then filed and sanded to obtain a reasonable likeness. The top part was made from a solid square plastic section and filed / sanded to shape too. I was rather fortunate to have a piece which was a good fit, 4mm square !

 

There is still a way to go but overall I'm fairly satisfied with it to date.

ATB

 

Grahame

 

Edited April 22, 2017 by bgman

[Rob Pulham]

Superb Grahame!

[MikeTrice]

Also out of curiosity how do your coaches tolerate curves with this amendment? 

Answered here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/121184-titivating-bachmanns-original-thompson-lner-coaches/page-2&do=findComment&comment=2698778 as it seemed more appropriate.

[Robin2]

I have started making a Battery Powered Radio Controlled loco using a card body cut with my Portrait and using an etched brass chassis for which the etch-resist patterns were cut from sticky vinyl using my Portrait. More here.

 

...R

[Daddyman]

Hello Mikkel,

 

Hope all is well with you.

 

Thank you for your comment, it's my first real attempt using the Silhouette and finding out its limits so to speak.

 

The cutter has produced reasonable fine overlays as shown below

 

Hello, 

Nice work!

Why do you say "reasonable fine" overlays? I ask because I'm considering one day getting a cutter, but your post makes me wonder if there are limitations to the machine that your photos don't show; the overlays look near perfect - is that not the case? 

 

(I realise these limitations may have been mentioned but I haven't yet got through all 77 pages of the thread!) 

[Robin2]

but I haven't yet got through all 77 pages of the thread!) 

Shame on you

 

...R

[bgman]

I decided that I would try producing my first carriage using the Silhouette and as I haven't seen a commercially available version of this vehicle here are my efforts so far.

 

 

image.jpeg

 

It is my representation of the GWR 45' Dynanometer Car which entered service in 1901.

The basis for the main carriage are two old Hornby clerestory bodies which have been cut 'n shut and the sides removed. The new sides are made of three layers using 10 thou plasticard.

 

I was very pleased to also produce the wheel which is shown rather unceremoniously blue tacked to the rail.

 

It is currently on-going but it gives a flavour of the final model I hope.

 

Grahame

 

Further progress has been made on the Dynamometer Carriage with some internal details ( admittedly not totally true to the actual instruments but hopefully giving some idea ) ) being added and the roof altered to curved ends and original roof vents cut off with new ones made and repositioned

 

 

I have made several errors to date in producing this model however, it bodes well for future projects and I am extremely pleased with the possibilities for future models.

 

Grahame

[ktundu99]

Hello, 

Nice work!

Why do you say "reasonable fine" overlays? I ask because I'm considering one day getting a cutter, but your post makes me wonder if there are limitations to the machine that your photos don't show; the overlays look near perfect - is that not the case? 

 

(I realise these limitations may have been mentioned but I haven't yet got through all 77 pages of the thread!) 

 

Certainly from my experience, there are two things that could make me describe the cutting as 'reasonably fine'. One is only really an issue with vinyl, and arises from the tendency of the vinyl to slip in the rollers slightly - on model-sized pieces this isn't a problem, but on some of the several-feet-long vinyls I've made this can start to be an issue.

 

I've attached a photograph (horribly cruel close-up at an unflattering angle) of the other minor problem, demonstrated on a half-finished converted cattle-truck I cut the parts for on the cameo. If you look at the grille, you'll note that the holes aren't quite symmetrical. These were perfect rectangles in the file I cut, but have been slightly skewed by the offset of the blade - the blade rotates in the holder, and will therefore take a short-cut around any corners, slightly smoothing them. The software mostly corrects for this automatically, but in particularly fine items it can still show. I'm not bothered by this - from a normal viewing distance the effect is completely unnoticable.

 

 

Please excuse the poor paint job - serves me right for using a rattle-can rather than get the airbrush out...

Edited April 26, 2017 by ktundu99

[Y_Rail]

Grahame, amazing work on the car! Waiting for my Silhouette to arrive here.

[bgman]

Grahame, amazing work on the car! Waiting for my Silhouette to arrive here.

 

Thank you, I hope you have as much enjoyment and fun as I am !

[bgman]

Further progress has been made on the Dynamometer Carriage with some internal details ( admittedly not totally true to the actual instruments but hopefully giving some idea ) ) being added and the roof altered to curved ends and original roof vents cut off with new ones made and repositioned

 

fullsizeoutput_f46.jpeg

 

I have made several errors to date in producing this model however, it bodes well for future projects and I am extremely pleased with the possibilities for future models.

 

Grahame

A further update.

 

I've decided to attempt the Dean bogie for this carriage and here is my Mk.1 effort in the raw. I feel there will be some refinements needed but overall it's getting there I think ?

 

 

 

When considering the cost of a brass etch or modifying a rtr bogie apart from time spent on the 2D programme and time spent assembling I reckon the material cost to be significantly low to produce these together with the enjoyment I'm getting from using the Silhouette cutter.

 

Grahame

[Robin2]

When considering the cost of a brass etch

If you are interested in making a simple brass etch to support the axles and which will be hidden by the plastic parts you can make an etch mask from sticky-backed vinyl with the Silhouette cutter and you can electro-etch the part in a salt-water solution with a 12v DC supply. No dangerous chemicals are required.

 

...R

[raymw]

You'll have to put an etch resist Vinyl) on the back of the sheet of brass, either cover it completely, or carefully align a mirror image of the front. You can also iron on an etch resist, a laser printed pattern, or use the silhouette to scribe through a paint or varnish type layer - some felt tip pen inks are good enough as an etch resist, although you can get the 'special' pens.

[bgman]

If you are interested in making a simple brass etch to support the axles and which will be hidden by the plastic parts you can make an etch mask from sticky-backed vinyl with the Silhouette cutter and you can electro-etch the part in a salt-water solution with a 12v DC supply. No dangerous chemicals are required.

 

...R

Thank you Robin and raymw, I've thought about home etching in the past and I think something was posted in this parish regards using the salt solution method a while back.

 

I made well try that in the future but for now I'm tending to lean towards the silhouette for my experiments in coach building + other models.

 

Grahame

[Y_Rail]

Robin, did i get this right? You can prepare sheets for etching with 12V DC using the silhouette?????? I need to make at some point some PE grills / screens and i wonder if that would work.

 

Bgman, again inspirational work!

[Robin2]

Robin, did i get this right? You can prepare sheets for etching with 12V DC using the silhouette?????? I need to make at some point some PE grills / screens and i wonder if that would work.

I wonder if you have over-simplified or over-complicated.

 

To etch a pattern onto brass you need something to protect the parts that should not be etched - this is usually referred to as the "mask". One way to make that is to cut out the shape in some sticky-back vinyl and stick it to the brass. This has worked very well for me. I have made a nice (simple) 0-6-0 chassis and connecting rods that runs very freely.

 

However I don't think that it would be practical to make a mask with very fine detail using the Silhouette cutter. You have to remove all the bits for the areas that are to be etched and picking off pieces that are thinner than about 1mm is tedious and error prone. When you mention a grill I think of perhaps dozens of tiny diamonds that would each need to be removed - assuming the Silhouette could cut them neatly in the first place.

 

Yesterday I got some transparencies laser-printed with some very fine etch patterns with a view to using an iron to transfer the toner to the brass sheet. This is a common technique that is widely described on the internet. But I have not tried it myself yet.

 

Whatever method is used to create the mask the electro-etching process will be the same. I wrote a bit about it here

 

...R

[Y_Rail]

Thanks Robin, much appreciated answer.

 

I was thinking along the lines of many tiny rectangles for the grill (like a radiator grill). I ll read around on the link you mentioned. So far i was a bit put off brass etching since i thought it can only be done with special lights, chemicals etc...

 

When my silhouette arrives i ll give it a go trying to get the grill made out of styrene (Farr type grill for EMD locomotives).

Edited April 29, 2017 by Y_Rail

[raymw]

I've experimented in the past with the iron on laser printed method. I found the best material was to print onto the smooth backing sheet from laser printable labels. Peel off the labels, and print onto the shiny backing paper surface. The brass needs to be very clean, slightly abraded with Vim or other scouring powder. The laser ink tends to spread a bit when ironed on to the metal, and you need to practice a bit, to get the right temperature, pressure and time. Peeling back the sheet to see if the ink has transferred is not necessarily a good idea if you are trying something fancy. You can also get a photo resist solution, in a sponge pad plastic bottle. Not that expensive, but I've never had much success with that, difficult to apply an even layer. However, I've always spray etched with hot ferric chloride, and that may cause more problems than by the reverse electrolysis room temperature method with the laser toner resist..

[Robin2]

I was thinking along the lines of many tiny rectangles for the grill (like a radiator grill).

As I was saying that style of thing may be too much trouble with a mask cut from vinyl. You will have to manually pick out the centres of all the tiny rectangles.

 

Just finished etching a second chassis - seems OK. I check the process every 10 minutes (or 5) and it was a bit of shock to see one of the pieces of vinyl floating in the tank. But I was able to apply a patch with a piece of insulating tape. Then just as I was checking the last time (after 25 minutes I think) the piece of brass with the wire soldered to it fell off so I had to fish in my tank to get the chassis out. Anyway, all the important parts were done - it just needs a bit of fettling. I reckon I was being too smart cutting away unnecessary edge pieces before starting the etch. I might also try soldering on two wires at opposite sides of the piece next time.

 

Hopefully I will try ironing the laser toner onto a piece of brass tomorrow.

 

...R

[MikeOxon]

I decided that I would try producing my first carriage using the Silhouette and as I haven't seen a commercially available version of this vehicle here are my efforts so far.

 

...........................

Having been an 'early adopter' of the Silhouette cutter, I'm amazed by the sophistication of your first attempt!  You've taken things far beyond simple cutting-out, with the curved sides and various 'built-up' parts.  You encourage me to think more ambitiously about my planned BG coaches!

 

 

If you are interested in making a simple brass etch to support the axles and which will be hidden by the plastic parts you can make an etch mask from sticky-backed vinyl with the Silhouette cutter and you can electro-etch the part in a salt-water solution with a 12v DC supply. No dangerous chemicals are required.

 

...R

yet another extension to the possibilities of the Silhouette!  I might try this for curvy outside frames.

[BG John]

yet another extension to the possibilities of the Silhouette!  I might try this for curvy outside frames.

That's a good idea. Let us know how you get on, as I have some to do one day .

[MikeOxon]

You'll have to put an etch resist Vinyl) on the back of the sheet of brass, either cover it completely, or carefully align a mirror image of the front. You can also iron on an etch resist, a laser printed pattern, or use the silhouette to scribe through a paint or varnish type layer - some felt tip pen inks are good enough as an etch resist, although you can get the 'special' pens.

Your post reminded me that, very many years ago, some of my former work colleagues used etch-resist pens in an HP Plotter to make prototype printed circuit boards.  The same method should be feasible by using the pen holder in a Silhouette.