A Guide to using the Silhouette Cameo Cutter

[Joseph_Pestell]

This is quite amazing. Sales of styrene sheet will be increasing greatly.

 

Jason, you mentioned at the top of the thread that it would cut very thin chipboard. I assume that it would not do any wood with a grain as the blade would get dragged off course. But might it cope with a thin ply?

Edited December 8, 2013 by Joseph_Pestell

[JCL]

Hi Joseph, it's very specific Silhouette chipboard. Since I wrote that I found some in a store in Vancouver. I'm not near my cutter at the moment but was going to have a go. Seeing it in the flesh, as it were, I'm not too impressed with it. I'll let you know as soon as I get a chance.

[Brass0four]

 

I came across this thread by accident and had no idea such a machine existed that was financially viable for the hobby/obsessive. (lol)

 

I am now thinking very differently...

 

Thank you JCL, everyone,

 

Tony.

[allan downes]

Hi Metal hip.

 

Try these people for quality card for all purposes.

 

Cheers.

 

Allan

 

 

 

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[pointstaken]

JCL,

I have now acquired a Cameo (delivered Friday), and to my shame I must own up to having read the instructions, for which I shall no doubt be drummed out of the brotherhood.

I really must thank you for your efforts in authoring this thread, which first brought the machine to my attention.

 

On a slightly different note, vertical bars in windows which have not been etched can be represented by a narrow stripe from one of these Snopake type pens. (Someone else's idea on this forum).

 

Dennis

[JCL]

Sorry, Dennis, what did you do again? Something about dog whistles

 

With regards to the elongated rounded corners on panels. Without a doubt this can indeed caused by the knife being off centre, but if you are new to this, it can in part also be due to the way the shape was drawn.

 

As you can see below, the top rectangle was drawn to size and has perfectly rounded corners. The bottom shape was drawn as a square, and then stretched to a rectangle the same size as the top shape. The difference in the profile of the corners on the bottom shape is pretty evident. In Studio, the corner can be reshaped by clicking on the rectangle, and moving the dots until they are the shape you need. If you aren't sure, check your corners before you cut!

 

Edited December 10, 2013 by JCL

[freebs]

...a common graphics error (especially in photoshop) They should really build in some algorithm that rescales the rounded corner when a rectangle is reproportioned

[flubrush]

...a common graphics error (especially in photoshop) They should really build in some algorithm that rescales the rounded corner when a rectangle is reproportioned

 

I don't actually think it is an error.   The graphics applications are actually stretching a shape and curved corners should deform in that way if the stretch algorithm is applied properly.   If you stretch a rounded corner rectangle in a CAD program,  then curved corners are maintained at the same size and curvature.

 

Jim.

[uax6]

Well finally I have got the portriat out of the box! I'm using the drawings of my tender sideframes as test pieces just to find out what various settings do.

 

I'm very impressed with the cutter, it's very quiet (I hadn't used it in the evenings with the daughter in bed just in case it was too noisy, but I don't think it will even annoy SHMBO in the other room). Setting up the cutting from the drawing was easy (I was expecting all sorts of issues!).

 

The only thing which was slightly annoying is the fact that the drivers for it aren't 'approved' (or whatever microsoft call it) for use with xp. It seems to work ok mind!

 

Going on what I have discovered so far it appears that for 20thou you need to wind the blade upto 10 (although a setting of 11 or 12 would be better!) and I found that by double cutting twice (click on double cut in the cutting window, let the machine cut, and then when it's finished press 'cut again') it is almost through.

 

10 thou I agree with Mike on setting 4. I need to play a bit more on this thickness though.

 

Heres a couple of pictures of the Portrait cutting a new sheet of 10thou. (220x345mm sheet dimensions). I've got it on the floor (on a sheet of brown paper to stop cat hairs and dust from the floor) at the minute as the lead is too short to allow it to go on the table! I have ordered a 3m usb A-B lead today (Less than 2 quid from ebay with free postage!) to allow the relocation.

 

 

Andy G

[MikeTrice]

Not using the carrier sheet then?

[uax6]

Yes, the cutting mat/carrier sheet is under there, it just doesn't show up being clear. I'm looking forward to it getting less sticky, as peeling the cut outs off is a pain!

 

Each one of them is stuck to the cutting mat, and needs peeling off using the tip of a blade, takes ages!

 

Andy G

[MikeTrice]

Nothing groundbreaking from me, just standard window frames, cut in 10 thou:

 

Believe it or not, this is N Gauge, the glazing bars being .3mm wide:

 

My original project, started a while ago, was a diorama based on Erstfeld depot in Switzerland however I chickened out of trying to cut out the windows as seen here:

 

In fairness the glazing bars are very fragile and could really do with thickening up. Thankfully having had the disaster with the card previously my carrier mat is not so sticky and seemed to work well. I agree, peeling off the individual cut outs afterwards is a thankless task.

 

I should add that this was cut with the CB09 cutter holder with the depth set by eye and double cut.

Edited December 11, 2013 by MikeTrice

[allan downes]

Hi Mike.

 

You said "Believe it or not, this is N Gauge, the glazing bars being .3mm wide" -  which in N guage reprersents a glazing bar 1ft 6 inches wide, but also illustrates how you can take liberties with dead scale and it still looks good - and correct !

 

Well Mike, your windows are VERY impressive indeed and I wouldn't fancy trying what you've achieved with a Stanley knife and bi-focals as I systematically converted styrene into confetti !

 

Wonderfull stuff.

 

Allan.

[Phil Howe]

Hi Mike.

 

... the glazing bars being .3mm wide" -  which in N guage reprersents a glazing bar 1ft 6 inches wide...

 

Allan.

Did you get your decimal point in the wrong place Allan? I make it about 44mm, around an inch and half.

 

Phil

[Shadow]

That will explain why Allan's models always look so life like, they are full size!!

[MikeTrice]

Just to confuse matters I adjusted to use 0.35mm and it still looks fine.

Edited December 11, 2013 by MikeTrice

[allan downes]

Did you get your decimal point in the wrong place Allan? I make it about 44mm, around an inch and half.

 

Phil

 

 Probably !!!!

 

Cheers.

Allan.

[uax6]

Mike,

 

Have you tried cutting 20thou with the CB09 turned up to 11 or 12? ;-} I suppose this is actually achieveable by just winding it out a bit more.....

 

Andy g

 

(Still waiting for his)

[JCL]

It looks at the moment like my machine needs different settings to other machines. If the other machine settings for cutting look the most common, then I'm happy to amend the tutorials on previous pages. I'm waiting for this CB09 holder now to see what that does. One thing though Andy, 11 maybe, but 12? Are you mad??? Nobody went to 12! :-O

 

In all seriousness, eventually the blade depth will be limited by the amount of gap between the bottom of the holder and the plastic mat, so please be careful you don't go too deep straight away.

 

These posts are looking great, it's marvelous to see what other people are doing with their cutters.

Edited December 12, 2013 by JCL

[Buhar]

Blades look to be a potential on-going cost, especially if, as was suggested you should change them after 4 sheets. I presume that's with a lot of cuts as the blunting would come with mileage (or inchage).  Saw these on eBay

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2pcs-CRAFT-ROBO-SILHOUETTE-WISHBLADE-blades-HIGH-QUALITY-FREE-UK-P-P-SAME-DAY-/131040320770?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1e829c9d02

 

2 for £12.00 without the holder, but I suspect if you're using the cameo for any of the purposes described here, dismantling it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

 

Any news on how Google Sketch-up files saved as .dxf might work.  I've had a lot of practice in Sketch-up on non-railway stuff so the learning curve would be easier.

[gazman424]

Hi All,

 A couple of quick shots to show my first attempts with the Cameo cutter. I've made a few mistakes along the way, but I feel I'm now getting to grips with it. Thanks to JCL for his tutorails and inspiration.

 

 

 

 

 

hopefully the pics will be uploaded - it's my first attempt...

Gaz.

 

[uax6]

Gaz,

 

That plate girder bridge is amazing. It just goes to show what we can achieve with these tools!

 

Andy g

[MikeTrice]

Have you tried cutting 20thou with the CB09 turned up to 11 or 12? ;-} I suppose this is actually achieveable by just winding it out a bit more.....

Yes, I cut the main doors out of 20thou using the CB09 but only so far as scoring then for the final cut scoring deeper and snapping out. In theory I could have kept cutting until it had gone through, however it is not easy to tell whilst the material and carrier sheet is still in the machine.

[JCL]

I agree Mike, there's been a couple of occasions when I could/should gave cut deeper, but it's difficult to tell if it's necessary on small items because invariably they are sat underneath the cut head when it comes to rest. I'm not sure how you'd do this on the portrait, but on the Cameo I can press the pause button on the machine and check that way.

 

For the Portrait owners, is there a way to pause or cancel a cut? How would you do it?

[uax6]

There is a pause button, but I've not pressed mine yet........

 

Is there a way to feed the sheet further into the cutter? I can only use the feed in and feed out keys after the cutter has finished.. It would be quite handy to be able to feed the sheet in further, while it is still in the machine. any ideas?

 

Andy G