RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted January 3, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 3, 2014 As others have said, I'm totally blown away by the skills and ideas shown in this thread. However, after reading through all 15 pages, I'm not sure this question ask been asked before.... Is it possible to create the equivalent of Slater's embossed brick work ? To explain, if I drew up the brickwork for a the various elevations of a building, including all the lintels and other fancy brickwork patterns, could the cutter engrave the mortar courses into suitably thick card / plasticard ? Stu 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted January 3, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 3, 2014 Hi Stu The simple answer to this is "yes". Lintels, arched bricks, special patterns, even medaeval courses or herringbone. The trick will be using settings that don't push up too much plastic either side of the cut. Andy G is waiting for an engraver to arrive from the States. It will be interesting to see how he gets on with it. I think on the first page of this thread I linked to another thread in a different forum. They did some work on engraving that's worth looking at. Cheers Jason Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted January 3, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 3, 2014 Hi Stubby, found it, there was a link off a link, you might find this interesting: http://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=23354.0 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
backofanenvelope Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Just wanted to break cover and say I hit up the amazon buy button and should be a proud owner of a Portrait next week on the back of this thread. I am really looking forward to getting to grips with it.. I have some ideas that I want to explore and am looking forward to learning more from this thread.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpendle Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Hi JCL, In an earlier post you mention cutting styrene up to 0.015". I just tried this on my Portrait and can't get anything better than score lines on 0.015" styrene. What settings did you use to cut styrene? Thanks, John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted January 4, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 4, 2014 Hi John I'd mentioned that someone had done it here: http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/archive/index.php/t-361584.html . The good news is that Andy G has some .015" on order, so it'll be interesting to see how he gets on. Mike, the license code for the CutWizard utility turned up today. I've not had a chance to get the cutter out, but I'll be able to have a go over the weekend. I'll let everyone know how I get on. cheers Jaso Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted January 4, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 4, 2014 I only just found this excellent thread a few days ago and have been lurking trying to take it all in! Many thanks to you JCL starting it all off. Having occasionally seen such machines on shopping channels for ‘crafting’, I automatically dismissed them as being irrelevant to our hobby. Daft or what! The production of coach sides is what appeals to me having seen some of the excellent results shown. Please excuse me for a couple of basic questions. My computer skills are very limited and have no experience with CAD drawing programs. Firstly, I would hope to be able to use scanned plain outlines (black on white) drawn from known accurate 4mm scale drawings. In the first instance I would need to produce plain sides and ends only. The panelled variety look very tempting, but first things first! Secondly, by what sort of program would the scanned images be transferred to a digital format suitable for a cutting machine? Many thanks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTrice Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 There have been a couple of posts mentioning lack of CAD skills. I wonder if it would be appreciated if I started a basic "Using Inkscape" thread? Inkscape is the program I use and what is more, it is free so anyone can download it. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted January 4, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 4, 2014 Hi John It's worth following John Pendle's ideas in post 359. Try something really simple at first to get the hang of things as using the trace tool can b a bit of an art. Even if they are just geometric shapes or a window for example. Videos like the one below will also help: On your second question, scanners generally come with programs to help the process of getting a design into the computer. If you have a scanner with a "scan" button on it, put the image on the scanner and press the button, whatever the scanner uses by default should pop up and, if it isn't all automated, provide you with more instructions. cheers Jason Mike, that would be great! You just have to work out which forum to put it in Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
backofanenvelope Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 There have been a couple of posts mentioning lack of CAD skills. I wonder if it would be appreciated if I started a basic "Using Inkscape" thread? Inkscape is the program I use and what is more, it is free so anyone can download it. Mike, yes definitely tuts would be of interest. I am in the process of downloading and installing Inkscape.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTrice Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Made a start and created a new topic here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/80563-introduction-to-using-inkscape-to-produce-cutting-files/ Not a lot there at the moment but will work on it shortly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hymek2 Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Interesting section this one. I have a craft robo which I haven't done much with yet and also have access to a laser cutter occasionally but have been limited by my abilities with CAD type software. I bit the bullet recently and bought turbo cad 16deluxe from that well known auction site for less than £20 including postage. I have spent some time on YouTube watching some excellent tutorial "films" , and would recommend them to others. Some of the best are by a chap called Paul Tracey which go through setting up the main page, menu options etc, and continue on to using it. If you type in "turbocad" in the search on YouTube they will come up. I suspect a lot of the other CAD programs will work in similar ways so the videos will be of use to others as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTrice Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Revised axlebox/spring assembly but with scribed spring leaves: 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted January 4, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 4, 2014 (edited) Blimey Mike, that looks great. I'm hoping Canada Post gets it's finger out and starts delivering post again so I can have a look at some bearings a friend is sending over. Edited to say - we should start putting rulers in with these photos so that people can see how small they actually are! Edited January 4, 2014 by JCL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Siberian Snooper Posted January 5, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 5, 2014 Revised axlebox/spring assembly but with scribed spring leaves: IMG_4665.JPG Hi Mike It has been interesting following the gestation of the W irons, springs and axleboxes. The transformation is incredible. SS Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTrice Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 we should start putting rulers in with these photos so that people can see how small they actually are! Like this? Well, she is a ruler (sorry could not resist). 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 Like this? Well, she is a ruler (sorry could not resist). IMG_4666.JPG Totaly unbelievable! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTrice Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 Totaly unbelievable! No she is, honest! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeTrice Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 Try this. Having primed it, it looks wonky still. Might need to produce mk3. Actually I am thinking of just doing the axlebox/sprint then cast in resin. 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted January 5, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 5, 2014 (edited) Well Mike, cast in resin, Andy G has been suggesting this to me. That would be a great tutorial that couldn't come at a better time. I'm trying to see where your axlebox is wonky, and I'm afraid it's beaten me. Edited January 5, 2014 by JCL 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted January 6, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 6, 2014 Cutwizard I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was going to give CutWizard a go. Unfortunately I squandered my trial license as I installed it and then had to travel for a week. To review the software I installed the full license yesterday tried using the utility this afternoon. First of all, what is CutWizard? This is a utility that processes a drawing created in CorelDraw, Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape and sends the resulting instructions to the cutter. It is different to Studio or Make The Cut! in that it doesn't have a drawing component. The closest thing I can compare it to is a printer option box. Although the Graphtec website that sells CutWizard only mentions that is supports CorelDraw and Adobe Illustrator, the software itself, the user manual that is installed at the same time and the site http://www.hobbyplotter.de/download/content/index.php?id=43 states that there is also limited support for Inkscape. There are two features that are not supported within Inkscape: selection of objects to cut by layers and support for registration marks. You can get around the first limitation by ensuring that the lines and objects on each layer are a particular colour, and that each layer uses a different colour. So testing started and stopped fairly quickly. It seems that there is a bug in CutWizard using Inkscape that stops it cutting simple lines that run from “a” to “b”. The CutWizard will cut squares, circles, rounded rectangles and user created shapes using the line tool, as long as those shapes completely enclose their area. That is, the starting point and end point of a line are in the same place. The CutWizard utility does not seem to be able to cut individual lines either straight, curved or cornered if they don't enclose an area. See below: I've found that the writers of CutWizard can be found at http://www.medacom-graphics.de/software/cutwizard/. I'm going to try to contact them regarding the bug, but having no German, I'll be hoping they have some English. That said, if anyone here can read/write in German, please give me a shout and maybe we can find a fix to this. I'm going to provide you a step by step in my next post and a summary of the features as this might be a one off or something on my computer only. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted January 6, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted January 6, 2014 I've just tried installing of all on a fresh computer with the same result, so to all intents and purposes, CutWizard isn't a goer for me at the moment. I'm starting a longer term project of a Barnum open third on my thread, but in the meantime I've had another go at pushing the cutter to the limits. My layout, Wainfleet will have Wainfleet All saints church in one corner. This means that I need to replicate the gates and fencing. Below is the first go a cutting the gates. They are just over 16mm x 21mm and have been cut in .010" plastic. The ironwork has a minimum width of .25mm. The spike on the left came out really well ( so well you can barely see it. My next task will be working out a way of flattening the gate. I'm thinking bulldog clips, two steel rulers, an some hot water might do it. Tomorrow I'll post a better photo if I can, and the DFX file if anyone else would like it. Cheers Jason 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium gazman424 Posted January 6, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 6, 2014 Hi All, I trust you all had a good New Year and hope you have managed to shrug off the excesses! Mike - I can understand the mindset behind trying to replicate the w-irons/ axlebox assemblies with the cutter, but do we really need to when there are already products extant in a more suitable material? I think the cutters strength is taking over the repetitive/ fiddly tasks we would generally tackle with a sheet of thin plasticard and a scalpel. This is in no way intended to be critical but I'm not sure I would be keen on relying on plastic in this critical area. Outstanding work tho! (My first coach trial is an LNER Tourist twin Third, which i'll be happy for you to run your expert eye over once I progress it further today!! HEHE!). Jason - The detail you have achieved on the gate is absolutely amazing, and I'm impressed you've taken the thickness down to .25 is very interesting and opens up new possibilities. With regard to straightening, is there a way you can layer it, maybe round the edge where you might find a heavier metal section on the real thing, to assist in straightening? I had to do this with a lattice girder bridge, and it seemed to help greatly. Gaz. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeOxon Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 I have found that the free Teigha File Converter from the Open Design Alliance: http://www.opendesign.com/guestfiles/TeighaFileConverter will convert DWG files into a DXF format that can be read by the Silhouette cutter. The software converts both DWG and DXF files into a wide range of alternative formats. I am currently working on a GWR 6-wheel coach design, which is described in my blog at http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1405/entry-13086-silhouette-coach-wip-1/ Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Heggs Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 On the Silhouette Cameo, has anyone noticed that the Blue Blade Holder Locking Key strikes the two black Rubber/Neoprene wheels on the roller bar ? Cannot tell if this has any effect on the cutter, especially where detail is being cut immediately adjacent to these wheels Ron Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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