pete taylor Posted June 26, 2020 Share Posted June 26, 2020 Does anyone have any experience of vinyl cutting machines for our purposes? I'm intending to use one for producing airbrush masks and possibly for finished self adhesive decals for my own models do it doesn't need to be industrial grade stuff. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks, Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Gay Posted June 26, 2020 Share Posted June 26, 2020 I have had lots of use from a Silhouette Cameo 3 vinyl cutter. My one will cut 305mm wide and as long as you want. I also purchased the extra roller attachment for the front of it which helps when cutting longer masks. The upgraded software (about £20) was also worth the extra cash, in my opinion. The initial outlay of a few hundred pounds is soon recouped if you build lots of scale type models and sprayed on markings always look better especially when weathered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham R Posted June 26, 2020 Share Posted June 26, 2020 I agree with Martin. I also have a Silhouette Cameo. I have only used it for decals so far, both vinyl and print and cut. I find it very useful (so do other club members). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted June 26, 2020 Share Posted June 26, 2020 Just experimenting on a borrowed CriCut Maker. Looks good so far. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Fenton Posted June 26, 2020 Share Posted June 26, 2020 I have the very old Craft Robo, the forerunner to the Cameo and it is excellent. I should upgrade to A3 as I am struggling with the 210mm width. I cannot get replacement blades for the CC200 and although the Cameo blades fit they don't cut as well as the older blades. But a few hundreds pound very well spent. I use the 100 micron paint-mask material from MetaMark, I have tried others but keep coming back to them. Everything you can see was done on the plotter, roundels, stencils reg and nomenclature. I have a plug in for Illustrator so do all the graphics heavy work in Illustrator. Cheers Danny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Green Posted June 26, 2020 Share Posted June 26, 2020 This thread turned into a useful vinyl cutter discussion Cheers Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Z Posted June 27, 2020 Share Posted June 27, 2020 Hi Pete, I am using the Silhouette Cameo 3 for a year or two now, and I am very pleased with it. It always amazes me how it cuts very smal lettering and items with great accuracy (7- 8 mm high lettering). Contrary to Martin, I did not see the need to go for the premium software. As long as you have a decent 2D cad application that can export .dxf files, you are good to go, I never do any graphics directly in Silhouette Studio, except rearranging and adding an extra cut line. Nor did I go for the roller attachment, I just leave the roll of vinyl on the table in front of the cutter to unroll itself, no problems. The Studio software works fine on my Mac, but is a bit slow in picking menu items and tool icons. Once you have saved a design, it will remember the cutting settings. What annoys me a bit is that for every new design you have to change the default material into the actual, I would have liked if it remembered the last used material. Cheers, Max. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham R Posted June 27, 2020 Share Posted June 27, 2020 Posted by Danny Fenton on 26/06/2020 22:43:02: I have the very old Craft Robo, the forerunner to the Cameo and it is excellent. I should upgrade to A3 as I am struggling with the 210mm width. I cannot get replacement blades for the CC200 and although the Cameo blades fit they don't cut as well as the older blades. But a few hundreds pound very well spent. I use the 100 micron paint-mask material from MetaMark, I have tried others but keep coming back to them. Everything you can see was done on the plotter, roundels, stencils reg and nomenclature. I have a plug in for Illustrator so do all the graphics heavy work in Illustrator. Cheers Danny Danny, Could you tell me which details are vinyl and which ace been sprayed using a paint mask. I have only used coloured vinyl so far, only trouble is that there is a limited range of useful colours. Graham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Z Posted June 27, 2020 Share Posted June 27, 2020 Some more discussions HERE and HERE Edited By Max Z on 27/06/2020 11:19:35 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete taylor Posted June 27, 2020 Author Share Posted June 27, 2020 Wow! As always, very comprehensive and informed advice. It looks like the Cameo 3 is the way to go for my needs so I'll get researching! Thanks to all and stay safe! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Todd Posted June 27, 2020 Share Posted June 27, 2020 Also a Silhouette Cameo user for several years, can thoroughly recommend and its optical scanner function is also very useful tool. Linds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leccyflyer Posted June 27, 2020 Share Posted June 27, 2020 I've had a Silhouette Cameo for some years as well, but it is very little used - mostly for cutting vinyl registration letters and I managed to get a very large roll of lovely matt light grey very thin vinyl which works beautifully. The other thing I used it for was cutting instrument panel blanks from thin card, before I got my 3D printer. Went to print one today and I had completely forgotten how to use the software. Now that I've got my airbrush back up and running I hope to use it for paint masks too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris larkins Posted July 24, 2020 Share Posted July 24, 2020 I was asked by a club member to cut some decals for a vintage glider using my Cameo Portrait cutter, unfortunately as the model was covered in solartex the glossy vinyl didn't look to good. He then supplied me with an offcut of solartex and asked it I would be able to cut it out of this so that he could then iron it on, I agreed to try but I wasn't holding out much hope. After much trial and error I managed to come up with a way of doing it without it all bunching up which was the main issue when cutting it, if anyone is interested I can share how I did it........... I'm sure that there are other ways too. Edited By chris larkins on 24/07/2020 19:36:57 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris larkins Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 Here is what it looks like on the wing........ much more in keeping with the model Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.