Mozart

Well I’ve set up a couple of pretty simple tutorials which deal with finding your way around the software etc, check out “Tutorials - Working Efficiently” for instance. Start by looking at those then come back with further questions. I check in a couple of times a day, certainly every morning and I know Kev does too. Max

Nick, the settings for cutting, ie speed, force, number of passes, blade depth, shouldn’t determine whether you use a cutting mat or not. I haven’t used Artool Ultramask but I use a cutting mat with EVERY material: vinyl, plastic, paper, card, lead foil etc. I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t use the mat, without its stickiness the material being cut will likely slide about and you won’t get a good cut. Max

Better late than never Steve! Welcome. Max

Anything in particular or everything in general? Some of the posts I’ve put as tutorials might help you?

Welcome Floki. We’ve put up some tutorials which hopefully you’ll find useful!

Morning Phil. I’m afraid I can’t give you much of a steer on your questions simply because I do all my design work directly with the Silhouette software, I have no experience of importing vector files or similar from external sources. The Silhouette software is perfectly capable of doing everything that you might conceivably need mask-wise though with obvious limitations on minimum sizes. Sorry that I can’t help further. Max

Morning Phil, good to see you here. As you’ll see from many people’s comments here, the Silhouette is a real game-changer when it comes to modelling potential. If you need any further advice please ask away and collectively we’ll do our best to help out. Max

Thanks Peter, I didn’t realise those arms could be used like that, it makes life considerably easier! 👍 Max

Welcome Iain, always good to see new members. Enjoy your new toy, it will soon become an essential item for you!

No, just the indicator though I always lightly run my finger across the end just to gauge how much blade is sticking out.....be careful!

When you take your blade out of the holder, is it really set at 1? Check that first, it sounds to me like too much blade is showing if it’s cutting that deeply on the figures you’ve quoted.

Ha, well I’m a retired art teacher Dave, so everything is “visual” for me! 😆

I’m afraid I did mine very much “old school”, neolithic even! I taped the area to be masked on the canopy then drew around the outline as exactly as I could. Then I took the tape off the canopy and laid it flat on the bench, photographed it and imported that into Silhouette, then drew it out. I needed to tweak it a little in places and on the more severe curves on the internal masks added a “cut line” to accommodate the curvature. It might seem long-winded but it works and of course it’s easy to duplicate for both sides of the outer canopy, AND by reducing the size slightly you’ve got the internal masking.

Good to see you here Peter.....any questions just ask away though there’s already some useful stuff on this forum. Max

Not sure why you need to turn a scanned image into a vector file Lee, I never have. Once scanned (into my photos folder) I just "slide" the image across into the Silhouette drawing page and enlarge as necessary from there. You'll need to go to the top tool bar and "send the image to the back" before you can start tracing it. Hope this helps Max

Stunningly beautiful and full of atmosphere.....love it! 😄

Very lifelike, my kind of photo! Well done.

Good to see you here Dave, hope all goes well with the Silhouette!

Perhaps they have Kev, I’m pretty sure my Cameo 3 didn’t have those features before I had the Designer upgrade, but good on Silhouette if they have incorporated it!

From a modelling perspective, the basic software enables you to draw straightforward designs for masks such as roundels, crosses, stars etc as well as letters, but the real game changer is the Designer software which is an add-on package, not expensive, but so worthwhile. With this package you can import photographs for instance and trace around shapes, this opens up so many other possibilities. Yes, there is a whole library of designs that I’ve never used because they are intended for people who make cards, for scrap-bookers etc. but the tools (draw, copy, paste, orientate, scale, delete, group/ungroup etc) that are used for any craft remain the same. You’ll never regret buying one and investing in some time to learn how to use it. Max

I'm building the Silver Wings 1/32 scale Tiger Moth, specifically this aircraft: since it was flown by my father in 1943 during his pilot training is S Rhodesia. It presents a few problems for masking, most notably the chequerboard band on the rear fuselage (just visible behind the strut) and the large, rather unorthodox "35" on the fuselage. To do the chequered band I wrapped some thin masking tape around the fuselage having decided that a scale 4mm was about right for each square, and there are three columns. So the forward and rear masking tapes were 12mm apart. The taper on the fuselage is the tricky bit because clearly the "circumference" is going to vary. Once I'd got the positions right, I took the masking tape off and laid it on my cutting mat 12mm apart along its length. I took a picture of it: then imported the picture into the Silhouette software. This gave me the wrap around shape fairly accurately. Then I set my grid background to aid drawing to 4mm and carefully drew things out: then cut: It needed a bit of tidying up but it's ok! Next the "35"! This proved just as challenging. I used the photograph, enlarged as much as possible, again imported into Silhouette then drew some guidelines: which when the picture was taken away was something like this, though I've added the curves (drawing arcs is another ball game). Here I've selected the top half of the "3" to group all the bits, then copied, flipped and pasted below to form the whole number (and also the lower part of the "5": I always work with the drawing as large as possible to ensure accuracy with lines joining up. If you don't you'll have uncut gaps which will cause problems when you come to use the masks. The end result: Any questions or comments welcome! Max

Very sharp Rick, you’ve obviously got to grips with the Silhouette! Good to see another “user” (in the best sense iof course!) here on the forum. Max

Hello Dave, I can’t answer most of your questions I’m afraid because I use a Cameo 2 which to my knowledge doesn’t have a Bluetooth function nor roll stock holder (?) but the one thing I have learned in the 5 or 6 years that I’ve used mine is to cut only enough Oramask for the task in hand. I never throw away cut-offs, surprisingly small pieces so often come in handy. Yesterday I cut two roundels, I used a piece of vinyl no more than 100mm x 50mm. Good luck with your Cameo, you’ll love it and quickly realise just what an essential piece of kit it is!

Good news Albert! All part of the learning curve......been there, done that! 😄

I just use the standard blade supplied with the machine. What’s vital is not so much the blade type but the settings that you do just before you cut. I think your blade is set too deep, ie too much blade protruding from the holder, or your cutting with too much force. For Oramask 810 my blade is set to 2, force 5/6, one pass, speed 5. Hope this helps.