GeneK

14 hours ago, Mozart said:

 I’m going to investigate though whether my old Cameo 2 has the same facility. 

Since it's a software feature, any Silhouette cutter, including your 2014 Legacy model,  shouldn't matter.  BTW, the Portrait 3 is a great little machine ... a bargain at ~$170.

Gene K

Thanks, Dave. Would be useful if you included scale in your description.

Gene K

Thanks, Red Dog.

Well, I goofed!  My old brain read .3 INCHES instead of .3MM. In that .3mm = 0.011811in, you are absolutely correct that the Cameo "can cut it" ... as you've shown

Like you, I routinely cut .010in plastic, but .015in is the limit of clean, fine cuts for my Cameos and Portrait (using the autoblade in position 1).

I'm looking forward to more posts from you here!

Gene K

Thanks, Red Dog.

Good luck trying to cut .3mm styrene with your Cameo. Not to be negative, BUT I don't think you'll get good results, especially (even) using the high pressure craft blade in position 2 - the details are too fine for the blade to navigate (in my limited experience before I gave up). However, the scores on the outlines will facilitate snapping the plastic.  If you find a way to cut such thick plastic, I'd sure appreciate knowing how!

Note that Kevin opened a special section for Non-Mask Applications for great posts like yours.

Thanks again.

Gene K

EDIT' See my next post. I "misread" .3mm as .3in. Cameo does well cutting .3mm!

Hello Red Dog,

Sounds like you are trying to print cut lines that have not been given any "weight". Those red lines are for the cutter to follow, but if you want to print them, first select all the lines, then use the LINE STYLE (fifth icon down on the right hand side - looks like three parallel horizontal lines -  top one is dashed, middle is a thin line, and the bottom is a bottom is a fat line).  You can also, while you are there in Line Style, assign different colors to lines/objects that you individually select, and then you are able to selectively send those colores lines to be cut (or sketched, etc)  using the Send/Lines tab.  In this case, if you'd like to print the design, your Print Preview will show all the colors, as will your print.

Suggest you become familiar with the Line Style as well as the Fill tool just above the Line Style icon - you'll be using them frequently as you grow with Studio.

Gene K

EDIT: The weight (thickness) you give to a line has no bearing on the cut line - that's  still present. The line you made is for your visual benefit. 

On 3/1/2023 at 1:57 AM, coolingthunder said:

I have found that the automatic tracing feature of Studio is not really amazing, it struggles making right angles where needed, tends to round them off, and straight lines can go a bit wonky.

That's an understatement! The Studio Trace tool will pick up every tiny zig and zag that your Threshold setting dictates. The resultant "wonky" vector trace can be simplified by reducing the number of nodes manually, but doing so with the automated Simplify  tool will smooth out the trace in places where you need very precise lines  or curves.  Simplifying a trace of Minnie Mouse is great, but not so for a precise mask drawing.

A "real" graphics program like Inkscape has much better tracing capability, but your best option would be to invest some time in learning how to vector trace manually. In that regard, manual vector drawing/tracing in Studio is straightforward, and it's easy to edit as you fine fine tune the mask (by making repeated patterns to trial fit). What you learn in Studio drawing vectors will carry over to other vector programs - so it's an art/skill that will serve you well for many other interests you may have! 👍

As regards the the kind of adjustments you are wanting to make for inside-canopy masking, the Studio Offset tool is one tool you can use - just specify the distance from your main drawing.  Refine only one side of the mask, and then use the Mirror tool to make a perfect opposing side .

Gene K

You can also get ideas on-line by searching for commercial masks ... to see how companies laid out their masks.😇

Gene K

Justin,

After many "comparatives", I've settled on Vinyl Ease - economical (cheap) and just the right amount of stick.  The grid lines on the tape are useful for cutting as well as positioning. Probably much more than you'll need for scale modeling, but handy for larger jobs like book covers, wall decorations and such. You can get it in 10,30 or 100 foot lengths on Amazon

There are many YouTube videos on the "best" transfer tape , and there are just as many videos on using workarounds like shelf paper, Frisket, brown tape, etc, etc, etc.  I suggest just starting with a proven tape designed specifically for the job. Price difference is negligible and you'll save by not discarding rejects.

Gene K

On 1/23/2023 at 1:59 PM, Mozart said:

In more ways than one Kev, only took an hour or so.  The trickiest part was the narrow top section of the windscreen, had to adjust that several times to get a good fit.

Did you draw the mask  in Studio, or use a CAD file imported into Studio (very precise)?

Gene K

12 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

 

  https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/decals.htm

An outstanding site -- thanks, Mike.

Gene K

Max,

Great job, as always.

I'm slowly going through all your posts (as I have the time), and thank you for all the lessons! You do an outstanding "job" photographing and explaining.

Gene K

On 3/9/2021 at 9:29 PM, rcboater Bill said:

 I also cut a lot of little parts with the Cameo, out of .010 and .020 sheet styrene.

Amazing project, Bill.

What settings are you using for .020? On my Cameo 3 and 4, I can't cut more than .015.

Thanks,

Gene K

On 1/12/2023 at 4:58 PM, denders said:

So, using the idea of my post above this one, I would need to go all the way to depth 9 to get a clean cut through, theoretically. 😉

Try the settings I suggested above (on .010 or .015), and then stack those clean cut pieces to get your desired thickness. Laminate with Tamiya Extra Thin Quick Set cement to avoid melting/deforming.

If you have a Cameo 4, using the the craft blade in the second blade holder (more force) should work well since you'll be making a continuous circular cut vice "Smart Cut" as explained very well here. The poster uses the method you suggested as regards to multiple passes with different force (depth) settings. I found Smart Cut not to my liking since I was cutting small parts (1/72) that had a lot of corners to negotiate. In the end, I was too busy (lazy) to dial the cuts in, so I use my tried and true "regular" method using the "regular" blade holder.

Good cutting! I'd be interested to know your final determination.

Gene

EDIT. I was just reading through older posts and see that you have a Cameo 4 since 2020, so I'm not telling you anything new.

Denders,

Using Cameo 4 with a fairly new regular blade in carriage holder 1, the deepest I've cut in plastic is .015 with these settings:

Force 31

Speed 1

Passes 2

Depth 8

Takes some trial and error, but the above should be good for starters in "tuning" your specific machine to the plastic you are using (plastic hardness varies - a lot).

You may be able to "do" the .032" plastic by scoring with multiple passes and then bending the outlines to snap/tear the scores.

The Cameo 4 has increased pressure in carriage holder 2 which will take craft blades to supposedly cut deeper material with more force. However, I've found the way the machine cuts in this mode is not precise enough for my scale modeling.

Gene K

On 8/1/2022 at 10:51 AM, Neo said:

Hi guy, im new to cutting mask, i just got a cricut machine and i would like to make simple Korean Natural metal Mig-15 marking.

Were you successful, Neo?

Gene K

I just ordered a $150 Portrait 3 to play with (it's Christmas, after all).

Gene K

On 12/19/2022 at 6:33 AM, Mozart said:

... these circles (slightly distorted by the camera angle) cut in paper ranging from 1mm to 7mm:

I have similar problems not caused by camera angle - returned one Cameo 4 for this problem, and the replacement had same problems. My old Cameo 3 works fine, however. I think you use a Cameo 3, right, and have no distortions?

Perplexing.

Gene K

On 11/8/2021 at 2:13 AM, MikeMaben said:

... Rob de Vie has a site re making your own decals ... .

Mike,

Can you give a link to Rob's site, please?

Gene K

On 11/14/2020 at 7:18 PM, denders said:

Rather unfortunate that there isn't a way to weld the endpoints together. I've been learning this.

Dave,

It's not intuitive, but there are a couple of different ways to join endpoints, including this on compound paths.

Gene

On 12/26/2022 at 3:58 AM, Mozart said:

 there’s not a lot of feedback on this forum ... .

Unfortunately, despite Kevin's efforts, this very useful forum hasn't gotten much visibility. Understandable, in a sense, since the number of cutting machine users is still relatively small. Also, many of the folks who do drop by to view and/or download seem to be hit and run, without so much as even "indicating" any appreciation or providing any feedback ... most of the time.

Thanks for being a Prime Mover here. 👍 

Gene K

Nice, Tom.   

Roundels are tricky, but  looks like you did a great job, despite your "wonky" description. I assume you had challenges aligning the masks for the  different colors? If so, I found that using see-through parchment paper under most of the transfer tape to initially align the circles helps greatly.

Gene K

Did you mean to have two different letter "L"s? The horizontal portions are different lengths.

There are some good recommendations in this thread for the Silhouette Portrait, so ...

if considering buying the excellent little Portrait 3, this $149 price (including shipping) from Walmart is a nice bargain. May be available in the store at your location. No indication how long this price is in effect.

For the adventurous, there are currently some less expensive, supposedly new in-box Portrait 3s available on ebay,  for example this one for $129 including shipping, but ...   it's ebay.

Gene K

On 3/2/2022 at 2:33 PM, MichaelS said:

I have access to a Cricut instead of a Silhouette, and I do not like the software included for any editing.

Michael,

Like Mozart, I like and use Silhouette Studio "directly" to scale, manually trace, and draw scanned decals. The trace feature included with Studio also works nicely, but is not as precise as manually tracing.

Instead of suffering "access to a Cricut", you may want to consider this great deal at Walmart - a Silhouette Portrait 3 for only $150, including free shipping.👍

Gene K

On 12/29/2020 at 12:21 PM, denders said:

Bloskschrift fur Flugzeuge

I don't know where I got it.

A new response to an old post, but may be useful for new readers.

https://www.dafont.com/blockschrift-fur-flugzeuge.font for that particular one.

Google search for "WWI aircraft fonts" yields good hits,  for example these German serial numbers :

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=47386987&postcount=5

Further, if you use this link with a photo of the font you are looking for, it usually gives good results.

Gene K

On 8/9/2020 at 12:48 PM, Mozart said:

... Designer Edition, you can drag an image into the design screen and "work on top" of it to create your mask shapes.  But don't save your work with the image still "underneath" your drawn cut lines because (in my experience) it will lock the two layers of image and lines together.

Doesn't work that way (in my Designer edition) unless the shapes are grouped before saving. Of course the best way is to use layers as Wrongway_Joe suggested above.

Gene K