Hello guys 'n' gals,

I have a question for you all. 

Has anyone used their equipment to cut little circles out of acetate or similar to use as instrument faces?

As many of us know, Peter at Airscale does some beautiful etched large scale  replacement instrument panels. He often (always?) includes a small rectangle of clear plastic sheet to use for the glazing of the instruments. I have never been successful in cutting this to form the tiny circles so wondered if it might be possible using the tools  at your disposal?

As an alternative, is there any clear proprietary masking material that might be suitable?

 

Cheers,

 

Guy

In “our” 1/32 scale Guy this is possible for the larger instrument faces, like the artificial horizon. I have cut thin transparent perspex for the windshields that I made for the Gauntlet and Tiger Moths, and it cuts very well indeed.

There is a limit to the size the cutter will cut cleanly, I can’t quote a figure but it’s small, like a couple of mm. Just for fun I’ll do a test piece later and post the results here. 

Edited December 19, 20223 yr by Mozart

So here's the answer Guy and Mike, these circles (slightly distorted by the camera angle) cut in paper ranging from 1mm to 7mm:

 

Hi Max, thanks for running the test. It looks very encouraging and will definitely yield better results than I could achieve with a punch set. 👍

Forgive my ignorance but is it possible to programme the machine to cut to fractions of a millimetre? 

The punches are obviously each a fixed diameter which may or may not match the scale instruments. 

6 hours ago, geedubelyer said:

Hi Max, thanks for running the test. It looks very encouraging and will definitely yield better results than I could achieve with a punch set. 👍

Forgive my ignorance but is it possible to programme the machine to cut to fractions of a millimetre? 

The punches are obviously each a fixed diameter which may or may not match the scale instruments. 

Yes, the circles can be cut very precisely Guy, so it could 3.5mm, 2.7mm etc etc 

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

Edited January 4, 20233 yr by GeneK

Cameo 2 Gene, no distortions! 😀

Max

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

 

Gene K

How thick is this clear acetate you're successfully cutting?