geedubelyer Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozart Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 (edited) 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, 2022 by Mozart 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozart Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 So here's the answer Guy and Mike, these circles (slightly distorted by the camera angle) cut in paper ranging from 1mm to 7mm: 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geedubelyer Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 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. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozart Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 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 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneK Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 (edited) 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 by GeneK 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozart Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 Cameo 2 Gene, no distortions! 😀 Max 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneK Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 I just ordered a $150 Portrait 3 to play with (it's Christmas, after all). Gene K 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodyV Posted Saturday at 08:31 AM Share Posted Saturday at 08:31 AM How thick is this clear acetate you're successfully cutting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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