Anyone recommend a silhouette cutter?

[Pjlons83]

Hi All,

Not sure if this is the right section for this or even if "silhouette cutter" is the right name for it?

One of things that look like a printer/laminator but cut out the shapes printed on the card/plastic/vinyl etc... been thinking about one for scratch building for a while and now my wife is really into her sewing it could be a good time to buy one for us to "share" 

Can anyone recommend one or at least tell me what it's called so I can do some proper research please?

Thanks in advance 

[Southerngooner]

Ive bought a Silhouette Portrait cutter this year and have been pleased with it and the software that comes with it. The latter is really easy to use and I've already had good success with it. I bought it after chatting to Roger of Wrenton game, whose buildings impressed me.

Dave

[Pjlons83]

Thanks Dave. That's the sort of thing I was looking at. Do you have to use the software that comes with it or can you use CAD files like .dwg .dxf etc?

[Southerngooner]

You use their software but you can import photos etc. I used to use CAD at work (but about 15 years ago) and had been looking at various free CAD packages, but the Silhouette package is perfect for me for 2D design.

Dave

[NGS-PO]

There is an excellent thread on RMWeb about these type of cutters.  Many, many pages, but well worth sitting down with a cuppa/snifter and browsing through it:

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/79025-a-guide-to-using-the-silhouette-cameo-cutter/&tab=comments#comment-1238639

Best

Scott.

EDIT: This post has a really handy index for the thread, with hyperlinks.

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/79025-a-guide-to-using-the-silhouette-cameo-cutter/&do=findComment&comment=1238643

[willike1958]

Here's another satisfied customer. Both hardware and software are, in my experience, easy to use and work well.
Kevin

[nabber]

Another satisfied customer here. I bought a Silhouette Portrait 2.
I draw in Inkscape, save as dxf, then import into the Silhouette software for cutting. Other than some fiddling to import at the correct size, it works well.
I've been cutting 0.25mm plasticard to make coach interiors. This is about the thickest it will cut - you can score thicker, and then snap it I think, but I'm not sure how well it would work for complex shapes.

Regards,
Neil

[njee20]

I often wonder about these, could they be used to cut decals out? Ie if I print some decals, can the software then be made to identify the limits of the artwork and to cut them out? Presumably you use the software to mark the 'cutouts', can this be overlaid over an image (ie the decals) to get accurate cuts?

[Paul J]

Lining up decals would be tricky. I put that into the "too awkward" category and did not try it.

I bought a mk1 silhouette portrait about five years ago. It was an excellent purchase which allows intricate cutting (such as rounded coach windows). It also removes a lot of tedium if you want to make a lot of an item.

Except for very thin plasticard, it is really a score and snap tool, but this allows it to be used for engraving. This is really useful if you want to do rivet detail as a small circle will put a bump in the plasticard.

[Dorsetmike]

Except for very thin plasticard, it is really a score and snap tool

That's why I chose the KNK Zing, quite a bit dearerr but will cut just about anything an N gauge modeller is likely to feed it; new ones don't seem to be available at the moment, but there was one on Ebay for about £300, new when I last saw one they were around £600.

[red_death]

I often wonder about these, could they be used to cut decals out? Ie if I print some decals, can the software then be made to identify the limits of the artwork and to cut them out? Presumably you use the software to mark the 'cutouts', can this be overlaid over an image (ie the decals) to get accurate cuts?

Provided that the software you use to generate the decal artwork is capable of you adding cut marks (and importing it into the cutter software) then I would have thought that cutting out transfers would be fairly straightforward.

[Railwaygun]

do a search on "Silhouette" ( entire forum) in the Search box ( Top right of page) - lots of local references

[HalfTheSizeTwiceTheFun]

I use a Cricut Maker, which is the only Cricut model that will take a heavy cutting blade, to cut styrene/plasticard up to 0.25mm thick to make buildings (Anything thicker needs to be gone over by hand afterwards to make the cuts deep enough for snapping). I've not had any experience with the Silhouette brand, but one thing to look out for is how the blade moves. With smaller Cricut blades the blades pivot freely to follow the direction of the lines like a trolley wheel, so they aren't suitable for fine detail such as window and doorways in buildings. Decals might be OK though, but as others point out, the problem is alignment. The Cricut system does have a mode that uses an optical sensor to pick out pre-printed reference marks and to enable the material to be registered for cutting, but I haven't used it yet.