Glowforge or Silhouette Cutter?
- Thread starter lizzienewell
- Start date
So far I'm working with downloading software to a computer. It's complicated by have a Mac, a PC, and an Android phone. Here is the new gear as I sledded it from the postoffice. The big box is the Cameo. The other two are audio equipment. Clearing the driveway is also my work. The download is slow because someone(moi) used up all the data minutes binge watching Outlander.
- Apr 5, 2013
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That snow frightens me, even though I have lived in Connecticut all my life. We get horrid Ice Storms, and they wreak havoc on trees, which bring down power grids. The audio equipment is a great new horizon too!! 
Just holler when you need help! ( Not with the snow!) My sister lives in Littleton, and my Dad outside of Weston. Me? 20 miles North of the Mexican border, and still wish I had picked a warmer climate... spent too much time in tropical areas!
Yes. I had no idea they were wall pieces till I checked out his portfolio and saw some of the 20 footers, very impressive!
I'm in Alaska right now but go back and forth between Colorado and Alaska. I like snow. I often do snow or ice sculpture in the winter. I like the medium almost as much as I like paper. It's white and cheap. Currently I'm struggling with my Cameo. It won't register. There seems to be something wrong with the optical scanner. I may have to contact Silhouette for assistance.
Yahoo! It works. The trick was shining a desk light on the cutting surface. I might put an under cupboard light above it.
I've found that removing the parts from the cut mat takes more time and effort than I expected. And it takes some care that the parts don't get torn. I'm wondering if maybe Silhouette has sticker paper which leaves the back on the stickers. I think the sticker glue might actually work for holding the model together.
- Apr 5, 2013
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It will get less stickier, but still do the job. You might just make a folding shade curtain, (like a shelf, but cloth, it would fold flat against the wall) for covering the machine so it will register the marks without interference from any light source. Glad you're Happy with it. Glad you didn't go through what I did. I was so disheartened, I just gave up on it. I got the new one, after they took 3 weeks to figure out the one I had was defective (they were always so nice, just not as competent as they are now), I ot it working, then parked it. It is virtually new, untouched. I'll probably get back, but my wife took over my work area with huge fish tanks, and decided to put the outside fish in that room, so I need to carve out a new area. 
Some times it is better to manually move the cutter head over your upper left registration mark using the arrows on the panel controls, then set it to scan for the marks , an yes the thing needs some light to see the thing! The mat will slowly loose it's tacky quality over some time and the parts will become easier to remove, usually just before the thing starts to stop holding them all-together ( there is a fine line there) If you have a rolling pin, that is very clean, you could lightly and slowly roll it over the mat and speed up the process till the tackiness is at the perfect stage! Then find a GOOD spray adhesive (that sprays in a fine mist not lumps and globs like 3m products do) and MIST the mat from 2 feet or so above it ( outside! ) and use the plastic covering that was originally on the mat ( always) to store in it's bag, then every thing should be fine and dandy! Small parts need to stick just enough that they are not scraped off by the cutter head but not so stuck that the tear when you try to remove them..Use a snap-off blade cutter like an Olfa, or an X-acto blade and gently slide the back edge under the piece to be removed , like prying a cookie off a cookie sheet when it is stuck, they make tools for this, but the back of your x-acto or Olfa cutters will work just as good or better! They Have different tacky quality of mats...the regular or a Light hold...but I just adjust and maintain my own to what I need... the cutters are the important bits! https://www.silhouetteamerica.com/shop/blades-and-mats Good Cutting and show pix!!
Thanks for the pointer on storing the mat. I read the part about manually moving the cutter head but couldn't figure out how to do it. The newer machines don't have the arrows on the control panel. I've been using a small painting/pallet knife to remove parts. I normally use it to spread glue so I had to get the old dried up glue off it first. I think I'm going to get larger painting/pallet knife to use only for the cutter. The pallet knife is long, thin, flexible, and not sharp with a handle at the correct angle for mixing or removing paint--or paper from a cutting mat. It's got a bend so that the knuckles are above the pallet/mat. Pallet/painting knives come in an astounding number of sizes and shapes. I seem to be having trouble posting pictures. I keep getting a message that they are larger than the server can handle, even though I took the size down to quite small.
- Apr 5, 2013
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It's good to start off your visit here by reading "New Posts". I have posted that the " Uploads are not working" Please, read the "New Posts" when you first sign in and that will keep you updated. This forum stands on private servers, not part of some huge conglomerate, sometimes memory has to be added. This takes time and money, but the forum will not disappear because someone missed a monthly payment, and all the forum data has been erased. It usually takes a few days to be fixed. It will be fixed though. We do try and keep things fluid, but stuff happens.
Link = http://www.zealotmodels.com/threads/picture-uploading-down-as-of-12-2-2017.179817/
Link = http://www.zealotmodels.com/threads/picture-uploading-down-as-of-12-2-2017.179817/
I guess you have the Cameo 3 so it has the touch screen so some way in the software it is in there to manually move the cutter to adjust for the registration marks, you will just have to discover how to do it when needed, as I have an original with "OLD SCHOOL" buttons , as far as tools...
I have TONS..and Still gravitate to an x-acto as it is usually what I have in my hand anyway..the blue thing on the far right has a sticky putty in the tip that makes picking up tiny pieces lot easier , and at my time in life it sure comes in handy! Since I was once a painter, I also have tons of pallet knifes and a soft thin flexible one can come in handy, of course as soon as the mat is conditioned just right,curling it slightly over the edge of a table will usually pop loose an edge and you can get something under there and loosen the rest quickly!
That looks about like my tools. That pallet knife over on the left looks handy. And I'm not sure what the sixth from the left does. I probably have more sewing and beading tools in the mix--knitting needles, needles, embroidery scissors, awl, mini pliers. I just bought a huge sized pallet knife. It might be too big.
4th and 6th from the left are from my.." engravers tools" a burnisher for rubbing out and an scriber from when I was or when I do etchings on copper, or drypoint, which I can get a few prints off of plain old galvanized, but solid zinc plate is better! And..this was just what was sitting on the workbench at the time! We won't go into the tool room or the tool boxes or all the others collected over the past 50 years...
A Twisted Etching Needle
Capable of producing extremely sensitive lines, etching needles and scribes taper to fine points and are intended for use on grounded plates.( Grounded plates have been heated and covered with asphaltum, which hardens and you scratch through this to expose the metal for etching with acid).
http://lostartstudent.com/methods-a...king-etching-acid/how-to-make-an-etching.html
Cool stuff.
I did see somewhere else how a silhouette cutter can be used to make vinyl masks for etching. I'll stay away from acid unless I have a compelling reason to use the techniques.
I did see somewhere else how a silhouette cutter can be used to make vinyl masks for etching. I'll stay away from acid unless I have a compelling reason to use the techniques.
- Apr 5, 2013
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We used a similar technique for making the windows in BlackHawk Helicopters and CH53's. The aluminum door skins are covered with a coating, them the template for the windows is cut out. What ever isn't covered gets dissolved by some very nasty acid. It then goes into water for rinsing, and all the windows and assorted holes and cuts outs are there. The remaining plastic (not really plastic) is peeled off, and for every .125" of an inch, there is only a .005" taper, which gives a tolerance of +/= .0025" of an inch. A very accurate an as they did 20 to 20 door skins at a time, very efficient. Being able to make a template as such is great for circuit boards. The circuit board comes with a coat of copper on it. You cut out the template, and peel away what you want removed. Whatever Copper is exposed, but the phenolic circuit board is unscathed. You then can make a commercial quality circuit board at home. There are people who would pay for that service, especially if they need to replace a circuit board fast. Sometimes you can get the components, but not the circuit board.