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Cutters / Plotters.....


Joe66

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Ok, I have seen a number of references to various cutters for making your own masks / stencils....

 

Can someone enlighten me on these machines they are using....what would I be looking for and what does one need for simple software to make the best use of this tool ?

 

Joe

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I traded for a Silhouette Portrait cutter for a Tamiya P-51D; Both roughly in the $100 mark-ish.    

 

Ive done everything from masks for my models, to a FULL length cowl stripe for my 1:1 Jeep. The software is amazing (I got the upgraded software so I can import/export Vector graphics files .SVG). With the other end open, you can create very LONG images like I did for the stripe on my Jeep.

 

Its all about the material IMHO. For masks I always go with what most of the pro guys use; Oramask 810. Works a treat!   WELL worth the price I paid as I can get a Tam P-51 for about $80 if you are paying attention to E-Bay and Amazon. 

Paint masks work REALLY well coming off the Silhouette cutters. 

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I have a Silouhette Portrait, too, and i'm very satisfied. I used it for several of my builds, sometimes even for very small details. You can use vinyl or kabuki paper (sheets from Tamiya), just have to change the setting.

 

There is certainly better machines or for professional, but this one is small, very easy to use and cheap.

Edited by Zero77
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There is certainly better machines or for professional, but this one is small, very easy to use and cheap.

 

 

Bingo.

 

As Nicolas pointed out, kabuki/Tamiya rice tape paper works well too!   I full intend to get some of this stuff as well, as its tack is slightly less than that of the Oramask 810

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I use the Silhouette cameo the version with the digital touchscreen on the side. Bought it two years ago and to be honest Joe i think it was one of the best investments i have done in a long time related to modeling (second only to expanding my wnw stash every month lol)

I use the proprietary Silhouette software to design my own cut files but have upgraded it to the business version i think its called, which adds more options to the software...

As Brian does, i use Oracal Oramask 810 which i buy in rolls from Ebay and is are the same material that Montex uses for example, along with the other big mask producers. If you check on my AMC DH2 build and the LVG build i posted here for example, they are all painted with homemade masks. I have also seen other people use the Cameo to cut thin styrene sheeting, or at least score it enough to later cut it themselves, in order to produce identical flat parts for scratch building, like for wing ribs, fuselage frames etc... 

All i can say is those machine are extremely nifty little things and very useful. If you end up buying a Silhouette drop me a line by email ill send you a very useful pdf book that will help you out!

Karim

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The Silhouette Portrait or Cameo are versatile in that you can use different lengths and widths of materials. For a few extra bucks, you can add a roll dispenser that will allow to feed the machine with a roll of Oramask (for instance)

It will cut/score thin (0.5 mm) plastic sheet. Be careful with the blade depth setting if you do so. Blades can break, and that will create a real mess (ask me how I know ;) ).

They can also be used as drawing plotters by fitting pens instead of blades.

There is also the Silhouette Curio, which can do what the Cameo does, has a double head feature, and will be able to emboss soft metal and cut through heavier gauge plastic. I got one (on top of the Cameo) at the beginning of this year, but for personal reasons have been unable to try it yet :( .

However, owing to the way it is designed, the Curio is limited to roughly Legal letter formats.

Finally I have managed to cut parts (like air-cooled engine fins) with about 0.5 mm width between cuts in concentric circles. Less is possible but try how far down you can go.

 

Hubert

 

PS: the Silhouette software is powerful yet simple to use and will cover most modelling needs. Upgrading to the Pro version of the software (an extra 100 bucks roughly) will allow to integrate vector files created in another software like Adobe. Highly recommended IMHO.

Edited by MostlyRacers
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i use a Roland PC-50 with files generated in illustrator and imported into the software that runs the cutter/printer. works like a charm. i not only cut masks, but motifs from solid white decal sheet to make two-part decals since my laserprinter cant print white. i can get around most problems when disigning my own decals with that method.

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Bingo.

 

As Nicolas pointed out, kabuki/Tamiya rice tape paper works well too!   I full intend to get some of this stuff as well, as its tack is slightly less than that of the Oramask 810

 

The vinyl i use is not the oramask 810, and it's the lightest tack i've ever seen. Very good for delicate surfaces, and no glue marks.

It's very cheap too !

http://www.creadhesif.com/film-de-masquage-pour-pochoir-peinture.html

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I run a Summa cutter. I purchased it do do large format stuff like signs and vehicle graphics mainly. Being my 3rd cutter I did the homework and decided on this unit because of it's ability to cut tiny lettering.

 

For the money, I'd say the Silhouette is the ticket if you want something that is economical and portable. 

 

There comes a point where you can cut a mask so small it's either too time consuming to weed or just plain unusable. 

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Great thread. I've really been thinking about getting a Silhouette Portrait for making masks of numbers and code letters. For what I'd pay for a few more models that will just go straight into my stash, that may or may not ever make it to the workbench. It's money well spent. My only concern is being a senior is learning how to correctly use it.

 

Joel

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Without a doubt, the most intensive part of learning to do your own masks will be working with vectors. Once you have a solid grasp on that, the rest is childs-play. The great thing about working in vector format is you only have to draw it once. It can then be scaled up or down with no loss.

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What I'm thinking of starting off with is just copying a decal sheet to create masks for Code letters and numbers. I'm assuming that the 1st step is to scan the decal sheet. then create the file that I'll be using. Is there still a reason to need to learn and use Vectors?

 

Joel

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What I'm thinking of starting off with is just copying a decal sheet to create masks for Code letters and numbers. I'm assuming that the 1st step is to scan the decal sheet. then create the file that I'll be using. Is there still a reason to need to learn and use Vectors?

 

Joel

The Silhouette software has a vectorising feature from a scanned image. But, if you look at Eric's Spirit of St Louis thread, you will see that you have sometimes to rework the vectorised drawing to refine it, especially if you start from smaller-scale drawings or decals, that you enlarge to 1/32.

The Silhouette software is pretty intuitive to use, and I guess the most proficient among us could participate in a "Tips and Tricks" thread ;)

 

Hubert

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The Silhouette software has a vectorising feature from a scanned image. But, if you look at Eric's Spirit of St Louis thread, you will see that you have sometimes to rework the vectorised drawing to refine it, especially if you start from smaller-scale drawings or decals, that you enlarge to 1/32.

The Silhouette software is pretty intuitive to use, and I guess the most proficient among us could participate in a "Tips and Tricks" thread ;)

 

Hubert

I have not used the Silhouette software but I assume it is similar to Illustrator's trace image function. It does a reasonable job of turning an image into a vector but there's always clean-up and tweaking of nodes to do. I find more often than not, there are far more nodes generated by the software than is necessary. Particularly when it comes to letters. 

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