Silhouette Portrait or Cameo to cut plastic?

[thierry laurent]

Hi guys,

 

According to a local reseller the Cameo may cut up to 3mm whereas the Portrait is limited to 2mm. I want to use it to cut masks in Oramask or Tamiya-like tape but also thin plastic sheet. Of course the maximum thickness given by the manufacturer is intended for softer materials, not polystyrene. Nonetheless, to make cut into 0.5mm I'm wondering if the portrait will be sufficient? Has anyone experience of such a use and in that case are you using a specific blade and cutting mat or the standard ones?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Thierry

[red Dog]

I regularly cut 0.3mm styrene sheet with my Cameo with a standard blade

It requires multiple passes and it's hard on the blade but it always worked for me.

 

 

0.5mm never tried

 

They do have specific blades for cutting though thicker material but these blades can't do corners, it's rather for large shapes

[thierry laurent]

4 hours ago, red Dog said:

I regularly cut 0.3mm styrene sheet with my Cameo with a standard blade

It requires multiple passes and it's hard on the blade but it always worked for me.

 

 

0.5mm never tried

 

They do have specific blades for cutting though thicker material but these blades can't do corners, it's rather for large shapes

Thanks very much Olivier. I could have directly asked you as I'm remembering you made such parts for your A-10! So, it looks the Cameo with some spare blades is probably the best option even if I do not like the fact it is clearly more cumbersome! Where did you get 0.3mm A4 sheets? Recently I could only find some on the Schleiper art store.

[red Dog]

Schleiper indeed.

[mozart]

Just another Silhouette Cameo (2) user’s opinion Thierry; I use mine quite regularly to cut 10 thou (0.25mm) plastic sheet and with the heavier blade 20 thou. You have to experiment with settings but it’s all do-able.  This is the framing cut from 10 thou for a Harvard:

 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2023 by mozart

[red Dog]

I tried and I failed Mozart.
If you have a few advices or more specifics about using that blade, i'd love to try myself. It makes no point to do this with the standard blade if there's a better way

 

I tried with the orange 2mm blade, so maybe that wasn't the best one? 

[thierry laurent]

59 minutes ago, mozart said:

Just another Silhouette Cameo (2) user’s opinion Thierry; I use mine quite regularly to cut 10 thou (0.25mm) plastic sheet and with the heavier blade 20 thou. You have to experiment with settings but it’s all do-able.  This is the framing cut from 10 thou for a Harvard:

 

 

 

Thanks Max. You confirmed my feeling I need getting the Cameo. As stressed by Olivier, the main question is know which blade to use?

P.S. That Harvard is a marvel...!

[mozart]

I’m not sure what advice to offer! These are the two blades that I use, the “heavy duty” one on the left and “standard” on the right, both at their fullest settings:

 

 

These are the settings I use for 10 thou plastic:

 

 

Hope this helps. 

 

 

[denders]

I used my cameo 4 to cut rings from 0.010" for this build. Page 3 if it doesn't automatically go there.

 

EdIT: I think I just used the autoblade.

 

 

Edited August 12, 2023 by denders

[mozart]

Also see here. 

[thierry laurent]

Thanks very much guys. I ordered a Cameo with different blades and should get it next week!

[thierry laurent]

When you start creating parts it is hard to stop... I've already created more than 100 parts for the interior of my Japanese Learjet! 

[mozart]

21 hours ago, thierry laurent said:

When you start creating parts it is hard to stop... I've already created more than 100 parts for the interior of my Japanese Learjet! 

…..and it shows that with a bit of thought and experimentation a Silhouette machine is more than just a mask cutter. I’ve even used it to cut out sections of Bare Metal Foil to apply to my Fury: