David Halfpenny
Western Thunderer
Steph, your advice as ever is sound, but I have additional news for you
The Cricut Maker machine in the video is a full CNC plotter, that works from YOUR artwork.
In this respect it resembles a Silhouette Cameo, which moves a swivel-knife.
Both close up and fit in a sideboard drawer or in a canvass carry bag.
Both are descended from industrial vinyl cutters of the type used for signage and sign-writing road and rail vehicles.
Unlike the Cameo, the Maker comes with both a pen/scriber holder and a rotating blade holder.
This blade, (which can either be a pizza-cutter disk for delicate fabrics and papers, or an Exacto type) can be rotated by the program to head in the right direction, avoiding the swerves and tears inherent with a passive swivel-knife a.k.a. drag-knife.
This contrasts with earlier Cricut machines that only worked to other people's designs, published and sold on expensively collectable solid state cartridges.
The specialised driver CAD app has good and bad points:
- while one can draw in units of 0.001", I suspect the cutter has a step resolution of 1/72".
- it's on Cloud, which has pluses (works on your phone) and minuses (dead without broadband).
- it's simple to use.
- it can upload files created in either 'soft' graphics programs like Inkscape or 'hard' draughting programs like AudoCAD.
- it can do a great deal simply by optical scanning -
The Cricut Maker isn't yet available in the UK, as far as I know, but its predecessor the Cricut Explore is about £240 these days (plus a bit for accessories). And it's that that made the card H0 building I posted.
For anyone allergic to computers altogether (how come you're reading this?) Brother (the sewing machine geezers) have a range of scanner-cutter machines that can draw, score or cut out any (suitable) scanned line image without involving a computer or cartridge of any kind.
There's much more to be said about these machines, for example they will cut paint-stencils and etching masks, and score thick styrene for snapping-out. I've watched a Cameo cut G1 carriage beading from a cereal packet. There's plenty of food for thought online, including reviews, comparisons and eGroups.
David
(Regarding the 'sexist' teases, it would have been genuinely sexist to say that the kit was dumbed down for girls. Exam results repeatedly demonstrate that such a move wouldn't be necessary. Worrying, innit, Guys?
The Cricut Maker machine in the video is a full CNC plotter, that works from YOUR artwork.
In this respect it resembles a Silhouette Cameo, which moves a swivel-knife.
Both close up and fit in a sideboard drawer or in a canvass carry bag.
Both are descended from industrial vinyl cutters of the type used for signage and sign-writing road and rail vehicles.
Unlike the Cameo, the Maker comes with both a pen/scriber holder and a rotating blade holder.
This blade, (which can either be a pizza-cutter disk for delicate fabrics and papers, or an Exacto type) can be rotated by the program to head in the right direction, avoiding the swerves and tears inherent with a passive swivel-knife a.k.a. drag-knife.
This contrasts with earlier Cricut machines that only worked to other people's designs, published and sold on expensively collectable solid state cartridges.
The specialised driver CAD app has good and bad points:
- while one can draw in units of 0.001", I suspect the cutter has a step resolution of 1/72".
- it's on Cloud, which has pluses (works on your phone) and minuses (dead without broadband).
- it's simple to use.
- it can upload files created in either 'soft' graphics programs like Inkscape or 'hard' draughting programs like AudoCAD.
- it can do a great deal simply by optical scanning -
The Cricut Maker isn't yet available in the UK, as far as I know, but its predecessor the Cricut Explore is about £240 these days (plus a bit for accessories). And it's that that made the card H0 building I posted.
For anyone allergic to computers altogether (how come you're reading this?) Brother (the sewing machine geezers) have a range of scanner-cutter machines that can draw, score or cut out any (suitable) scanned line image without involving a computer or cartridge of any kind.
There's much more to be said about these machines, for example they will cut paint-stencils and etching masks, and score thick styrene for snapping-out. I've watched a Cameo cut G1 carriage beading from a cereal packet. There's plenty of food for thought online, including reviews, comparisons and eGroups.
But I'll zip it until I've tried it.
David
(Regarding the 'sexist' teases, it would have been genuinely sexist to say that the kit was dumbed down for girls. Exam results repeatedly demonstrate that such a move wouldn't be necessary. Worrying, innit, Guys?
I once did an art/craft exhibition stand divided between Macho Tools for Girls and Girly Tools for Blokes. Stuff like cosmetic-counter aids for railway modelling and tool-shop aids for crafting. Teamwork. )