"Interesting uses for a robotic paper cutter" Topic

I just picked up a Silhouette Cameo and gave it a test drive. I have to say I am incredibly impressed with the device. It cuts, scores and is extremely accurate. I am really impressed. I got it for papercraft models. I have no idea why it never struck me, my days of cutting out cards I make for my own games are over. Just from that you can get a lot of interesting uses bubble up in your brain.

Vehicle cards that are the silhouette of the vehicle they represent.

Artistically deformed business cards. I can see some really neat possibilities there!

I wasn't even thinking of making my own models but I think the process isn't terribly involved beyond knowing some basic 3D modeling software techniques. Suddenly I realize that the scarce nature of Tau themed terrain for 40K games is also fixable.

Want really fringed and shot up ACW flags in 15mm for your units? Not a problem. The accuracy of this thing is really great. It will even score the flag for easy modeling of it folding in the wind.

A happy new addiction that hopefully will get me back into gaming again.

Could that be used to cut and score a commercially produced model (say from PaperTerrain), or do you have to create it from scratch?

Some publishers make the "cutting" files available with their products, in which case, it is very easy for the cutting machines to put out the pieces.

Oh man. If it could make these as 1 or 1.25-inch tall strips, I would be so, so happy to buy a bunch of them:

More on this idea:

TMP link
TMP link

Thoughts? Could the cutouts be done that small?

Thanks,

Dan
TMP link
TMP link
TMP link

IIRC, OneMonk.com used to sell paper figures with markers for paper cutter. But I could be wrong.

I have an entry level pro plotter/cutter and am also experimenting with cutting, although with plasticard. So far enough success to keep trying. I originally got it to start selling vinyl cutouts at craft shows and on Etsy but got sidelined but my full time work.

Could you make wings like this for a 28mm figure using overhead film?

The egyptians are dead easy, for plotter/cutters any file that is a vector graphic of the outlines is cutable.

How small can the cut be? I'm thinking of painting stencils for numbers, unit symbols, and such. From the pic above it looks like it could be pretty tiny (which is good)

Cacique it wouldn't be too hard to do that. Load the images into the software and trace it. I wrote a program that produced math visualization last night, sent the output to a png file as black and white and then used the software to trace it and it worked perfectly.

Some things to consider. It comes with sticky cutting mats that you place your media on. I'm not sure what the success rate is with just media an no mat. I found that regular printer paper sticks to well to the mat and is destroyed when being pulled off, however 100lbs cardstock works just fine. I'm now looking for 150-200lbs card stock!

The wings could indeed be made. I would suggest using a thin acrylic, like you suggest, and doing a first pass with the cutter set at it's lowest level to engrave the wings and then with another cut file and the cutter set at a higher level, cut out the outer outline all the way through. With inking you could probably get some Golden Demon quality results.

Last night the last thing I did before bed was loaded up a PNG with Star Wars XWing maneuver cards. I set cut lines around the cards and had a go at printing and then cutting. It was very fast and the cards are perfectly cut. I only wish I had heavier card stock on hand. According to the manual you can cut canvas with this thing.

Another nice feature is it has an optical scanner that is useful if you print registration marks on the paper. It will make pixel perfect cuts. Most models don't have the registration marks and I assume they are not standard. So most models aren't compatible with this feature.

I did try it out with Crotale IIIc fighter by Ebbles and was really astounded how good a job it did. That model is beyond my skill at cutting out in a form that doesn't look like it had crashed into a planet! The perfect scoring allowed me to see exactly how it all fit together.

Thank-you

I hope that somebody makes the fairy wings as an accessory.

I already sculpted the figure in December using a Hasslefree Manakin but still did not manage to solve the wings issue.

You could also do the jewelry the figure is wearing. It is mighty small but the cutter seems to have a very good resolution.

Cutting the wings and jewelry would be very impressive. I will have to see if I can find a European seller. From the website, it looks like they do not have one yet.

If you have image manipulations skills, with Photoshop, or the GIMP, its easy to add the registration marks to a commercial model. Tracing the parts is tedious but entirely do-able. Some models fill too much of the page, sticking out of the cutter's working range, but that's a matter of moving parts or other workarounds in your graphics program.

I've used my Silhouette SD cutter (predecessor to the Cameo) to cut out War Artisan's model ships, Eric Hotz's Roman Seas galleys, and Fiddler's Green aircraft.

Call me crazy. Well, don't call me that, but using the wings of actual bugs, like small dragonflies, might work.

I'd rather have the dragonflies buzzing around, myself.

I'll have to scare up some transparency material, and let you know how it comes out.

tl,dr: Challenge Accepted!

That would be fantastic.
I am sure that somebody could do a small hobby business selling cut out details.
Thanks
Mick