Vinyl cutter for card modeling

qwerty2008

qwerty2008
My dad makes Vinyl stickers and after observing how his machine works I started thinking about using it for paper. After printing your plans you can send the cuts to the cutter then line up your paper with the cutter and have the machine cut it for you (It can also score) this would make card modeling a lot easier.
 

Wojtee

Member
There are some cutting plotters used for papercraft out there (Craft Robo, for instance).
It is not a bad idea, but there could be some problems when trying to cut already printed paper, with alignment and overall precision of cuts. There is also another problem, as the cutting template should be vector file (AFAIK), and there are not many models available in .DXF, for instance.
IMHO it spoils half the fun, of course :)
But it would not hurt if you gave it a try, anyway.
 

Hank McCoy

New Member
I have just drawn a complete card model Tiger I tank into my computer's vector program. Took six months of weekends. ( Really wish there was some way of scanning and converting that would be simple and accurate ! )

I have enlarged this to 1/6 scale and am now starting construction using a combination of card, foam and plastic. Have successfully cut card stock on my plotter by taping pieces to the plastic backing from sand blast stencil. I cut repeatedly, three to four times, to score 'almost through' and then run an exacto blade along the cut lines to separate the pieces. Works very well.

Have also cut sandblast stencil to make track links. Don't know if I'll ever get this project finished (wheels are my biggest concern) but I've had fun and surprised myself with the success so far.
 

xsoul

New Member
Vinyl cutters are fun to use. Well for me, it's the whole process of converting PDFs and IMGs to vectors and then seeing your plotter do the rest of the work. I like building more than the cutting sometimes. It's almost as time consuming as cutting it by hand, but if you're good with vector art programs, it's a bit easier and once it's done, you can almost mass produce them, kinda like the models you can buy in books with the perforated lines that you can punch out from. In the program, I would make a print layer and a cut layer. Once you vector something, you can easily scale it or change the design and coloring, so it's a process that has more than one use.

Most vinyl cutters has some sort of alignment method for their print to cut process, like tracing key marks for identifying correct starting axises. If you have the fancier cutter and printer combo, it makes life easier as the alignment issue is completely automated. You got to remember to setup before cutting that few people forget to mention between vinyl and paper cutting. Vinyl for stickers are pre-setup to go into the cutters with their backings. With normal paper, you need a backing that will stick to the paper, otherwise, if you just put the paper in, it will jam and gunk up the cutter. What I do is use quality chipboard board or super heavy card stock and use something like removable glue for photos.
 
R

rthompson10

I once to work in the sign buisness and we used cutters like that and was thinking the same thing.....Rich
 

JHSurf

New Member
The Crickcut is not suitable bacause the is no way to send your design to the cutter. Sure-cuts-a-lot no longer is compatible with it.

I have the eCraft cutter and the Sihlouette cutter and will be starting a thread in the next few days on what i have found easy and difficult using these cutters. I will also be giving a detailed description on how i use them in card modeling and the process i go through to get the design from the computer to the cutter so that the pieces are read to be glued together.
 
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