New Digital Cutter in the Medium Range?

[pnolan48]

While I'm buying a new compressor, I might as well add a new digital cutter. Here's what I've got so far:

A Silhouette SD, which is nearing end of life. This is a great cutter for $180-250, but won't cut all the way through .020" styrene. I can tuck this into a nook in the car on the Alabama-Ohio runs, and is great for score and snap pieces. I end up finishing off all the interior cuts with a knife--not good for a structure with many windows and doors. Great software interface with Adobe Illustrator on a Mac.

A BlackCat Cougar. This is a huge, powerful machine for about $750. But it is incredibly finicky, especially for cuts of large curved pieces, where it tends to drift. It is fabulous for cutting those pieces with lots of windows and doors! But it is so dependent on correct blade depth, pressure of cut, and speed of cut that, once I get it set up after three or four trials, I never want to change it. So it cuts smaller pieces (up to 12" x 24") of .020" styrene very well, and is my production cutter for kits, except for large hull pieces. Lousy software interface on a Mac.

Anyone know what's in the middle? I've done a lot of research, but most of the forums on the cutters are controlled by the manufacturers/distributors of the machines. Even the published reviews seem incredibly tinted by manufacturer/distributor bias. One distributor in particular has this whole Search Engine Optimization (SEO) routine down pat, so dominates the first two pages, or more, of results. It's frustrating me that everything is so gushy.

Any ideas out there?

[C855B]

The fact that you've worn out the SD is a real credit to its design - it was intended to be a light-duty scrapbooker's cutter. I haven't done a lot with mine - a little vinyl, some styrene, but I cannot fault that it sits for weeks and then "just does it" when I have a project.

What are your thoughts about the Cameo? It's roughly 20% bigger than the SD, although I haven't tested the new knife system; the Cameo takes the new knife only and doesn't have the fixed-depth nubs the SD used. While rated to a cut depth of 0.8mm (.030"), I don't know if the carrier has the oomph to cut styrene at that depth.

[pnolan48]

Yes, the Silhouette SD reminds me of the Mars rovers, which were designed for three months and lasted five or more years. I have beaten it to death, and it still keeps on running. I'm not sure the Cameo has that much more pressure to cut .020 styrene all the way through.

It seems to me that cutting styrene defies all the advice of the manufacturers. If the blade extends as recommended, which is just barely through the material, then the cutter carrier hits the styrene, and the carrier drag on the styrene is a problem. With the BlackCat, I extend the blade much further than recommended, but then the pressure is critical--with too much pressure, you can cut straight through the cutting mat; with just the right pressure I can get long true cuts, but finding the right pressure (and the correct speed) takes trial and error.

So a stronger SD is what I want. I don't know that the Cameo is strong enough.

[Zox]

...I haven't tested the new knife system; the Cameo takes the new knife only and doesn't have the fixed-depth nubs the SD used.

I've been using the new-style knives in my SD. They have a click-stop dial that sets the depth from 0-10; the 1-3 settings correspond to the three colored caps on the older knives (0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 mm).

As for styrene, I'm convinced that it doesn't cut so much as it flows around the blade. If you don't have sufficient pressure, no number of passes will cut all the way through, as the sides of the blade will just ride on the sides of the cut; if you do have sufficient pressure, you'll blow right through and keep going until the blade guard hits the top of the sheet. And if your backing material is too soft, and your depth of cut isn't excessively deep, the styrene will just dive under the point of the blade--you'll be left with a very thin membrane that keeps the material from separating cleanly.

Edit: Also, this looks interesting: http://www.uscutter.com/USCutter-SC-Series-Vinyl-Cutter-w-Sure-Cuts-A-Lot-Pro-Design-Cut-Software . 800 grams of cutting force (versus about 200 for the Cameo), Mac-compatible, and $299 minimally configured.

[pnolan48]

Rob,

Your observations are similar to mine. The blade does not cut, but forces its way through the material, leaving ridges.

For some cuts, I actually don't mind that thin membrane, nor the ridges on either side. The .020 styrene that I am using has a hard side and a soft side and, as long as I cut with the hard side up, any small flash or tear when poking through the membrane is acceptable.

Yes, 200 grams of pressure is not going to do a through cut in .020 stryene. But it doesn't require 800 grams either. With the BlackCat Cougar, I'm probably using about 350-400 grams at about 10 cm/s, with two passes on smaller cuts, such as a building front with 40 windows. I'm extending the blade about .050, much more than recommended. Sometimes the Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL) software messes up, and seems to reset the blade pressure to maximum. At .050, the blade will cut nearly through the mat. And SCAL seems to mess up often and unpredictably, sometimes sending the blade off on a random jagged path, the BlackCat moaning and screeching.

Sure Cuts A Lot, in my opinion, is a rotten piece of software. Maybe the plug-in for Adobe Illustrator fixes it, but I'm using Illustrator CS2, and would have to upgrade to CS4 (Intel) to use it, and CS4 today on eBay is about the price of a medium range cutter (sigh). The Illustrator plug-in for the Silhouette is a dream. The fix for the BlackCat involves a Windows emulator like Parallels, and then the software itself--another cutter (sigh).