So, I’m seriously considering adding a Cricut, or similar, to aid Goldfinger in fan work.
At the moment, I only need a machine that can cut an area 1" x 6" out of my Sublidecal printed ‘garnet’ artwork, for the fan sticks on my other thread, but who knows what possibilities it might add !
I’d be greatly helped in reading other people’s experience who use the machines in conjunction with their GF, in order to make a sensible decision regarding model/size etc.
Regards all,
John
PS I use Ubuntu 22.04, so it would need to be Linux compatible.
I’m not “current”, my data is a bit old at this point… but the biggest hurdle I had was accuracy with the print & cut features.
I have a first generation cricut air, and the whole print and cut idea was great, but in practice the blade was off by a millimeter or 2, and was inconsistent.
Is the sublidecal stuff not laser friendly? I have to say that repeatability and accuracy was far higher for the laser than it ever was with the Cricut. Use a good jig workflow and you’ll be far more accurate.
Of course newer Cricut models may have nailed that process much better, I can’t say… but the mats were able to twist slightly when inserting, adhering paper to the mat without twisting was error-prone, and there was no error correction for either. If your tolerances are tight, I’d say caveat emptor.
Well that’s pretty disastrous, so unless they have nailed it, it would rule it out.
I’ve just hit a snag the compatibility with Linux operating systems. Not keen on having to set up a virtual box to run windows in !!
Yeah and the Cricut drivers were a real pain to keep updated. It seemed like they changed them all the time, I’d fire up my Cricut after a few days off and have to go through a whole driver installation process. It was nasty. Maybe they have that fixed now too?
That said, it is a cool device and does fun stuff like plotting with pens and whatnot.
I have a cricut air which works over bluetooth and is as precise as the GF in both dimensions. I’ve had it for twice a long as a laser or CNC router and it just works as expected, when needed.
This requirement is probably a deal-breaker for all the small hobby-class cutters like Cricut and Silhouette. Not a big intersection between the linux and crafter audiences. Just my opinion, YMMV.
I use a Silhouette Cameo 4. You will need to buy the Business Edition of the software to use SVGs, PNGs, JPGs, DXF. I don’t believe you can use all file types with the Basic edition of the software. I have a love/hate relationship with the machine itself. I’ve wasted so much vinyl, blades, etc. But I do use the software itself all the time with my Glowforge Pro. I have Photoshop, but I prefer Silhouette Studio (Business edition) and Canva Pro just for ease of use in getting out fast designs and not having to deal with layers (both use layers too, but they are hidden behind the scenes). Canva Pro upgraded and you can now modify the layers like in Photoshop and Cricut.
I have used several different plotting cutters, starting with the original Klic-N-Kut. They and Cricut have treated their customers in ways that crosses them off my list for using them in the future.
The Bosskut Gazelle has been solid for me but, the company is long gone.
Someone with a lot more experience than I have with dozens of plotting cutters recommended the SkyCut C-16 (and C-24 for larger stuff). Apparently, the StarCraft Solo is the same machine with different branding. I don’t have any direct experience with these, yet but, thought I would pass on the recommendation, in case anyone else does.
Used print and cut on several models of the Silhouette machines over the last 15 years with great success - have never use their stand alone software, I use the Adobe Illustrator plugin instead. Not sure if that would work on Linux or not.
Thanks, everyone for your comments.
Following evermorian’s posting, I’ve found a Gazelle for sale, and it should be with me by the end of the week !
I’ll post a follow up here, for the benefit of any other GF users who run Ubuntu as their operating system, and hopefully details on how I learn to love it.
Regards all,
John
Update.
Still waiting for the Gazelle to get posted, but I’ve found inkcut and installed it. This should give me a program to send svg files to the gazelle OK (once I’ve mastered it).
Current question is how to round the corners of my ‘garnets’ to enable the cutter blade to work well.
Any thoughts ?
I’d have to see the artwork but if it’s vector, you’re talking about a fillet or chamfer action in inkscape.
It’s pretty easy to do.
If you’re looking to make an offset border, then copy and paste the vector path, add rounded joins to it, set the stroke width to the size that looks right for your offset, and convert stroke to path. done!
Thusly:
Method 1:
get a shape and select it, then do Path ->path effects…:
