this is fantastic. i will be doing a ton of paper work myself (as well as other very thin and lightweight materials), so this will be a lifesaver.
As long is there is no PVC in them, which there might be.
Well, I canāt seem to find what theyāre made of or anyone else using them in this way, so Iāll go another route. There are a lot of tutorials online demonstrating how to re-sticky those cutting mats when they get worn out using spray adhesive. How about applying one of those techniques on a piece of acrylic or other approved material?
Edit: http://www.silhouetteschoolblog.com/2014/04/resticking-silhouette-mat-tutorial.html
Iām pretty familiar with using Seklema with rotary engraving, but canāt really address how it compares to the ones used by Cricut as far as use. I have seen the Cricut mats and it seems they are more āstickyā as in an adhesive type of sticky. The Seklema (and there are a couple of other similar types of mat) is more like a silicone āgripā. Hope that make sense.
Hadnāt seen this before. I wore out mats pretty quick when I first got one. This may Ben more economical than the expensive laser mats, but definitely more time consuming. Iāll have to experiment when mine finally comes. Thanks for pointing it out.
I keep a log. But itās way more than 5 columns. I track each color of a file for operation and the power/speed/lpi/focus and for PG the level of engrave ācolorā. Some of my designs have 15 or 20 colors so I can really tweak the order of the operations Iām really hoping theyāll give us āsave projectā options that will keep the settings for reuse later.
Iād be happy at this point with a simple logā¦ So painfulā¦
I know itās in the hopper. No telling where it falls in the priority list thoughā¦some folks are a lot more strident about their priorities than others.
Iām kind of hoping that once the machines go out and after people have had a chance to play with them a bit, they might consider letting us take a look at a few of the potential hopper items and maybe take a poll on which ones people would most like to see. I know the hopper is full to overflowing with great ideas and super extras ā¦
I canāt imagine there isnāt an internal log (if only for debugging) - if there isnāt, there should be; itās so automatic in healthcare apps that I donāt have to tell my team to stick in logging, but for everything else yeah, stick in logging. Once you are already logging, making log entries visible to the user is way easier.
That would make it easier to implement then, and weāre more likely to get those quickly, so no problem with that idea.
Would be sweet to have a log of settings for sure. And print times. And lots of other things. Makes sense that this information would not be available for PRUs and initial units though. So much information can be gleaned from logs, the real how to book!
Does it seem like it would be easy to cut the mat to a new size? If you got the 12" x 24" mat and cut a strip off the short side it would cover the entire cutting area. Would it be bad for airflow to do that?
Yes, thatās what I did and it worked fine.
Per the good tests here, I also bought a Seklema mat. I can attest that it was indeed, a very generous gift from @shollg to @cynd11. Havenāt tried mine yet, but am looking forward to it, soon.
I just picked up a Seklema mat too (12x12). I have plans to try it soon. If I create anything interesting, Iāll post it here.
I just cut some veneer and it blows around quite freely when cut. I am very interested in this mat. The cost is quite high though. I am interested in how it is holding up for you.
Thanks
Trent
This is the only reason I have not ordered. If it lasts it will be worth it.
My thoughts exactly.
Although the mat is expensive, so are some of the alternatives. I just ordered about $30 worth of biggish magnets
I havenāt been using it because I donāt need it right now for what Iāve been working on lately. The thing about the Seklema mat is that it will get cut up, just like a cutting mat for a vinyl cutter, so just like the vinyl cutter you need to dial in the settings so as to minimize damage to the mat. Over time it will accumulate enough cuts to need replacing, but since both sides are usable it should last a good long time.
Of more concern might be whether your substrate of interest will actually stick to the mat. Most things do but I found a couple things that didnāt. Iāll be glad to test a material for its stick-to-the-mat-ness if you like.
I just tested the PG veneer and it sticks to the mat quite well (that is, the peel off material on the back sticks).