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I have a background as a page designer, and I'm therefore familiar with Illustrator. I would like to buy a die cutting machine that I can create my own designs for (in Illustrator), and cut aftern connecting to my computer. Does that make sense? I feel overwhelmed trying to wade through all of the choices. I'm hoping someone out there already knows which machines can do this, and which is the best. Help, please!
It depends on what materials you want to cut and how wide. I have a CraftRobo (Silhouette/Wishblade/CraftRobo - all the same machine made by Graphtec) and love it. I've had it for 3 years and its still going strong. It can cut directly from Illustrator with a plugin, so you can design your own cuts and never need to buy any other software or cartridges. I also haven't had to buy a new blade or mat for it in the 3 years I've owned. I did re-condition my mat a couple times, but my blade is still pretty sharp. One draw back is that it only takes letter size paper (in width - up to 39" in lenght) and the actual cutting area is only about 8" wide. The only other draw back is that it will only cut paper & card stock. If you want to cut thicker materials like chipboard then this machine won't do it. There are other machines like the Pazzle, KlicNKut, Cougar, that cut wider and heavier materials that are not cartridge based and will cut straight from a design software or Illustrator. If I decide that I need to be able to cut wider and thicker materials, the KlicNKut is my next machine for sure.
I bought a CraftRobo and then upgraded to a KNK. The KNK has more pressure so it can cut through thicker material. The software for the KNK is also much better than the CR software. If you want to check it out visit the blog below. Sandy has a machine comparison chart on her site.
Is there a machine that cuts and prints off digitally down loaded designer paper? Are there any machines that also print color?
Some of the electronic cutting machines have the "print & cut" capability. However, the printer isn't built into the cutter like the new Cricut machine. You need to print out your design on your printer, the software will print registration marks, and then when it is loaded into the cutting machine, the optical eye will read the registration marks and know where to cut from that. Its a great feature that I use all the time on my CraftRobo.
I'll reply to my own post with the content of the ? I posed in the new users forum.
Quote:
Hi,
I am here to get information from you professional/amateur stampers/scrapbookers. I want to get my wife a christmas present. What I am looking for is which forum to join, or which web site to join to find out about paper cutters. Specifically, I'm am interested in die cutters/paper cutters. Like the Cricut, Sizzix, Xyron and others.
My wife is handy with a computer, so I think she might be happy with a cutter that could be augmented with things she designed or programed. From what little I know, it looks like the Cricut systems are not easily modified to use after market cartridges. Yet when I accompany her to the local craft store she frequents, I see lots of Cricut and cartridges she could purchase. She even looks at them and says, I could get these online cheaper. So I know she's interested in the idea of a paper cutter.
My background is a software engineer, so if some extra skill is needed to utilize a paper cutter other than a Cricut type is needed, I would be helping my wife with the skills she would need to fully utilize and be happy with what ever you could recommend.
Thanks in advance for any replies that would help me in my quest.
b.t.w. My wife is a member here, but i do not think she will be visiting the new members forum.
Is your wife Illustrator-fluent? It does make a difference. It's a somewhat complicated bit of software. If not, I would say (after now having read this thread and researched these suggestions) that a Cricut with the additional purchase of the after-market software Sure-Cuts-A-Lot would be the best idea. That way she can design her own templates, purchase and use any of the Cricut products, use downloadable files purchased from other vendors, AND be able to cut 12" paper (which the Silhouette cannot do).
If, however, your wife is familiar with Illustrator and you have a larger budget, the KlickNKut (KNK) would be a dream- it just comes at about a $1,000 price tag.
Does that help? BTW, feel free to pass this on to my hubby if you see him- ha!
You can do a search using my user name and Gazelle as your search term. You will come up with a few hits. I wrote a huge long detailed posts on the Gazelle. I have a few other die cutter's listed too with pros & cons. I don't want to subject everyone to another long post, lol. There is some useful info in those posts. For the computer cutters I have a BossKut Gazelle, Silhouette SD & Cricut Expression. I have studied a lot about all the different brand of cutters. My DH & I are wanting to get a 48-inch plotter for his car decal work. I am a bit hard core on die cutter's, lol. HTH!
I'm new to this too and I'm hoping you more experienced die-cutters can help me out! What I would like to use the machine for is for small 4"x6" thick card stock to make cards - I'd like to die-cut out my logo and other words (like Thank You) to make custom cards... It would be great if I could do many of these at once... How do these machines work with different sized paper? Also, which machine do you recommend? Which one makes the best quality cut-outs? Thank you SO much for your help!
From an article I saw in a craft paper over here, it seems that the craft robo/wishblade/silhouette will soon all be marketed under the Silhouette name - they were all the same machine anyway, just thought it may help anyone looking for the robo/wishblade & not being able to find them. And the Silhouette does do 'Print & Cut'.
To Jeni1377, you can specify the size & thickness of card/paper for your project. I can only speak for the Silhouette, I love it.The biggest selling point for me was the ability to cut out words/phrases/numbers without having to keep buying alphabet dies, or being restricted to what size the alpha was. My Silhouette cost me about the same as 1 Sizzix alphabet would have- but I can cut any font on my pc, or that I can download for free from font sites- its paid for itself a thousand times over.
You can cut out many images/phrases as you can fit on a sheet of (up to) A4 card.
If you type 'Thank you', you can then just keep duplicating it on the sheet- you can resize your phrase to exactly what you need by dragging the sides/corner of the text box, you don't have to use a particular font size. You can go have a look here: http: //www.silhouetteamerica.com/training/default.aspxit will show you the sort of things you can do with this machine. Hope this helps a little
Thanks for the suggestion shazsilverwolf! It seems like the Silhouette is the machine for me from what you've said and also from other research. What I'd like to do, though, is use the page that has the word "Thank you" cut out of it. So, the card has a negative space on the top that says "Thank you." I hope that makes sense... Will I be able to do that on the Silhouette? Will I be able to line it up, so that it is centered on the top of the 4x6 card? Will there be a problem with removing it from the sticky mat? Will the card have sticky residue on it? Also, is there a problem with the paper being curly after being run through the machine? Your experience and advise is most appreciated.:p
I have a KNK13, KNK24, and a Cricut E. Not thrilled with the cartridge system of the Cricut, but there are third-party programs that allow you to design freely.
Love my KNKs, though the Cricut is easy to take to class (especially with cartridges loaded on a Gypsy) and the kids can use it with very little instruction.
__________________ Hi! I'm ISO the Fun Stampers Journey stamp "Say Cheese" AT-0167. Thank you!
Hi Jeni1377, to answer in order of question:
Yes, you can do a cut out on the actual card- you have the ability to place your cut out anywhere at any angle or page format. I'd do a try out on plain paper first to make sure you have it precisely where you want it. You have the ability to move it around in very tiny steps to get it perfect. This is really useful for making your own stencils too!
The sticky mat is only very low-tack, just to stop the card moving around during the cutting, so removal is no problem, and it doesn't leave a sticky residue behind.
TIPS:It doesn't take long before your cutting mat looks really battered, but it does not affect its performance. Be careful using glittery card/paper on it, the glitter does stick to the mat, and makes it less sticky.(Yes I found that out the hard way,lol) You can buy replacements, but you can also re-boost the sticky by running through the Xyron Creative station using a Repo cartridge if you have it, or spraying with a repo adhesive spray.( I figured that out the cheap way!)
Paper doesn't curl after going through the Silhouette- it doesn't apply the same amount of pressure as say a Cuttlebug.
Bit of useful info:
The Silhouette comes with three different caps, that you change depending on the thickness of the material you are cutting.When you feel your blade is getting blunt, you can buy replacement blades, look around for these, as from some places you can buy just the blades, other places sell a blade AND cap set, which is expensive, and unless you have lost/broken your caps, you don't need more caps.I needed a new blade, and got a pack of two, sent from the USA, and even with shipping it was cheaper than the single blade & cap set available in the UK.
One final thing that they don't actually make clear- wherever you are going to put your Silhouette, you need the equivalent of a length of an A4 card in front & behind the machine. I think this is very slightly longer than US standard, but I'm not positive. The reason is that you line the card up on the sheet feeding into the front of the machine. When you tell it to cut, it feeds the card all the way through the machine, so the little rollers make sure the card is held in place by the backing, then sends it forwards again before cutting. Obviously you can store it in a smaller space, its actual footprint, including connector leads that come out of one side, is approximately 18" x9".
Anything else you need to know, ask away.
Incidentally, it now has new software for Windows 7, which is a lot more versatile than the older version. They are constantly adding new things, too.You also get a disc with a number of free shapes, and there are thousands more available to buy from their download site. I have found their support is excellent- and if you have a hard drive crash & loose everything, they have a record of what you have bought, and you can download them again.
If you do get one of these, and would like to pm me your address, I will send you a disc that a group of us owners have compiled with GSD files we have accumulated, for cutting out all sorts of fancy shapes, lattices, etc. :smile:
I scrolled back up the posts, and went & had a look at this chart-the Silhouette info is a little out of date now- it now supports Windows 7, (including 64 bit, which mine runs on)they have included word welding, and matting, in the features for the new software, and the Wishblade, Silhouette & Craft Robo are all going to be sold under the Silhouette name in the near future, I believe this means that we will be able to access the Downloads for Craft Robo now, as we haven't been able to before, you had to put in your machines serial number to access.
Thanks for all the help ladies. I gave my wife the Cricut Expressions system. She loves it. I had to stay off the forum and not reply or ask anymore ?'s because the wife actually found this thread. Lol.
Hmmm... That BossKut Gazelle looks reallly nice....
If you are interested I'm selling my Bosskut Gazelle after working with the Cricut Imagine I'm going back to using the cricut machine. Please let me know.
I have a background as a page designer, and I'm therefore familiar with Illustrator. I would like to buy a die cutting machine that I can create my own designs for (in Illustrator), and cut aftern connecting to my computer. Does that make sense? I feel overwhelmed trying to wade through all of the choices. I'm hoping someone out there already knows which machines can do this, and which is the best. Help, please!
Don't overlook the eCRAFT. It's been on the market since mid October, so there's still some software issues (the gurus are working very hard to straighten them out). It has many features, none the least of which is NO sticky mat. I love that feature, also love the shadow feature...a second cut of the design that is just a shake (shadow) larger than the original.
Help me pick a die-cutting machine
