[Lab] Cricut & other cutters (was Re: Lab Digest, Vol 39, Issue 29)

[Paul & Andrea Mumby]

Ultimately the same thing, though how cheap is cheap? When we looked into
it, to find a decent wider format cutter, even the chinese import ones were
more expensive than the Silhouette was from Michaels.

(just curious if we missed any possible options lol)

- Paul


On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 3:36 PM, Darcy Whyte <darcy at siteware.com> wrote:

> What about those cheap machines you find in ebay under vinyl cutter?
>
>
>
> --
> Darcy Whyte
>
> Art+ inventorArtist.com | Aviation rubber-power.com | Software Since '88
> siteware.com | Contact: darcy at siteware.com | 613-563-3634 by appointment
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>
>
>
> On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 2:04 PM, Paul & Andrea Mumby <themumbys at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Yes the Cricut is VERY vendor locked. A few third parties even released
>> software which allowed cutting of generic SVG files on it via it's USB
>> interface. And Provocraft (the manufacturer) sued those companies over it.
>> Limiting your options to only their cartridges which are rediculously
>> expensive.
>>
>> We had a Cricut for a couple years, and used it with the third party
>> software, but once they shut that down we had to look at alternatives. (by
>> the way I still have a 24" Cricut that I'll be putting up for sale soon, if
>> anyone's interested lol)
>>
>> My Wife has the Silhouette machine now, and it's quite nice. The software
>> for it is free, and works with an online store with a wide selection of
>> designs. And also lets you create your own designs with drawing tools, or
>> by importing images and "tracing" them and so on. But for an extra $50 you
>> can buy the "Pro" software which lets you import generic SVG art from
>> hundreds of sources on the net.
>>
>> Also one nice feature the Silhouette has is "print and cut" which lets
>> you print on an inkjet, and it has an optical sensor that lets it detect
>> registration marks, and accurately cut out the printed image.
>>
>> Considering the Silhouette is in the same approximate price as the
>> Cricut, I'd say it's far more value for a hobbyist.
>>
>> (the one we have is the 24" model, and yes it will work with vinyl as
>> well as other materials).
>>
>>
>> On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 1:57 PM, Andrew Plumb <andrew at plumb.org> wrote:
>>
>>> On 2013-05-28, at 1:47 PM, John Nicol wrote:
>>>
>>>  Hi,
>>>
>>> Have you looked at the Cricut?  http://www.cricut.com/home/
>>>
>>> This is a hobby machine that cuts stencils and I believe has a large
>>> format version as well.  I also saw a machine in a hobby shop in the US
>>> that was for fabric stencil creation for screen printing.  Can't remember
>>> what it was called, sorry.
>>>
>>> John
>>>
>>>
>>> Maybe it was one of the (older) CraftROBO or (newer) Silhouette machines
>>> by Graphtec that you saw?
>>>
>>> http://www.graphteccorp.com/craftrobo/
>>> http://www.silhouetteamerica.com/
>>>
>>> They tend not to be as vendor locked-in as the Cricut system with its
>>> proprietary cartridges.
>>>
>>> Andrew.
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> "The future is already here.  It's just not very evenly distributed" --
>>> William Gibson
>>>
>>> Me: http://clothbot.com/wiki/
>>>
>>>
>>>
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