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

Tue May 28 16:37:35 EDT 2013

Correction, our cutters (cricut and silhouette) are 12" lol not 24" (it's
been a busy day, random brain fart)

- Paul

On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 3:58 PM, j ross <waterfallclose at gmail.com> wrote:

> Have a look here for a decent selection across price ranges: (Hobby to Pro)
>
> http://signsupplycanada.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=41
>
> I believe that the "Master VC2000" etc. falls into the so-called "Cheap
> Chinese" category. That doesn't mean it's not a good value - it's a great
> price and fills the gap nicely between the 12" Silhouette and the Graphtec
> Pro machines.  I'd be very curious to see it in action.  The software
> especially.  The YouTube demos I've seen don't give me a very "warm and
> fuzzy" when it comes to software - especially compared to the Silhouette
> Cameo which can work with SVG's (after the $50 software upgrade).
>
> Anyone own a Master VC2000?
>
> Jeff
>
>
> On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 3:42 PM, Paul & Andrea Mumby <themumbys at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> 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 | Canada N 45° 25'03.1" W 75° 42'21.4"
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 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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>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
>>
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