"Engrave" your stencils

AndreZA

Air-Valve Autobot!
I started making my own stencils when I got my cameo. Nothing fancy just freehand shapes.

The one I did was circles. I do have a Airsick one and few draughting one but I wanted ones that has a positive and negative and have a large range and in metric. So I designed one. But after I cut it and used it a few times, I relised that what made the draughting ones so great was the cross hairs and dimensions printed on it. The cross hairs are important when drawing eyes. You want to line up the pupils with the irises. So now I wondered how I was gonna write on the mylar without it coming off.

And with a few tries, I came up with following.
stencil.jpg

But first, you will need a single stroke or CAD font. This will help for it to write faster. I used CamBam Stick and it is available here.

I worked in Silhouette Studio because if you work in another program and bring it into Silhouette Studio, you have to fiddle to get the perfect sizes again.

I made the writing one colour and the cutting lines another. That way it is easier to select what needs to be done.
stencil_colours.jpg

So first you have to "engrave" the black. If you cut first, you will run into trouble with the loose parts.
In the cut window, you select the black colour only.
black_write.jpg

And seeing that yo only want to score the mylar, you put all the settings very light. It is very important to have the blade return to the original position. If you are making a paper stencil, you can just use a pen here instead of the blade.
(yes I know there is a mistake with the 8mm hole. It was fixed after the the screen grab was made.)
black_write_2.jpg

After the writing is done, select the red cut lines. Now you will have to up the pressure, drop the speed and even tick on the double cut. This all depends on the material you are using.
red_cut.jpg

And that is how it is done. Enjoy.
 
Thats great Andre, How did you find the mylar cut? I've not used my plotter for mylar yet.
 
@Oddball, the mylar in the picture is 0.125mm thick. Double cut is fine with the Silhouette. I did try it with a 0.19mm thick one and I had to double cut it 3 times. The 0.25mm sheets can not be cut. I actually made an additional cutting mat out of mine.

Oh, by the way, I get my mylar from this supplier in the UK. Excellent service. http://www.mylart-stencils.co.uk/
 
I saw this on FB. I never gave this a thought when I had a Cameo. May have to see if I can figure it out i Adobe Illustrator and cut with my US Cutter.
 
@wmlepage, if you work in layers I'm sure you can do it in Illustrator. It will be great to put your name and copyright stuff on your stencils.
 
Thanks Andre, this is really cool I have often thought about getting a stencil cutter such as the Cameo
 
You should start selling them I'm sure there plenty who would buy them:thumbsup:
 
Great idea. Whats the wear on the blade like cutting something so rigid?
 
@Smiler65, not worth it. Local people will think I'm crazy charging anything over $3 even though that is the price a sheets costs me to bring in.
@Apollyon Cross, I have not done many of them but I still return the setting to 0 (software shows it can only go as low as 1) when I cut my vinyl.
 
i use this stuff i get from a stationary store, its cheep and works well even with auto acrylics as long as you don't flood it with it, i cut with the clear sticky paper, cut depth 3 seems to cut pretty goodCAM00773.jpgCAM00774.jpg
just be careful as they only just fit on the mat and if the cut line is close to the edge it may cut your mat
 
Smart idea about scoring the mylar and also useful stencil. I have to try it on my Cameo :thumbsup:
 
What cut setting are you using Andre? I have tried Duralar and it was a mess the first time I tried it.

edit: I see the settings now, thanks for posting this!
 
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I have the stencil material on a large roll, but haven't made any yet. I'm looking forward to trying it and this tip will be handy. Thanks. :thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
Do you know where in the US I can find one? Also what pressure you use on your plotter?

Sorry, I can't help you with either. I'm not in the US and my plotter just not specify pressure. It's just go an onscreen number. Just try it yourself. For the mat just look for a Cameo Silhouette cutting mat. The manufacturer has it on their site.
 
Thanks AndreZA for taking the time to do that! I will have to give it try! I have a Cameo Silhouette and I am just learning about all the cool things it can do I can't get over how tiny I got it to cut some vinyl!

@calrytorres the cutting mat that comes with the cameo it has a "tack" to it, but you can get replacement mats at Michaels
 
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