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Paper cutting machine advice?

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  • EtchySketchy
    Junior Member
    Junior crafter
    • Apr 2017
    • 3

    Paper cutting machine advice?

    I'm a new member and just starting out, so please bare with my early understanding of some crafts I'm looking at buying a paper cutting machine, but a bit overwhelmed by the choice and was wondering if anyone has any advice?

    I'm happy with looking at a smaller machine, as I'm only looking at small cuts for now, but what I'd like is a machine that allows me to import my own designs. I work in Affinity Designer, so EPS files are most common.

    I have found Cricut and Sillhouette seem to be the big brands, with the latter offering the smaller Curio model.

    I'm only looking at cutting thin card and would like to know if there are any other good value machines that I can cut my only pre-designed work on?

    Any help would be much appreciated! I looked on eBay for second hand, but seems the Sillhouette machines are quite rare in the UK so their resale differs little from their $price once converted.

    Thanks,
    Steve
  • LilianJones
    Member
    Moderate crafter
    • Apr 2015
    • 37

    #2
    Originally posted by EtchySketchy View Post
    I'm a new member and just starting out, so please bare with my early understanding of some crafts I'm looking at buying a paper cutting machine, but a bit overwhelmed by the choice and was wondering if anyone has any advice?

    I'm happy with looking at a smaller machine, as I'm only looking at small cuts for now, but what I'd like is a machine that allows me to import my own designs. I work in Affinity Designer, so EPS files are most common.

    I have found Cricut and Sillhouette seem to be the big brands, with the latter offering the smaller Curio model.

    I'm only looking at cutting thin card and would like to know if there are any other good value machines that I can cut my only pre-designed work on?

    Any help would be much appreciated! I looked on eBay for second hand, but seems the Sillhouette machines are quite rare in the UK so their resale differs little from their $price once converted.

    Thanks,
    Steve
    I have a Cricut Explore and tbh its so-so. It cuts thinner card better than thicker and you can import your own files as well as use the predesigned ones. I kind of have a love/hate relationship with it!

    Have used the scanning function to try and upload boxes and it kind of worked. You could always try the Brother Scan and Cut which is I think the market leader and certainly I beleive their scanning function is better.

    The Cricut Explore (non witeless) is cheaper but dependant on how intricute you want your designs to be I would think twice if its complicated.

    HTH!

    Comment

    • EtchySketchy
      Junior Member
      Junior crafter
      • Apr 2017
      • 3

      #3
      Originally posted by LilianJones View Post
      I have a Cricut Explore and tbh its so-so. It cuts thinner card better than thicker and you can import your own files as well as use the predesigned ones. I kind of have a love/hate relationship with it!

      Have used the scanning function to try and upload boxes and it kind of worked. You could always try the Brother Scan and Cut which is I think the market leader and certainly I beleive their scanning function is better.

      The Cricut Explore (non witeless) is cheaper but dependant on how intricute you want your designs to be I would think twice if its complicated.

      HTH!
      That's really useful, as I'm keen to make sure it can do quite intricate work (think fine detail shapes no bigger than A5).

      When I design I export out as an EPS file, similar to working in Adobe Illustrator, so I would be bringing the design in digitally as opposed to scanning. This is because the designs would be quite detailed and I would imagine the scanning takes a few liberties which would give either slightly jagged lines or over correction and 'rounding off' corners.

      The silhouette does look good, but I'm concerned about spending over £200 without talking to the people who know... You

      Essentially I'm hoping to save some money by getting a smaller one while retaining detail and intricacy... bit of a tall order but have to try

      Comment

      • 3dDave
        Super Moderator
        Try and catch up with this one.. What a crafter!!!
        • Aug 2012
        • 6204

        #4
        Hi Steve, I'm a paper cutter so everything I cut is by hand. I have one or two friends that do use a silhouette but when they ran intricate templates through, the end result on the fiddly stuff was rounded off as opposed to defined in both cases.

        Dave.

        Comment

        • EtchySketchy
          Junior Member
          Junior crafter
          • Apr 2017
          • 3

          #5
          That's really good to know as the intricacy is important and it was difficult to find any complicated examples, so very hard to know if it's good enough!

          Comment

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