More Cricut Fun
 

This rocket is an old Estes Broadsword that I finished in classic “Bertha” colors in 2007. It looked bare on one side, so I decided tonight to cut a custom Super Big Bertha decal for it on my Cricut. I liked the idea of dropping a red “SUPER” into the black “BIG BERTHA” vinyl, rather than overlaying it. Cricut has a Slice function that will cut out overlapping layers, and then you remove the parts you don’t need.

The Cricut is one of the most fascinating tools I’ve ever used. Here are a few shots of the rocket from several sides, plus close-up of the sliced “B”.

That is cool stuff, Lee. Hopefully you can show off some of that stuff at NSL. I'd love to see it.

Hi Lee,
Which Cricut model do you use?
I've seen a new, smaller size unit I've been curious about.

Bernard, I definitely will be at NSL. Assuming Winter is over. :p

We just got almost 1-1/2 feet of snow since last night. Heavy, wet stuff, tree limbs down. I am pretty sure our launch today will be delayed a week or two. :rolleyes:
Looking forward to seeing you again.

Chris, I bought the Maker. It supports cutting balsa and basswood. It has a heavy duty geared tool holder for cutting tough materials. Depending on material and thickness, the Cricut will make multiple passes to completely cut the part. I have only cut vinyl and cardstock. (Not centering rings, but butterfly puppet parts for my four grand daughters.) :chuckle:
The knife tool with housing costs about $30, it is not included. For someone not needing the heavy material cutting, the Explore Air 2 does the same cutting for cardstock and vinyl, for about $100 less.

I paid $369 last Fall, list was $399. I have seen them for $309, so the list price may have come down. I don’t know much about the little model called Joy, but I would guess it has same cutting capabilities, just on a smaller scale. The cutting mats are 12” x 12”. I have used the full 12” width on the Maker a lot. If you need more, a 12” x 24” mat is available. You can rotate the layout to fit, but the software will automatically do it, I believe. It is also easy to break up long text over multiple cuts. I helped my daughter make an indoor “sign” with a phrase almost 3 feet wide.

There are tons of YouTube Cricut videos out there to show how to use the machine and do design work. The Cricut can import JPG and SVG files. I made Enerjet and Goblin decals by importing JPGs, and scaling up or down as needed. For the Enerjet, I had to do some cleanup. I am also trying to learn Inkscape. I am about to just spend the big bucks for CorelDraw, which I have used in the past to do design work for laser cutting. I can not justify the expense of buying a laser, but the Cricut is very affordable.

When you get around to cutting balsa, can you post here and let us know how that works?

In a couple of the free flight model airplane groups I visit, attempts to use the Cricut to cut balsa have yielded disappointing results.

Thanks in advance!

That's what I thought when I saw what looked like a #11 blade on the website pics. I see it splitting or not cutting all the way through unless it's soft contest balsa and making multiple passes.

Trouble in Cricut-land... https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/15/...ce-upload-limit

What a MAJOR FRAKKIN' SCAMULATION.

One more reason I don't like Cricut.
The main reason I dislike it is because my ex-wife likes it so much. With that being known,
there MUST be something MAJOR WRONG with it.

There will probably be major backlash against Cricut for this policy. I have mostly created within Design Space using it to create text, and images like rectangles to make roll patterns. I have imported JPGs like the Goblin decals, or the Enerjet logo. Right now, I cannot imagine ever uploading more than 20 times per month, but there are a lot of DIYers out there that probably do. Some of the Cricut users that sell their work probably already have a Cricut account.

Regarding balsa cutting, I’ll experiment. I saw one demo that looked pretty clean, but it was done in something like 14 passes. If the cutting can be rushed, quality would certainly suffer. I just don’t know enough about the capability yet, and any tradeoff settings like speed vs. quality.

Regarding the knife tool using a #11 blade, or something that looks like one, I am sure it is just the latter. The blade I have for cutting vinyl (and also cardstock) is a German made carbide blade. I have done dozens of projects involving hundreds of letters and images, and cut hundreds of cardstock pieces for toy butterfly puppets for my grandkids to assemble, and the blade is still sharp. A new blade is $10. Probably cheaper in bulk.

By the way,
Neil, thanks for the info. I have already signed the petition, and there are over 50,000 who have signed. The more I read, the madder I got. I could probably live with the restrictions imposed by not paying a monthly subscription, and nobody should have to do so. They want to charge me for my creativity. I am not using anything from them but their machine. I don’t pay a monthly fee to print things on my laser or inkjet printer, and this to me is no different.