Using a Cricut Joy m/c to produce custom vinyl lining.

[Durley]

Here’s a photo of my current project, a GVT 4 ton granite wagon in 1/16th scale. The lettering has been painted using a Cricut cut mask in Washi sheet and sprayed white. I wasn’t sure how the tare would come out but it perfectly acceptable. I couldn’t get the centres of the o’s a’s and r’s to stick, so they are painted back in with a brush.

The tare being on the left rather than the right is my mistake. I copied the drawing rather than checking photo references

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As Lonsdaler says, low tack masking tape is another option, the advantage of the Washi sheets is they come in A4 size, so the whole side of the wagon is done in a single mask, and the sheet is on a backing that can then be stuck down to a Cricut mat for use in the Maker cutter.

[ge_rik]

I'm surprised Fusion doesn't export SVGs without an extension - Tinkercad does and they are from the same stable.

Rik

[Paul_in_Ricky]

Thanks Dursley. I didn't know that extension existed for Fusion. Very easy to use and the file works fine in CDS.

That would have saved half an hours Photoshop work this afternoon.

Transferring practice tomorrow......

[Paul_in_Ricky]

So here's a page with a test cut of the lining set I need. Only using a sample sheet for now until the correct colour arrives.
The original SVG is dead square on everything and was output from Fusion 360 (free), thanks Dursley.

From normal viewing distances it's looking very acceptable, but close up shows some geometric errors in the complex corner detail I'd like to resolve before the next attempt.

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When feeding in the 'Smart Vinyl sheet' there seems to be a degree of play on each side that might account for some lack of accuracy. A second significant issue might be the way the vinyl curls up when cutting.
Are others using smart vinyl from the roll ?
Do people think that putting removable vinyl on the cutting mat might result in greater stability when cutting ?

[Phil.P]

I'm surprised Fusion doesn't export SVGs without an extension - Tinkercad does and they are from the same stable.

Rik

Once saved, surely it is possible to rename the file, removing / changing the extension?

Phil.P

[philipy]

Those samples look pretty good to me. from the photos, although the two at the top right seem to be slightly different widths? If so, that's kind of the problem I had.

When feeding in the 'Smart Vinyl sheet' there seems to be a degree of play on each side that might account for some lack of accuracy. A second significant issue might be the way the vinyl curls up when cutting.
Are others using smart vinyl from the roll ?
Do people think that putting removable vinyl on the cutting mat might result in greater stability when cutting ?

Yes there is a slight tolerance on the width of the sheet inside the guides and I've thought that is probably one of the factors affecting what I called the 'registration' variability between the inner and outer cuts of a fine line. I try to press it to one side as I feed it in to minimise the sideplay, not sure if makes any real difference though. Longer guides might help.

Yes I've used a roll of smart vinyl and there seems to be a slight difference in the width of a roll as opposed to the trial lengths that came with the m/c. The trial bits have a white border whereas the roll is coloured right to the edges - I assume the roll was sliced from a wider roll and the trial is printed that way in long narrow lengths. No idea why and I may be wrong.

Not 100% sure what you mean by "curls up" but as it moves back and forth it does tend to try to regain the roll curl? I found that simply keeping a finger on it to restrict that temptation seems to help. I have it mind to fashion some sort of light roller to achieve the same thing, when I have nothing better to do!

I've never used a mat, the whole point of the smart vinyl is that it is supposed to be unnecessary of course, but it's an interesting thought, although I guess it depends on how stable the mat is relative to the guides.

[Paul_in_Ricky]

I'm surprised Fusion doesn't export SVGs without an extension - Tinkercad does and they are from the same stable.

Once saved, surely it is possible to rename the file, removing / changing the extension?

We're not talking about file names, it's about formats.

By default the free version of Fusion 360 won't export SVG format files. As Dursley has helpfully pointed out you can download an additional bit of software called an extension for Fusion that will allow you to output SVG files in the right format to use in cutting machines*.


*It seems it's a bit of software created to allow Fusion to generate files for use with handheld CNC routers to control the cut. Proper high end woodworking kit.
https://www.axminstertools.com/shaper-o ... ate-720835

[Paul_in_Ricky]

Yes there is a slight tolerance on the width of the sheet inside the guides and I've thought that is probably one of the factors affecting what I called the 'registration' variability between the inner and outer cuts of a fine line. I try to press it to one side as I feed it in to minimise the sideplay, not sure if makes any real difference though. Longer guides might help.

Yes I've used a roll of smart vinyl and there seems to be a slight difference in the width of a roll as opposed to the trial lengths that came with the m/c. The trial bits have a white border whereas the roll is coloured right to the edges - I assume the roll was sliced from a wider roll and the trial is printed that way in long narrow lengths. No idea why and I may be wrong.

I've just opened the sample pack of 6 sheets and found they're different and full width vinyl, unlike the illustrations of the pack.
Not as glossy, more a satin finish, but not really matt.

It should be relatively easy to make a thin long spacer to slide in and control lateral movement. Now on my 'To Do' list.

Not 100% sure what you mean by "curls up" but as it moves back and forth it does tend to try to regain the roll curl? I found that simply keeping a finger on it to restrict that temptation seems to help. I have it mind to fashion some sort of light roller to achieve the same thing, when I have nothing better to do!
I've never used a mat, the whole point of the smart vinyl is that it is supposed to be unnecessary of course, but it's an interesting thought, although I guess it depends on how stable the mat is relative to the guides.

Yes, it's that movement that I think is causing a slight lack of geometric precision on those small perpendicular cuts.

The mat seems to be the same size as the paper rolls, so there's still some lateral movement. The proposed fix above, if it helps, would work for all materials though.
The main hope is to keep the material dead flat when being cut, a test is on the 'To Do' list too ;-)

In other news;
Using transfer tape works very well even for those tiny linings. I just followed the instructions, but used the back of the weeding tool to burnish the lining onto the tape.
It looks a bit crook in close up, but it transferred as printed. Fix those corner issues and I'm good to go for the final cut.

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[Paul_in_Ricky]

I've now tried using a very thin spacer to control lateral movement. Not really much difference. I suspect that once the rollers grip the sheet they are the dominant force.
One flaw I've spotted is that when printing on the longer roll there's errors in cutting on the first few centimetres that didn't happen on the shorter glossy sample rolls. In future I'll try supporting the rolls to ease the load on the control rollers (using a mat should help with this).
First tries using a mat didn't help at all, but that might still be an option to investigate further.
Using Philipy's strategy of lightly holding down the sheet whilst being cut does seem to make a slight, but noticeable improvement.

I think I've now got to a point where there's little room for improvement and the results are as good as possible with this machine. Next challenge is to fit the lining and decide what finish to put over it to protect them.

[Paul_in_Ricky]

After watching too many dreadful ‘tutorials’ on Cricuts on YouTube I think I’m now up to speed on the machine on cutting vinyl.

I’ve been primarily trying to create some lining for my Slaters De Winton.

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The lining has trickily complex small corner detail that’s at the limit of what the little Cricut machine can achieve. So it’s taken some experimentation to get the best possible result.

Using ‘Smart vinyl’ in the default configuration the corner detail lacked consistent geometric accuracy.

The first issue to address was the play in the vinyl and it’s tendency to curl up whilst being cut. Fingertip pressure, as previously discussed, helped. The final best solution I’ve found is to mount the vinyl on a mat and also fit a thin spacer in the guides to remove any play.

Although Cricut only list one replacement type of blade for the Joy, it’s possible to buy third party blades of different types from the likes of Amazon. Some YouTubers recommended the use of the 60deg deep cut blade for fine detail, so an order was placed for a set. I found the 60deg blade even worse for my lining than the the default, so I tried a 30deg blade and the results were better than the default. It maybe that for curved work that might be reversed.

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The end result is about as good I think the machine is capable of, not perfect, but from normal viewing distances very acceptable.

Using transfer tape made transferring the lining to flat surfaces pretty easy. Despite my reservations the ‘weeding tool’ is actually very useful, not only for prising unwanted vinyl off the sheet, but also for burnishing the transfer tape onto the lining and again onto the final surface.
Fitting it to surfaces that have raised detail is pretty difficult. I found that cutting holes in the transfer tape after the lining was on board made fitting easier. Going over larger details needed careful cuts in the vinyl that will be tidied up with a dot of paint later.

Final task on the lining is to find a suitable lacquer or varnish to overcoat and protect them with.

Thanks to everyone helping along with this.

[Durley]

Great result Paul. I’d suggest the slight imperfections are only really noticeable if you deliberately point them out, otherwise it just looks like a very neat job.

I’ve had good success with Humbrol spray can acrylic satin varnish. The solvent doesn’t seem to attack the vinyl and the finish is a nice hardwearing satin sheen, a good base for any further weathering. I know some people report it can go on cloudy but I’ve never had that issue. Spraying on a warmish day and with low humidity should prevent clouding. A test on something other than the model would obviously be a good idea!

[Paul_in_Ricky]

Thanks Dursley,

Yes, Humbrol will be my first test. I've got some spare lining on various bit of plastic to test sprays with on the actual loco and know the perils of spraying on wet days BTDT.

Just a couple of tiny details to add before it's finished.
I'll practice weathering a LOT more before trying it on this, it's been a long difficult journey to get this kit so far.

[philipy]

That looks excellent Paul. I know how easy it is to be dissatisfied with slight imperfections, but as John said it's perfectly acceptable to look at. Ask yourself if hand painted would be any better!?

Thanks for the tips re blades etc, I'll have to remember that for next time.

As for varnish, I'm a little way off that for my loco but when experimenting with the vinyl previously I did do a couple of test sprays with Army Painter Varnish aerosols, both Matt and Satin seemed to be fine, no indication of distortion or lifting.

[Paul_in_Ricky]

Thanks

yourself if hand painted would be any better!?

I think an experienced liner with a bow pen might have been able to deliver finer, more correct, lines. I just haven't the skill or time to learn myself and I like to complete models entirely myself.

Although the length of time this has taken overall maybe I should have tried

Army Painter Varnish aerosols, both Matt and Satin seemed to be fine, no indication of distortion or lifting.

That's good, but I've recently tried Army Painter Matt varnish and been disappointed by the more satin finish of it. I've found Humbrol matt acrylic spray far better.

[StuartJ]

Very smart!

[ge_rik]

What imperfections? I can't see any even when I zoom into the photo.
It looks great!

Rik

[GTB]

I think an experienced liner with a bow pen might have been able to deliver finer, more correct, lines. I just haven't the skill or time to learn myself and I like to complete models entirely myself.

A ruling pen will produce lines down to around 0.2mm (0.008") reliably. If properly honed they can be set for finer lines, but will be very sensitive to the paint properties and the alignment of the planets.

The fine tip for the Bob Moore lining pen is quoted as being 0.2mm. I've no experience of these but models I've seen that were lined using a tubular pen look good. They are claimed to be easier to use than a ruling pen.

The learning curve for ruling pens and tubular pens is flatter than learning most modern software...... The secret herbs and spices are in the paint preparation, not the drawing instrument.

I was taught to write joined up writing (english round hand, but we knew it as longhand) in primary school, using a steel nib dip pen. Ruling pens hold no terrors .........

Graeme

[Paul_in_Ricky]

The learning curve for ruling pens and tubular pens is flatter than learning most modern software......

Not necessarily. Using ruling pens requires a lot practice, a good steady hand and then there's the challenge of getting the paint itself right.

Software just requires a bit of brain power.