My wife bought me a Cricut machine for Christmas. It is a cutting machine made for crafters but I believe it has model railroading applications.
Inspired by the drawings in the Feb MR, I drew up a three layer door in Inkscape and imported the drawings into the Cricut design space. Here is a photo of the completed door. I plan to continue to make the drawings and cut (and also scribe) cardstock to complete the building.
That’s neat Greg!
I have heard that they can cut styrene with multiple passes. Might be something worth looking into.
Dave
I was under the impression the Cricut cut out shapes and letters and such based on certain templates. were you able to cut out any design you wished?
The older machines used a cartridge based system. The new Cricut Explore and Explore Air use a web based design space. You can use their images or create your own in design space. You can also upload a variety of file types to cut your own custom designs. I used Inkspace to make vector files and uploaded them to the Cricut design space.
I have used a Cricut Explore Air to cut .030 styrene(Evergreen siding). You will need to purchase the deep cutting blade. I used Sketchup, but any vector graphic software will work. You can download a lot of free vector graphic programs. You will need a good Internet connection as the project is uploaded to Cricut and they download the cutting instructions to the machine. Buy several of the deep cut blades!
BTW, nice job on that door! I usually just cut the door/window outlines for Grandt Line or Tichy windows. What I find amazing is how fast it can cut a project.
Jim
What pressure and how many passes did you use with the deep cutting blade to cut the 0.030 styrene?
With the deep cut blade, a single pass will do. Maximum pressure. I have not tried multiple passes, but that may work with thicker material. I just did not get good clean cuts with .040 material.
Jim