Jonas GrumbyDo you mean Micro Mark?
yes
Mike
hegedusmjMicro-Mart (silhouette) cutter
Do you mean Micro Mark?
I appreciare all of your advice. In the end I think I ran counter to most of it and ordered the Micro-Mart (silhouette) cutter. Considering difficulties with my hands, I was in a position of either buying some form of aid or not doing any scratchbuilding. Wielding an Xacto knife for any period of time is just not possible anymore.
Interestingly enough within 24 hours of writing my original post, I got a 15% off coupon via a Micro-Mark e-mail. Big Brother is watching.
Along the line someone mentioned 3D printing. I am interested in that as well. Getting my arms around the software to design things is something of an obstacle. Besides I said that the $ for the Silhouette cutter wasn't a concern, when I start thinking of $1500 plus for 3D printer plus design software, I do get skittish.
Actually Mike, Kevin's suggestion might be just right for you. Go to a forum in here called "Layouts and layout building", and look for a very long and continueing thread by Michael Rose (yep, another Mike). He usues a lazer cutter, not sure what make it is, but you might ask him. He's doing some great looking buildings with it. He also did all of his track bed with it.
Mike.
My You Tube
I have a CriCut machine with a deep cut knife. It cuts .030" styrene with no problems. To get really square windows one needs to do separate cuts for all 4 sides of the window. This forces the blade up and then back down.
I have looked at the Micro Mark ad and like the deep cutting depth, but I have not seen good examples...
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
to the Model Railroader forums!
.
If, as you said, cost is not a major concern, I strongly suggest you buy an inexpensive laser cutter instead. This will give you much better results than a computer controlled blade cutter.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I just saw a post on a scratchbuilding social media group about the Silhouette machine. The poster cut black and white sheets of .010 styrene to make floor tiles for a model in a curved checkerboard pattern. I can't share the post here but the photos looked good. The poster mentioned that the cutter left a slight burr but not very noticeable. I'm looking into using a similar machine for cutting thin adhesive-backed colored vinyl for making my own illuminated signs with the Miller Engineering EL panel experimenter's kit. Not so helpful for the OP who's modeling circa 1900, but another use for such a tool.
Well, I've learned something here, for material, like cardstock, as some of the ads for these machines show, it maybe a good thing, or maybe even a really thin "skin" for a bulding, that's applied over a sturdy backing. But I scratch build with .04 styrene, at the least, and some wood. I guess this would not be a good thing.
I'll stick with a straight edge, and my Exacto knive, and usually a #11 blade. For a bunch of multiple cuts, I also use a regular utility knive, (box cutter kind of thing) with a new blade.
While I have no interest in learning CAD, that is just me, you are different. It may be that 3-D printing would better suit your needs.
I can't find the video, but there was a guy who designed an elaborate underbody structure for side dumping gondolas. He had Shapeways print a whole fleet of them. My son is printing a P-51.
There is a video that I would like to link to, but my post would be deleted by the management. There is a guy who rebuilt a prototype found in a safe from the Savage company that only had a barrel, slide and frame. Everything else had to be built from patent drawings. He did not use CNC.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I was considering buying one of these cutting machines a few years ago but finally decided to put my money elsewhere. There have been several threads on different forums discussing these machines but I never found one that said, "this is the answer!" Most of these machines had trouble cutting styrene more than .020" thick and some could not cut square corners in thicker materials. All such styrene cutting experiments sounded like the machines were operating at the ragged edge of their limits requiring multiple passes to cut even .020" styrene. None of the machine manufacturers claim their machines can cut through styrene. User reviews report registering problems, registering sheets with rather limited use life before they need replacing, the need to by "extra cost" deep cut blades and other problems/complaints. Like computer printers, the machines are relatively inexpensive while the consumables are outrageously priced. I'm still waiting for one of these companies to market a machine directly to modelers (as opposed to crafters) and actually claim in their ads and product literature that it will accurately cut designs all the way through .040" or thicker styrene. If you read the Micro Mark description, this machine "scores styrene...for easy folding and snap cutting." This seems to imply that even the Cameo 3 still can't cut all the way through even .020" styrene sheet. If you've ever tried to score and snap small detail pieces, you know it doesn't always snap as cleanly as you'd like. Thus, I continue to wait for a cutting machine that the manufacturer claims will easily and accurately (including square corners) cut all the way through at least .040" thick styrene without overstressing the machine.
Hornblower
I have no experience with these, but there are members of this forum, and others, that use a Cri-Cut machine, which I believe is about the same thing, from the looks of it.
I know for sure there are people on another forum that use these.
I would like to see some of your brass locos that you have built!
EDIT: By the way, welcome! Another Mike in the bunch!
EDIT 2: By the way, I've seen these Cameo and the Cri-cut machines at a local Joanne Fabric store. Price is about the same.
I am considering a return to modelling after an absence of several years. Over the decades I've have built layouts to varying degrees of completion in N and HO. Most recently I was making a brass locomotive using a lathe and milling machine. What interested me the most was the CNC coding that went into the component machining.
So now I am headed into more modest scratchbuiling of structures and rolling stock, in particular wooden prototype passenger equipment of pre-1900 variety or interurban equipment. What with lessened visual acuity and arthritic aching in the hands, I am again looking at an automated means to the end. The case in point is a Silhouette CAMEO cutter advertised by Micro Mark.
<https://www.micromark.com/Silhouette-CAMEO-3-electronic-cutting-tool>.
The claim is that the device along with provided software is capable of cutting thin materials such as styrene in an accurate fashion. My questions are: is this a serious modelling aid? Does anyone have first hand experience with it? Would it be realistic to use it to cut passeger car sides and building elevations?
At around $300, it could be looked at as a rather expensive cutting aid. However the cost is not an object and the computer aided design and construction are a big attraction for me.