3D printer’s surprising versatility makes up for limitation
Cricut Maker cutting machine can work for items using self-stick vinyl, stencils, iron-ons and even glassware
Last week I talked about how excited I was about the Cricut Maker cutting machine, and how disappointed I was after discovering it could successfully cut balsa or basswood only if the artwork details were “at least as thick as a pencil.”
Needless to say, this put a crimp in my dreams of cutting perfect-fitting wood inlays on my desktop. But, because I already had the Cricut Maker connected, I tried cutting other materials that weren’t hampered by the “pencil thickness” limitation.
I’m glad I did. Although I was initially attracted to Cricut Maker for its ability to cut wood, I didn’t fall in love with it until I had used it to create dozens of interesting, fun and useful projects.
The first thing I tried cutting (after wood) was self-stick vinyl. This versatile material is inexpensive, comes in a variety of colors and textures and is great for making signs (for doors or windows) and more.
First, I created the text and artwork with the included Cricut Design software. Then, I affixed an uncut sheet of vinyl to the included 12-by12-inch cutting mat and inserted it into the Cricut Maker. Finally, I clicked the “Make It” button to begin the actual cutting. A few minutes later, my sign was done.
After cutting your design, the next step is to “weed” the vinyl, which means removing unneeded parts such as the little pieces inside such characters as A, B, D, O, 4, 8 and so on. For what it’s worth, Cricut sells tools specifically designed for weeding, but I found an X-Acto knife and tweezers almost as effective.
After weeding, you cover the artwork with an adhesive “transfer sheet” to maintain letter, line and artwork spacing. This works much better than trying to place each letter and piece of artwork separately.
The final step is to peel away the backing from the adhesive vinyl, stick your sign to the door or window, and then peel away the transfer sheet.
Not surprisingly, this is the same process you’d use for things that aren’t signs, such as stencils (for painting), heat-transfer designs (for ironing onto clothing) and etched glassware.
While stencils and ironons were expected, the ability to etch glassware took me by surprise.
To etch a design into glass, you start by creating a vinyl stencil and applying it to the glassware. Then, just spread some Armour Etch cream (from $10 at Amazon.com) onto the stencil, wait five minutes, and then wash off the cream.
Voila — your design is permanently (and perfectly) etched into the glass!