# Cricut Machine for lettering



## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

I do a lot of hack kitbashing, and like other I'm always stumbling up against the fact that white is hard to do. Lettering in general--typically I've either used laser cut vinyl letters from Del Tapparo, or decals from Stan Cederleaf. Both have been absolutely excellent--fast, and responsive, with excellent results.

But I read about the Cricut machine and then saw one on closeout for $179. (WalMArt has this model online for $170) I decided to try it. 










The machine is a die cutter--it uses a tiny blade mounted on a movable head. The company that makes it wants you to buy font cartridges to use it, and the fonts are not really good for RR modeling. But you can get software, called SureCutsALot, which lets you use any tru type font you have on your computer. No need for cartridges, and it runs on a Mac as well as windows. Cool!



So I bought the software and the Cricut machine, and some vinyl adhesive paper. After some typical annoyance involving getting software and firmware updated, I was ready to go. 


The software is straightforward and easy to use, once you make sure the machine has the right firmware. You need a Windows machine to do this, because you have to use Cricut's software to initiate the firmware updtae. But you can do it with a demo copy of the Cricut software. 


The machine has adjustments for cutting speed, pressure, and depth of cut. It takes some tweaking to get these to where they will cut cleanly through the vinyl, but not through the backing paper. Then you cut out the letters, peel away the excess vinyl, and then carefully pick out the center of "A's" and "P's" and "A's." You then have the letter stuck to their original backing paper. At that point you lay "transfer tape" stick side down on the letters and then burnish the back of the tape so it will pick up the letters from the backing paper when you peel it away. Then apply the lettering to the model. 


Some of the serifs don't separate cleanly, which leads to the letters being a bit distorted and out of place. It won't do smaller than 1/4 inch. The machine does have settings that allow you to make the cuts two or more times--I have not tried that, it might be the way to go. If the font has a lot of really thin elements they will be lost, I think.

Here are some samples from projects I did recently--these have been posted elsewhere, sorry for the repetition. This was the first one I tried--you can see it could not manage the amerpsandwell at all, and the "E"E in Baltimore is distorted, as is the first "O" in "Ohio"















Here is a second effort--you can see how the "S" got out of line. I kind of like it and have kept it so far. But you can see how many problems I had getting the letters to stay straight. The problem was all with the letters not separating cleanly from the vinyl matrix. This is a case where multiple passes on the cutter might have helped. I think it will be better if I do it again. But the letters at this size take on a bit of a cartoonish quality. 












I did a few more, but this one came out best











This is about 90% as good as laser cut vinyl. The letters are a little less crisp and uniform, there are some small distortions where they got streched a little coming off the vinyl. But on the whole, it's pretty good. The machine has not paid for itself yet, but I've got some more projects in mind.


Here is a laser cut example. In real life, you can see that it's sharper and more precise












My bottom line: Excellent for larger letters, for signs, not as quite as good as laser cut vinyl. it's no replacement for decals on small lettering jobs. But I'm pretty pleased with it. Here's one more example:


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Looks great. Definitelty gonna put that software on our short list, now... 

Later, 

K


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

I'm surprised there's not more interest in this thing. It'd be great for signs, billboards things like that. It'd do a great job on the letterboard of a long coach--all those places where I've been trying to figure out a way to get around the printer not printing white. I often think vinyl looks better than decals because it's more opaque, but it does have some depth, which decals don't, and it doesn't weather up as well as decals. 

The software is very straightforward and easy to use. It works perfectly on the mac. It does not have all the text management capabilities of Photoshop, but you can adjust character width and character spacing (tracking). It can import files in svg format (Scalable vector graphic) from programs like Illustrator. I haven't tried that, as I don't have a program that does SVG files. But I just downloaded an open source program, "Inkscape," which does SVG. Hoping to make some signs


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

Mike,

Thanks for the review. I might have to pick one of these up since I do reletter a lot of my equipment.

Mark


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Amazon has the software (SureCutsALot) for a good price. I looked and ordered last night. Thanks for the heads-up Mike.


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## Richard Smith (Jan 2, 2008)

This contraption sounds like a great find. 

It might be a bit of work but no more I would think than applying separate letters but it sounds like this process could make great stencils. You'd have to first cut out any small centers from the O's and the A's and the P's, etc., backing and all, and set them aside. Then cut out the letter outlines of the letters themselves to make a stencil. Remove and place the stencil where you want the lettering, peel from the backing and place the small letter centers you saved and paint whatever color you need including of course white. Remove the letter components carefully with tweezers after the paint is dry. This should also give a nice even line of lettering. 

Do you think this would be possible with your machine and software? I'm leaning to doing more and more painted lettering on my structures and rolling stock and your discovery might be just what I need.


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Yes, I think it could work really well for that. If you were careful you could get the letters off the backing and leave the "holes" in place, then apply a separate tape to the "holes," pull them off the backing, and then lay the tape with the holes over the mask. I think it would work well.


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## pimanjc (Jan 2, 2008)

The Cricut machine is also available at Michael's hobby store.

JimC.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Learning how to use would be the trick for me. Adding software a such







Be nice to have and be able to letter things. Later RJD


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

All- 

Anyone wanting one of these, Jo Ann Fabrics has them on sale for $85 starting Sunday.


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

That's an unbeatable price.

I'm really coming to like the thing a lot. It removes a disincentive--I tend to do more projects partly because I don't have to order lettering any more.


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