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Craft / Vinyl Cutter

Policies

Training

Vinyl Cutting Settings

Weeding + Applying

Materials

About

The Physical Media Lab houses a Silhouette Cameo 5 Plus craft/vinyl cutting machine which is available for use to MML members after a comprehensive online training, which can be found below.

The Cameo 5 Plus is a dynamic cutting machine that:

Will also cut paper, cardstock, and other popular flat crafting materials
Can take in sheets or scraps of material using cutting mats as large as 15x15
Can also work with material on a roll, eliminating the need for a cutting matt, in roll sizes of 5.5", 9", 12", or 15"
Is able to work with special pens to produce calligraphy and other machine-assisted drawing.

In addition to training, we have some additional resources provided below to get you up to speed on vinyl cutting.

What can you make with a cutting machine like this?

Craft cutting machines are wonderfully dynamic tools that can be used in a variety of ways.
That being said, they can be both design and labor intensive, and the cost of material can be expensive depending on the project,
we suggest using the Cameo 5 Plus for projects that are either semi-permanent or permanent in nature.

Some examples of projects the Cameo 5 would not be great for would be:

printing 100 stickers to give away at a fair
Fulfilling large orders of custom t-shirt designs

Wall text!

Personalized Gifts

Cards, Drawings, Etc

Policies

What We Strive to Provide:

In addition to the Silhoutte Cameo 5 Plus machine, we aim to provide, though can not always guarantee, the following as part of our vinyl cutting service for trained members:

Mats
Replacement Blades
Weeding and burnishing tools
A computer in the space where you can design.
Transfer tape
Scissors
Rulers
Heat protection sheets for applying heat transfer vinyl with our iron
Glue Sticks for paper projects
A small supply of scraps for training or experimenting

What You Must Provide:

Outside of what we provide, if needed, you will be expected to bring your own supply of:

vinyl, paper, or other material you plan to cut which can be purchased at craft stores like Michael's and Joanne's as well as online stores like Amazon.
Pens if you plan use the machine for calligraphy or drawing
Any speciality glue outside of the gluesticks we provide
If you are a power user, and plan to make more than 3 cuts a week, we expect you to bring your own cutting mat, as they can become worn easily over time.
Any specialty cutting mats that we don't provide
other consumables specific to you project

Additional Policies

First come, first serve. There is currently no reservation policy, but please be mindful of others needs.
Try to limit cutting sessions to under 3 hours: there is only one machine to be shared by members so in an effort to be courteous to others try not to monopolize the vinyl cutting service.
Do not use experimental materials or techniques that could damage the machine: The craft / vinyl cutting service is meant for use with well-established materials for this kind of machine, namely paper, cardstock, vinyl, htv, speciality pens made for the Cameo, etc. Please do not use unconventional materials. If you are not sure if your material is safe for the machine, email us at mml@brown.edu.
You may not remove the machine, tools, or materials provided from the PML space.
You must turn off or unplug any equipment you have used: Such as the Cameo 5 Plus, iron, etc
You are expected to clean up your station and put all materials back into their respective drawers at the end of your session. no overnight or long-term projects are allowed out on the tables
Only use equipment you have training on. Having access to the PML does not give you permission to use equipment without taking the appropriate training first.

Training

In addition to the policies above this next section will provide an overview of how to safely use and operate the craft/vinyl cutting machine. Review the sections in green and then take the short online quiz at the end of the training. If after the training you are unsure and would prefer to meet with a staff member, you can sign up for a one-on-one help session instead. Please note there are additional resources further below the training which you may find useful.

Some Basic Operations

please review the videos and text below to learn some of the basic operations of the Cameo 5 Plus. Note that throughout this training the assumption is that you are cutting basic vinyl, however, different materials have different considerations

Blades in the tool carriage

In general, we will have the auto blade installed in the Cameo 5 Plus, however it may need to be removed from time to time to use other tools.
All blades should sit in the left section of the tool carriage

Moving the pinch rollers

pinch rollers grab onto the roll or mat help move them through the machine.
There are designated arrows for where the pinch rollers should go. We provide a 15"x15" matt so the pinch roller should line up accordingly

Using the Roll Feeder

watch until about 6:55
A roll of vinyl works very similalry to using a cutting mat. Adjust the roll holder to the size of the roll, then adjust the pinch rollers accordingly as well
Use the up arrow to feed the rolled material into the machine
Enable the cross cut feature in the software if you want to get a clean straight cut at the end of your roll

Loading the Mat into the machine with vinyl

watch until about 14:38
The mat has an up arrow on one of the edges. Make sure that is facing into the machine.
Apply your vinyl to the top left corner of your mat.
you can unload the mat by pressing the down arrow on the bottom left of Cameo 5 Plus console
When you are done with the mat, please put the protective sheet back onto the mat so that it stays sticky longer.

Software: Silhouette Studio (free)

With the Cameo being a craft cutter, capable of working with a variety of materials, there is no one specific order of operations that will work for every project, including designing. As such, here are few tutorials we suggest reviewing if you are new to this kind of software, depending on how you like to learn.

Download

If you prefer to design on your own laptop, get the latest free version of Silhouette Studio below. This may require creating a free account

Download Silhouette Studio

Silhouette Studio is installed at the vinyl station computer

Tutorial 1: Step by Step Webpage

a good refresher if you have used vinyl cutters before

We recommend taking a look at this tutorial from Silhouette School. It is very simple and easy to follow along with. A few things to note:

the tutorial was written for the Cameo 4, but the process is nearly identical
This is good for basic vinyl cutting and paper crafting but be aware that using heat transfer vinyl and other materials may require extra steps such as mirroring

Tutorial 2: Video

a perfect step by step to follow if you are brand new to craft cutters

This video shows you everything you need to know to start working with silhouette studio. Please use our Halloween tutorial template project, to follow along with this video if you like.

Sending Cut File to the Cameo

This should be a review from the tutorials above, as well as act as a reference for settings and procedures. The following settings assume you are cutting basic adhesive vinyl

Page Setup

for a new piece of vinyl, move your design to the upper left hand of your canvas. Make sure what you see in on your screen corresponds with vinyl you have positioned on your physical mat.
Under Page Setup, make sure the following settings are set:
- - Machine: Auto/Cameo 5 Plus
  - Feed Type: Auto/Manual
  - Cutting Mat: Cameo Plus 15" x 15" (normally)
  - Media Size: Auto/15 x 15 (normally)
  - Constrain Media to Cutting Mat: Check Yes
  - Orientation: Portrait

Send To Cutter (Vinyl e.g.)

click on the blue send tab in the upper right of the silhouette studio, and then again on simple tab.
Under Carriage 1 make sure that:
- - "Cut" is selected
  - Your material is selected. For most basic Vinyl you will select Vinyl, Silhouette Orcal 651 or Vinyl, Glossy, or Vinyl, Matte. However, if you are cutting something else like paper or HTV, make sure to select that material here.
  - Auto (Cut) is selected
  - AutoBlade is selected & detected
In most cases you will/should not need to adjust things like blade depth, force, speed, passes etc
Ignore Carriage 2
Make sure your Mat or Roll Paper are correctly loaded into the craft cutter
Click Send. It will ask you to double-check your settings and your Mat or Roll ins, before actually sending the file to cut.

TRAINING QUIZ

Take the quiz below to complete your training. You must get 100% correct to pass. You can take the quiz over as many times as needed. If you prefer, you can also meet in-person with one of our CTAs instead

What To Do After Cutting: Weeding And Applying

Different Materials

We expect that the craft cutter will primarily be used to cut basic adhesive vinyl that your provide. However, there are some other materials you can use. Below are some things to keep in mind about how to use different materials

HTV (Heat Transfer Vinyl

HTV is a popular vinyl that can be used on fabric and garments like t-shirts, tote bages, etc. Instead of having and adhesive backing, the vinyl is melted into the material by using an iron or heat press.

How HTV is different:

With HTV, you will place your material on the matt with the vinyl/glossy side (color, pattern, holographic, etc) down, and the matte "backing or carrier" side up. This is the opposite of what you normally do
because of the above, your design has to be "mirrored" in silhouette studio before you send your cut file. This is so that text reads correctly after vinyl is applied

Paper (Various)

The craft cutter is also very good at cutting all different types paper. This can be used to make cards, dioramas, drawing templates, books, paper garland, decorations for other crafts, etc.

How Paper is different:

Paper comes in so many types, finishes, and thicknesses that it can be difficult to know exactly what settings to use for the cameo 5 plus.
In order to successfully cut, use a light grip or low tack mat. A regular mat may be too sticky which can cause the paper to tear easily when trying to remove it off mat
Cardstock in general is a good type of paper to use and usually holds up well to the process
You may need to use a spatula to clean or carefully remove cut paper pieces from the mat.

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