[GreenKeys] OT: Cuttin' stuff with a Silhouette Cameo craft machine

[Eric]

On 2013-05-20 07:52, gil at baudot.net wrote:

     A handy little machine, especially with the optical sensor to 
detect registration marks on something you have printed, and cut 
accurately to your drawing. Anyone here making a DIY box of electronics 
might appreciate the chassis overlay I did. As for the solderpaste 
stencils I have cut, I cut one for a part that had pads on 20-mil 
centers -- the holes were about .012 wide and the mylar remaining 
between them about .008. That's pretty accurate cutting. The Cricut is a 
closed system, only able to use their cartridges, The Cameo has an open 
usb language. The company is now called Silhouette, though the original 
design (Japanese I believe) must be from a company called Graphtec. 
There was an older, bigger unit called a CraftRobo, and then a 
Silhouette SD, and now the Cameo. They all use the graphtec cutting 
commands. The Cameo is under $300, can cut up to 12" wide, uses sticky 
cutting mats for sheet stock up to 12x24, or can use adhesive-backed 
vinyl roll stock up to about ten feet long for signs n' such. gil smith


That's pretty neat. I was vaguely aware of those machines but didn't 
know
they had the resolution or accuracy to cut solderpaste stencils. It 
looks
from the comments that people are using them for even very fine pitch
parts with only 8 mils of plastic between adjacent landings. It's hard 
to
imagine how a knife blade could do that consistently. Apparently it is 
a
very slow process, though. :)

I've always had stencils laser-cut from mylar at pololu.com, but at $30
each and a ~2 week turnaround, this might be worth looking at if I end 
up
doing more smt boards.

eric