This may seem silly to some, but the thought has crossed my mind a few times so I think it’s time to ask around. I’m trying to think of a fast way to make my own stencils (in house) and I was wondering if anyone has tried using a craft cutter? These machines are intended to be used making scrapbooks and things like that, but many of them that I have seen can cut a wide variety of materials. Has anyone tried this? They run around $300 (average) and if it would work I think it would be worth the investment.
If you are wondering what I am talking about, here is one example:
It seems that it isn’t all that accurate however. Does anyone know of a better solution? I’ve also been considering building a cutting machine which I only want to do if there isn’t a reasonably priced prebuilt solution.
I have the silhouette SD (or commonly called the craftrobo). I have made stencils from that machine with very good precision, it can do 0604, TQFP and and tsops fine but the QFNs are kinda hit and miss. I used a 3mil plastic sheet I saw at home but am looking to get some mica or kapton material to cut. The Silhouette SD is a very versatile machine for the DIY/maker crowd, you could use it to cut labels for your projects. I am working on putting up a tutorial for the uses of this little machine in the DIY/Maker environment. if only I can finish putting up my website first.