dr 🛠️🛰️📡🎧Jan 23

#craft #geeks I need advice/info/specs

I want to make stencils. However, my current use case is on a shot glass. A previous use case was on an object the size of a quarter.

I think I want a #cricut but I'm not sure how small of detail I can get.

For the glasses, I think I need letter heights ~= .25 inches (keeping in mind that the details of those letters are much smaller)

For the quarters, I wanted arbitrary icons/shapes so the size may be less of an issue

Is this doable? How fiddly is it? Assume I am a person who likes solving problems but has a 3 week deadline. Oh also, what model?

Also also, how locked into the software/system would I be? Like, am I forced to use a subpar app? Can I only use their fonts for a
example? Is #inkscape or similar workable?

Show threaddr 🛠️🛰️📡🎧Jan 25

Watched a bunch of videos of the Brother #scanncut #craft cutter.....and ordered one

The main model diffs are extra things in the box, more pre-loaded designs and Disney branding. So I just got the SDX85 and added a low-tack mat and vinyl blades

The software is optional but probably helpful. It doesn't run on #linux, but with a combination of the online version, #inkscape and the device itself I should be fine.

My first project is etched shot glasses for Mrs' #galentines party.

Then I need to etch some metal labels for a #map project I've fallen behind on. (This should be a whole separate post, really)

After that...#stickers/#decals? There's a lot of very clever #women who have figured out techniques to, for instance, make multi-colored designs using the scan feature, simultaneous printing and registration marks.

Show threaddr 🛠️🛰️📡🎧Jan 30

#scanncut arrived. (you may wonder about "wrinkles" on the left. those are bubbles in the cheap glass jar I pulled from the recycle bin)

#craft #art

Show threaddr 🛠️🛰️📡🎧Jan 30

To reduce variables (#engineer) I created the design right on the #scanncut

next up: extend the workflow to include designing in #inkscape

Show threaddr 🛠️🛰️📡🎧Jan 31

I did not expect mounting USB drives in #debian #linux to be the hard part of this project, but

I successfully cut simple, nested and "dashed" objects on the #scanncut using #inkscape only (ie no #brother software other than the cutter itself) ("dashed" meaning I made the line dashed in inkscape and it came out perforated on the device)

As a note to future users (me):

1. Each svg *layer* shows up as a single *object* on the device. Each device-object is effectively already grouped regardless of what the inkscape-object was doing.

2. Perforated more than you think you need.

Show threaddr 🛠️🛰️📡🎧Feb 1

An almost perfectly inane #scanncut project.

However, I

a. verified that #inkscape is an excellent tool for #design the #svg cut path (remember also to convert text to path!)

b. established some basic transfer alignment protocols

c. realized that it might be better to do multiple small areas vs one large area (although I don't regret this one--it came out perfectly and I haven't practiced any registration techniques yet)

Show threaddr 🛠️🛰️📡🎧

#inkscape is still working perfectly with the Brother #scanncut. No real software/format issues which is surprising and pleasant. (Although to re-iterate, text needs to be converted to path. But that's true in (almost?) all vector graphics-processing toolchains)

That said, my particular project is having some hiccups

Workflow: My client/wife wants #Galentines shotglasses. I made a single "blank" and then added alternate designs as layers. But when you load that in the machine all the layers are still obviously there right on top of each other

I messed a little Inkscape's "export only selected layers" but that didn't seem to do what I expected for unclear reasons. In any case, it really makes more sense to have alternate designs spread around a page to view all at once. That makes them easier to view and is how I'll want to print the final job anyway.

#3D #Geometry: The shotglasses are heart-shaped and also have some curvature from top to bottom. There's just no way to wrap a flat piece of vinyl around a positive-curvature item without wrinkles.

I think I've got the design small enough and with gaps in the right places that I can make it work. It also helps a lot to remove the transfer sheet early and just lightly deform only the vinyl itself until it is flat.

I mocked up one shotglass last night as a design review for the client but haven't heard back. Final product is due on Tuesday.

Feb 5 at 12:31pmWeb
Show threaddr 🛠️🛰️📡🎧Feb 8

I didn't take a lot of pics, but here's a result of the #scanncut (w/ #inkscape) #galentines #craft project for the Mrs' upcoming party

(these are actually the reprints of the error ones)

I also took a break and printed some cube....tiles? It's a #3d version of the #math #puzzle pentominoes. The sloppiness here is 100% my poor gluing--the cut blanks were exquisite

Show threaddr 🛠️🛰️📡🎧Feb 15

Next up for #scanncut + #inkscape is my #map pins project

Every year, the larger family rents a different lakehouse on the same lake. I mounted a large map of the lake on corkboard and made pins to show where we were every year.

The first image represents weeks in ~2015 trying to create a mask to allow me to etch brass (yeah yeah, #pcb -- I couldn't make it work).

Then I spent more days again ~2021 trying to recreate that process in an easier way.

I gave up in 2025. I hadn't made that pin yet and I couldn't face rediscocering the process, let alone executing it (#adhd)

But then came the Scan-n-Cut! With the cutter, making the mask was an absolute breeze.