making painting stencils with a scan n cut?

I have a Cricut Explore One that I use to make stencils. I use their Vinyl Stencil material to make my stencils. I am not familiar with the Scan N Cut but looking at it on line it looks like it would do what you need.

I will say, I hope it comes with good instructions. If it's like the cricut the learning curve is a bit difficult simply because the only instructions are on line and are in fact instructions for making girly craft things which don't help much, except with learning basic operation. But being able to make your own stencils is fantastic and worth learning to use a machine to do it. Having that built in scanner would be nice.

Thanks.  How does the vinyl stencil material work?  Does it have any adhesive to it?

Yes it's lightly adhesive. It's a bit thick and you have to work with it on curves but I've had  success with it. It's a Cricut specific item though so I don't know if it would work with a Scan N Cut. If you can cut the tape with the cut n scan you'll be good to go I'm sure. Probably just need something to stick the tape on to run it through the cutter.

One option that may work is using friskit film. It is thin and mildly adhesive, easy to cut and work with and flexible. it comes in sheets or rolls.

Here is one place that has  it but it is probably availble at any art store.

frisket-film

I have tried, but still not happy yet with the results.  My problem is that I have an older machine that does not have an automatic depth control.  Since modelers masking tape is not one of the normal cutting materials in the depth charts, I have to figure out a depth setting for masking tape.  I have also tried to cut 020 styrene.  I have it almost, but no cigar yet.  I know it can be done.  Maybe folks with older machines that have the depth setting for common substances can help create a data base somewhere, or may be aware of such a database.  Of course, you can try making the masks from the pressure sensitive adhesive vinyl the machines were originally designed for.  They work okay for acrylics, and one coat of enamels, but extended coats of enamel on them seem to destroy the adhesive around the edges and they tend to curl.  If you can coat with one coat of enamel and pull the masks immediately afterwards, that works too.  Contact paper works fine as an adhesive vinyl and is cheaper than the stuff from craft stores.

Thanks everyone for the responses.  I've found a couple of videos on youtube.  An old one where using some sticky stencil material from the manufacturer and a newer one where a woman uses a bunch of different materials.  So I'm hopeful I can find something to use.  It does indeed seem that finding the right cut depth is the key.

And I really can't wait to see what built-in stencil patterns they have for Battle of Britain aircraft!  *ducks*

@Don, I would like to hear how you get on with the 20 thou styrene.  I was initially thinking I could use it to make walls out of chipboard but I think that's going to be too thick for it.  But if I could make a template for one out of styrene, it would be a lot easier to do the cut in the chipboard I would think?

Make a pattern out of adhesive vinyl.  The machines cut that stuff fine, and the pattern sticks without gluing.  I have used that technique cutting thick wood.

I tried my first experiment with it tonight.  Didn't go so well, actually....

The scan seems fine.  To cut, I taped a piece of Tamiya masking tape onto an index card.  It didn't make a very clean cut. It was fairly small numbers - turret numbers on a 1/35 tank.

The main problem I have, it seems, is getting access to the machine :-)

I'll try adhesive vinyl and see how that works.

I decided to give some Artool Ultra Mask a try and it is heads and tails above the Cricut stencil vinyl. It's thin and easily sticks well to curved surfaces and is low tack. Here are a couple photos of goofy cricut stars I painted on a paint mule to show how it adheres differnet locations, and the first photo shows how thin it is. Really nice stuff.                   

You can see it bends around curves and still adheres to the surface. Very nice.

Cut these lightning bolts with the cricut using the Artool Ultra mask. I will be ordering a roll of this stuff.

This looks like an interesting idea. What would be awesome is if someone in the US sold Kabuki sheets. I know Maketar sells them, but they are pricy and you'd have to deal with international shipping

https://shop.maketar.com/?product_cat=utility-masks

Interesting about the artool ultra mask.  A couple of quick questions -

you just fed it into the cricut and did the cut no probs?

I guess with any adhesive I worry about it pulling up paint.  You stuck it on the plane, painted, then pulled up the mask, no prob?

phil172

Interesting about the artool ultra mask.  A couple of quick questions -

you just fed it into the cricut and did the cut no probs?

I guess with any adhesive I worry about it pulling up paint.  You stuck it on the plane, painted, then pulled up the mask, no prob?

 

 

Yes it comes with a backing on it and I set the sheet on the cricut board, set the cricut to cut stencil vinyl and it did great. I was concerned because cricut stencil vinyl is much thicker but the machine still cut it the Ultra Mask perfectly.

Yes I stuck it right on the paint and it worked great no pull up. So you know, the plane had been painted a couple of days earlier with Tamiya Acrylics and I also put all my freshly painted models in a dehydrator for a while to help speed curing.

It's not cheap so I just bought the packet of individual sheets to give it a try.

phil172

I tried my first experiment with it tonight.  Didn't go so well, actually....

The scan seems fine.  To cut, I taped a piece of Tamiya masking tape onto an index card.  It didn't make a very clean cut. It was fairly small numbers - turret numbers on a 1/35 tank.

 

The main problem I have, it seems, is getting access to the machine :-)

I'll try adhesive vinyl and see how that works.

 

 

The clean cut is the problem with the 020 styrene.  On the machine I have, the depth adjustments are not fine, just fixed increments labeled with types of materials.  I suspect the setting I am using is just a little short of what I need.  Supposedly some of the newer models have an automatic adjustment capability.  I'd like a newer machine but just cannot justify the cost.  I see the price on cheap laser cutters dropping below Cricut costs now :-)

I did a little more work on this and discovered that the main issue I was having was with scan n cut's scanning software.  It just doesn't resolve fine enough.  So I tried using their online tool and importing a .jpg.  That too doesn't resolve well.  So I had a friend generate and SVG of the font and that resolved perfectly.  It looks just like the .ppt and I can resize it up or down.  It still did not cut one of the letters cleanly but that may have been due to the material I was using, so I'll keep trying.

I used the stencil I made to airbrush the numbers on the tank.  That is definitely the way to go.  I had to touch up one of the numbers by hand which was fine.  And on looking at it they were too far apart but for a first effort I'm pleased.  I'll keep trying.

I just make a jpeg and it works fine with their maker software.  I have a good Canon scanner, and my CAD that I use for my own drawings also will output a jpeg which maker works with fine.

Interesting.  What is their maker software?  I used the canvas workspace thing online and it had a lot of trouble importing a jpeg.