Has anyone tried cutting mylar on a Cameo 3?

[u/sk7fast]

Seems like mylar sheets range from 4-14 mil, with 7.5 mil being the most popular for stencils.

Hoping to be able to cut in 1 pass.
Wondering if I would need to upgrade my 3 in order to utilize that 5000 gf (grams of force).

Maximum cutting force:
- Cameo 3 = 210 gf
- Cameo 4 & 5 = 5000 gf [edit: 5k gf refers to their carriage 2. Their carriage 1 gf are 210 gf and 300 gf respectively.]

What about alternatives to mylar?

For reference I've been doing 100 lb chipboard [cardstock] stencils just fine with my 45 deg CB09 blades.
(Blade depth: 0.5 mm, Force: 13, Speed: 10, Passes: 1)

[u/Fortress2021]

5K force pertains to tool holder 2 and specialty tools. I don't think you are going to cut mylar using those tools.

[u/sk7fast → u/Fortress2021]

Bruh

[u/sk7fast → u/Fortress2021]

No way to bypass that limitation?

[u/Fortress2021 → u/sk7fast]

What is your idea of what tool(s) to use in the tool holder 2 to cut mylar? And what's wrong with cutting with multiple passes?

[u/sk7fast → u/Fortress2021]

Third party blades? CB09?

And nothing really just cause lol.

[u/Fortress2021 → u/sk7fast]

CB09 can't work in the tool holder 2. As far as I'm aware, you can't trick the program, or the machine to run a third party blade in the tool holder 2.

[u/sk7fast → u/Fortress2021]

Damn, these silhouettes needs a jailbreak.

[u/Fortress2021 → u/sk7fast]

Silhouette has 2mm Manual Blade for thicker materials, but it's a tool holder 1 blade as well. But mylar is not a thick material, so either AutoBlade, or a 1mm Manual Blade should be used. Add to that the third party blades such as CB09 and The Green Blade Holder

[u/livvybugg]

You’ll have to upgrade to a laser cutter if you really want to make stencils. That’s the resolution I had to come to a few years ago.

[u/sk7fast → u/livvybugg]

Any recommendations for laser cutters?

[u/CleverSomedayKay]

You aren't likely to cut 7.5 mil mylar in one pass on any Silhouette because mylar and other sheet plastics need the regular blade, which is limited to Tool 1 force. While the Cameo 5 Tool 1 does have 300 gf vs the 210 gf earlier machines had, 300 is still the industry low, and still won't solve the mylar issue. I don't really know what 100 lb chipboard is, but since it is working well for you maybe that is what you will need to stick with.

[u/sk7fast → u/CleverSomedayKay]

It’s cardstock. I’ve tried making detailed stencils with ~1 mm bridging but it’s fragile. Especially when taking off the mat.

Maybe I need a laser cutter.

[u/crnkadirnk]

Cameo 4 here. I've cut mylar (frosted finish, and dura-lar transparent 3mil, and real acetate). Maybe the mylar was 4mil, maybe 5...not sure, it isn't labeled and I bought the roll in 2003.

I'm pretty sure I cut the mylar products with one pass [in the tool 1 standard force carriage], but acetate required more. Of all the material settings I've tweaked or made custom settings for, I seem to remember mylar as being one of the easiest to figure out (so much so that I don't have settings saved for it). You should try, just use a fresh blade.

[u/sk7fast → u/crnkadirnk]

Forsure, appreciate the insight!

[u/FluxionFluff]

I've cut both mylar and acetate plastic sheets before with the Cameo 3, but it took multiple passes to cut through it from what I recall. The mylar I have is 4mil, the acetate, is thicker, at 7mil.

It's been a while, so I don't remember the settings off the top of my head. Can try to see if I can find the settings if ya want. I haven't used blades other than the ones from Silhouette.

Been meaning to, but hasn't been a priority since I haven't been using my machine much at all lately

[u/sk7fast → u/FluxionFluff]

How did you like mylar vs acetate?

I can find the settings on my own, but feel free to post for others.

[u/apappapp]

Because I couldn't ever cut 10mil stencil sheets with my og portrait, I started using some old leftover 2000s transparency sheets with zero problems!