Some of my friends are using the Cameo laser cutter with good results. The Cricut appears to be about the same price range so it is not really a poor man's alternative to a laser cutter.
The botttom line for most of us would be a comparison of the results and ease of use.
Also- I may have missed it but is the software usable on a Mac?
Thanks for showing the Cricut- we don't get to see a lot of these things around here.
Do you have a link to the Cameo laser cutter you mention? Most laser cutters I have seen in the $300-$400 dollar ranges are the Chinese K40 40W derivatives. They can be made into nice machines but typically require a lot of tinkering to get them to work well. Like a lot of the low end Chinese stuff the quality control is lacking and manufacturer support is not existent.
Kevin Jones On30, HO, Unfinished basement, Lots of Wishful Thinking
The Cricut devices and Silhouette (maker of the Cameo) devices aren't "laser cutters", they are "die cutters" or "cutting plotters" that use knife blades to cut through materials.
IMO: Cricut is the market leader with crappy web based software (up until the past week) and closed source everything, while Silhouette is a good sturdy second with excellent software and good interoperability posture.
The new Silhouette Cameo 4 is seemingly somewhat rushed to market and has bugs to iron out, but the older versions of the Cameo are good solid products. Cricut folks are only now getting the software as a desktop app and I'm hoping they will catch up with the Silhouette software and/or open up to other software makers to allow them to use the Cricut devices.
Each are capable devices that have numerous hobby uses, but they are not a laser cutter and as such can't do thicker styrene or balsawoods etc., nor can they do etch patterns like brick and other things a laser could do.
Comments
cutter vs laser cutter Cameo?
Some of my friends are using the Cameo laser cutter with good results. The Cricut appears to be about the same price range so it is not really a poor man's alternative to a laser cutter.
The botttom line for most of us would be a comparison of the results and ease of use.
Also- I may have missed it but is the software usable on a Mac?
Thanks for showing the Cricut- we don't get to see a lot of these things around here.
I may have missed it but is the software usable on a Mac?
If you are referring to the Cricut the answer is yes.
Cameo laser cutter ??
@la.484.sp
Do you have a link to the Cameo laser cutter you mention? Most laser cutters I have seen in the $300-$400 dollar ranges are the Chinese K40 40W derivatives. They can be made into nice machines but typically require a lot of tinkering to get them to work well. Like a lot of the low end Chinese stuff the quality control is lacking and manufacturer support is not existent.
Kevin Jones
On30, HO, Unfinished basement, Lots of Wishful Thinking
@la.484.sp
la.484.sp (name?),
The Cricut devices and Silhouette (maker of the Cameo) devices aren't "laser cutters", they are "die cutters" or "cutting plotters" that use knife blades to cut through materials.
IMO: Cricut is the market leader with crappy web based software (up until the past week) and closed source everything, while Silhouette is a good sturdy second with excellent software and good interoperability posture.
The new Silhouette Cameo 4 is seemingly somewhat rushed to market and has bugs to iron out, but the older versions of the Cameo are good solid products. Cricut folks are only now getting the software as a desktop app and I'm hoping they will catch up with the Silhouette software and/or open up to other software makers to allow them to use the Cricut devices.
Each are capable devices that have numerous hobby uses, but they are not a laser cutter and as such can't do thicker styrene or balsawoods etc., nor can they do etch patterns like brick and other things a laser could do.
-Yaron.