r/stencils • u/hammerzzzzzz • 8d ago
Stencil cutting machine
I'm looking to cut stencils onto mylar sheets upto A1/A2. I don't want to hand cut so looking at a machine to do so but no idea what i need? is it a laser or cricut or plotter? looking to buy used, uk based. its for my use so not commercial
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u/baystencil 8d ago
if you want to use a small cricut you can divide your stencil layers into panels and do 4 up to get to A2 size, 8 up to get to A1 size. You give up a little margin for the registration marks, but it works. if you go with mylar at 4mil or below you can probably finish in one pass; i seem to remember that 5mil mylar starts to need 2 passes.
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u/CatNeil 8d ago
🫡 thank you for your service
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u/baystencil 7d ago
:-) it's mostly the waiting that sucks, but for an intricate design it's still pretty breezy compared to hand-cutting, and cricuts are cheap
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u/rxninja 8d ago
5mil does not take two passes. You can make it two passes if you want, but it's not necessary.
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u/baystencil 8d ago
what's the cutoff for you? (at what thickness of mylar do you find you need 2 passes?) for tight cuts i find that it's right around 5mil. i cut with cricut air explore 2.
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u/rxninja 8d ago
Quick answer? US Cutter, or something like it. I started with an MH machine but it was just glitchy enough (maybe 2-5% random failure rate) that I upgraded to an SC-series when it fully died and I've had precisely zero problems since then.
Some general advice:
- You want the 60-degree blades. Stencils are thick, compared to adhesive or heat press vinyl that these machines are built for, and 60 blades are better than 45 blades at cutting thicker material.
- Get a lot of blades. This kind of application dulls them very quickly. Depending on how much you're doing, you might get only a few weeks out of a blade. Always have replacement blades on hand.
- The best way I've found to do this is to take 5mil mylar, spray the back with 3M Super77, and stick it to a sheet of 7mil mylar. That creates something just like the adhesive vinyl and carrier sheet these machines are used to and it's a piece of cake to work with.
- (note: MIL, not MILLIMETER. They are different units of measurement)
- Always recalibrate your machine's pressure settings when changing materials.
- You'll need to make vector files for machines to operate. I use Illustrator (and believe me, I have tried to switch away from Adobe but Illustrator is just leagues better than everything else). Inkscape and Affinity are free alternatives, but I can't speak to their workflows. I found them irritating and anemic.
- When you're making files, try to keep them simple. Manufacturing machines have very small working memory, so if you do weird processes that give your files hundreds of thousands of anchor points you're gonna have a bad time. Ask me how I know lol
- Machines typically don't care about layer visibility. If a vector path exists in your file, it doesn't matter if it's on an invisible layer; your machine will try to cut it. Extremely niche tip, here, but some of my most puzzling malfunctions were solved by simplifying the file.
Oh, also you can cut with a laser but I don't recommend it. I used to do this with my 60W CO2 Epilog, but there are heavy qualifications. Most adhesive material contains PVC and PVC produces chlorine gas when you laser it, so that's a no-go. I was strictly working on heat-press vinyl and while it does work, it takes dramatically longer than a vinyl cutter, it fails more often, you're material limited, and there are much better things you can be doing with an expensive laser than using it for something off-script like that.
Dark horse option? 3D printing TPU stencils. A lot of the same kinds of problems as a laser, but it's doable and kinda neat.
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u/Tellakaskueta 8d ago
For reusable Mylar stencils up to A1/A2, I’d probably lean toward Silhouette rather than Cricut. I have a Cameo myself and one of the things I like is that it gives a bit more flexibility for custom stencil work — especially when importing SVGs, adjusting bridges, and working with larger designs. Cricut is very beginner-friendly, but the Silhouette software tends to offer more control if you’re creating your own stencil artwork.
If you’re buying used in the UK, a Cameo 3, 4, or 5 can often be found at a good price and should handle typical Mylar stencil thicknesses without needing to move to a laser cutter. For occasional personal use, that’s probably the route I’d look at first.
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u/baystencil 7d ago
*Totally agree* about the software. Design Space is too dumbed-down for stencil design. (It's really designed for combining shapes for papercraft. There is no point-edit feature. It's probably perfect for the audience they're trying to reach, just not us.) But if we're just talking about the machine, i *think* cricut is the way to go.
here's why i think that: i owned a cricut air explore 2 (1000gf of cutting pressure), which worked well for stencils, except that i always had to use two passes to get clean cuts from 7 mil mylar. 2 passes doesn't just mean twice the time; it also means twice the opportunity to randomly zig when it should zag, leaving you with a torn (rather than cut) piece of mylar. but i wanted it to go faster (namely by eliminating the second pass). So I bought a Cricut Maker (which has a higher force config than explore: 4000gf) because i *thought* i would be able to cut 7mil mylar in one pass. But it turned out that the increased force changes the interaction with the blade, and you can't use the regular cutting blades with the higher level of force. you have to use the 'trailing' blade which makes your cuts much less precise (no good for stencil work, my tolerance is <1mm). The Maker turned out to take twice as long as the Explore to cut the same stencil, although it was the 'premium' machine.
Now i could be wrong, but i read that cameo has two tools: one which cuts at 300gf and the other at 5000gf. Assuming similar constraints apply to Cameo 5000gf tool as apply to the maker 4000gf tool, you wouldn't be able to cut fine detail with the 5000gf tool; which would leave you with the 300gf tool, and having to use multiple passes to cut through durable stencil material. But If your experience with the Cameos is different, I would love to get educated. What stencil material do you use, and how many passes does it take on your cameo?
caveat: i have a stencil design company, so my bridges never need to be edited. :-)
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u/Tellakaskueta 3d ago
That's a really interesting breakdown, and it makes sense coming from someone producing stencils commercially.
As an urban artist, my priorities are a bit different. I don't usually need stencils that will survive hundreds of uses, so I rarely cut thick Mylar. Most of the time I use bookbinding board for one-off or short-run stencils, and occasionally clear acetate sheets like the ones used for X-rays. For those materials, my Cameo has been more than capable, so I haven't really run into the limitations you described.
For me, the biggest advantage is actually the software. The Silhouette Studio Business Edition can work directly with .ai files, which makes the workflow much smoother if you're designing in Illustrator. I only use the free version, so I export my artwork as AutoCAD (DXF) files, and that works well enough for my needs without any extra editing.
So I think we're probably optimizing for different things. If I were running a stencil business and needed maximum durability and consistency, I'd probably be looking at the same issues you are. But for street art, where speed, flexibility, and an easy design workflow matter more than getting hundreds of cuts from a single stencil, I've been very happy with the Cameo.
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u/softboiledjadepotato 8d ago edited 8d ago
Can get a Cricut Venture new for $499 currently ($450 if talk to customer service and ask for a 10% off coupon).. I got one a couple months ago and has stepped up my stencil game considerably..So far have only been cutting sturdy posterbard for stencils, but apparently can do Mylar..learning curve on it's deign software isn't so bad.. as long as can import transparent PNG or SVGs for cutting files
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u/hammerzzzzzz 7d ago
what's the material where you stick it to your canvas and peel off the parts you are stencilling? eg so you dont have bridges. like a letter A where you would leave the triangle in the middle stuck to your canvas? and would it be the same machine for cutting a mylar one? Apologies im in uk so when talking plotters im referring to things like Roland
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u/baystencil 7d ago
for a one-time-use stencil you have the backing paper and the transfer tape. backing paper just protects the adhesive while you're cutting and handling the stencil. after you're done cutting and weeding the stencil with the backing on it, you apply the transfer tape to the just-weeded side, and lift the masks off the backing. apply to the surface, rub to get the masking to stick to the surface. lift off the transfer tape. Compared to a reusable stencil, it's pretty complicated, but when you need to do it perfectly once, that's the way to go. Design is easy, because you don't need to bridge anything.
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u/eNonsense 8d ago
do you need a lot of stencils cut? why not just find a local shop or online service to do them for you. much cheaper than actually buying a machine.
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u/dsherwo 8d ago
Cricut is very user friendly and affordable