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Comments on Move auxiliary cuts to inside of shape with Silhouette

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Move auxiliary cuts to inside of shape with Silhouette Question

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I'm using a Silhouette Cutting Machine together with its Silhouette Studio software. When using the kraft blade for cutting thicker material, it will add loops and tiny arcs to the outside of the shape in order to reorient the swivelling knife (see this article for all the background behind these extra cuts). I marked them with green arrows in the following screenshot:

Screenshot of the proposed cutting paths in Silhouette Studio. In the middle a blue shape. On the outside four tiny half circles marked with green arrows.

This works well and gives a nice cut, but sometimes I actually want the outside of the shape, e.g. for a stencil. Can I somehow tell Silhouette Studio to place the loops and half circles on the inside of the shape?

Configuration:

  • Silhouette Cameo 1
  • macOS 26.2
  • Silhouette Studio 5.0.414 (Basic edition)
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I know nothing about this particular application, but it looks like you're running into the same issues as when cutting parts from a sheet with a milling machine.

In the case of the milling machine, it is not possible to make inside corners with a radius of curvature smaller than the radius of the tool. Outside corners can be sharp, but that requires the tool to move past the outer edge. While not exactly the same as your problem, I think in both cases it's a limitation of what the tool can physically do.

The solution is to not have sharp corners. There is probably a minimum radius of curvature that the pivoting knife can handle. Below that it requires making a separate cut from a different direction. If you stick to the minimum radius of curvature or above, it should be able to cut in one motion. Avoid specifying the shape with a small number of line segments. Use more smaller line segments or splines.

Another issue is that the knife is still cutting even when just looping around to get a new orientation to make a sharp corner. I don't know the specifics of this cutting machine, but I have a hard time imagining why that is necessary. There should be commands to raise the cutter head shortly after it goes past the corner, loop around, then lower the cutter head shortly before it goes past the corner again. Maybe the software just isn't that smart, but I would look around for a setting.

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1 comment thread

If you would raise the blade after the corner, it wouldn't face in the correct direction. The loop tu... (3 comments)
If you would raise the blade after the corner, it wouldn't face in the correct direction. The loop tu...
samcarter‭ wrote 7 months ago · edited 7 months ago

If you would raise the blade after the corner, it wouldn't face in the correct direction. The loop turns the blade in the right direction.

Olin Lathrop‭ wrote 7 months ago

That means the blade is only oriented by dragging? I was expecting deliberate control over the blade orientation, but I can see how using dragging for a hobby machine makes sense in saving money.

samcarter‭ wrote 7 months ago · edited 7 months ago

Yes, the blade orients itself from the motion. In thin materials, where only the very tip touches the material, it can basically make point turns. It is actually quite clever that the software adds the half circles to make sure it can turn in thicker material. I'd just like them to be on the inside of the shape so I can use the outer parts. I neither want to avoid corners nor these auxiliary cuts.