The Definitive Guide to Cutting Pepakura with a Silhouette Cameo

Can someone please help?! I've read all of the .PDF and I still cant get my windows 7 to recognize my cameo. I get to step 5.5. When I select which page I want, and it takes me to the "Print Setup" Dialog box, the cameo isn't there for me to select. I installed the drivers and and silhouette studio, but my computer still doesn't recognize the Cameo. Any help?
 
So excited to find this, I've been wanting to get a cameo but was put off with seeing the difficulties on lining the cuts up. Since I work at Michaels I believe I will be picking one up this afternoon, being it's black Friday sales.
 
Okay, so I got my cameo and I have gotten it to cut but I have an issue I can't figure out. When I print the sheets it the registration marks are messed up. Only 2 print correctly and the third is only a line and not the 90 degree angle it should be. To get the machine to recognize the marks I had to manually draw the last part of the line in. Has anyone else seen this or know why it doesn't print the full mark, it shows up in the print preview?
 
So I just did a test print and everything lined up correctly after only a couple of tries. Feeding the paper in landscape works really well for accurate cuts. The problem I'm having now is getting it to cut all the way through my coverstock paper. I went over the cut lines twice and it still didn't go through all of it.

Any suggestions for optimal blade and speed settings? I already had it set on the Silhouette program's suggested settings for coverstock (blade at 7, I upped the speed to 5, and thickness at 33) and only a couple lines actually detached from the page.
 
So I just did a test print and everything lined up correctly after only a couple of tries. Feeding the paper in landscape works really well for accurate cuts. The problem I'm having now is getting it to cut all the way through my coverstock paper. I went over the cut lines twice and it still didn't go through all of it.

Any suggestions for optimal blade and speed settings? I already had it set on the Silhouette program's suggested settings for coverstock (blade at 7, I upped the speed to 5, and thickness at 33) and only a couple lines actually detached from the page.

YOur blade depth should only need to be a 2 or a 3 to cut the paper stock. Be sure the blade is properly mounted and working correctly. I have never had to change any other settings for speed, etc. of how the blade cuts from the defaults
 
YOur blade depth should only need to be a 2 or a 3 to cut the paper stock. Be sure the blade is properly mounted and working correctly. I have never had to change any other settings for speed, etc. of how the blade cuts from the defaults

How does the blade setting affect cut depth? Shorter blade = deeper cuts, or the other way around?
 
How does the blade setting affect cut depth? Shorter blade = deeper cuts, or the other way around?

Paper uses blade setting #1. Card stock uses 2 or 3, and heavier materials use a higher setting. Basically the higher the number the further the blade extends to cut the thicker material.

If you have the blade set on 7 it might not be cutting since there is too much pressure? Back it down to 2 or 3.

Also, remove the blade and check that the little "cap" on the cutting end is tightly screwed on. Mine fell off one time when it loosened up on its own.
 
Thank you, thank you, thank you Grenex for putting this together and sharing - very generous of you!

Got through printing from Pep for Cameo, going to unbox the Silhoutte and play tomorrow. Thx again.


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Like I said earlier in this thread, I am new to the entire prop making scene and appreciate all the help people on this forum have given to me. I was elated to be able to offer something in return to the community. :)
 
Thank you Grenex!

I'm in the same situation as PurdueMadLou, I have the Silhouette Cameo in the box at home..
I'll use my day off on the 1st of january to hopefully get this thing going! I'm giddy just thinking about it :p
 
I have yet another question. I went out and bought 110lb cardstock today, figuring it might have been my paper that was the issue yesterday. The Silhouette is cutting mostly all the way through now, but I'm having problems with the accuracy. It starts off okay, but further down the page it seems to get lost and is way off the lines. I tried following the guide to line up the optical scanner manually, but it just reset itself when I clicked the "Cut" button in the program.
 
I have yet another question. I went out and bought 110lb cardstock today, figuring it might have been my paper that was the issue yesterday. The Silhouette is cutting mostly all the way through now, but I'm having problems with the accuracy. It starts off okay, but further down the page it seems to get lost and is way off the lines. I tried following the guide to line up the optical scanner manually, but it just reset itself when I clicked the "Cut" button in the program.

Did you read the section in the guide about adjusting the measurements to correct for this?

Also, are the pieces inside the boundary of the registration marks?

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Grenex et al.
After unboxing and following the user manual instructions to get it hooked up, and cutting EXACTLY as described in Grenex's manual (again Grenex - thank you!!), I only burned through 2 pages before it cut 99% accurate.

Couple of additional tips that helped me:
- I took the cutter out of the holder when aligning it with the registration mark, centered it using the arrows on the machine while looking down through the circle in the cutter holder.
- the extra cutting mat that came with my "kit" was much more sticky than the one that came with it. Some of the parts actually left some of themselves on the mat. It was a PIA to get the pieces off. I'd suggest attaching a full sheet of card stock to the mat and pulling it off whole before using it for a "production" part.
- I think that with 3 or 4 mats total, I think I can get a 10 or 11 page pdo file cut in about an hour! 90 minutes tops! Maybe even better as I get more familiar with it.

Can't thank you enough Grenex. This is a game changer for me.


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To give you all an idea of how well this thing can work. Hope you can see the light coming through the cuts and perforations.


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I have completed the guide and posted a link in my original note at the top of this thread. Enjoy!!!

Hello Grenex! :)

I finally had a bit of time to play with the 'Pepakura Viewer for Cameo' and your guide was really, really helpful.

Now that I've gone thru the setup process, I'd like to suggest some minor stuff to add to your document, if you're opened to it.

Please believe that I'm in no way criticising your work, I just had some problems that weren't addressed in the guide and my troubleshooting may help somebody else. I thought I'd share.


In your document;

Section 2.2 Installing the Drivers for Cameo.

I would like to point out that if you purchased a Silhouette Cameo brand new, the Silhouette Studio software comes in the box.
Following the guide, I downloaded the software from the vendor's website (before realizing I had the CD) and the drivers didn't work for me, for some reason.
To update the drivers, I used the Silhouette Studio CD I had, and it worked right away.


Section 3.2 Setting Default Registration Mark Measurements

Your guide says to change the default setting to '5mm' for all edges.
I did that and I had a recuring problem while doing test prints.
There's supposed to be 3 registration marks on every sheet, one black square, and two 'L' shaped marks.
The black square and the first 'L' printed correctly while the second 'L' only printed partially (only one line _).
After a couple of hours of trying a LOT of different things, I realised that I was working against the limitations of my printer.

I have a HP inkjet (#1510) and I can't print anything lower than 15mm to the bottom of the page.
I can however print to 4mm of the top, right and left side of the page.

So, different people may have to try different settings, as per their printer's limitations.

So, for my printer, I need to use the following Default Registration Mark Measurements:

If printing portrait
Registration marks, from top side: 5mm
Registration marks, from bottom side: 15mm
Registration marks, from left side: 5mm
Registration marks, from right side: 5mm

If printing landscape
Registration marks, from top side: 5mm
Registration marks, from bottom side: 5mm
Registration marks, from left side: 5mm
Registration marks, from right side: 15mm (the 'right' side is the 'bottom' of the page when printing landscape)



Section 3.3 Setting Default Print Settings

The image (screen capture) is not the right one.
The image shown is the same image as in section 3.2.
The image should show 'Print Settings...' encircled


Last thing I'd like to add is trivial but very usefull; changing the default program to open the .PDO files to 'Pepakura Viewer for Cameo'!


Next step for me is to actually cut some parts on the Cameo. I have no doubt that your guide will help me to achieve this. :thumbsup Cheers! :cheers
 
Grenex et al.
Couple of additional tips that helped me:

Hello Grenex! :) I'd like to suggest some minor stuff to add to your document, if you're opened to it.

NovaDom and PurdueMadLou: THank you both VERY much for your input! yes, I would be very glad to include your feedback and tips in my document! I will make updates shortly and publish a newer version with your included tips, etc. :)
 
NovaDom and PurdueMadLou: THank you both VERY much for your input! yes, I would be very glad to include your feedback and tips in my document! I will make updates shortly and publish a newer version with your included tips, etc. :)

The link on the first post has been updated with the latest version of the document (1.3)
Here is the link for anyone too lazy to go back to the first post. :)
http://www.grenexmedia.com/temp2/DefPepCameoGuide1.3.zip

Enjoy and keep the feedback coming!!

BTW: I left out the file association. Personally I switch between Cameo Viewer, Pep Designer, and Pep Viewer apps and dont want to default file association to one specific app.
 
I just started looking into getting a cameo for cutting my peps. My only concern is the accuracy of the cuts. How accurate is it on cutting the hard lines?
 
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