reusable stencils

[lindbergd 0]

I'm looking to buy the US Cutter MH 34" so i can make stencils for spray painting.  Is there a roll or something that i can order to make REUSABLE stencils on?

[haumana 1,220]

I order to cut through media, you will need some kind of carrier sheet to do that. Keep in mind that the cutter will be limited as to the thickness of the material you're trying to cut, not to mention the drag on it. The cutters weren't meant to have an excessive amount of drag on them. What kind of material were you ideally thinking about, and how thick were you wanting to make the stencil?

[slice&dice 2,450]

The rolls of stencil vinyl material are cheap enough to make as many copies of single-use decals as you require.

If you want a reusable polyethylene stencil, then you're not gonna be able to cut those with the MH or any other drag plotter/cutter. Those are die-stamped with special (high-force) equipment.

 

 

 

[lindbergd 0]

unsure of the thickness, I was hoping to cut the standard stencil blank sheets, something similar to ones you might find at Michaels or a craft store?  Only the ones they have there are only 12"x12" usually.. I was looking for a roll, or something bigger for very large stencils..

If the MH wont cut it, do you have an alternative suggestion for hardware?

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

plotter with the biggest downforce is the titan series - 

[haumana 1,220]

CNC or laser cut whatever kind of media you're looking to use.

[slice&dice 2,450]

If they sell 12x12 sheets of stencil material, it's likely for the craft-cutter Cricut.

 

[jmas 119]

This shouldn't be hard to find but I think you need three steps..

1) Figure out what material you'll want to use. This is a little harder since you don't have a plotter to test material with yet. You'll have to look at it and determine if it'll work for the painting you want to do. If you think the material at the hobby store will work, buy some of it, look at it, handle it, cut a hole in it with a knife and practice painting with it. If it works, go on to the next steps.

2) Determine if the MH will cut it. The MH specs say it can cut up to 39 mil thick material. Thickness isn't everything, the material matters too. It can't cut 39mils of steel after all. But since you don't have a plotter to test with, I'd ask somebody to be sure once you've found a material. Google indicates that 4, 7 and 10 mil mylar are often used for stencils, and I bet that's what those 12x12 sheets are made of. That shouldn't be any trouble at all, if it works and if that's what it's made of.

3) Look for rolls. If you do settle on mylar, there seems to be a lot of rolls of it online. Whatever you choose, don't limit yourself to what's on vinyl sites, you might find what you need elsewhere. I was looking into helping make face shields for medical personnel using my plotter. I eventually found a clear plastic material used in the baking industry and got a couple feet to test it. It worked, but it wasn't wide enough and I didn't know the thickness, so I measured it with calipers then found a plastics manufacturer that sells large rolls of it to various industries in that thickness.