# Cutting Bands with Vinyl Cutter



## entomophile (Feb 13, 2010)

So I am going to answer a question I asked years ago. Can you cut flat bands with a vinyl cutter? I finally got my hands on a Cricut Maker so I figured I would give it a try.

First we need a template of the band. I am cutting 20 x 15 x 203 mm bands. Anyone who has worked in Cricut Design Space knows that you can't really draw in it and designing a trapezoid like this is difficult. So I drew it in Autodesk Fusion 360 CAD software. A good graphics program like Adobe Illustrator would probably work as well. I just exported the image as a DXF file and imported it into Cricut Design Space (CDS).





  








Fusion360




__
entomophile


__
Feb 4, 2021




Creating DXF in Fusion 360






With the image in CDS, I duplicated the image and flipped it 180 and grouped the two. Then I duplicated the group two times for 6 bands total and grouped all of them. I used the align function as I went along to get all of the images lined up.





  








Cricut




__
entomophile


__
Feb 4, 2021




DXF copied and arranged in Cricut Design Space






When you send the image to the cutter you need to select your material. I wanted to cut with the rotary cutter, NOT the knife. There is no slingshot rubber setting so I used the "Felt, Acrylic Fabric" setting. There are other settings that would probably work, the important thing is I used a medium cutting pressure and ONE pass with the cutter.





  








Cricut Maker Settings




__
entomophile


__
Feb 4, 2021




Material selected for cutting






I used the firm grip cutting mat to try and keep the rubber from moving and pressed down a piece of rubber just larger than needed.





  








Band on cutting mat




__
entomophile


__
Feb 4, 2021








And here it is after the cut with the excess rubber removed.





  








Cut Bands




__
entomophile


__
Feb 4, 2021




Bands cut and weeded






So...it worked, mostly. The rubber seemed to move a little as the cutter was going. Not sure what happened on the last band. I think maybe the rubber got pulled into the cutting path. My mat was a little dirty and not as sticky as it could be. I think a really good stick is crucial for a good cut. Another down side is you have to space the bands apart. You can't use one cut line for two bands like you do when cutting manually. (Maybe you can but I can't figure it out in CDS.)

It doesn't take that long to cut bands manually but if you have a vinyl cutter and you want to make a bunch of bands at once, this might be worth a try. If I get some decent pouch material, maybe I will try cutting some pouches.


----------



## Tag (Jun 11, 2014)

Great idea, thanks for sharing


----------



## Melvin Jayne (8 mo ago)

I have the USCutter MH 34in and is a great machine for not a lot of $ 
This cutter a fun adventure into vinyl cutting. The kit came with just about everything I needed to start making decals and such. I've even made custom coffee mugs with the vinyl, too. The only other thing I had to get was a cutting mat. 
The software it came with does an excellent job creating vectors and outlines for the cutter.


----------

