newRPL keyboard overlay

[lmamakos]

I, er, "my wife" bought the Cricut Maker variation of the product. I don't know if its the "Cricut Maker 3" specifically, or if we've got a 'Maker 2".

There's some variation in the machines, and I think I settled on the "Maker" vs the "Explore" model because it handled a wider variety of materials, which really means the cutting force (which is adjustable) can be much greater. It also has additional cutting tools that can be used.

I think that if you're cutting vinyl, it likely doesn't matter. I used the default cutting blade supplied with the machine. And if you're cutting a single layer of vinyl that ought to be fine. I think it's described as the "Fine-Point Blade" among the various choices.

My first sets of overlays were printed on a sheet of vinyl on a laser printer, and then I applied a clear vinyl sheet over it to protect the toner for durability. That required some experimentation with the cutter to get the right amount of force to cut through those two sheets, but not through the backing.

A few months ago, I printed a few more overlays and this time did them on an inkjet printer. I then sprayed them with a UV resistant acrylic clear coating and let that all dry before cutting it out with essentially one of the standard vinyl cutting pressure settings. They turned out really great. And I've not noticed any wear on the labels obviously happening. (Though I admit it doesn't get heavy use.)

From that experience, I think the double layer of printed white vinyl with a clear overlay sheet isn't worth the trouble and the single sheet sprayed with the clear coating works great and ought to be able to be cut on any of the machines for sure.

I don't think there is any difference in cutting resolution, etc.

Now, I really sort dislike the company that makes these things and the very closed software ecosystem around them. I think that if I wasn't trying to talk my wife into this as an upgrade (because she already had a much older Cricut machine nearly as fancy), I'd maybe look pretty hard at one of the Brother machines. However, for "crafty" people, there's a big community that uses these machines, and her prior experience with the brand had some considerable influence on the decision process.

That said, I have no idea what the software ecosystem is like for the Brother machines, though I'd imagine it would be similar in capability.