I'm looking for a way to simplify cutting stiffener patterns for DIY camera bellows. I think a Silhouette Cameo cutting machine made for scrapbooking might be the ticket for cutting out the stiffener patterns, but I don't want to drop $300 on one if it isn't going to work. So, I'm wondering if anyone on the forum has access to one and might be able to run a test sheet for me if I send them the pattern file and paper to be printed upon.
I understand the machine incorporates a scanner and software that can trace out patterns from images such as photographs, so I assume a graphic pattern with sharp contrast boundaries between shapes such as a bellows pattern would be very easy for the machine to handle. It looks like a pattern on the order of ~12" wide x ~24" long might be possible to cut out using one of these machines. I have some reservations regarding the paper sticking to the substrate sheet that holds the media and the fact that the bellows stiffeners would be thin paper and perhaps tear when removing the cut pattern from the sheet. I suspect that sheets of very thin styrene might be an alternative to paper stock used for stiffeners. Although I haven't done a thorough search of available materials, it may be possible to cut the stiffeners out on self-adhesive stock and that could also be of great benefit when constructing a bellows.
Or, does anyone have a suggestion for an inexpensive commercial source capable of cutting such patterns using a laser cutter?
Here's the sort of pattern I'm talking about (scaled to 50%):
I would need the thin black stripes between the gray bars cut out by the machine. It's a PITA doing it manually.
A pic of the Silhouette Cameo 2 model I'm considering:
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