The Silhouette SD Review (part3): Cutting with MTC

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UPDATE: Please note that there is now a MTC-Silhouette Plug-in available that has made cutting to the Silhouette a lot more easier than described in this post. For more information, please read this post: Silhouette SD Plug-in Now Available!

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My post yesterday seemed to have stirred up even more questions about the Silhouette SD. I can't answer every question in detail right now because I am still trying out this machine but in a nutshell, I used the Silhouette Studio to do the Print-and-Cut (PNC) yesterday because that was supposedly the best way to do PNC with the cutter. I am still going to continue using Make-the-Cut to do my projects, especially when Silhouette Studio is unable to open SVGs. There is a round-about way of getting the SVG file into the Silhouette Studio and it involves converting the SVG file into a DXF file in a program like Inkscape, and then opening that DXF file in Silhouette Studio (see scrappydew's tutorial here).  The whole point of me looking for a new cutter is so that I can use Make-the-Cut. However, if I decide to keep this cutter, I will use Silhouette Studio for Print-and-Cut and Make-the-Cut for everything else. By the way, my card yesterday was made with a Lettering Delights' GRAPHIC set and not SVG.

By referring to this tutorial, I managed to setup my Make-the-Cut to cut to the Silhouette, but not before spending too much time trying to figure out why the Silhouette wasn't cutting. It turned out that I did not set the correct printer port when I was adding the Graphtec CC330L driver. My video tutorial below will walk you through the steps of adding the driver and setting up Make-the-Cut so that it cuts to the Silhouette SD.

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Additional tips: (added 4/17)
If you can't find the Graphtec CC330L driver in your computer, go to this link to get it.  

Also, there are 2 additional steps that may enhance your cutting experience. Please refer to this post before cutting to your Silhouette SD cutter from the Make-the-Cut program.

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Tammy, a blog reader, had asked that I cut out a frame from Lettering Delights' Provencial Princess SVG set, to see how it looks like when cut out with the Silhoutte SD.  

I imported the file at 72 DPI (Use Actual checked) and did not change the dimensions. The frame measures 3.1948" x 3.9123" and this is how is looks like when cut by the Silhouette SD:

I used the Kraft cardstock that I bought from Michaels' (recollections brand, 65lb) with the PINK blade cap and I found that there were several places where the cut wasn't all the way through. I had to do some creative weeding in order to get to this:

Despite that the machine can't cut very deep, I was happy with how nicely the cut out turned out.

Next, I cut the same design in the same size through my Cricut Expression. I set Pressure at maximum and the Blade Depth at 5, and this is the cut made by the Cricut Expression:

I have to admit that it was easier to weed out the unwanted parts from the Cricut cut out even though the Silhouette's cutting mat was a lot more sticky. However, the cuts made by the Cricut left a lot to be desired. Just take a look at the two cutouts when they are put aside each other.

Look at the distorted cuts from the Cricut Expression on the  right side:

Once again, the frame on the right was cut by Cricut.

Notice that the cut out made by the Cricut was pretty distorted compared to the cutout made by the Silhouette. 

I am still testing the Silhouette and today I am going to be using the Silhouette to cut out some different weight paper. I'll tell you all about it in my next review post. ;-)


Edit:  Both frames were cut from Make-the-Cut. One using the Silhouette SD cutter, and the other using the Cricut Expression.