TerriVB Posted December 1, 2012 Report Share Posted December 1, 2012 My daughter is looking to purchase one of these machines--does anyone have experience or preference. Does one cut better than the other?? She would like to be able to make her own designs--which one will accomodate that the best?? Yes she has the same disease as the rest of us--always wanting to make things and never enough time in the day!!! Thanks for any information--as I have been out of the scrapbooking loop since I bought my Freedom!! Terri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted December 1, 2012 Report Share Posted December 1, 2012 Terri I just went through this process and settled on the KNK cutter. I found software that is pretty easy to use, Make the Cut, and saw the KNK cutter on their site. I would not get the Cricut. My DIL got one and returned it. I was going to get the Silouette but the KNK was only slightly more expensive, came with the MTC software and had the widest cutting area. I'm using mine primarily to cut applique foundations for my applique and I was able to import a design and cut it with a little bit of effort. There is a learning curve to it but all in all I'm very happy with my choice. I've worked on cutting some paper and I find it frustrating. Each paper has a different thickness and you always have to tweak the depth of the blade to cut but the more I do it the less frustrating I find it. I wish you could just program in the thickness of the paper and let it figure out the rest! LOL I'm sure there are machines that do that but not for the price I paid! Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimerickson Posted December 4, 2012 Report Share Posted December 4, 2012 Heidi: Which KNK machine do you have? Do you cut fabric with it? We are looking for a machine to cut applique pieces. We have used the Circut Criqit and find it unsatisfactory. I'd appreciate your thoughts. Thanks. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted December 4, 2012 Report Share Posted December 4, 2012 Jim I have the Zing. I havne't tried cutting fabric but I have no doubt it will cut fabric. It had very good reviews in this area. You can get a fabric blade for it. I just haven't had a lot of time to play with it. I did however cut a stabilizer foundation and it worked perfectly, so I think if it will cut that shouldn't have a problem with fabric. I've cut several different types, thicknesses of paper and it has done well. There is a bit of a learning curve to get the blade depth right and the force right but I'm learning. I've cut out 3 or 4 foundation blocks now and not had a problem with any of those, the paper proved harder for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Grammy Posted December 5, 2012 Report Share Posted December 5, 2012 My mom has a Cricut and we use it mainly for scrapbooking and cards. I have used it to make templets out of card stock and used them to mark quilts and I have cut out patterns with freezer paper. You are limited to their cartridges and mainly a 12x12 size. If you want to cut fabric you need to put a fusible stablizer on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitepinesquilter Posted December 5, 2012 Report Share Posted December 5, 2012 I agree with Connie about the Cricut, no personal designing able to be done as it is cartridge based. Heidi's machine looks to be a nice little machine. After her earlier review I checked it out and may ask Santa for it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitepinesquilter Posted December 5, 2012 Report Share Posted December 5, 2012 Jim I have the Zing. I havne't tried cutting fabric but I have no doubt it will cut fabric. It had very good reviews in this area. You can get a fabric blade for it. I just haven't had a lot of time to play with it. I did however cut a stabilizer foundation and it worked perfectly, so I think if it will cut that shouldn't have a problem with fabric. I've cut several different types, thicknesses of paper and it has done well. There is a bit of a learning curve to get the blade depth right and the force right but I'm learning. I've cut out 3 or 4 foundation blocks now and not had a problem with any of those, the paper proved harder for me. Heidi, you may find it helps to use a higher pressure (force) and then not have to also increase the blade depth as often. Many times that will work and not get the blade too deep to prematurely wear out the strip (or whatever type of material is under the cutting blade of this machine. Also, with my bigger machine I cheated and used a dot of fingernail polish at the setting/position that I wanted to replicate later, and wrote that color and material info down. Then I could refer to it if I made a significant change in material. Also, if you have any questions about designing or cutting I'd give you any help I can with vectorizing, etc. But I've no doubt you'll get the hang of it and soon love doing it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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