Could the eCraft make the cut with Make The Cut?

There was an intriguing message in the Make The Cut forums that Andy, the developer, and Craftwell have opened lines of communication.  None of us know where this will lead; but, there are a number of reasons why I think Craftwell would benefit enormously by an arrangement with Make The Cut.

First, if Make the Cut or Sure Cuts A Lot can cut to the eCraft it takes a LOT of pressure off of Craftwell in an area in which they have the least experience.  There is no doubt at all that the Craftwell team KNOWS hardware design.  The eCraft, as I have said over and over, is BRILLIANTLY designed.  THAT is their area of expertise and it shows.

But, what is also abundantly clear, is that Craftwell is NOT as skilled and experienced in the area of software.  And, having a bit of a safety valve in place as they sort out and build that experience will not be a bad thing.

This would not preclude Craftwell from designing and delivering a world class software product down the road.  In fact, in my opinion, it would HELP them in that quest by taking pressure off of constant fixes to a poorly designed initial product and let them back up, regroup and build a team of consultants and in-house experts in the management of software development that would know how to deal with farming out the actual software programming effort.  Right now, the tail seems to be wagging the dog and the tail has the dog in a very bad place of dependence.

Craftwell needs something to break themselves away from that dependence.  And, that something could be Make the Cut or Sure Cuts A Lot.  Once that dependence is broken, Craftwell can step up and have more control over the development process in the future.  But, to do so means reorganizing their development strategies, which will take some time.

However, it would be well worth it.  As long as we can cut, using SOME software, I will be the first to urge every eCraft owner to give Craftwell the space to do what I know they want to do... provide a PRO product that more than lives up to the name.  I don't think that will be as likely to happen if Craftwell doggedly pursues their own path without the help of 3rd party products like Make the Cut.

So, I'm hoping the lines of communication produce some cooperative efforts to support the owners of the best hardware in the business.  That would be very exciting to a LOT of owners.  And, frankly, increase the odds that Craftwell could eventually deliver a killer application of their own... which is our ultimate hope.

American Crafts Gold Glitter - Blade Cover Effects

A potential eCraft buyer and her dealer had tried American Crafts Glitter paper with no success.  As luck would have it, I happened to have a sheet to test.

As I pulled out the sheet it was immediately apparent that at some point I'd tried to cut the infamous 3" tree in it and had not been able to cut clear through the material.  But, it was probably when I had taken the machine up to my granddaughters and I KNEW we had gotten glitter to cut.  So, this find was puzzling.

Then it dawned on me.  The actual pressure of the blade seems to be dependent on whether or not the blade cover is on.  I've cut enough now to bet that I'd first tried cutting the paper with the blade cover on.  So, this time I would run a little test.

I would first try a cut with the blade cover in place and see what happened.  If it failed to cut this heavy paper in one pass with the blade cover on, I would attempt a new cut after taking the blade cover off.

Here is the result:



As you can see, the blade cover DOES seem to affect the ACTUAL PRESSURE of the blade on the material.  That's puzzling, I know, since the cover had a hole in it that should have no effect on the blade.  But, for some reason it does.

So, if you are having problems getting a cut at the highest Pressure Level (8) then try again with the blade cover removed.

Here are two hearts cut with the blade cap off.  Pressure 8, Multicut 1, Size 3, No tabs.

Click for larger images

As you can see, these are nice clean cuts.  But, the person that alerted me to the issue of not being able to cut the AC Glitter also sent me some photos that demonstrated very clearly that they did have real problems with the blade cover on even with multicut set to high numbers.  There is always the possibility that the differences we see have to do with different machines.  But, I didn't even try to test how many passes it would take to cut this with the blade cap on.  I suspect mine would have looked exactly like hers had I not immediately removed the blade cap.  Perhaps she can test it without the cap and let us know how the machine she was testing performs.

eCraft - Dressing up the Digital Die Cutter

While we didn't see it on camera, one of the things that was alluded to in the video that Leo Kowal, of www.svgcuts.com, shot was that the eCraft could be used with fabric.

Craftwell has posted three dresses built from fabric, and other materials, cut by the eCraft.  Each dress is created using different materials from glitter paper to wood veneer.  The one we show here was created using hundreds of 1-1/2" glitter paper discs.

I won't steal their thunder by showing the other dresses.  To see the others and an explanation of how each was constructed, go to eCraft's Facebook page.

This versatility was the promise that convinced me to pre-purchase an eCraft.

Up to now, the bulk of the buyers for digital die cutting machines purchased them for their scrapbook projects.  The eCraft promises to open up whole new creative possibilities and markets.  From what I've seen of the creativity of the scrapbooking community, I'm betting that a whole new explosion of creativity is about to burst forth in all directions.

You guys have the ideas, dedication and skills.  I can hardly wait to see what you do with this new tool!

Get ready for Lift-Off!