Are die-cutting and embossing machines any usefull?

[sundancer 43725xp 0]

So my wife got herself a cheap die-cutting and embossing machine to start making cards. She had used it for some time but now the thing happened everybody said would happen with the cheap ones: it doesn’t cut anymore. The bearings are having to much play and you can only do embossing with it. So she got herself a new one, this time a proper one. (This one.)

Now I have the old machine and I’m trying to think of a way on how to use that thing for our hobby.

Do you guys have any ideas?

[damon 7532xp 0]

Making tops for bases or floor/wall patterns for terrain?

Is there a tool for corrugated card to make corrugated sheets for terrain?

 

[torros 23839xp 0]

Theres a little handheld machine you can get from railway modelling suppliers to make corrugated sheets. Saw it for the first time a couple of weeks back. Thought it was great

 

[sundancer 43725xp 0]

@torros for that (corrugated sheets) I have the “Corrugator Tool” from GSW en route via the OTT SW packet 😉

What I would need would be some kind of stencil to press into foam or other materials… like the textured rolling pins but in a flat version

[Anonymous]

I’m pretty sure I watched my dad use thick foil with corrugated cardboard as a “mould” to make sheets of  corrugated iron  for something on the train set.  It wouldn’t survive wargaming though.

Can you take the machine apart and use it for terrain?

 

[phaidknott 7250xp 0]

Well “if” you can get square or circular dies, one thought I’ve had in the back of my mind would be to scan a gaming mat and then print out a colour sheet with the texture on. The use a die cutter (mainly you’d need this for circular bases as square ones can be hand cut with a scalpel) to cut and then glue onto a laser cut MDF base (for example a 1″ or 25mm circular base). Thus your minis now have bases that perfectly match the gaming mat, and it’s quick to do (other than the need to drill and pin the mini to the MDF base, but if you get a production line going……)

 

[sundancer 43725xp 0]

Can you take the machine apart and use it for terrain?

@Robert I had it apart to see if the bearings could be fixed (they can’t) and it’s nothing really nearly good looking. Just a heavy frame with two heavy rolling pins.

@phaidknott I think circular dies would be doable but… the machine doesn’t apply enough pressure any more to cut…. that’s the whole reason why it ended up with me 😉

[shingen 13941xp 1]

I don’t know how the machine is built inside, but I imagine you could use it as engine for texture rollers on soft materials, either self-made (sculpted, milled or 3d-printed) or even bought from GSW – in that case you may want to prepare some kind of interface between the machine and the roller.

 

On a side note, if you’re looking for a machine that could be used for cutting sheets of material (plasticard, paper, plastic folders or self-printed decals – @lloyd – etc.) into intricate and repetitive shapes, I use Silhouette Cameo, a neat little cutting plotter which can be fed any vector graphics. I don’t want to pollute your topic, but in case you’re interested I can elaborate on that with some examples.

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