# Cricut Decals



## ttolliver (Dec 22, 2019)

Since sharing a build report the other day (Benji) it's been in the back of my mind to start a Cricut decal thread. I've done 10 or so pedal graphics with the Cricut now and I have a process pretty well sorted out. At least well enough to share.

So here goes!


*Cricut Design Space*

This is the Cricut design and cutting software. It is free, but you have to use it. I won't spend any time on how to use it, but here are a few quick things to know.

You can't import or export files in any format. You do import graphic images that are subsequently converted to vector drawings. And it can use fonts installed on your system. But other than pulling in images and accessing fonts you will do all of your creation and saving inside the software.

It has a very small toolbox that lends itself to a really short learning curve. I haven't found anything I couldn't do yet, although you have to be creative occasionally to make it do something it doesn't have a specific command to do. For instance, it doesn't have a command to center something between 2 objects. But you can create a box the same size as the gap between the 2 objects and center inside the box.

You can download and design stuff with the software without actually owning a Cricut. So you can test drive it as part of the decision whether or not to buy a Cricut. Presumably if you knew someone with a Cricut who was willing you could even create your designs and share them for that other person to cut out for you.

*Step 1 - Import Drill Template*

First I grab a snapshot of the drill template and import it into the software. I'm on a PC using the Win10 Snipping Tool. Once imported you can size it to the exact enclosure size. The software gives you three decimal place precision on measurements, so will not leave you disappointed there.





*Step 2 - Add Drilling Guides*

Next I add dots to become future drilling guides. These are just .125" circles placed over the top of the drilling points from the image. Before cutting the decal the underlying image gets removed. And yes, my undiagnosed OCD forces me to vertically align and horizontally center my new dots.





*Step 3 - Add Knob and Foot Switch Guides*

Next I add circles around the drilling points to show me how big my knobs and foot switch are going to be. Nothing in my designs has gotten close enough to the LED to need the enclosure diameter added.





*Step 4 - Add Decal Placing Guides*

Next I add a thin block at the top and bottom of the decal. When you are placing the decal onto your pedal you're transferring it with a see-through material so you can look down on the pedal through your decal. These 2 blocks are a simple way to get a good placement both vertically and horizontally.





*Step 5 - Design Graphics*

The Cricut is capable of amazing precision in the cuts. Where you will struggle is in lifting out and placing extremely thin elements. It has to do with the area of adhesive involved. So you will learn quickly by trial and error that font size is a lot less important than font beefiness. It is all about how thick the elements are vs thin and spindly. The example I show below is a great example of text that will be effortless but a graphic that is a bit more challenging because a few of these line elements get really thin. Not impossible, but not something to tackle until you have several under your belt.

Also check out how the pupils look solid and the nostril holes look connected to the nose in the design software, but then in the completed pedal below there is much more space. When displaying shapes that will be cut around the software adds in a border line that makes everything look thicker than it really is. It's almost never a problem, but it can lead you to assume 2 pieces are connected when they are separate.

I get all of my graphics by google search for images filtered for black and white and type clip art. I have zero complaints about the quality of the imports. The edge detection on the Cricut software is nothing short of amazing.

You can see how knowing the diameter of the foot switch bezel and knobs is crucial for placement and knowing how big you can go with the fonts. In my own designs I tend to want my central graphic so large that I've found myself putting control labels at the top. Or sometimes even the name of the pedal along the top.





*Step 6 - Strip Down for Cutting*

The last step is to remove the underlying graphic and the knob/foot switch diameter guides. The decal sent to the cutter looks like this. I apply it to an undrilled enclosure and use the dots to center punch then drill.

By incorporating your graphics into your drilling points you are guaranteed that your labels and such are absolutely aligned to your knobs. So even if the placement of the decal is a mm or two off in some direction at least all of the spacing on the face of the pedal will be consistent. I actually started out with the Cricut applying the labels and graphics in independent horizontal strips. It became immediately clear it was nearly impossible to lay the decals down precisely enough for the eye not to be able to pick up differences in gaps, parallelism, etc.





*Step 7 - Cut and Transfer*

It would be a shame not to share the end result. Although I am going to redo this one. My placement skewed too far right at the bottom. Maybe a quarter of my decals get redone for exactly this reason. Everything else you can be as slow and careful as you need, but when it comes to placement there's that moment where you have to commit and lower it, hehehe.





*Final Thoughts*

I'm using Cricut branded Premium Removable Vinyl and the Cricut transfer film. There are knockoff materials out there and I was given some to try. But the amount of material we use on pedals is so small that it's worth the better performance from the higher quality stuff. The cost of the Cricut vinyl works out to something like 25 cents for a 125B pedal.

What they call removable is anything but. That makes it sound like you could easily remove it and re-position. Nope. You can remove it, but once it's down you're destroying the decal to get it back off. I've been using this removable vinyl because it is thinner material and has less of an edge feel. It also handles easier through the decal transfer processes.

The only one thing I found irritating about these decals is being able to feel the edge and knowing that will be a wear point. I have since worked with this stuff enough to respect the adhesive more. I tried sealing with an aerosol clear coat, but the chemicals caused the vinyl to cup. Next I'll try an epoxy finish like I've seen with the water slide decal process. I think that should work. I have enough confidence in the durability of the vinyl and adhesive on pedals with very blocky elements like the Benji linked above that I don't think I'd bother to seal those. But I would like a sealer on something like this Dr Girlfriend because the DR and GF will get stepped on and some elements in the image are just too delicate.

So there it is -- a bit of an overview of the Cricut!


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## eaglehat (Dec 23, 2019)

This is great! Thanks for the effort you put into this run-down. I’m going to have to get one of these things after the holidays.
Also, love the Dr.GF choice! Is it an octave-lower pedal? ?


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## falzhobel (Dec 23, 2019)

My girlfriend is doing all my design with a Silhouette machine (which seems to work better for her with her sticker work). It's the same as the cricut and makes very nice decal. I like the "semi-pro" look, which still seems to be made by hand, but a little resistant to the stressful life of a pedal..


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## Robert (Dec 23, 2019)

falzhobel said:


> My girlfriend is doing all my design with a Silhouette machine (which seems to work better for her with her sticker work).



I was going to mention, the full version of Silhouette Studio can import SVG graphics so you can create your design in Inkscape / Illustrator / etc then import it.


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## ttolliver (Dec 23, 2019)

eaglehat said:


> This is great! Thanks for the effort you put into this run-down. I’m going to have to get one of these things after the holidays.
> Also, love the Dr.GF choice! Is it an octave-lower pedal? ?


Hahaha, octave is perfect!

I actually worked this up for a fuzz. Same thought process behind the deep, rough voice though


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## ttolliver (Dec 23, 2019)

Robert said:


> I was going to mention, the full version of Silhouette Studio can import SVG graphics so you can create your design in Inkscape / Illustrator / etc then import it.



Oh, that import is a killer. If I end up having to invest in one of my own I'll keep that in mind.


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## falzhobel (Dec 23, 2019)

The whole software is way better in Silhouette Studio. We've tried the Cricut for a month. Overall, the vinyl cutting is the same than the Silhouette, but the whole process of working with the software is much complete with Silhouette.


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## eaglehat (Jan 2, 2020)

Robert said:


> I was going to mention, the full version of Silhouette Studio can import SVG graphics so you can create your design in Inkscape / Illustrator / etc then import it.


It looks like the Cricut web software can import SVGs as well. The software seems clunkier and more limited, but I’d likely never use it except to position imported SVGs for cutting/etc. which I plan to make in Illustrator regardless.
From those who’ve been using this stuff, is there something I’m overlooking about how the Cricut software handles the SVG import?
This thread has lead me to check out the Silhouette offerings as well, so I’m trying to weigh the better software they provide vs. the power/flexibility of the Cricut Maker hardware. I gotta admit: the options of making some cool stuff with thin metal on the Cricut has me hoping I can get by with their admittedly lame interface.


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## ttolliver (Jan 2, 2020)

Wow, I didn't even notice SVG on the list, along with DXF.

I don't even have any SVG output to test with it or I would give it a try. But the quality of how converts normal images (JPG, GIF, PNG) to vector is pretty amazing. There's no reason to expect any quality to be lost importing something starting in a vector format.


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## JospehHer (Mar 1, 2020)

@ttoliver are you happy with your cricut? Would you recommend it?
Sorry for being off topic.

I'm in the market for a vinyl cutter and I sure could use some help. Where did you get started? Because there are a number to choose from. At the moment I don't want to shell out a lot of money so I was looking at desktop vinyl cutters. I've got tired of all the hype reviews that were on the net. And actually managed to find one that seems legit. On this web-page I've found a review that was critical. It showed the flaws of each machines. What do you think which one would be better.

Any help is appreciated


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## Caedarn (Mar 1, 2020)

I use a Cricut and it does a great job cutting vinyl.  The UI is a little counterintuitive (at least to me) but it’s very simple to use overall.  I watched a couple YouTube videos and had it going pretty quickly.


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## ttolliver (Mar 1, 2020)

@JospehHer Good news and bad news. I'm still very happy with it, but it's actually my son's Cricut so I didn't go through any of the pros/cons of choosing it over another.

@JoeR3155 is absolutely right, though. The UI is amazingly easy to use but if you're used to other precision drawing apps you'll find a lot of tools missing. I remember the one I ran into first was being unable to draw a box with rounded corners. Then I thought I would just assemble one from 4 90 degree arcs and some straight lines. Nope, no arc tool either. You can cut a circle up into 4 arcs, but once you manage that you find there are no tools to auto-snap two endpoints and you end up manually positioning them precisely with the 3 decimal precision XY coordinates.

Now that rant may make you think I hate Design Space. I don't. Once I got used to it I really appreciate it's simplicity and power. I am still in awe how perfectly it converts JPG graphics into smooth vector graphics. That to me is the holy grail of graphics capabilities. And if you look at the Dr Girlfriend graphic above you'll see a typical pedal design for me isn't complex geometric shapes where Cricut Design Space disappoints. I'm doing precision placement and spacing of artwork with a fun font and some circles for drilling and spacing. And for that Design Space is the perfect combination of tools and simplicity.

I haven't actually used the Silhouette graphics program but it's been said here by someone that it's much better. And I think consensus is that there's no real difference in precision of cuts between the better devices like Silhouette and Cricut.


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## Caedarn (Mar 1, 2020)

To clarify, and echo what ttoliver said, the Cricut is NOT a good design tool. I would not use it for that at all.  Once you have a graphic you like, it’s pretty easy to import it and get the Cricut to cut it for you.  I’ve cut some very intricate shapes and it works great for that.


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## ttolliver (Mar 1, 2020)

*General Update on Cricut*

I'm working up to an update on the Cricut. I'm not quite done, but here's a preview.

I worry that some of the graphics I'm using with really fine details won't be sturdy enough as a vinyl decal alone. They can't be. There just isn't enough adhesive under the tiny elements. I experimented with a few types of coatings over the vinyl to no real success.

What I'm working on now and is much more promising is cutting vinyl as a painting mask, then painting the pedal. Plenty of pros to this method. You get just as much precision in your graphic. Lifting the vinyl off the backing it's cut on and lifting away the transfer tape are both infinitely easier. What in a decal are tiny elements that resist being picked up and/or left in place are in a mask tiny holes. So it allows you to work more easily with even finer details. And since the mask is tacky you can reposition as many times as you need to get it aligned perfectly to the pedal -- or to an existing layer if you're doing multiple colors.

Of course the huge downside is that painting probably triples or even quadruples the overall effort. But durability will be ideal once coated and you're sneaking up on a professional production quality finish.

The only problem I have yet to sort out is how to best lift the centers out of hollow elements of the mask (the inside of an O) without marring the paint. I think I need to pull the mask off after the paint is dry to the touch but before it's fully cured. I can't scrape from the side to catch the edge of the mask element because the paint is still a little fragile. And trying to pick it up with the tip of an exacto goes through and scratches the paint underneath. Maybe I'm wrong about needing to get the mask off before full cure. That's what I'm going to test next. I've just been distracted from this lately.

So stay tuned!


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## dawson (Mar 1, 2020)

^The adhesive vinyl can be used as a mask for acid-etching, as well as paint.

^^Spectacular DR. Girlfriend graphic! (Venture Bro's is one of my favorite cartoons of all time)


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## still_c (Jan 31, 2021)

JospehHer said:


> I'm in the market for a vinyl cutter and I sure could use some help. Where did you get started? Because there are a number to choose from. At the moment I don't want to shell out a lot of money so I was looking at desktop vinyl cutters. I've got tired of all the hype reviews that were on the net. And actually managed to find one that seems legit. On this web-page I've found a review that was critical. It showed the flaws of each machines. What do you think which one would be better.
> 
> Any help is appreciated


I put a sight on the Cricut brand. As I got it is easy to use, no extra skills required.


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## scheffehcs (Feb 7, 2021)

Hey, just thought I’d chime in @ttolliver - I use the cricut as a mask/stencil or whatever you call it, and then paint over it. Removing the vinyl is definitely the toughest part. I’ve had the most luck with tweezers. Here are some I’ve done with this method:



I was wondering if you’d be willing to share your templates? I am pretty inept at design software. I made a template but for some reason it is always a little off. Thanks for your excellent write up anyway!


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## Redspacecadet74 (Nov 8, 2022)

I know this is an old thread, but I just stumbled across it and thought I’d share a few of the recent pedal enclosures that I’ve done using Cricut vinyl transfers.


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## scheffehcs (Nov 8, 2022)

Wow those look excellent. I abandoned using cricut, but seeing these makes me want to give it another shot!


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## Redspacecadet74 (Nov 8, 2022)

scheffehcs said:


> Wow those look excellent. I abandoned using cricut, but seeing these makes me want to give it another shot!


Thanks. The tools in Design Space are a bit limited but with a bit of perseverance I've found that you can get a really good result. Also, for the small lettering I use pre-cut lettering from becc.co.uk. They‘re available as small as 2mm, which you can’t really cut with the Cricut machine.


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## readingaregood (Nov 8, 2022)

Redspacecadet74 said:


> Thanks. The tools in Design Space are a bit limited but with a bit of perseverance I've found that you can get a really good result. Also, for the small lettering I use pre-cut lettering from becc.co.uk. They‘re available as small as 2mm, which you can’t really cut with the Cricut machine.


I switch back and forth between a cheap Kindle Fire app, Design Space, and Word for font work . Your pedals look very clean! Do you hit them with any coating after?


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## Redspacecadet74 (Nov 8, 2022)

readingaregood said:


> I switch back and forth between a cheap Kindle Fire app, Design Space, and Word for font work . Your pedals look very clean! Do you hit them with any coating after?


Thanks. I don’t apply any coating. I used to use Posca pens and clear coat over the top, but not with the vinyl transfers.


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## Redspacecadet74 (Nov 8, 2022)

Redspacecadet74 said:


> Thanks. I don’t apply any coating. I used to use Posca pens and clear coat over the top, but not with the vinyl transfers.


Sorry, just to clarify, I use permanent vinyl to make my designs. I don’t use the vinyl to create a mask to spray paint over.


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## allsmoke (Nov 10, 2022)

All of these were made using cricut. For some I designed the film free decal and used the print and cut feature to make sure it was perfectly sized. Others it's a straight vinyl application, and a couple of them are stencils I cut out with the cricut and used to spray paint the graphics.

Cricut is a very handy tool. My only issue is the text when it gets down small, it's hard to get clean vinyl cuts. I'm keeping it, but also adding a laser engraver soon


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## Redspacecadet74 (Nov 10, 2022)

allsmoke said:


> All of these were made using cricut. For some I designed the film free decal and used the print and cut feature to make sure it was perfectly sized. Others it's a straight vinyl application, and a couple of them are stencils I cut out with the cricut and used to spray paint the graphics.
> 
> Cricut is a very handy tool. My only issue is the text when it gets down small, it's hard to get clean vinyl cuts. I'm keeping it, but also adding a laser engraver soon


Hi, nice designs. I use these vinyl letters for small text http://www.becc.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d5.html

They’re a bit fiddly to apply but once you get them lined up they look pretty good.


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