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I'm moving away to another city and I will lose access to the laser cutter I use for scoring and cutting my prototypes. I've been looking for a desktop-based replacement I can have at home. The Cameo series by silhouette seems to have a lot of press, and other bladed plotters with the same system look popular and affordable too.

The thing that bothers me is the use of an adhesive base for the material. Doesn't it break away small details in the cutting? Paper is fragile and I'm worried it won't be worth the hassle. Also, does the software allow for scoring the folds and cutting the borders in the same pass, or do you have to pass the material twice (aligning everything while at it)?

Any experiences, good or bad, with home cutting machines? What do you use? What do you recommend?

I opted to buy a KNK Force instead of the Silhouette Cameo, because of the larger sizes it can cut/score, and because of the higher cutting force. It looks like they don't sell that one anymore which is a shame as it was the only affordable dual-tool (cut+score) machine I could find that could handle larger paper sizes.

The Force works with adhesive, too, so I can speak on that. The cutter does not need a very sticky mat, and you can 'de-sticky-fy' the mat to the desired stickyness (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anoUwS0OJwg), or restick (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJjhBLV_ql0) when the mat has lost too much adhesive due to use.
Still, you may want to experiment with the specific paper you use. I only use fairly heavy and sturdy paperboard. Smaller pieces I carefully pick up from the mat using an X-acto knife. The Silhouette Cameo is a very popular machine, I'm sure they wouldn't be if everyone kept ruining their paper with it.

I'm not sure if the software that comes with the Silhouette cuts and folds in the same pass, but I'd be surprised if it didn't. If not, you could always use Sure-Cuts-A-Lot (also known as SCAL), well know software which I use with the Force for cut/fold in the same pass, I know it also supports the Silhouette.

There's some very active Facebook groups on the Silhouette (such as https://www.facebook.com/groups/Silhoue ... spiration/), be sure to ask your questions there as well, they can go into much more detail.