Just a PSA to anybody considering buying a new cricut:
They are cool machines mechanically, but the software is an absolute nightmare, DO NOT BUY.
Source: i bought one. Regret sunk in the moment i tried to do anything even slightly interesting. This isn’t a bambulabs situation where it’s mostly a philosophical objection to a closed ecosystem. It’s bad software that makes it hard or impossible to use the machine except in a very narrow set of ways.
I’ve not firsthand used any of the competing machines (silhoutte, et al) but i hear they are a bit better - and i don’t know how they could be worse.
Maybe it's just me and I haven't used it much, but my fairly non-technical wife has a Cricut and the few times I've wanted to use it I had absolutely no problem creating a vector in whatever program (Illustrator or Affinity Designer, IIRC) and getting it to separate the color layers and cut at the desired size.
The Electron app felt a bit weird, but I was able to accomplish the goal of cutting out my design at a desired size, so I didn't think any more about it. <shrug>
It seemed more to me that their app leans hard into getting people to buy vector designs through them, and making it easy for those who might not even understand what a "vector" graphic is, but it didn't seem to preclude me from cutting out my own stuff.
> but my fairly non-technical wife has a Cricut and the few times I've wanted to use it I had absolutely no problem
This is this is one of those situations of knowing their audience. The machine is nice and does some impressive things for the price. Their software works fine for the people that the hardware was designed.
I too have designed things in Illustrator and imported them into their software. It took a bit of getting used to, but I've designed retail packaging with cuts and scores so I can create custom boxes that I was not able to find premade and having the custom design made was too expensive. Could the design software be better? Of course, but that software would be out of reach for their target audience. So instead, I've stopped holding it wrong, and work within its constraints.
> Their software works fine for the people that the hardware was designed.
HARD disagree. Go look at all the youtube videos of craft people finding insane workarounds to try and get it to do things outside of the narrow lane of accepted uses.
One small example. It has a pen plotter mode. But it has no way to
1) generate single-line text (like a Hershey font) - the only text mode is outlines.
Siser machines are as consumer as you can get but still get control over them. They are more like the commercial grade ones. I have a Juliet and love it.
The last time I checked, bambu was clawing back functionality from purchased devices, with things like timebomb lockouts and blacklisting TPU.
Sure, it's a matter of degree, but I'm perfectly happy with my Elegoo. If you live in California, I suggest buying one before Sacramento's open firmware ban goes into effect.
It is, but I mean: Many of us do just exactly that with 3D printers.
We get a new 3D-printing machine and install our own build of Marlin on it, or move it all over to Klipper. Sometimes that involves replacing the entirety of the brain-box controls and that's just par for the course.
At its root, it's only some stepper motors, fans (more motors), sensors, and heaters that are used in very particular ways.
That's pretty similar to a Cricut machine, isn't it?
Because closed source 3d printers grew out of an open source community, it's pretty easy to do this, and you get a pretty similar experience on most printers. Unfortunately, cricuts are not like that. There are a couple projects attempting this but afaik they offer a pretty rough experience.
The modern equivalent is "Just" use Fable or Sol to reverse-engineer the protocol, then write new control software that works locally the way you want to work, using the file formats you want to use.
There is no longer any reason to put up with hardware like Cricut that doesn't do what you want, or that includes artificial dependencies on remote servers. If worst comes to worst, then yes, have the clanker write a new controller.
One of the YouTubers who benchmarks vibe-hackery tried getting GLM 5.3 to reprogram an older iPod Nano. [1] Something like "I just plugged in an iPod via USB. Turn it into a GPU status display." It got pretty far but couldn't close escrow.
Possibly. But i wanted a machine to play with, not to tinker with. At that point it’d be wayyy cheaper and easier to just convert an old CR-10 printer into a vinyl cutter
silhouette has a much better open source reputation if you want this type of machine. Everybody in the crafting world seems to have the circut though, and you can buy their machines (parts, supplies) all over, while I've never seen silhouette in a local store.
I have a silhouette cameo 4 I'm pretty happy with. Silhouette studio works, it doesn't handle svgs very well so when importing I tend to render svgs as a black bitmap and then trace that in silhouette studio. Being able to print registration marks and have the cutter align itself against those is invaluable. I've done clones of paper craft kits, perfectly cut out iron on transfers forct shirts, 3d trading card art, and trading card proxies on mine
There's also Inkcut, which is the only thing that my old Silhouette will consistently respond to, but it works in Linux and it couldn't be easier to drop in an SVG and have it cut (which is my only use case).
It's a vinyl cutter. I've used those. TechShop used to have them.
Theirs seem to be repurposed large-format HP plotter designs.
Vinyl cutters are good at doing one thing - cutting out patterns in vinyl or similar materials. You can make signs, stickers, and similar stuff. Some also be used as plotters. They're rather limited devices, though. At TechShop, they were not used much.
I was hoping this would be a hack that repurposed the unit to work standalone.
Getting the unit to work again in the Cricut "ecosystem" just means Cricut can disable it later when they catch on.
Companies that "lock" or otherwise brick viable hardware as part of the business model (I'm thinking about Sonos here, too) are really terrible. People shouldn't be rewarding them by buying their garbage to begin with.
Would be a shame if anyone did that at a large scale, invoking a PR desaster and forcing some change.
Oh and illegal. Highly illegal and probably would get you in prison for a very long time + come with crippling debt too.
So don't do that, unless you're like.. idk terminally ill and die tomorrow or something like that. Then still don't do it because it's illegal and causes real harm to real other people that didn't do anything wrong.
I have a silhouette cameo pro 4 (and love it), and have been wondering around similar things. The Cameo can only be controlled via the provided software, or a couple proprietary plugins for popular design software.
The provided software is clunky, and the plugins suck. I’ve been building an app for designing stickers, and what I really want is to either be able to drive the Cameo from the app directly, or output a design file in a format that can be loaded straight into the software to start cutting.
The thing I’m stuck on is… how do people reverse engineer these devices protocols, without fear of bricking the device? My understanding is that reverse engineering like this is a lot of “try shit and see if it works”. It seems to me that a few wrong commands could get the cameo in some irrecoverable state. Obviously that’s not a risk I’m willing to take on a machine I use very regularly.
I don't have a Cameo Pro 4 to test, but I have reverse engineered software to control some of their other devices. It's a little janky but if you want to help I'd appreciate it!
I believe there is (or once was) also an Inkscape plugin somewhere but I never tried it.
As for how I reverse engineered it, I just used a USB sniffer and wireshark. I don't think there's a big risk of bricking these devices - I don't think they even have non-volatile storage, so worst case you turn it off and on again.
I would like to reverse engineer my solar power inverter too, but that is definitely brickable (the first one they shipped me came pre-bricked!) and is a lot more expensive so I've had to resist. :/
Just a PSA to anybody considering buying a new cricut:
They are cool machines mechanically, but the software is an absolute nightmare, DO NOT BUY.
Source: i bought one. Regret sunk in the moment i tried to do anything even slightly interesting. This isn’t a bambulabs situation where it’s mostly a philosophical objection to a closed ecosystem. It’s bad software that makes it hard or impossible to use the machine except in a very narrow set of ways.
I’ve not firsthand used any of the competing machines (silhoutte, et al) but i hear they are a bit better - and i don’t know how they could be worse.
Maybe it's just me and I haven't used it much, but my fairly non-technical wife has a Cricut and the few times I've wanted to use it I had absolutely no problem creating a vector in whatever program (Illustrator or Affinity Designer, IIRC) and getting it to separate the color layers and cut at the desired size.
The Electron app felt a bit weird, but I was able to accomplish the goal of cutting out my design at a desired size, so I didn't think any more about it. <shrug>
It seemed more to me that their app leans hard into getting people to buy vector designs through them, and making it easy for those who might not even understand what a "vector" graphic is, but it didn't seem to preclude me from cutting out my own stuff.
> but my fairly non-technical wife has a Cricut and the few times I've wanted to use it I had absolutely no problem
This is this is one of those situations of knowing their audience. The machine is nice and does some impressive things for the price. Their software works fine for the people that the hardware was designed.
I too have designed things in Illustrator and imported them into their software. It took a bit of getting used to, but I've designed retail packaging with cuts and scores so I can create custom boxes that I was not able to find premade and having the custom design made was too expensive. Could the design software be better? Of course, but that software would be out of reach for their target audience. So instead, I've stopped holding it wrong, and work within its constraints.
> Their software works fine for the people that the hardware was designed.
HARD disagree. Go look at all the youtube videos of craft people finding insane workarounds to try and get it to do things outside of the narrow lane of accepted uses.
One small example. It has a pen plotter mode. But it has no way to
1) generate single-line text (like a Hershey font) - the only text mode is outlines.
2) fill outlined shapes.
As I said:
> impossible to use the machine except in a very narrow set of ways.
Congrats, you were using it within that narrow set of ways.
Siser machines are as consumer as you can get but still get control over them. They are more like the commercial grade ones. I have a Juliet and love it.
The last time I checked, bambu was clawing back functionality from purchased devices, with things like timebomb lockouts and blacklisting TPU.
Sure, it's a matter of degree, but I'm perfectly happy with my Elegoo. If you live in California, I suggest buying one before Sacramento's open firmware ban goes into effect.
Could you just hook new motor controllers to the motors / puncher and add an Arduino to control it?
This is a very Hacker News usage of the word "just".
It is, but I mean: Many of us do just exactly that with 3D printers.
We get a new 3D-printing machine and install our own build of Marlin on it, or move it all over to Klipper. Sometimes that involves replacing the entirety of the brain-box controls and that's just par for the course.
At its root, it's only some stepper motors, fans (more motors), sensors, and heaters that are used in very particular ways.
That's pretty similar to a Cricut machine, isn't it?
Because closed source 3d printers grew out of an open source community, it's pretty easy to do this, and you get a pretty similar experience on most printers. Unfortunately, cricuts are not like that. There are a couple projects attempting this but afaik they offer a pretty rough experience.
So a Cricut machine has more than some motors and sensors and stuff?
How much more?
Only if done over a weekend
The modern equivalent is "Just" use Fable or Sol to reverse-engineer the protocol, then write new control software that works locally the way you want to work, using the file formats you want to use.
There is no longer any reason to put up with hardware like Cricut that doesn't do what you want, or that includes artificial dependencies on remote servers. If worst comes to worst, then yes, have the clanker write a new controller.
Proposing cost to reverse engineer a cricut and cut out some pelican art as a new llm benchmark.
As long as there's a bicycle under that pelican I think we're good.
One of the YouTubers who benchmarks vibe-hackery tried getting GLM 5.3 to reprogram an older iPod Nano. [1] Something like "I just plugged in an iPod via USB. Turn it into a GPU status display." It got pretty far but couldn't close escrow.
1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TeW8L9wy-Y&t=1917s
Possibly. But i wanted a machine to play with, not to tinker with. At that point it’d be wayyy cheaper and easier to just convert an old CR-10 printer into a vinyl cutter
Can you build a CNC machine out of nothing but a computer and a CNC machine?
You wanna know how to get a million dollars? Ok, first you start with two million dollars...
silhouette has a much better open source reputation if you want this type of machine. Everybody in the crafting world seems to have the circut though, and you can buy their machines (parts, supplies) all over, while I've never seen silhouette in a local store.
I have a silhouette cameo 4 I'm pretty happy with. Silhouette studio works, it doesn't handle svgs very well so when importing I tend to render svgs as a black bitmap and then trace that in silhouette studio. Being able to print registration marks and have the cutter align itself against those is invaluable. I've done clones of paper craft kits, perfectly cut out iron on transfers forct shirts, 3d trading card art, and trading card proxies on mine
yep, today's reminder silhouette is (quietly) a division of the larger Graphtec, and you can move up from the baby machines thru to a Graphtec cutter!
drive 'em with inkscape, drive 'em with the silhouette studio, hell, there's a bridge graphtec model that can also take silhouette studio jobs...
There's also Inkcut, which is the only thing that my old Silhouette will consistently respond to, but it works in Linux and it couldn't be easier to drop in an SVG and have it cut (which is my only use case).
It's a vinyl cutter. I've used those. TechShop used to have them. Theirs seem to be repurposed large-format HP plotter designs.
Vinyl cutters are good at doing one thing - cutting out patterns in vinyl or similar materials. You can make signs, stickers, and similar stuff. Some also be used as plotters. They're rather limited devices, though. At TechShop, they were not used much.
Try doing a run of like 10x of the same design in cricut software...
I was hoping this would be a hack that repurposed the unit to work standalone.
Getting the unit to work again in the Cricut "ecosystem" just means Cricut can disable it later when they catch on.
Companies that "lock" or otherwise brick viable hardware as part of the business model (I'm thinking about Sonos here, too) are really terrible. People shouldn't be rewarding them by buying their garbage to begin with.
I'm just imagining the amount of damage some determined people can do to the Cricut ecosystem because the serial numbers are guessable...
Would be a shame if anyone did that at a large scale, invoking a PR desaster and forcing some change.
Oh and illegal. Highly illegal and probably would get you in prison for a very long time + come with crippling debt too.
So don't do that, unless you're like.. idk terminally ill and die tomorrow or something like that. Then still don't do it because it's illegal and causes real harm to real other people that didn't do anything wrong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricut#Controversies
Also, it's a very fun article to read.
I am very surprised that the ceo backpaddled on the limit of cloud usage that was going to force users into subscription...
I have a silhouette cameo pro 4 (and love it), and have been wondering around similar things. The Cameo can only be controlled via the provided software, or a couple proprietary plugins for popular design software.
The provided software is clunky, and the plugins suck. I’ve been building an app for designing stickers, and what I really want is to either be able to drive the Cameo from the app directly, or output a design file in a format that can be loaded straight into the software to start cutting.
The thing I’m stuck on is… how do people reverse engineer these devices protocols, without fear of bricking the device? My understanding is that reverse engineering like this is a lot of “try shit and see if it works”. It seems to me that a few wrong commands could get the cameo in some irrecoverable state. Obviously that’s not a risk I’m willing to take on a machine I use very regularly.
I don't have a Cameo Pro 4 to test, but I have reverse engineered software to control some of their other devices. It's a little janky but if you want to help I'd appreciate it!
https://robocut.org/
I believe there is (or once was) also an Inkscape plugin somewhere but I never tried it.
As for how I reverse engineered it, I just used a USB sniffer and wireshark. I don't think there's a big risk of bricking these devices - I don't think they even have non-volatile storage, so worst case you turn it off and on again.
I would like to reverse engineer my solar power inverter too, but that is definitely brickable (the first one they shipped me came pre-bricked!) and is a lot more expensive so I've had to resist. :/
I see so many of these at resale stores for next to nothing. What a shame.
He got it working, so there’s hope.
I guess if one needs furry decals badly enough you could just cut them out by hand