Anybody here use their X-Carve to cut stencils for spray painting or other similar artistic uses? I’d love to see some examples! I am counting down the days until my machine arrives and intending to use it for that kind of project regularly, namely layered stencil graffiti styles.
I don’t make stencils, but I’ve been cutting vinyl sheets on the X-Carve to make Back Up Camera Pranks (Prankyz.com). I made a small vacuum table that works great. I just lay a sheet on the vacuum table and cut away. I got the vacuum table plans from someone on the forum. 1/16 downcut bit does a great job and doesn’t try to lift the sheet while cutting.
MonoKote? the stuff you use in building RC airplanes?
How big are the stencils you want to cut?
I have a Cricut vinyl, card stock, etc… Max single cut size of 11.50" X 23.50"
I’m not sure, but I don’t think the X-Carve is the best tool for the job
I might use a drag knife if I find one that looks promising, and if I’m cutting in thinner materials like paper or vellum. I also plan to add a laser down the road at some point. But with something like the x-carve, I could even cut stencils out of thin woods, like bass or balsa, maybe plywood underlayment, and they would be far more durable and reusable in cases of designs I wanted to be able to replicate. The Cricut looks neat, but nowhere near as versatile. And stencils are just one goal. I have lots of woodworking projects in mind, of course! 
More than anything, I just want to see if anyone else has done similar stuff and has pics they want to share! I’ve been getting lots of inspiration from the forums.
I bought some of those vinyl ‘for sale’/‘for rent’ signs at Home Depot. They come in a variety of sizes and thicknesses, but work VERY well for spray paint templates and not too expensive.
I used an engraving vbit as a straight bit carve just deep enough to go through the material. Worked great and gave me very clean edges.
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Just watched a video by this guy Eric. He cut a stencil out on the xcarve for spray paint. Hope this helps
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Second Project I ever carved was a simple 2’x2’ sign out of hardboard using the Stencil Font to make a spray paint stencil for the wife’s parents. They have a lot of garage sales. It made theirs stand out and it took 1 minute to make 10 of them on some piece of cardboard afterwards. Basically just said Garage Sale in big letters and then their address underneath. Then I also had an arrow that was separate that I just flipped back and forth for directions.
Check out the user “Simply Sara Art” on youtube for some crazy spray painting using stencils…
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Nice! Thanks for sharing!
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