Find the machine to cut your stencils

How we work out the recommendation

No artificial intelligence and nothing left to chance: a score from 0 to 100 made of fixed rules. The same answers always give the same result.

• 01Material first. A machine that cannot cut it does not enter the ranking, whatever else it offers; one that cuts it only with serious limitations can be a fallback among the alternatives, never the recommendation. Adhesive vinyl and PVC are cut with a blade only: in a laser they release hydrogen chloride, so for that material every laser is excluded.
• 02A blue diode laser does not cut clear materials: the manufacturers say so themselves. xTool states that it does not cut white or blue acrylic either: to be safe we treat frosted, white and light-blue film the same way. With a diode only dark, opaque film is fine. CO2 and blade have no such limit.
• 03Thickness decides. We compare the one you chose with the maximum the manufacturer rates the machine for: within 60% is fine, up to the maximum is at the limit, beyond is not. Where the manufacturer states nothing the judgment is ours and cautious, we say so in the first line, and the material mark counts for 90%. For hobby blades on film: fine up to 190 µm, at the limit at 250, beyond at 350.
• 04Size is a constraint. First come the machines that hold the stencil in one piece, then those that hold it with an accessory; only if there are none do we suggest the closest one, saying how many parts it takes, and never with more than 70 points. Roll feed and pass-through count only if the manufacturer states their length.
• 05Budget is a ceiling, in your region's currency. A machine more than 10% above it cannot be the recommendation; if none is left we say so and show you the cheapest. An alternative is never more than half again above the ceiling. Where opening SVG takes a paid edition of the software, that cost is added to the price.
• 06An open-frame laser or a CO2 laser in a lived-in room with no outside vent is excluded. An enclosed diode laser with no vent is marked down, because it needs a purifier. A model that is out of stock on the manufacturer's site is never the recommendation; one the manufacturer does not sell in your region does not enter the ranking.
• 07Ease of use and fitness for production are our own ratings, 1 to 3, based on the software, the machine type and the use the manufacturer states. We have not tested every machine: where data is missing, we say so. For everyday production hobby machines drop out of the top three and mid-duty ones never score above 85.
• 08The top three never holds two machines from the same product line and, where possible, the brands differ. An alternative never has more points than the recommendation. On equal points the cheaper one wins, then the one with the larger area: when that happens we say so. Steel has no recommendation: the answer is a cutting service.
• 09If you do not know the material yet, you can tell us what you want to decorate: we suggest the stencil material and thickness (our own judgment) and each machine is rated on the first one, in order, that it cuts well. Without this answer we keep the average of the most common materials.
• 10At school, or around children or the public, we keep blade cutters and enclosed lasers the manufacturer rates as Class 1; when the size fits both, the recommended machine is a blade cutter. Open-frame lasers and lasers with no stated class are excluded.
• 11Starting cost, warranty and returns are facts read on the manufacturers' sites, with the date: they do not enter the score and do not move the budget.
• 12A machine that would have to split the stencil into more than 6 parts never enters the advice, neither as the recommendation nor as an alternative. If that leaves fewer than three machines, we say so.

Affiliation is not part of the calculation: the code that assigns points never receives the list of brands we have a deal with. The tracked link is added afterwards, and only where the program is active; otherwise the link goes to the manufacturer's site and earns us nothing.

The sources behind the rules

Next to each original title you see what the page is about.

• xTool Academy — Laser cutting materials list · il diodo e i materiali trasparenti; il PVC
• xTool Support — Essentials when processing acrylic · «With the blue diode laser, you cannot cut clear acrylic, white acrylic, and blue acryl
• Creality Falcon — How to cut clear acrylic with a diode laser · la luce blu attraversa, il CO2 a 10,6 µm viene assorbito
• MIT EHS — Laser cutter safety · PVC: hydrogen chloride
• Trotec — Materials unsuitable for laser processing · PVC
• ORAFOL — ORACAL 651 plotter film · PVC
• Trotec — Laser cutting film · polyester (PET)
• xTool Academy — Laser cutting kerf · 0.25 mm to 0.51 mm on wood and plastics
• Cricut Help — Which materials can I cut · Stencil Film 0.4 mm is a Design Space setting
• Graphtec CE8000 — specifications · stencil material up to 25 mil
• Silhouette Studio — editions · SVG import needs Designer Edition