COUGAR NOT CUTTING THROUGH BAZZILL PAPER

[Taffys Mom]

Hey out there. I'm new to paper piecing and have only had my Cougar a few months. It cuts through lightweight paper really well (including leaving marks on my mat!), but I can't get it to cut through Bazzill paper. It makes the cut but I literally have to punch out the design. And...I don't know how to change the force - or even if I should. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm determined that I'm going to cut out the words for my current layout TODAY!!! Frustrated in New Jersey.

[LisaH]

Some Bazzill paper is extremely aggravating to cut. What I do is after it gets through cutting the first time and goes back to the origin, I will press the online button to take it offline and then press repeat. Just remember to NOT remove the mat after the cut or move it or the origin. When you press the repeat button (in offline mode) it will repeat the last cut made. Continue to do these steps until it has cut all the way through.

If you want to just increase the force: make sure it is online and press the + button and that will change your force (increase it) but only increase it by 5 or so and keep trying. What force are you using now?

[kim]

One thing to do with Bazzill is cut it with the Texture side down, which means that you will probably want to mirror your image to cut. It seems to cut better that way.

Another thing is that humidity seems to play a huge part in whether Bazzill will cut well or not. Or least in my area of the country.

[Tyler]

You can increase the force as well! Just use the right and left arrows while in online mode. You can learn all about using your machine in the Learning Center - there is a tab at the top. Just make sure that you register first.

[Taffys Mom]

Thanks everyone for your helpful ideas. Tyler, I increased my force using the KNK dropdown menu option when I sent the pattern to cut (before I got your post). But thanks for showing me how to change the force. By taking the force to 115, I was able to cut pretty well.

Kim, I will try your idea but will have to go to learning center to find out how to mirror.

And Lisa, my friend who uses a Cricut said she has to cut twice, so I'll try that too.

Thanks again everyone! So much to learn...so little time!

[Suzan]

That for me seems very high cutting force. Your blade may be just a bit to high in the holder still. I know it varies, from machine to machine.

[rachellann]

also another thing to remember i find it far better to set the force and speed on the machine not thru the software.

[Louise-paisley]

also another thing to remember i find it far better to set the force and speed on the machine not thru the software.

A disadvantage with setting force and speed via software (in signcut at least, not sure about mtc/ scal) is that it also sets the Up Speed setting (Up Speed) so when the blade is not cutting and moving from one part of the design to another is also set.

If you are using a slow speed this can really slow down the time to cut the file significantly especially if there are lots of 'bits' when there is really not much point in slowing the up speed - it is not cutting so may as well be as fast as possible as far as I can tell.