Cutting cardstock with peel-n-stick adhesive backing applied

[pasiphilo]

Hi everyone,

I'm a prospective buyer of the Silver Bullet and so far I am pretty impressed by what I've seen and read. I design and produce my own cardstock figurines for gaming and currently outsource to a printing service to do the cutting for me, but I would prefer to handle the cutting myself.

It seems the Silver Bullet can probably do what I need, but there is one nuance: My figurines have a duramount peel-n-stick adhesive applied to the flip side (prior to cutting) so that they can be folded and glued together easily by the end user. The demo videos I've seen seem to show the media being stuck to the cutting mat somehow, I suppose to keep it from slipping when the blade cuts it. My concern would be that sticking my media down to the mat would result in the adhesive backing peeling off the figurines when I tried to remove them from the mat.

Have I understood the process accurately, and if so, is there another way to fasten the media to the mat so that the adhesive backing is not affected?

Thanks in advance!

Joe

[Gigi]

Hi Joe-

You certainly have a good grasp of the process. I can only tell you that I cut double sided adhesive and other papers with an adhesive backing and it does not peel off. The mats are sticky enough to hold the material, but not so sticky that that they will pull the backing off. I don't know how thick your media is (am not familiar with duramount) but I don't think you would have a problem

Worse case scenario, you could remove the adhesive from the mat and attach your paper with tape, but I don't think you should have to resort to that.

Thanks for asking and I am sure you will get lots of reassuring responses! The Silver Bullet is a wonderful machine!

[LisaH]

There is also the possibility of turning the card face down and reversing your image to cut from the backside to the front...

[Sassycutter]

Perhaps someone would test cut something for you??

[rachellann]

I have applied double sided adhesive to card and cut it with out any issues. I have used the Double tack mounting film, Where you peel one side off and attach it to what ever you wish, Then there is another backing to the other side I just place the card with the adhesive on the mat, the backing paper is just fine I can either cut lightly to leave it whole or cut all the way through so each piece is separate, The adhesive backing sheet is not a problem, it will come off the mat just fine.

[pasiphilo]

Thank you very much, everyone, for your replies and input! This has been very valuable to me in my decision making. Much appreciated!

[pasiphilo]

I hate to report that I have been getting mixed and inconsistent results with cutting the cardstock+double tack adhesive combination and I'm really hoping someone here can give me some advice.

Just to summarize: I'm doing a print-and-cut of my own figure artwork printed on 12pt cardstock sized 12"x12" with a layer of double tack mounting film adhered to the back. I am placing the sheets on the cutting mat with the artwork side facing up and the mounting film in contact with the mat.

sheet-size.jpg

I've tried cutting with the 45-degree blade, but I have found that not only can it not seem to penetrate all the way through the cardstock no matter how much force I set, but it "chews" the corners of the cuts (see below). The more force I apply, the worse the damage to the corners.

45-degree-blade-chewing-corners.jpg

Cutting with the 60-degree blade does cut through the media and does a very nice job of it, however the first blade tip dulled and broke off after doing about 4 sheets. I tried a brand new blade and the same thing happened to that one after another 3 sheets or so.

successful-cuts-1.jpg

After many, many trials, this settings combination is what cuts the material cleanly and all the way through: v=50mm, f=65, multi-cut x 2. (Doing a single cut pass and/or lessening the blade force cuts the cardstock but not the adhesive -- the adhesive film seems to act like Teflon on the blade.) But as I said, these settings have also now broken 2 60-degree blades.

With either blade, I am being very careful to set the blade holder height correctly with the blade height pad/tool that came with the machine, and I am also being very careful to extend only about 1mm of the blade tip out of the holder when inserting it.

60-degree-blade-depth.jpg

Am I doing something wrong? Is the complexity of the cuts a factor? Or the combination of cardstock and double tack adhesive? I feel that I am very close to getting this to work consistently and reliably, but not there yet because I cannot afford to replace blades every 4 sheets. Please help.

[LisaH]

pasiphilo I sent an email to Sherri to see if she can give you an answer to your questions. She isn't feeling well at the moment, so it might take her a day or so to get back to you, but I'm sure she will as soon as she can.

[Gigi]

Just taking a shot in the dark here - but that is more than I extend my blade although I know others DO extend it that much.

I am wondering if the adhesive is building up on the blade and causing it to stick and snap. Again - just a wild guess. I have not changed my blade in a long time - they seem to last forever, but I also don't cut a lot of adhesive.

Am sure others will chime in with ideas. Without actually trying the material I am at a bit of a loss.

What kind of double tack adhesive are you using - just curious. I have never known complex cuts to damage a blade - if anything they thrive on it!!!

Looking at your corners that are chewed - have you edited your nodes. I know many will slightly change the nodes to have a mild curve rather than a sharp corner and get a cleaner cut - and the change is so miniscule that it looks sharp to the eye.

Sure Sherri will chime in (or Dawn or others) as soon as they can.

[pasiphilo]

pasiphilo I sent an email to Sherri to see if she can give you an answer to your questions...

Very much appreciated, Lisa. Thank you.

Just taking a shot in the dark here - but that is more than I extend my blade although I know others DO extend it that much.

When I had the blade extended less, it wouldn't cut all the way through the media. For example, with the 60-degree blade retracted so that only, say, half a mm was showing, even with a force of 100 it wouldn't cut through. So I put it back to 1mm.

I am wondering if the adhesive is building up on the blade and causing it to stick and snap. Again - just a wild guess. I have not changed my blade in a long time - they seem to last forever, but I also don't cut a lot of adhesive.

The adhesive does seems to be a factor because I haven't had any of these problems when I cut the cardstock only, as with my earliest test cuts. I don't even get that corner "chewing" when it's just the cardstock. So perhaps the glue is interfering, but others have said they can cut adhesive without problems, so I don't know what I'm doing differently.

What kind of double tack adhesive are you using - just curious. I have never known complex cuts to damage a blade - if anything they thrive on it!!!

I'm using Grafix Double Tack Mounting Film (archival quality) for these. I'm also a bit baffled by how easily both these blades broke, especially since I'm not cutting anything hard.

Looking at your corners that are chewed - have you edited your nodes. I know many will slightly change the nodes to have a mild curve rather than a sharp corner and get a cleaner cut - and the change is so miniscule that it looks sharp to the eye.

I haven't tried that, but I haven't had to so far. As I mentioned, the corners only get chewed up with the 45-degree blade when adhesive is involved. I haven't had any trouble cutting cardstock alone with the 45-degree blade.

Thanks very much for chiming in!

[sherri]

Those blades shoudl be lasting MUCH longer then 3-4 sheets. Theya re tungsten carbide. I would ordinarily never think twice abotu teh adhesive that seems strange. Please email me privately from the store with your order info. I am going to send you a new blade to try....we will get you up and running!

[pasiphilo]

Those blades shoudl be lasting MUCH longer then 3-4 sheets. Theya re tungsten carbide. I would ordinarily never think twice abotu teh adhesive that seems strange. Please email me privately from the store with your order info. I am going to send you a new blade to try....we will get you up and running!

Thanks very much, Sherri! I want to clarify that, of the 2 blades that broke, only 1 was a Silver Bullet blade while the other was a spare Cricut blade I was experimenting with, but both lost their tips and neither cuts properly anymore. Any assistance you can provide is very much appreciated!

[tamihowse]

What about cutting at a faster rate? Sometimes when I get dragging, I increase the speed and it helps. 50 seems awfully slow to me. Also, do you have a detail blade? I'd give that a try. I've cut lots of different materials and I've never had a blade break. Weird. Hope that helps! This group will certainly get you up and running! Fondly, Tami

[Gigi]

I didn't even see the speed - good catch Tami. Excellent points. I have not heard of blades breaking either - not surprised about the Cricut blade,but am about ours - they are so sturdy!

[pasiphilo]

What about cutting at a faster rate? Sometimes when I get dragging, I increase the speed and it helps. 50 seems awfully slow to me. Also, do you have a detail blade? I'd give that a try. I've cut lots of different materials and I've never had a blade break. Weird. Hope that helps! This group will certainly get you up and running! Fondly, Tami

Hi Tami. I've resumed work with another Cricut blade for now. I have the speed set to 80 and so far it has cut 6 sheets of figures without breaking. I do have a Silver Bullet detail blade but I haven't tried it yet. I've become a bit nervous about trying blades, to be honest, since they're not cheap and replacements take a long time to reach me over the border.

I didn't even see the speed - good catch Tami. Excellent points. I have not heard of blades breaking either - not surprised about the Cricut blade,but am about ours - they are so sturdy!

Another point to mention is that I'm using a Cricut mat to cut on, since my Silver Bullet mat got horrendously warped and I needed a quick replacement. Do any of you think that cutting on a Cricut mat could be the problem? I would hate to think so, since the 12x12 Cricut mat with its extra-strong tack has worked amazingly well for my purposes because it keeps my sheets with their adhesive-backing firmly in place during cutting.

Also, I've sent one of my SCAL files to Sherri, at her request, so she can determine if the nodes in my cut path are at fault.

[Elizabeth]

Here is a problem I had with Cricut mats: When using the "kill" switch to stop a bad cut, my Cougar moves the blade housing all the way to the right. When moving it back to origin, I would sometimes catch the blade on the curled up edge of the mat, which would damage my blade. This happened to me several times before I figured it out. I am careful now, and my blades last much longer. I find that the Cricut mats, with their narrow margins curl on the edges much more quickly than Sherri's mats, which make them catch the blade more easily.

I now use Sherri's mats exclusively. They last forever for me.

[Gigi]

The cricut mats warp super easily. I was using a relatively new one months ago for a print and cut and it would not adjust evenly. Long story short - the minute I switched the mat the cut was perfect. They just don't hold up, at least not for me..

I find the SB mats really sticky and they hold well, especially with a brayer. Sure with Sherri's help and everyone here you will figure out the perfect combination!