Loading the Cutting Mat

[Elizabeth]

So glad you have had success already. You will soon be cutting like mad, I'm sure!

[aprilwinks]

i'm soooooo frustrated!!! I used Penny's settings for printable vinyl and the machine cut through my mat!!!! it's the first night i'm using this and i could cry!!! I don't understand. sometimes the laser is there, but usually it's not!!!! there are no real instructions and Sherri isn't returning my calls. Can anyone help??? thanks!!!

[DBY]

Alright, I have a new question.
I am cutting vinyl and I am cutting multiple colors of media and images. Where do I place the origin? How do I decide which piece of media to set the origin at?

Is this a case, where WYSIWYG would be a better choice?

[Gigi]

i'm soooooo frustrated!!! I used Penny's settings for printable vinyl and the machine cut through my mat!!!! it's the first night i'm using this and i could cry!!! I don't understand. sometimes the laser is there, but usually it's not!!!! there are no real instructions and Sherri isn't returning my calls. Can anyone help??? thanks!!!

Helen -

Take a deep breath first of all! Pennys settings are only suggesting settings. Doing a test cut is the best way to find the pressure. You may have your blade too low - are you using the setting tool?

The laser does not need to be there. If you press origin twice the laser will come on - but you are not setting the origin to the laser - you set the origin to blade point. The laser is only needed for print and cut and will come on automatically using SCAL.

What pressure did you use? And are you setting it on the machine or in the software?

[Gigi]

Alright, I have a new question.
I am cutting vinyl and I am cutting multiple colors of media and images. Where do I place the origin? How do I decide which piece of media to set the origin at?

Is this a case, where WYSIWYG would be a better choice?

Let say you want a circle out of red - so you set the origin on the red to cut the circle out. Then you go to the next color and set the origin for that one. It is almost always in the bottom right corner of the media. Just look at the shape you are cutting, be sure it will fit on the media you have in place, choose that one item (by closing all of the other layers and leaving only the layer you are cutting open - like the circle for the red, then open the next layer so you only have one item showing, set the origin on the next color and cut.

Hope that made sense - need caffeine!

[PennyDuncan]

DBY The Origin would need to be set where ever you want your blade to begin cutting on your machine....it doesn't matter where you have it on your computer screen...as long as it's within the mat cutting area...does that make sense?????

@aprilwinks
OK....I went back and looked at the chart I made up....I had it listed as printable vinyl which is a different medium then regular vinyl......but I think I still some errors on that line because even with printable vinyl I'm SURE I didn't use those settings.....I would have used 20 to 25 force to start with and went up from there....but goodness knows I've DEFINATELY cut through my mat when I first got my machine......made me sick to my stomach

[Elizabeth]

I'm in the "oh no, I've cut my mat!" club as well. I did a test cut, and cut right through it. I just put a piece of tape over it, and still sometimes use that mat. (from 2+ years ago.) DD recently sliced through a nearly brand new mat. The cut is near the edge, so I can easily avoid it, (lucky for her! LOL)

It IS frustrating at first. We have all been there, believe me. Even though I had quick success cutting paper, with other mediums, it took a lot of trial and error. Especially chipboard. I still don't like cutting the stuff. I can, but I don't like to.

You can always use a less expensive mat and blade (Cricut brand is what I had on hand when I was learning.) while you experiment. When you feel more confident, you can graduate to the much, much better quality Silver Bullet mats and blades.

Cutting through you mat may have damaged your blade, so if you feel like you aren't getting good cuts any longer, you may want to change it.

[DBY]

[quote="PennyDuncan"]DBY The Origin would need to be set where ever you want your blade to begin cutting on your machine....it doesn't matter where you have it on your computer screen...as long as it's within the mat cutting area...does that make sense?????

So I can only cut one media at a time??

[Gigi]

Not Penny , but yes. It goes quickly. You can only have one origin at a time.

[PennyDuncan]

You can cut more than one color but you would want to use WYSIWYG setting at that point......and get the placement of your colors the same on your actual mat as you do on the virtual mat....so I would definatly play around with scrap paper at first to get a feel for where you need to place your vinyl......

[Elizabeth]

For me it is much easier to just move the blade to each piece of media and set the origin than to make sure everything is precisely laid out. Just my 2 cents, for what it's worth.

[Suzan]

Hey Elizabeth your 2 cents is worth at least 1.37

[Gigi]

Thanks Penny for clarifying. I forget that you can use WYSIWYG for things like that. I agree with Elizabetih - it just seems easier to me to move the blade to each piece and set a new origin than worrying about having it perfectly set up on the virtual mat - but it's always nice to have options!

[Angel135612]

I do the same as Elizabeth, I will put more than one piece of paper on my mat and cut out what needs to be cut from that paper, then move the blade to the next piece of paper. Don't forget if you do it this way, you need to close the layer for the items you do not want cut out each paper (or vinyl) or the machine will try to cut everything that is visable on the mat on the computer screen.

Once you get the hang of things, it is easy to start setting up your files in the way that is easiest for you to cut and you don't even think about it. To throw another wrench into the mix, I usually will only cut one paper on one mat, and have the next paper ready to go on another mat while that one is cutting, and just have a production line if I'm needing to cut out a lot of things out of different papers. But again, that is what is easiest for me, what works for you may be different.

[Elizabeth]

Hey Elizabeth your 2 cents is worth at least 1.37

LOL! Suzan!

[aprilwinks]

Thanks Gigi, I'm trying but it just sucks. I totally cut a hole in the mat!!!! Sherri said i'm the first! LOL UGH! I switched back to a 45 degree blade. I just don't know what velocity or force to use for printable vinyl. I also can't get scal to print in the colors on my screen it's printing everything in green and my screen has 7 different colored letters...

[Gigi]

First of all - to start a new topic, go to the board index, click on the section you want to post (General, Software etc) and then you will see a bar at the top that says New Topic - that is how you start a new topic.

I am glad you got it figured out, but it sounds like you are trying to tackle an awful lot at once. The best advice any of us can give you is to start slow and get used to the machine.

You can also do a search for a particular question you want answered and all sorts of posts will appear. You may find some of the answers you are looking for that way as well.

Glad you are making progress.

[aprilwinks]

Thanks! I just posted right before, i had my hubby help me. I feel so old! I was always amazing at technology, not sure what happened!!! UGH I guess almost 4 yr old twins will do that to you! thanks Gigi!

[Gigi]

I just moved your other posts so they are separate topics.

[aprilwinks]

thanks!!!