Blade dragging & Jagged Edge

[lbartle]

Hi. I'm pretty much a newbie, trying hard to figure out my Silver Bullet 24" Professional Cutter. I'm cutting planner dividers out of laminated thick scrapbook paper. I have my V=400 and F=206. I'm using the 60 degree long blade, but not with the click holder. I find that when I have the blade at just the right setting so that it will cut the dividers, when the blade travels from cutting the binder holes to cutting the divider edge, it drags and slices the lamination at times. I've wasted SO MUCH material. Does anyone have any suggestions? Will ordering the click holder help? Or, is this just a matter of me having the wrong blade or having the blade protrude too much? Also, there are times when it seems like my V & F aren't correct because the edge cut is a bit jagged. If I put the divider back into the laminator after the cut, the edge is smoother, but I'd rather not have to do this extra step.

Thanks for any assistance anyone can offer. I desperately want to start loving this machine, but so far am fairly disappointed with it. It's probably just learning curve, but I have cut hundreds of dividers and don't seem to be able to do it consistently every time.

[Gigi]

It sounds like your blade may be cutting into the mat. Have you tried just using the 60 degree blade? It's really hard to guess at which blade you need as "thick scrapbook paper" could be many things. Do you know the weight of it? Have you tried the 60 degree blade? Your force is too high - you would get better results from doing a multi pass.

The fact that the blade is dragging and cutting as it moves either means that your mat is warped, the blade is out too long, or your material is not well brayered onto the mat. Those would be the main reasons for the cut while dragging. And this is a learning curve. Are you doing a test cut? You mention wasting a lot of material and what I don't know is if you have successfully cut just plain white cardstock, for instance. It is important to get a good feel for the machine and I just cannot tell from what you have said.

You seem to be questioning if your blade is out too far, but you don't mention how far that is. Are you using the blade setter to be sure the distance between the blade and material you are cutting is optimal? The more information you can give us, the better we can help.

What kind of laminate material are you using? We could try to replicate your materials - and see what force and blade is needed. I have plenty of different weights of cardstock and have peel off laminate - not sure if I still have regular laminate that goes through a machine or not.

As far as the click blade holder is concerned - that is personal preference as we have said before. Some people love it because it is so easy to adjust the blade from vinyl to whatever - for example. If everything is set correctly, the blade holder will not make the difference in your cut - it just makes it easier to go back and forth between materials. Many of us use it and love it. Just as many prefer the regular blade holder. It is totally up to you.

I would definitely look at the things I mentioned above, and then work to get just simple cuts (like rectangles) out of your material before doing the bigger project. Be sure you have everything right first. The test cut is absolutely your best friend. It won't do multi cuts, so make a small square, lower your force and do 2 passes, for instance. But do that after you have tested your blades on smaller cuts, and made sure your mat is flat and not warping, and that your material is well brayered to the mat.

You will love the machine - it just takes time to get comfortable with how things all work together and what a difference the right blade can make.

If you want any of us to test cut the file, just upload it here as an svg, or you can email it to me - admin@silverbulletcutters.com Once we know the weight of your card stock, we can try to replicate what you are doing as best we can.

Go back to basics and have success just with the card stock you are using. Then add enough force to get through the laminate as well. Take some of the material that has cut incorrectly and use it to cut squares or rectangles until you get that right. (after you check all of the other things as well). Then it should be an easy transition.

Any information you can add will help us . Take a deep breath and do some simple cuts for a while until you get the right combination.

I was a bit redundant - sorry. It's been a long day!! You will get this.