Just as I suspected...

[Elizabeth]

For a while now, I have had the suspicion that hitting the edge of the mat with the blade ruins the blade. Tonight I did it AGAIN and sure enough, my blade, which was new a couple of weeks ago, didn't work properly afterward. A few months ago, this must have happened, but I stubbornly refused to believe that the blade I had just changed was bad. I tried everything except changing the blade, and had a couple of frustrating weeks of bad cuts. A new blade fixed the problem, but it took much longer to figure out what had happened to the blade.

I have hit the edge of the mat a couple of times recently and each time the blade has been ruined. It usually happens when I have to use the "kill" button in the middle of the cut,and the blade housing moves to the edge of the machine. If my mat is curled on the edges, the blade will hit it. I try to remember to hold the edge of the mat down when moving the blade, but obviously I don't always remember. Now that I am sure that this is what is happening, I will be extra careful not to hit the mat. I have also learned to keep lots of extra blades on hand.

I hope my discovery helps someone else understand what might be happening to their blades. (Unless I am the only one who has ever done this!)

[Suzan]

Instead of hitting the kill switch why don't you just shut the machine off. I can never find the blasted switch when I am cutting anyway. Or hit the pause button, then shut the machine off. That way it won't move and you can lift your levers and pull your mat out.

[Angel135612]

You aren't the only one that has the blade hit the mat. My mat has just a little curl to it, and if I don't remember to hold it down when I move my blade, it will hit it. I don't think I have ruined a blade because of it, but then I haven't been cutting too much lately. But I will definitely keep this in mind when I'm cutting to remember to hold the edge of the mat down when moving the blade.

[Phyllis]

Elizabeth, mine has done the same thing and I've wondered if it has dulled the blade, I haven't noticed the cut not cutting good but my blade is the same one I've had in since May so it probably needs changing anyway. Thanks for the heads up.

[Elizabeth]

Suzan, that is a good idea. I hadn't realized that the blade carriage doesn't move when I shut off my machine. With my set up, I have to reach across my machine to reach the power button, but the kill switch is right at hand.

Does anyone have any tips to prevent the mat from curling, or uncurling it once it has happened? I vary the placement of the pinch rollers within the margins, and I try to remember to flip the mat end for end every few cuts, but it still curls eventually. I am tempted to run a warm iron over the edges of an old mat to see if I can flatten them a bit. I don't have one that is bad enough to sacrifice to experiments yet.