390
Confirm the settings for that material, including the
Blade Tension.
____________________
My cut is clean in some places but not in others. Why am I not getting consistent cutting?
Make sure your material is pressed firmly onto a clean and sticky mat (assuming you are cutting a
material with no backing sheet, such as paper or cardstock). If you are cutting a material with a backing
sheet, make sure the material is still adhered to that sheet. For example, vinyl that has been in storage
for a long period of time or exposed to extreme cold temperatures can sometimes separate from the
backing sheet. Brayering the vinyl will usually stabilize it well enough for cutting.
Do not use the middle pinch wheel and make sure you have the outer pinch wheels under the outer
rectangles with your material then located in the middle of the mat. The pressure of the wheels on the
mat can alter the depth of the material at those locations and cause cutting issues.
You may need to increase the
Cut Depth
(raise by a setting of 5) or the
Blade Tension
(raise by ½).
Repeat the cut.
Your material may require two passes. If a material is not homogenous or if it is heavily textured, using
two passes is sometimes needed to get the entire shape cut cleanly. Also, if the material has been
exposed to humidity, then it will become difficult to cut in one pass. You can dry paper and cardstock in
a slightly heated oven for around 15 minutes or so to release the moisture. Preheat the oven at the
lowest temperature and then turn it off before putting your paper into the oven.
____________________
I am getting a lot of tearing in my cuts.
A number of things can cause tearing so work through this check list:
o
Too much force is being applied. If you see cut lines in your mat, first make sure the
Blade Tension
is appropriate for the material you are cutting. It may be too high. Assuming it is fine, decrease the
Cut Depth
by, say, 5 or 10 and do test cuts until a clean cut is achieved.
o
The blade is chipped. Try a different blade.
o
The paper is not adhered well to the mat. Make sure the mat is clean, sticky, and the paper is
pressed smoothly and evenly on the surface. If the tearing is occurring when trying to remove the
cut item from the mat, try using an artist’s palette knife (or other thin spatula-type tool) to gently lift
up most of the cut shape before lifting it from the mat.
o
You may have too many nodes in the shape. Use node reduction steps in the design software to
simplify the cut.
o
The design itself may be too intricate for the size you are cutting it. Look at the file in the design
software to see if thinner areas can be thickened and excess nodes removed using a simplify
function.
o
The material itself may be subject to tearing, especially on intricate cuts. Also, if the cardstock has
been exposed to humidity, then the moisture in the material can make it difficult to cut cleanly. Try
blow drying the cardstock or placing in a slightly warm oven for half an hour. Worst case, try a
different cardstock.
____________________
At the start of every cut, the blade will make a tiny cut on my material and then proceed to the first shape. Why
is it doing that and how do I prevent it?
That tiny cut is to set the blade in the correct direction for the first cut. You may need to rearrange the
location of the material on the cutting mat or temporarily place a few Post It notes in that location to
prevent your material below from being cut.
Summary of Contents for KNK Force
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