Trying to compile a table of thick or textured material settings...

[MemoriesByMom]

For those of you who are successfully cutting Bazzill or other thick or textured materials, can you please report in? There have been several threads with this info, but each of the posts don't have ALL the variables I'm struggling with ...

1) Is your texture side up or down?
2) Are you using the cutting mat or Xyron or both?
3) how many passes do you need?
4) how many O-rings and, if not the standard plastic one, what is it?
5) spacer color?
6) thickness and speed?

Once I can compile the responses, I'll put a table together.
Thanks, KarenF
Paper Dreams Design Team

[Tosca]

I use texture side up.
Using the cutting mat (carrier sheet)
1 pass
2 0' rings. The plastic one and one cut from a template.
Red cap
Speed 7
Thickness 30.

[greyparrot]

Fab idea....I must admit I just make it up as I go along!!

[janeycutting]

Fab idea - if only I actually knew what I was doing each time I did a cut.

Corenna - sounds just like my technique too.

[Lucille]

It isn't the same for every machine, also if you look in the archives on the WB group, some one contacted the makers of the bazzill card, from what I can remember, they said the thickness of the card varies slightly depending on the colour.

As your blade dulls you will have to make adjustments to your settings. When I first got my CR back back in February I used the red blade, 1 o'ring and 1 cut, now I need to do 2 cuts for bazzill.

Thickness 30

I cut everything on speed 10.

I don't own a xyron.

[BevS97]

I find turning the speed down helps a lot for Bazzil Lucille, you might find you only need one cut on a slower speed.
I just bought a new carrier sheet and that has made a huge difference too.

Be aware that the Bazill with the stripes on it (is it chatterbox?) slips under the rollers so it's very hard to cut and you can't do 2 passes as it doesn't line up correctly the 2nd time as it's slipped.

[BevS97]

Oops - wasn't done.

I cut Bazzill on 30 thickness, speed 4 and I have the real 0 ring and a bazzill one, and usually only need one pass but it's not guaranteed - I nearly always use the pink cap

[Lucille]

I find turning the speed down helps a lot for Bazzil Lucille, you might find you only need one cut on a slower speed.
I just bought a new carrier sheet and that has made a huge difference too.

Be aware that the Bazill with the stripes on it (is it chatterbox?) slips under the rollers so it's very hard to cut and you can't do 2 passes as it doesn't line up correctly the 2nd time as it's slipped.

I did try reducing the speed it didn't make any difference, my blade is getting dull, but I have no intentions of replacing it yet, if it takes 2 cuts that will do for now, I'm not in a hurry.

When I first got my CR Ray told me to increase the speed to 10 as it was designed to cut fast. I have tried slower speeds out of curiostity, but not found it made any significant difference.

[Lauraine]

try sharpening your blade by running it a dozen or so times through a wad of tin foil

[craftyanne]

This tip for sharpening the blade seems a good one to me.
Do you actually put the wadded tinfoil on the carrier sheet or do you take out the blade and run it through the foil by hand. Bear with me on this, as my brain is very tired just now. Hope that it is not as stupid as it sounds to me.

[susibi]

Make a pad of tin foil, take the black blade carrier out of its housing and using the pink cap ( so most of the blade is exposed) run it VERY carefully through the tin foil several times.

I think the only problem with compiling a table is, as has been said many times before, it won't work for everyone.
It depends on the colour of your cardstock( different colours especially dark colours can be more difficult to cut ), the type, the humidity, how old or sharp the blade is, how sticky the carrier sheet is etc, the brand of card. It's such a personal thing that you'd really need about 200 settings!( Plus my software won't memorise new settings anyhow!)
I'm still of the opinion that experimenting and a note pad beside your machine to note down which settings work best for the card stock YOU use is still the best option.
Susibi :D

[bill.costello]

There was a suggestion last week from a lady who said she simply kept a piece of scrap card from the cut and wrote the settings on the back of the scrap, I've just started to do this and it's brilliant.
BTW I agree with the many different settings. and different card can be such a pig, especially coloured with a white backing, never seems to cut as clean and sharp as self coloured (colour all the way through), then there are the times when Robo sticks for no apparent reason and wrecks a page, sometimes due to an imperfection in the card.
I like the scrap piece of card idea and I'm gonna stick to it.

Bill

[gentleflower]

There was a suggestion last week from a lady who said she simply kept a piece of scrap card from the cut and wrote the settings on the back of the scrap, I've just started to do this and it's brilliant.
Bill

:D What a good idea! I think I have a small photo album that I may use to keep the scrapes in for ref.

Thank you to the lady who initially suggested writing on scraps and for you Bill for bringing it to light.

Linda

[Lindy Lops]

Read a helpful suggestions, especially where Susibi says take the blade out of its housing, sorry to be a dimbo but how ?

thanks

[lefthanded]

I'm sure susibi is refering to the big black block where you place your black blade carrier as the housing. remove the black blade carrier as you would if you were changing to another colour cap or the pen holder and sharpen it as Susibi says. Someone else I can't remember who suggested you try sharpening the blade using all three caps alternately. Hope this makes sense.
Joan

[CHRISTINA]

I have never understood what the 'o' rings are for or even where they go !

[susibi]

o-rings are plastic rings that in the original CR model with the the blue lid, sit between the blade carrier( the bit you change the coloured caps on and where the blade sits) and the blade housing (tube with blue key attached to big black block!) to give more pressure when cutting. The new CR ( white lid) doesn't use them as the housing and carrier have been redesigned.
HTH
Susibi