Problem with Cameo 3, misaligned cuts

Hello, I am new to this forum and I am hoping that you might be able to give me some help. I bought a Silhouette Cameo 3 last week and have been trying it out. The first few things that I did came out ok but today I ran into problems. I downloaded a design from the Silhouette store, "Fox Lantern" by Nic Squirrell (hmmm, nom de plume?).

Anyway, I am trying to use a fairly heavy 260 - 280 gsm card. The blade cuts through fine and the internal part of the design cuts out ok but when it cuts the outline of the design it is not aligned with the rest of it and by the time it reaches the bottom of the sheet it is cutting into the body of the design by about 7mm.

I am in a well lit studio, the card is firmly adhered to the cutting mat, it is loaded in to the machine straight, I have reduced the size of the data packets sent by the PC to the cutter down to 500. I have tried connecting by USB and I have tried with bluetooth but it still makes the error. I can't think what else to try and I am beginning to wonder if the machine was a waste of money.

If anyone else has experienced this issue and managed to resolve it I would be so happy if you could tell me what to do. I have contacted Silhouette support but if they are anything like many other companies I could be waiting a long while.

Hi, and welcome to this forum. Sorry to hear that you are having a few issues. I went and had a look at the file in the Design Store. It looks like you have already done a lot to try to sort out the cutting problem yourself - reducing the packet size often works - have you tried to contact the designer; he/she has a website and I am sure that any designer wants to ensure customer satisfaction, so contact is a good option? You say you have contacted Silhouette support, do you mean Silhouette America, geographic distance/time differences means they may be slow to answer? Perhaps Graphtec may be able to assist you, I've always found them to be extremely helpful - great customer care - and they are only in Wrexham so no delays. Have you tried cutting any similar files and is the problem also there? It is difficult for anyone to be truly helpful as they probably cannot replicate your set up; so the file in question, a Cam3, similar computer setup etc etc and, as it is a purchased file that complicates it somewhat. I should start with the designer and then go to Graphtec. Did you buy the machine new or second-hand? Sorry, so many questions but information is key. It might be that, if you are prepared to send the file, someone would be able to try a test cut for you. Good Luck By the way, if you search online for misaligned cuts on Cameo3 or something similar you will find help and suggestions on YT

Andi

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Originally Posted by AndiDee

Hi, and welcome to this forum. Sorry to hear that you are having a few issues. I went and had a look at the file in the Design Store. It looks like you have already done a lot to try to sort out the cutting problem yourself - reducing the packet size often works - have you tried to contact the designer; he/she has a website and I am sure that any designer wants to ensure customer satisfaction, so contact is a good option? You say you have contacted Silhouette support, do you mean Silhouette America, geographic distance/time differences means they may be slow to answer? Perhaps Graphtec may be able to assist you, I've always found them to be extremely helpful - great customer care - and they are only in Wrexham so no delays. Have you tried cutting any similar files and is the problem also there? It is difficult for anyone to be truly helpful as they probably cannot replicate your set up; so the file in question, a Cam3, similar computer setup etc etc and, as it is a purchased file that complicates it somewhat. I should start with the designer and then go to Graphtec. Did you buy the machine new or second-hand? Sorry, so many questions but information is key. It might be that, if you are prepared to send the file, someone would be able to try a test cut for you. Good Luck By the way, if you search online for misaligned cuts on Cameo3 or something similar you will find help and suggestions on YT

Andi

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Hi Andi, thank you for the reply. I hadn't thought about contacting the designer. I realise that there may be a delay getting info from Silhouette America but thought that was the place to start. I will also try Graphtec. I bought the machine new, so I'm afraid if it doesn't work it will go back but I just want to make sure that I have tried everything before I go down that route.

The day after I received it I tried some print and cut (stickers) which I initially had a problem with them aligning but reducing the data packet size cured that. I have another file which is sort of similar to the fox lantern but haven't tried it yet as it is more complex. So many variables in the equation!

Thanks for coming back (so many disappear and are never heard from again, so we don't know if we have been at all helpful!!) The search engine check is also good - I put in misaligned Cameo3 cuts and got several hits which might offer information for you and, because it is mostly YT, it is good visual help. I don't know if you are new to cutters, so maybe this Cameo3 is your first machine, but it does take a while to get things lined up. Funnily enough I got a Cam3 just before Christmas (prezzie from my DH) but have previously used a Cam2 and before that a CraftRobo... I and many of my comrades on here sweated to sort out issues when we first got our various machines - patience is required in bucket loads. I do hope you get it sorted.

Andi

I will come back and let you know the outcome of this, there's nothing worse than finding topic on a forum that has no end result!

Ah, bless you, you may well help others who are also struggling with just this problem, and another forum user may well turn up with more suggestions

Andi

I agree with everything Andi has said. If you want/need to contact Graphtec this is their phone number
01978 666700. Brian (their tech man) is always very helpful. Doesn't matter where you bought it in the UK because Graphtec are the UK suppliers.

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Originally Posted by DJG

I agree with everything Andi has said. If you want/need to contact Graphtec this is their phone number
01978 666700. Brian (their tech man) is always very helpful. Doesn't matter where you bought it in the UK because Graphtec are the UK suppliers.

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Thank you Doreen, I have emailed Graphtec. I am hoping to hear from them soon. The company that I bought the machine from also advised me to do so, they suggested that it might be something to do with having too much pressure on the blade, so I will play with the settings in the morning, although I will have to use some similar thickness card as I only have one sheet left of the good stuff. I am also going to try cutting the design just using paper and see what happens.

I haven't heard from the designer yet but hopefully they will respond. The designer is UK based so that should make communication easier. I will keep you updated. Your advise is much appreciated.

Hope it's something simple and you get it sorted quickly.

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Originally Posted by DJG

Hope it's something simple and you get it sorted quickly.

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The designer got back to me yesterday and very kindly sent me another copy of the file. I couldn't try it out until this morning as I was busy last night finishing off a watercolour commission.

The new file that Nic sent is now working fine, so I can only assume that there was some sort of glitch when I downloaded the file. Thank you for helping me out with this. All I need to do now is make up some of my own designs to use. :)

Thanks for coming back on this and I am so glad that the problem was relatively easy to solve in the end., as I said patience is required in huge amounts. Happy cutting and I hope you enjoy your Cam3 for a long time to come. I actually chose the 3 over the Cam4 which, to me, seems a bit of a hammer to crack a nut and much more aligned to crafts way beyond paper and card... but that is just my opinion and personal choice - I don't do much with vinyl and wood so the 4 would be wasted on me, and I am liking the refinements that the 3 offers over my Cam2. Don't be a stranger to this forum, we lost so many people when the social media groups took off and Mary Ann works hard to keep this site working, and Graphtec are sponsors for this section and Brian pops on here sometimes.

Andi

Glad the problem has been sorted for you

I will certainly be coming back to nosy around, it looks like there are a wide range of craft topics. I don't do a lot of papercraft, although can't resist playing about with things for small gifts or cards. My main occupation is as an artist but I recently got a heat press to enable me to make things like coasters, etc with my artwork on. Of course from there I got sidetracked into the htv side of things and decided that I HAD to have a cutter. My problem is that I am too easily distracted, I see something shiny and off I go...

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Originally Posted by doricdragons

My problem is that I am too easily distracted, I see something shiny and off I go...

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:lol::lol::lol:
I am a magpie too, it is the Essex in me I think! Pretty, shiny things are lovely. It is worth having a look in the free templates once you have qualified; sadly they don't get added to the way they once were, we all uploaded files we designed and gave folks the chance to download them and try them out. It meant that there was a fair bit of feedback and we all learned a lot. Then a few got greedy and downloaded loads of stuff, and then started to sell the files elsewhere - sad times indeed - and gradually uploading got less and less. Some of the folks on here have gone on to have successful businesses in file design - better they get the money for their stuff than someone else robs them of it. Thankfully piracy seems to have died down a lot, if not completely. Look forward to seeing you here and good luck with your own little business venture. Have I just found you online, if it is you I love the earrings? You are a good artist!!!
Andi

Andi is right there used to be a LOT more members and they posted regularly sadly a lot have moved on or only come back for help and disappear again which means we never know if they've been helped.