My first blade stopped moving so when I tried to change settings it wouldn't. Graphtec kindly replaced the blade and my new has been working fine since then.
I have found the quality of the paper I am cutting makes a difference. the cheap paper tends to rip but the good quality paper/card cuts like a dream.
I am a satisfied customer.
I love my Cameo even though my blade went back as it was just not cutting properly after a few weeks. Using a Robo blade unit at the moment which is lasting far longer and I am still using it. Not trying the replacement Cameo blade Graphtec sent me until I have to.
So Graphtec test are putting it down mainly to user error and not a blade design fault or a bad batch.
I'm cutting vinyl, so have the blade at 1 - problem with mine is it misses cutting some parts, have tried all different settings Sil America told me, set packet at 500 but it's still missing cuts - mostly the first 2 inches when i begin.
I'm in the UK but thought i would let Sil America know of the problem, I'm now up to 10 long emails later, sent files to them etc and still got nowhere yet.
I spoke to Brian at GraphtecGB and he was a lot more helpfull in 5 mins of talking, but sadly the problem has'nt been solved yet,
Sil America are investigating it.
Elaine UK
I had both my original blade and my replacement blade, kindly replaced by Graphtec due to being blunt and collecting debris around the blade tip,
I kept putting off using my new blades and continued to use my original robo blade until yesterday.
OH dear! after about 5/6 cuts on the same card I always use, and my blade was getting blunter with each cut yet again, also the debris was building up although I cleaned it as best as I could after each cut. This wasn't just paper dust, but it was clogging, I tried cleaning carefully with a fine pin head, but its is compacted.......NOT happy
Where do we go from here?? as has been said previously, we need a blade to stay sharp for longer than one afternoon of crafting.
I hasten to add, I LOVE my cameo, its just the blade issue yet again!
My blade has been fine until this weekend, when some card got jammed in the hole and now it judders and goes off course, I cannot for the life of me dislodge the card from the hole and so even though my blade is still nice and sharp the whole thing is completley useless and I have had to resort to my old style blade. Not happy and this seems like such a stupid thing to overlook when designed!
I am surprised to see that there are still a lot of postings going on about blade problems, I think that for the record it is time for me to lay out the facts as we see them.
Firstly, I would like to say that we do not actually see a blade problem. Before Christmas there were a lot of postings here about faulty Cameo blades, I asked everybody with a problem to send their blades back to us for inspection. We only received less than 20 back, which out of thousands sold at that time was a minimal percentage. As a matter of goodwill, we shipped out replacement blades to all regardless of if they were faulty or not, meanwhile, our engineers inspected all of the returns under a microscope, we only found 5 that were faulty, this is a minuscule quantity, and less than 0.02% of the units sold.
The other 15 units were either chipped or blunted. if there is a problem with the Cameo cutters it is that it is too flexible, and owners can extend the blade too far, this is the biggest cause for chipping the blade which was the main damage seen by our engineers. If the blade extends more than the thickness of the card then it is likely to get damaged. Please remember that setting 1 on the Cameo cutter is equivalent to the blue cap, setting 2 is equivalent to the yellow cap and setting 3 is equivalent to the pink cap. Any settings higher than this must be used with caution and only were the thickness of the card warrants it.
The next problem that I am reading is about dust collecting in the tip of the cutter, this is normal, and so long as the blade rotates smoothly then it should not affect the cut. When cutting card with the cutter, it is designed to work with a scissor action, to perform this it is important that the nose cone runs on the surface of the card while the blade cuts. By making the hole larger, you lose this scissor effect and the quality of the cut deteriorates. We have tried literally hundreds of different style holders, and the existing design works best. The current size of the hole is the optimal size to give the best quality cut.
The down side of this is that the hole is more liable to fill with dust, but to be honest, unless the dust is really compacted or has chips of card in there it will not affect the quality of the cut. We do not suggest that anybody puts the blade in their mouths and sucks out the debris, but before using the Cameo, just wind in the blade give a quick blow on the tip then set the blade depth again, this wont stop the dust getting in, but just stops it getting too compacted.
There is also confusion about the availability of cutters. The original cutter with coloured tips is still in stock for those who require or prefer it. We have discontinued the replacement pins because there is not sufficient demand for them. I have seen postings asking if we could just keep a few in stock for those who require them, this is not really possible, we have to manufacture the pins in their millions, this will take a long time to get rid of while we are only selling about 10 per week. Unfortunately it was not commercially viable.
So in conclusion, please use your Cameo ratchet cutter, it works well, it is a far less expensive option, but treat it with care, it is a delicate tool. You would not throw your expensive kitchen knife into the breadboard or drop it on a stone floor, look after it.
I hope this clears up any of the misconceptions that are floating around. Meanwhile, if anybody does have any problems, please do not hesitate our support at support@graphtecgb.co.uk. I must reiterate, if a blade is found to be faulty, we will continue to replace it free of charge, however if the blade is chipped or blunt through incorrect operation unfortunately we will not be able to be as generous.
Phil
I have cut out a couple of boxes today and then cleaned out my blade, this is what came out of it..... this can hardly be called dust, they are 1/2" long pieces of card, this is not the first time I have taken pieces like that out of the blade either, its just that this time I decided to photograph it..... there is still a piece of white card stock which won't come out either.....
I have cut out a couple of boxes today and then cleaned out my blade, this is what came out of it..... this can hardly be called dust, they are 1/2" long pieces of card, this is not the first time I have taken pieces like that out of the blade either, its just that this time I decided to photograph it..... there is still a piece of white card stock which won't come out either.....
Blimey Linda that is some dust!! How did you manage to get it out - any tips gratefully received. I can't understand why Graphtec don't consider this to be a problem. I had my replacement cameo blade yesterday and have put it in my machine today, I've only cut one item so far so I'll have to see how it goes.
I got it out with a pin, so I have probably damaged my blade now.... but it wouldn't cut with that amount of paper in there either, there is still blue paper and white paper inside the blade... I have given up and have resorted back to my craft robo blade for now...
I do love my Cameo but I have had two replacement blades now and both have collected debris in them, which to no avail can i remove i have tried everything.
I luckily had a new replacement old blade and it works absolutely brilliant in the cameo if i do collect debris it is so easy to clean out.
I must stress i do not use cheap card or heavy card the most gram is 160, bought from a reputable stationer, I also use card from from W which is C&C stock.
I do not cut anything to intricate either.
I do hope they realise that there does seem to be a problem with some of the ratchet blades ( i think its a design thing) unless i am very unlucky, but after reading all the info from Graphtec I am extremely careful.
It does seem a bit strange that some people have no trouble at all.
My concern is that If we do have to replace the blades often it is going to be very expensive.
I have cut out a couple of boxes today and then cleaned out my blade, this is what came out of it..... this can hardly be called dust, they are 1/2" long pieces of card, this is not the first time I have taken pieces like that out of the blade either, its just that this time I decided to photograph it..... there is still a piece of white card stock which won't come out either.....
That looks like the sort of thing currently stuck in my blade housing, mines not coming out at all.
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Originally Posted by Chrissydurr
which to no avail can i remove i have tried everything.
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