ACOT Message Board

I am SOOOOO frustrated.  I have a Cuttlebug originally bought for embossing only, on my part.  But then I fell in love with so many Spellbinders die cuts so I bought a bunch of those.  I just spent the better part of an hour trying to cut out one stupid die and nothing has worked.  I have ruined paper, and my patience.  I have tried the sandwich combos on all directions of all paperwork and nothing is working.  I've used the C plate, the Cottage cutz metal shim plate, adding extra cardstock-- part of it is cutting out (the sides) but not the top parts and then I am spending 10 minutes after each attempted & failed cut to clean out the stupid dies with a little tool from stuck paper.  WHAT IS THE BEST EASY EFFORTLESS die cutting machine?  I do not think the Cuttlebug is good for cutting other brands of dies.  I can use it for embossing- very easy for that.  But I want to use other dies and this isn't working.  PLEASE help me and share your experiences.  I think an electric machine might work better, it can do the work.  My left arm is weak from an injury years ago and I swear you have the have the strength of Hercules to get that sandwich thru the machine, only to find out it didn't work.  Please help.  Thank you.

I have a Sizzix electric Big Shot that I got at Archivers several years ago.  Love it.  All it takes is the push of an on button and it slides it right through.  I have used the following dies and never any problems.  Sizzix, Heartfelt Creations, Spellbinders, Quickutz, Cottage Cutz and Die-Namics.  I think that covers a big variety of the dies out there now.  Hope this helps.

Oh no, that is very frustrating!  I don't have a cuttlebug, but a friend does.  I have been able to use thinlits wafer thin dies, as well as my Sizzix original and Sizzix bigz dies in her cuttlebug, but I've never tried Spellbinders dies.  I've found lots of helpful tutorial videos on YouTube for myself before, here's a video link for YouTube on Spellbinders and Cuttlebug. I hope this helps, and good luck!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E7votICfXo

that's frustrating - I have a cuttlebug and it works well on most of the dies that I have (lots of brands). I have to play around with different sandwiches of plates.  It does seem to have problems with more intricate designs - I have a lacey doily in particular.  if possible I will run it through then turn through 90 degrees and run it through again.  Also adding a layer of wax paper makes it easier to remove all the little pieces

I have the same machine (Electric Sizzix Big Shot) that Sandi has and agree it is awesome.  I have had dozens of die cut machines in the past and this is by far my favorite.  I did find the magnetic platform and it works wonders with the thin dies.

Good luck!! 

I have an ebosser and use a sheet of wax paper as Heather has suggested and have been successful   Good Luck!

I have a Cuttlebug and it works great with all different brands of dies. The problem I have is with the intricate dies. As you said, it will cut part of them perfectly but then the top or the sides don't cut well. I was told by I think it was someone from Cottage Cutz that the Cuttlebug rollers don't put the same amount of pressure on all parts of the plates and different Cuttlebugs will work differently. What she said to do was to put the die as close to the edge of the plates as you can, as that is where the most pressure from the rollers is, then take it out and without removing the paper from it turn it a quarter turn or a half turn (depends where your problem is or how big your die is) and then run it through again. As long as you leave the paper in the die it shouldn't shift and you should be able to get all parts of the die to cut through. Sometimes just moving it to the opposite edge of the plates will work too. I don't have this problem with regular dies, just the real intricate ones. I was really disappointed too after I had bought so many of them from Cottage Cutz, but this method seems to work. With that said I got myself a Silhouette Cameo and for the most part I stopped buying dies. I still use my Cuttlebug as I love that little thing for a quick die cut, but I am now very in love with my Cameo.  

The electric one sounds like what I need. I did watch YouTube tutorials on how to use different types of dies on the Cuttlebug but I had already tried what they suggested.

Oh and this is the sandwich that I use for the thin intricate dies:

1 - A Plate
2 - Metal Shim Plate (I have the one from Cottage Cutz)
3 - B Plate
4 - Die with the cutting side face up
5 - A few pieces of cardstock
6 - C Plate

You should be able to judge how many pieces of cardstock you will need by how easy/hard it is to turn the handle. It shouldn't be extremely easy, but it shouldn't be really, really hard like it won't go through.

Hope this helps.

I recently bought a die that was very detailed. It said to ad a piece of wax paper then the paper you are going to cut. It worked great. The wax paper keeps the paper from sticking to the die. Another thing I learned was to move the die to different spots on the plate to get it to cut out all the way. The top and sides seem to work best when you have a die that doesn't want to cut. I hope this will help.

I have a Spellbinder and it will cut most dies from other companies. I also use wax paper and it works very well. My Spellbinder is heavy duty and has never given me any trouble.

I don't have an answer for you.  I have an original sizzix that I love (but its still packed), however I cannot find new products for it.  Then I bought a Cricut Expressions but I am not good with that so I need someone to teach me how to use that!

so sorry for all your troubles!  have you looked for Utube tutorials?  there is supposed to be something for every need on there

i have the manual Big Shot....

(I will have to look into the electric one)

Have you tried... there are these flexible silicon-like kind of material that you can buy for part of the sandwich, I can't think of the name.  I had to buy some to get the Spellbinders dies to cut in my Big Shot.  I would try that before buying a completely new die cut machine.  I think they are called embossing pads, they are brown and bendy and about $6 on Amazon.

I haven't read through all of the replies, so please excuse me if this has already been said.  Have you tried placing your die toward the edge of the cutting plate?  That's where the most pressure is.  you can also try placing a few layers of masking tape on the part of the die that isn't cutting completely.  Place the tape on top of the die (the side without the blade).  Hope that helps.

Sorry - I hate when you feel like you are doing everything right and nothing works. I tried to use a Cuttlebug at the Expo and I gave up, building the sandwich was just too complicated. I still have the old style Sizzix at home, I've always found it easy to use. I don't give it enough use to look at getting anything else, so I've only used the newer machines at crops.