Information

[stonelion]

Happy New Year All!


I am using DCWV card stock. Not anything special or heavy. I have played around with speed, pressure and needle depth and am not getting it right. I try many small silhouettes and when I finally get a combination that works and go to the card view, it tears. I have even put in a new needle on the off chance that the needle was the problem. That didn't change anything. I'm sure this is trial and error but would appreciate some help. I have tried keeping the pressure constant and fooling with the needle depth and vice versa to see what made it worse. Other than getting no cuts at all (lowering the needle depth down to 3 or 2), I don't seem to be seeing major changes.



Thanks in advance,

Carol

[stonelion]

Well after many hours of trying different things - changing cardstock, using compressed air to clean out blade housing, new blade, resetting machine, etc. etc., I have come to the conclusion that I must have a defective blade housing. I did read on the Cricut board that quite a few people were experiencing the same problem. Although reading through the message board, it seems that most people find that the response from Cricut is slow to non-existant so at this point, I am not very hopeful. I am willing to bet the problem stems from the blade not turning freely within the housing.


Oh well, Monday will tell although I will have to get in line with everyone else that got a Cricut for Xmas!



Fingers crossed.

[deerewife]

change your speed to 1 or 2, pressure to 4 or 5 and depth to 4 or 5 and try that. It could be your blade housing, but try messing with the speed and pressure first.

[scraptag]

Please make sure your blade is pointing to the front. The arrow on the blade housing needs to be pointing forward. If it's a little one way or another you paper will tear.
I'm sorry I didn't look at this before, but your title made me think it was a question on how to tear paper, not a problem with your Cricut. I hope this is your problem, because I would hate to have to deal with any corporation on quality of their product. Good luck.

[stonelion]

Changed the blade housing orientation so the arrow is pointing straight out. Still no luck. I have the blade depth at 5 or 6 and still, the paper is ripping BUT in some places, it isn't cutting through. The blade is deep enough though that I can hear a little sticking sound when it comes out of the mat as it moves to a different location. The fact that on some of the design elements it looks like the blade is just dragging across the paper and on others it tears the paper away makes me think the blade isn't turning as it is supposed to. I even took the blade out to see if there were little bits of paper preventing it from spinning.


Thanks for all of the suggestions.



Carol

[stonelion]

and paper is tearing too now.

[Grandma Flowers]

I've had very good luck with the Cricut website, so don't be afraid to use it.

[deerewife]

Is there a chance that your blade isn't in there correctly? If you search youtube you can find a video that tells you how to replace the blade - try that. I know that mine wasn't in quite right and by following those instructions it worked. Worth a shot as I know their help line is next to no good. You may have some luck posting on their message board though.

[stonelion]

Hi:
Thanks - I did double check that the blade was in correctly. I did a Skype chat with Laurie (letumom) last night and she pretty much confirmed that something is wrong with either the machine and/or the blade housing. I have to track down the store that it was bought from along with the receipt but since the person who actually made the purchase on behalf of my better half is on vacation in FLORIDA, that may not be for some time. Many people confirm that the Provo Help Line is next to useless. I suppose I should take this as a sign that I am meant to be cleaning up and working rather than designing cards!

Carol

[stonelion]

But wait! This just in - found this site which led me to the secret of how to reset the machine: http://myfaqcricutds.blogspot.com/2009/ ... ricut.html And now that I think of it, this whole mess started AFTER I updated the firmware. So now, fingers crossed, I can get on with my new life as a Cricut-eer.

[megamay]

oooh I hope it works! nothing worse than getting a new toy and having it not work right. Seriously! I have been in that boat with my Slice, and I got so frustrated that I switched to a Cricut.