You will want to make sure that your mat is flat and loaded into the guide lines of your Inspiration platform properly to ensure the best cuts possible. Here in the office we actually store ours hanging up on our walls. The nice thing about doing it this way is that nothing is placed on top of the mats so that they are never bent or creased. I had a new mat that was just slightly curled at the tip because of how I had stored it. When I was cutting my project the mat was hitting up against the top of the cutter as the mat was moving in and out of the machine. As a result my Inspiration made a funny sound as I cut and all of my cuts were misaligned. Once I took out the mat and replaced it with a flat one my cuts were perfect. It’s important to check that your mats are flat before using them so that they aren’t rubbing and hitting against something that will ruin your project. If you have a mat that has become curled or bent for some reason, try laying it flat and placing a book on top of it to help straighten it out again.
