Trying to figure out your blade length and pressure is almost an art. Getting it right takes practice and the more experience you have the easier it gets. I know when you are first starting out not being able to get your settings right can be really frustrating. On our forums we have a pressure guide list to help you, and there are also a lot of instructions in your manual about how to go about finding the right pressure and blade depth. Make sure you look at both the manual and the guide, they can be really helpful and save you a lot of time.
What I find myself getting stuck on when I am cutting and don’t know what settings to use is which one to adjust. If my project did not cut out right, is it the pressure or the blade length or both? This can make things very difficult because if you guess, and guess the wrong one, then you can ruin more paper, waste more time, or try so many settings that didn’t work that you aren’t even sure which way is up anymore.
So here is my favorite trick for finding the correct blade length. Once you have that figured out, then you know the only thing to adjust is the pressure. Being able to take the blade length out of the equation makes things much easier! This trick is also in the manual but it is so good it bears repeating. If you aren’t sure what blade length to use, take the blade holder out of your machine. Then take a small scrap or corner of the paper you want to use and fold it in half. Put that folded piece of paper on a flat, hard cutting surface (something you don’t mind if it gets a little scratch in it). Then hold the blade holder and with the blade still inserted, try to cut your folded paper with even moderate pressure. Then unfold your paper. Ideally, you want the blade to have cut through one layer of the paper and not even scratched the second layer. If it cut through both layers or scratched the second layer, lessen your blade length and try again. If it didn’t cut through either layer, increase your blade length. Just do this a few times until you find the perfect blade length. Depending on your material it is possible that there is no setting that cuts through one layer and doesn’t scratch the second layer, in that case just pick the setting that cuts through the first layer and scratches the second layer the least.
Once you figure out your blade length it is so much easier to figure out the right settings because you don’t have to worry about your blade length anymore. You know the blade length is right, so if it still isn’t cutting then it must be the pressure. This will take a lot of the guess work out of your settings. I hope you find this trick useful!
Thank you a million, trillion times for the guide in the forum. I like to use the stampin’ up cardstock and have been struggling all of the settings. Blade 2.5/pressure 18/speed 4 is finally the answer.
I tried the trick above for some other cardstock that wasn’t quite as heavy. I changed the blade to 2 and kept the other settings. Winner! 🙂
Thank you again!
Kimkraft
Thank you very much I have been fustrated with things that only partially cut out. I end up using a cutting tool to finish cutting out the designs, which leaves an uneven cut, not the nice clean cut I wanted for my project.
Thanks for the tips. I just got my PI last week and have been having trouble figuring it out-have quite a few cuts in the cutting pad. Now if you could only explain what exactly moderate pressure is. LOL
Thanks for the tip will keep on trying to figure it out,
I want to add to this AWESOME tip. If your paper is tearing or pulling it seems logical to increase pressure. This is NOT what you want to do. What happens if the blade digs into the mat then it can’t go around the corners, that is why it is important to get the blade length right, THEN work on the pressure…GREAT JOB AMANDA
Thank you so much Amanda, I’ve been struggling with this since I got my Pazzle!
Thanks for this tip! I am new to the site and wondered where the pressure guide list was located in the forums. It would be a huge help to me as I learn to work with my wonderful tool:)