I would have hazarded a guess that I was pretty much up to speed with the functions etc., etc. of my Scan n Cut as I have owned it since they were first launched in the UK and it wasn’t the first cutting machine I have owned either.
I also own a TODO machine which I bought around 8 months or so ago.
The TODO is quite an enigma as a result I decided to spend a few days really getting to know my particular machine.
I made myself a spread sheet and set to on a trial and error basis until I found the best setting for a particular process using different type of media, recording my findings on my spread sheet as I went.
I then thought perhaps I should do the very same exercise with my Scan N Cut – I ignored everything we have ever been taught and just started cutting white 250gsm with a blade depth of 1, speed of 1 and pressure of -9. Obviously, it didn’t give me a result – surprise, surprise!
I kept my speed at one, increased the blade depth, left the pressure on -9, still not too clever. I persevered and found that for my machine a blade depth of 8, a pressure of -2 gave me the best cut I have ever experienced, perfectly clean and I only had to make 1 pass. Previously I had been using a depth of around 7 and a pressure of 1 or even high whilst still having to make 2 passes and I still got the odd snag here and there or bits that were not cut quite correctly.
I did similar exercises with other media that I regularly use.
The moral of this story is, I didn’t actually know either of my machines as well as I believed I did which led me to wonder how many more people out there had actually learnt their own individual machine or were just going along with what we have had suggested to us and thinking the cuts were ‘ok’ , might have the odd snags, words cut out – ‘sort of ‘ but were never really as clean cut and easily released as they appear to be on the TV.
I urge you, if like me, you haven’t actually had a really good trial and error session with your machine. Give it a whirl, you will be very pleasantly surprised, save yourself, loads of aggravation, disappointment and more importantly precious card stock.
The reason also for using a spread sheet is that I can add new settings as and when I come across them and use the sort feature to sort however I want it sorted. I have printed it off so that I can refer to it as necessary or add any notes.
I had to cut a completely different card stock that I had never used before yesterday – life was so much easier, I was able to make an informed decision as to what blade depth and pressure to use, did a quick test cut and hey presto – I am a much happier bunny and have fallen in love with my sNc all over again!
Anne's Cards 