I’m so glad you are visiting the doctor’s office again today! Your commitment to good cut health is impressive. In today’s visit, we’re going to talk about the default cut settings. Those are the recommendations the Silhouette Studio software gives you when you choose one of the materials in the list. Think of those like the diet and exercise your doctor recommends. (To start with Lesson 1 in this series, go here.)
Note: This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you click the link and purchase something, I may receive a small commission. This helps me to be able to keep my business going and provide more tutorials. All opinions expressed are my own and are not tied to any compensation.
The default recommendations
Your doctor has general guidelines for things like diet and exercise, but will adjust them based on your body. The exercise recommendations will vary a bit from person to person because each person has a different level of fitness. Food allergies, weight, etc., affect what foods the doctor tells you to eat or avoid.
It’s like an athlete who’s working out. The exercises they do will depend on what sport they play, past injuries, their current fitness level, what muscles they want to strengthen, etc. So no coach can tell every single player on the team to do the exact same set of exercises.
It’s the same with your cut health. The software and other folks can give you recommendations for cut settings, but there’s no way that there’s one set of magic settings that’s going to work every time. There are many variables:
- your machine
- current blade
- state of your mat
- condition of your cutting strip
- the design
- the specific piece of material
- local weather
All of those things can affect what settings you need for any given project. For example, someone in a humid climate may need different settings for vinyl than someone in a dry climate. In the dry climate, the vinyl will degrade more quickly and that may alter the cut settings you need.
The default settings are a starting point only. You need to learn what to adjust when. Never fear — the Cut Doctor is here!
The goal
With your body, it’s a good idea to set goals for things like diet and exercise. (I know — I should post this lesson on January 1 LOL). So let’s set a goal for cut settings. Here it is:
You want to have the lowest blade and force settings that just cut through the material.
If those settings are too high, you get ripping and tearing of your material, misaligned cuts or wear out your blade, mat and/or cutting strip quicker. If they are too low, the worst that can happen is you cut again.
Default settings and adjusting them
You will normally start with a default setting and adjust from there. Here are some hints:
Do it in Simple mode first
Pick a material in Action by: Simple first. That makes it carry over to the Advanced cut modes.
Let’s say you are doing a sketch with 4 colors of pens on the same piece of cardstock, so you want use Action by: Line. That’s smart. But if you go immediately into that advanced cut mode, you’ll have to choose your settings for each line color individually. If you do it first in simple mode, when you move over to Action by: Line the settings will all be what you chose in simple mode. In other words, you have less work to do. You’ll also have less chance of accidentally missing one of the settings.
Always check when you switch between modes
Okay, so say you followed my recommendation to start in Simple and then go to Advanced cut mode. Then you decide you’re going to cut by fill instead, or just go back to simple. You want to check EVERYTHING when you switch between the Action by: modes. Settings don’t always carry over from one to another. In other words, just because you selected a material in Action by: Line, doesn’t mean that same material will automatically be selected in Action by: Fill.
Adding a new color or layer
If you add a new line or fill color or layer, it takes on the material settings of what’s in Simple mode.
So let’s say I was doing the sketching I mentioned above and decided to add a new part to the design with a different line color. I’ve been in the Send area, but then go back to my Design area to do it. When I come back to the Action by: Line in the Send area to start the project, the settings for the new line color I just added will be whatever is in the Action by: Simple section.
I’ve also noticed that sometimes when you add a new color, you don’t see it immediately in the Send area. I haven’t been able to figure out why. But if that happens, try saving the file. Or play around some more. Or start a new file, draw a square and give it the color properties of the piece you had in your design. Then to back to the Send area of the design file and see if it’s popped in.
Mat or no mat matters
Settings for vinyl and HTV assume you are NOT using a mat. You may need to tweak them if you use one.
What happens after you adjust a cut setting
If you adjust any cut setting, it stays there until you do one of the following–
- alter it again
- close the software
- choose Revert for that material
- Restore Default Materials in the Advanced settings of the Send area
That last one also deletes all custom settings. So be very careful to not do that unless you really mean it.
Check following updates
Double check your settings anytime there’s a new update of the software. They change sometimes.
Up Next
Okay, it’s time to hit the nitty gritty. We’ve talked in generals, but now we need to get down to specifics next time. Let’s lay it all out on the exam table and talk about blade numbers. We’ll go over common misconceptions, how to adjust a blade, how to clean it out and much, much more.
If you’d like to see some of these tips in video form, check out my class When Good Cuts Go Bad on Terri Johnson Academy. It’s done in an older version of the software, but the concepts are the same.
Leave a Reply