One great thing about using advanced cut mode (so any mode other than Action by: Simple) is that you can add pauses between each color row. This allows you to change the tool during the cut. You start the job and any time you have added a pause, the machine stops, you change to a different pen or adjust the blade, then continue the job. To start with lesson #1 in this series, go here.

This is different than just pausing the cut on the machine because you don’t have to hover over the machine waiting for exactly the right time to hit the pause button. If you’ve ever used that pause button on the machine, you know that the pause doesn’t always happen immediately. So the ability to have the machine pause right when you want it to is quite helpful.

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Why use pauses?

You might be wondering why you would want to pause during the cut. It’s not something you need on every project, but when you do it’s a big time saver. The advantage is that you can send the whole job to the machine at once, even if you are using multiple settings. For instance, you might want to pause when–

• You’ve created a design with multiple colors of sketch pens. If you insert pauses in the cut order, you can send the job just once to the machine and still use many different pen colors. Each time it pauses you can change out the pen.
• You want to sketch a design, with 1 or multiple pen colors, and then cut out around it. This time you’d need to change out the pen for a blade.
• You want to put pieces of different materials on the mat at the same time. The pause gives you a spot to change the blade number between different color rows.
• You want to do a small test cut before you cut the full project, or just cut a bit of the design first to check your cut settings.

Adding a pause

It’s pretty simple to add a pause. You can do it in one of 2 ways–

1. Hover over one of the color rows in the list (on the square of color is the best spot), right click (Windows) or CTRL-click (Mac) and select Add Pause.
2. Highlight the row by clicking on it, then click Add Pause in the detail area below.

Once the pause is there, you’ll see it between the rows.

I added 2 pauses here:

1. Between the red and brown rows. I added that one because I’m going to sketch a design that has a red line color on my piece of cardstock, then cut around it. The cut line has a brown line color. The pause allows me to take out the red pen and put in my blade. Notice that it’s a ratchet blade, which means I need to adjust it manually. That’s why I have the second pause.
2. Between the brown and orange rows. This time, I’m going to cut again. But since I need a higher blade number for the chipboard, I need a pause to be able to take out my blade and change it to a different depth.

You can add as many pauses as you like in your list.

Removing a pause

The pause can be removed in the same places you used to add it.

Continuing after a pause

Okay, so you’ve added your pauses and sent the job to the machine. The machine has sketched or cut your first row/color and paused. It’s time to take out your first tool and put in the next one. When that’s all set, you’re ready to continue to row 2.

Look at your Send area. Where it would normally say Cutting, you’ll see that the status reads Paused. Where it usually says, Test (for doing a test cut), it says, Resume instead.

Click on Resume to continue the job with color row 2. Or, you can click the play icon above the word Resume instead.

Continue these steps for each color row until you’re done with the job.

You can see a bit more detail if you click on the machine icon at the bottom right of the Send area.

This opens a window with expanded information. (Since I have Business Edition, I see multiple machines that I use. If you don’t have BE, you’ll only see your current one or the last one used.)

What’s helpful here is that the software tells you what row is coming up next — it gives you the RGB value. It also tells you which tool is next. There’s a Resume option here as well.

Warnings

There are just a couple of things you’ll want to keep in mind when you’re using pauses.

Hitting Send instead of Resume

After a pause, be careful to click Resume, NOT Send.

Clicking Send again won’t resume the current job. It just puts a new one in the queue.

Let’s say you accidentally press Send instead of Resume. Then when nothing happens you realize your mistake and hit Resume. The job continues on its merry way. BUT — after it’s done, it will start the job in the queue right away. In other words, it starts the job over again. Ya, that’s a big mess.

If you accidentally do this, you can hit the pause button on the machine itself and cancel the job. Or, you can take the current tool out of the tool holder and then resume the job. Since there’s no tool in, the machine goes through all the motions of cutting or sketching but nothing really happens. That means your material doesn’t get ruined.

Remember that I mentioned that when you press the pause button on the machine there’s sometimes a delay before it stops? If you need an immediate stop, you can turn the machine off. Just be aware that if you do, you won’t be able to turn it back on and continue the job because you’ll have to unload the mat. For more detailed information on pausing or turning off the machine during the cut, be sure to check this post as there are some consequences to this you need to know about.

Adding a pause after the last row

If you add a pause after the last color row, the machine will stop even if your cut job is finished. Notice here that I’ve got a pause after the brown row, but all the rows after that are set to No Cut.

That means the job is finished. But since a pause is there, the machine stops and the software still shows the Resume option. That can really confuse you if you try to start a new job. You can’t start a new one until the original one is complete. In other words, the same thing happens as described above.

The machine screen looks like the job is done

While paused with a pause from the cut order (so not a normal machine pause), the machine shows the job summary that it shows when a job is complete. It isn’t — it’s just waiting for you to resume the cut in the software.

Up Next

Super cool, right? If you learn how to use pauses correctly, you can save yourself quite a bit of time in your cut jobs. Investing a small bit of time pays off big.

In our next lesson, we’re going to talk about something that’s not really in the Send area per se, but affects the cut style on certain shapes. It’s something you’ll need to know when you’re putting text or objects on the path of the shape, such as when you put words around a circle. It will drive you batty if you don’t know why one of your shapes isn’t cutting. Stay tuned!