eCraft: Getting a clean cut

Day 3 with the eCraft and learning some new things! Like how to get a clean cut without tearing.  Once again, I am cutting with Stampin' Up! paper.  As I continue experimenting with the machine, I found that some of my cuts are coming out jagged.  You can see in the cut below that the mask that I have popped out has horribly ragged edges.The cut on the bottom was nice and clean (there are three masks there) and it must have gotten caught somewhere in the second mask as it moved up the page.  Unfortunately, it ruined the good cut. I wonder if they are placed too close together?

I discovered that there was paper stuck in the blade. I LOVE how you can access the blade and the trolley without have to unscrew the blade like you do in the Cricut.  With the eCraft, you can push the trolley over to where you can access it and pull the lever and the whole things turns up 90 degrees so you can see what is going on with the blade.

Trolley opened and pushed 90 degrees upwards

I could see that there was a small yellow piece of paper stuck on the blade (something that always occurred on my Cricut). I cleaned out the blade and started cutting again.  When you are done, you just push the trolley down and you are ready to go!


A shot out to an awesome blog: The Purple Paper Paradise is a great resource for eCraft. Here is a cool guide that walks you through a lot of the issues that I have been having: http://purplepaperparadise.blogspot.com/2010/11/ecraft-guide.html

Based on the information I found on her blog, it seems that I might not be cutting the paper with enough pressure. She recommends: I determined that the settings for Stampin' Up cardstock should be pressure 8, tab density 1, tab width 1.  


I am going to give that a try and see if I have more success!