Cricut Knife Blade and rotary Blade were two new tools launched with the Cricut Maker. The knife Blade works exclusively with the Cricut Maker, so you won't be able to use it with the Cricut Explore. Also, the Knife Blade is only compatible with the desktop version of Cricut Design Space.
It can cut through thicker materials that even the fine-point Blade can't. The Blade is larger than the standard fine point blade and can cut up to 3/32" thick materials. The knife blade can cut chipboard, tooling leather, Basswood, balsa wood, garment leather, Cricut chipboard, mat board, and craft foam.
The knife blade is compatible with the Cricut Maker and won't work with Cricut Explore. The pressure needed to cut thicker materials is 10x greater than the Explore was designed for. Plus, the way the Knife Blade functions is a bit different than the Fine Point blade and the Deep Point Blade. Even the Maker's Adaptive Tool System is a professional cutting technology unavailable on other machines. It controls the direction of the Blade, and it automatically sets the cutting pressure based on the material.
Cutting with the knife blade is not a quick process; it takes more than one pass because the materials are thick. The Maker will take twenty passes to cut thicker materials. For the first few passes, the Knife Blade starts with lighter pressure, increases pressure, and decreases pressure for the last pass or two.
You only need two supplies to use your knife blade: StrongGrip Cutting Mat and Masking Tape. You must use a StrongGrip mat because the knife blade takes up to 20 passes to cut your design, so you will need the mat with the strongest grip. The masking tape is pressure sensitive, thin, very adhesive, and easy to tear the paper. Its adhesive nature is what makes the masking tape so useful. The tape can be easily removed without damaging the surface from which the tape is removed and does not leave any residues. The masking tape is an added insurance to ensure the material you cut doesn't come loose and move around on the mat.
Before using it, you must calibrate your Knife Blade to ensure your knife blade cuts each pass in the same spot. If you ignore this step, you may end up with uneven cuts or cuts that aren't clean. You don't have to calibrate the Blade itself; you've to calibrate the Knife Blade housing. If you replace the Blade, the housing remains calibrated; only if you use a different housing in your machine or move your housing to a different machine will you need to recalibrate your knife blade. Here are the steps to calibrate your Knife Blade.
Insert the Knife Blade housing in your Cricut Maker machine for the first time.
Next, open the Design Space and a new canvas. Use the dropdown menu on the left and click on the Calibration tool.
These three options will appear: Calibrate your Rotary Blade, calibrate your printer for Print, and then Cut and calibrate your knife Blade. Select Knife Blade and follow the instructions on the screen.
Load the Knife Blade into Clamp B and put a piece of printer paper on a cutting mat.
Align the paper with the top left corner and click continue.
Select your machine from the dropdown menu, insert your mat, and cut the test paper.
Remove the paper from the mat and closely examine the cut lines.
From the dropdown menu, choose the one with the cleanest Cut.
Once you have selected your overlap and clicked continue, the calibration is complete.
Basswood and Balsa wood are light and used in various crafting projects. They are similar, but Balsa wood is less expensive than Basswood and easily available in craft and hobby stores. On the other hand, Basswood is denser and more durable than balsa. You can use either of these woods on the Cricut Maker but ensure it has no knots. Fortunately, Cricut has a line of 1/16 in Basswood for such wood projects with a smooth finish. Before you cut anything, move the white star wheels on the roller to the right. Then follow the steps mentioned below:
Prep the machine and Knife Blade. Set up your material and mat.
Tape everything down with masking tape.
Load your design in Design Space.
Next, begin cutting. On the screen, the estimated passes and time will appear.
Once the cutting is done, you will be prompted to ensure your cuts are good before unloading the mat.
Use a weeder to gently lift the material to check if the Cut made it all the way through or not.
Then gently remove the outline, and that's all.
With the Cricut Maker and Knife Blade, the possibilities are endless. Here are some of the cool project ideas you can try:
Jewellery
Toys
Puzzles
Holiday Decor
Models
Party Decor
Cake and Cupcake toppers.
The time can vary depending on your project, the thickness of the material, and the design you will use. Unlike paper and vinyl, Cricut Maker doesn't cut wood in one pass. It will take 20 passes so it will take longer than usual. Fortunately, when you select a material to cut, the Design Space will give you an estimated time to cut the material.
If the knife Blade doesn't cut through all the way, you can make additional cuts. You can do it by simply clicking the go button. But beware, once all the passes are finished, do not immediately unload the mat from the machine. Because it will cancel the project, you won't be able to make any additional passes. Also, cutting too deep can go through your mat.