When you open the Craft ROBO Controller during the cutting process, the dialog allows you to choose a media setting that controls the blade downforce and speed.

This post covers the cutting settings that I've settled upon for various paper types.

Hammermill Color Copy Cover 60lb

Blade cap color: Yellow

Speed: 10

Thickness: 24

Notes: Cuts very, very well. Very lightweight and flimsy. Use only for small models (figure-sized)

Hammermill Color Copy Cover 80lb

Blade cap color: Yellow

Speed: 10

Thickness: 28

Notes: Stronger than 110lb cardstock. Wears blades out a little more quickly than 110lb cardstock. Best for medium to large sized models.

Hammermill Color Copy Cover 100lb

Blade cap color: Red

Speed: 10

Thickness: 33

Notes: Avoid machine-cutting this stock if possible. Frequently requires cutting twice, perfs fold poorly, and wears out blades quickly.

Red River Paper 50lb Premium Matte Photo C2S

Blade cap color: Yellow

Speed: 10

Thickness: 25

Canon MP-101 Matte Photo Paper

Blade cap color: Yellow

Speed: 10

Thickness: 25

Wausau Exact Index 90lb

Blade cap color: Yellow

Speed: 10

Thickness: 25

Notes: This is an index weight stock. I use it for carrier sheets. The same settings will also cut Wausau 65-67lb cardstock.

Georgia Pacific 110lb Cardstock

Blade cap color: Red

Speed: 10

Thickness: 28

Notes: Most common media used in this hobby. Most office supply store 110lb cardstocks are of similar weight and cutting characteristics.

Georgia Pacific Image Plus 110lb Cardstock

Blade cap color: Red

Speed: 10

Thickness: 28

Notes: Similar to GP 110lb cardstock.

Miscellaneous Notes

These settings are a starting point, and represent the performance of a blade that has been broken in nicely. When you first mount a fresh blade, the settings above are actually slightly overkill, *but* you won't notice blade wear for almost twice as long.

Once you start noticing items not being cut completely through, change the blade cap from yellow to red. If that still doesn't cut, bump the Thickness setting up by 1-2 points. If THAT still doesn't cut, you need a new blade.

When using media not listed above, use the closest matching settings. If your selected media is literally nowhere close to any of the settings above, choose the default option in the Controller that most closely matches your media.

This post will be updated with more stocks and profiles as I develop them.

-Mel

That's the basic idea, yes. Start with the settings above, then if you run into cutting difficulties, bump things up a notch like you described. Once you've maxed out the cap color and thickness settings and stuff just doesn't cut anymore, it's time for a new blade.

You don't need to actually change any settings until you see noticeable evidence that the blade's not cutting as well as it used to. So, it's more like you'll get through at least half a pack of 110lb, and possibly the whole pack, before needing to dial things up a bit.

-Mel

There's usually a reason for the numbers I provide.

-Mel

Just so you don't open any interdimensional rifts or cause the planet to crack in half, it's all good.

-Mel

(I miss the old emoticons--the new ones are nice, but the old expressions were closer to what I'm attempting to convey.)

If you're positive that it's Hammermill Color Copy Cover 80lb rather than 100lb, and it's still not cutting out at max settings, then I need to know the exact kind of machine you have, the kind of carrier sheet you're using, and exactly how you're feeding it.

Silhouette-1 and Craft ROBO II: Make sure the blade cap tab is pointed in the right direction--towards the front of the machine when using disposable carriers, and towards the left if you're using the OEM carrier sheet.

Silhouette SD and Craft ROBO III: If you're using disposable carrier sheets, don't use the "load with carrier" option, and if you're using the original carrier sheets, don't use the "load media" option.

There's a few more things I want you to check if that doesn't do the trick.

1. Pull the blade housing and reinstall it. Sometimes people accidentally install it a little high in the holder.

2. If that doesn't fix it, unscrew the cap and screw it back on. Sometimes people don't screw the things on all the way, and that can cause problems with cutting depth.

3. If #2 isn't the problem, check the hole at the end of the blade cap. Make sure it's nice and flat, and that there's no little "lip" of mold flash running around the hole. If there is, remove the cap and carefully scrape the flash off with a hobby knife, as if you were deflashing a plastic model kit.

4. If 1-3 still don't do it, look carefully at the blade tip and make sure it's not chipped or broken off.

5. If that ain't it either, you *might* have a lemon blade. For some strange reason, there's an occasional blade that just doesn't cut very well at all out of the box, and you'll need to get a new $10 for it.

-Mel

The names listed are just brand names--Wausau Exact Index is just what the label or packaging on the ream says, for example. Index weight just means it's similar in weight and feel to an index card, but it's still cardstock. Even tagboard and posterboard are cardstock, but tag and poster board tend to consist of multiple layers and are 5-6 times as thick as the stuff you normally feed into a printer.

Don't read too much into the names. They're only important in the sense of being able to identify them on the shelf.

As for the differences between the various paper types, the only ones that really matter are the grammage (grams per square meter, often abbreviated "GSM" on the packaging), the ISO brightness (brighter is better for color fidelity), and the surface finish (the smoother it is, the better the printed detail looks). 200-225gsm is ideal for most general building, 160-185 is okay for smaller items, 250-272 gsm is kind of pushing things a little, and anything from 300gsm upwards is likely to be difficult to feed through consumer printers.

-Mel