Section 2 - Making Your First Cut; Overview Of Materials That Can Be Cut; Loading Material In The Cutter - PrismCut P20 User Manual

Section 2 - MAKING YOUR FIRST CUT

2.1 Overview of Materials That Can Be Cut

There are lots of different materials you can use with your PrismCut including:
paper, cardstock, photos, vinyl, stencil, poster boards, labels, fun foam, balsa
wood, leather, acetate, styrene, chipboard, shrink film and much more. The key
thing to consider is how dense the material is. Some very dense materials such
as metal, sandblast mask, magnet etc. are not recommended as they may yield
unsatisfactory results. As a general rule you should be able to cut any material
that is less than 2.5 mm thick and at the approximate density of 1 g/cm 3 .
Always start with a test cut, especially when changing materials
You can etch designs onto metals and other dense materials or make creases on
cardstock, leather etc. by using the optional etching and embossing tools.

2.2 Loading material in the cutter

Materials that have no backing (such as thin card stock) should be placed on the
cutting mat and then loaded. Materials such as vinyl, which have a backing, can
be placed directly in the PrismCut without using the cutting mat.
First, make sure the pinch rollers are lined up directly above the grit rollers on the
axle. The black arrows on the cutter are there to help identify the correct pinch
roller positioning. Place the material to be cut in the PrismCut so that the rollers
are at the edges and will not touch the design as it is being cut. In some cases,
such as with wide jobs it cannot be avoided and rollers will go over the design,
however this is typically not a problem even if the rollers touch the design.
Lower the pinch rollers by raising the pinch roller lever at the back of the cutter.
Note that the small levers on each pinch roller should be down in most cases, and
only positioned up when extra pressure is needed.
When cutting, the vinyl will move outwards from the cutter towards you. In most
cases, vinyl on rolls is loaded from the back of the cutter and other materials on
the cutting mat can be loaded from the front of the cutter.
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