All About the Blades: Cricut Maker Knife Blade
Discover the world of possibilities with the Cricut Maker Knife Blade - your gateway to a new dimension of crafting. This versatile tool is designed to cut materials up to 3/32” thick, making it perfect for a wide range of projects. Unlike the Deep Cut Blade, the Knife Blade can handle even thicker materials, such as leather, chipboard, basswood, and balsa wood.
Not Included with Cricut Maker: It's worth noting that the Knife Blade is not included with the Cricut Maker machine, despite the picture on the Maker box. You can purchase the Cricut Maker Knife Blade separately. Currently, it is compatible only with Cricut Maker series machines.
Cricut Maker's Advanced Control: The Cricut Maker machine is a powerhouse with 10 times the power of the Cricut Explore One, offering a formidable 10 kg of force. What sets it apart is its incredible precision - it can move the blade left, right, up, down, clockwise, counter-clockwise, and even determine the blade's orientation at any given moment.
Intelligent Variable Pressure: The Knife Blade operates differently from other blades you may use with your Cricut machine. Instead of making a single pass, the Cricut Maker will execute multiple passes to cut through thicker materials. These passes aren't identical; the Maker employs Intelligent Variable Pressure, which adjusts the pressure for each pass. It starts with a light scoring pass to initiate the cut, followed by a heavier pass to penetrate the material. Toward the end, it lightens the pressure again to avoid damage to the material's bottom. This method mimics how you would cut manually and optimizes blade and mat lifespan.
Extended Cutting Times: Cutting with the Knife Blade may take significantly longer compared to other blade types and projects. The need for multiple passes can be time-consuming, so be prepared to allow the machine the necessary time to complete your project. The results, however, are well worth the wait!
StrongGrip Mat and Additional Tips: When working with thick materials, pair the Knife Blade with the purple StrongGrip mat to keep your material securely in place. It's also advisable to tape your material to the mat's edges using masking tape. Moving the star wheels out of the way can prevent them from scoring or damaging your material.
Compatible Materials: The Knife Blade's versatility extends to a variety of materials:
- Balsa wood
- Basswood
- Cricut Chipboard
- Craft foam
- Tooling leather
- Mat board
Blade Lifespan: Not surprisingly, the lifespan of the Knife Blade depends on the density of the materials you are cutting as well as the complexity of your designs. But in general, you can expect the Knife Blade to require more frequent replacement than your other blades to ensure consistent cutting quality.
Blade Replacement: You can tell it's time to change your Knife Blade when you can visually see knicks in the blade, are no longer getting good cuts, or you notice that you have to hit the recut button more frequently than you used to. Fortunately, its easy the replace the blade with a Cricut Knife Blade Replacement Kit. Get complete instructions in our post, How to Change a Cricut Maker Knife Blade.
Beginner Tips: Need more information to get started with Cricut Knife Blade? Check out How to Calibrate the Knife Blade and get project inspiration right here on our blog:
All About the Blades: How to Calibrate the Rotary Blade
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