Faulty Cameo Blade??

[SylviaF]

I've been following with interest the posts about the cameo blade. Although I've had my cameo since about the 10th Nov I haven't really had much chance to use it. When I first set it up I cut an intricate design, but only used 250 gsm card - it cut perfectly on 3. Since then I have used it only a couple of times and reading the posts about the blade thought I would put it through its paces again. I again tried an intricate design on 3 and it didn't cut right through at all. I had a look at the blade and thought there might be some debris in there, but couldn't get anything out (using a fine watercolour brush). I had to put the setting up to number 6 before I could get anywhere near a decent cut. It is hard to believe that the blade could be blunted after two or three cuts using the same card I have used on my craft robo successfully for so long. I love the cameo, but it seems to me that there is a serious design fault in the blade and I do hope that it will be put right sooner rather than later.

[DJG]

Oh Sylvia I'm sorry I feel very guilty telling you how much you would love the Cameo. I think there is a design fault too as there are so many with the same problem

[Lucille]

The blades could be at fault, I don't know for sure, but having had a larger cutter for over 2 years now, I can say that cutting things like chipboard dulls the blade very very quickly making them useless for cutting normal card, although the blade used for cutting chipboard will continue to cut it apparently.

The people I know that like to use chipboard on a regular basis keep 2 blades, 1 for normal card and paper the other for only chipboard. I don't know if the chipboard you buy is any different to what I have from boxes of envelopes etc, but mine certainly has a lot of bits in it, what they are and how dense they are I've no idea, they could be thicker than the rest of the chipboard.

[SylviaF]

Oh Sylvia I'm sorry I feel very guilty telling you how much you would love the Cameo. I think there is a design fault too as there are so many with the same problem

Please don't feel guilty Doreen - I DO love the cameo, but not the blade - we really shouldn't have to be faffing about with paintbrushes and hoovers!! If they come up with a solution soon it will be great!

[DJG]

The blades could be at fault, I don't know for sure, but having had a larger cutter for over 2 years now, I can say that cutting things like chipboard dulls the blade very very quickly making them useless for cutting normal card, although the blade used for cutting chipboard will continue to cut it apparently.

The people I know that like to use chipboard on a regular basis keep 2 blades, 1 for normal card and paper the other for only chipboard. I don't know if the chipboard you buy is any different to what I have from boxes of envelopes etc, but mine certainly has a lot of bits in it, what they are and how dense they are I've no idea, they could be thicker than the rest of the chipboard.

Lucille I have only ever cut chipboard with my Cricut and only a couple of times with that

[YorkieMomFlUSA]

The blades could be at fault, I don't know for sure, but having had a larger cutter for over 2 years now, I can say that cutting things like chipboard dulls the blade very very quickly making them useless for cutting normal card, although the blade used for cutting chipboard will continue to cut it apparently.

The people I know that like to use chipboard on a regular basis keep 2 blades, 1 for normal card and paper the other for only chipboard. I don't know if the chipboard you buy is any different to what I have from boxes of envelopes etc, but mine certainly has a lot of bits in it, what they are and how dense they are I've no idea, they could be thicker than the rest of the chipboard.

I totally agree with Lucille..........if you are going to cut items like chipboard, keep one blade just for cutting those types of items!!!

Pam

[Fuschia]

That's fair enough but graphtec or silhouette america have never told anyone to keep one blade for cutting chipboard (which to my mind is like the boxes our cereal comes in). The Cameo is advertised as cutting a lot thicker, i.e. 350gsm. If the idea is to keep one blade for chipboard and another for cutting card then the machine should come with 2 blades surely?

[pesco]

[QUOTE=Dakflowers;6358226]Bendog this is one of the emails i had from USA Site.

Hello,

This concern would indicate a concern with the cutting conditions or with the blade itself. There are several reasons why the Silhouette may go through the cutting process and delivering a torn or ragged cutting results.

Some designs when cut on a smaller scale, or which are more intricate (or a combination thereof), may not deliver as clean of cutting results, especially when cutting thicker materials. The quality of cut may depend on the combination of the scale, intricacy, and thickness of material being used. Some of the suggestions we have would be to enlarge the image so that it has larger shapes to cut, or to use a different material type that is thinner. Please note that some fonts and imported images may not be designed for optimal cutting, so we cannot guarantee that every true type font or image will cut well with the Silhouette. You may confirm if this may be the concern at hand by drawing a basic box or circle and cutting it on the same type of material where the torn or ragged cuts were being experienced. If the quality of cut is good and you are not seeing the same issue, then your issue is simply with the combination of material thickness, scale, and intricacy.

This issue may also present itself if you have attempted at any point to cut a material that falls outside of the recommended thickness range or which are overly dense or abrasive in nature. Certain materials that are overly dense, such as thin metals, for example, would not be able to be cut and would impair the blade. Certain other material types that have abrasive natures, such as chipboard or sandpaper would also impair the blade or dull it very quickly. If you have attempted to cut such material types that fall outside of the recommended range, you would need to replace your blade as you find the quality of cutting results lowered with other materials that do fall within the expected cutting range (such as vinyl, paper, cardstock, etc). We would discourage further use of such abrasive materials as they will require you to replace the blade more frequently.

Likewise, please note that the blade will dull much more quickly with thicker materials, even as they fall within the expected range. The blades for the Silhouette should typically last up to 6 months depending on usage and the type of material being cut. Please note that thicker materials will wear down the blade more quickly and the average life for heavy users will be closer to 2 - 4 months. Blade life will vary based on the material type and frequency of use. The thickest material the Silhouette will cut well would be 80 - 90 lb weight cardstock, such as Bazzill cardstock. Attempts to cut thicker materials or certain materials the Silhouette is not designed to cut that are more dense (such as shrink plastic, foam, chipboard) may ruin the blade or result in the blade dulling very quickly.

Dakflowers[/QUOTE]


Hi

I feel so gutted for everone who is affected by this blade problem, as I well remember the problems (different) I experienced shortly after I bought my Silhouette SD.

In the hope that the following might be constructive, is it worth noting that the Sale of Goods Act would suggest that any problems or complaints about an item should be addressed to the Seller/s, as a Purchaser's contract is with them, not the manufacturer. Also, unless the situation has recently changed, it is the Seller who is/will be responsible for sorting the problem and/or for providing a refund if an item is deemed not to be fit for purpose.

I also think that if anyone might be considering this route, such a compaint should be done sooner rather than later, as there could be advantages to doing so.

E.g. The longer the period between experiencing a problem and reporting it could lessen the chance of obtaining a satisfactory conclusion, and it is always possible that a Purchaser could be blamed for exacerbating a problem through continued use. A problem developing within days of purchase suggests something is really not right.

However, it is also worth bearing in mind that even though an item may only be guaranteed for a year, it might have a longer expected lifespan, so if an item fails before the end of its expected life span, it can still be considered as not being fit for purpose.

E.g. Assuming the Manufacturer is capable of satisfactorily resolving the blade problem, are they more likely to be persuaded to respond quickly to separate one off complaints from end Purchasers with whom they have no contract (and the above copied email indicates they are likely to pass off such complaints as user caused anyway), or, are they more likely to respond quickly to complaints from THEIR customers, i.e. Suppliers to the public, who have bought in large stocks of the item, and who may be reconsidering whether the volume of complaints or claims they may receive is worth the hassle and potentially huge costs.

During a recent TV presentation of the Cameo the presenter advised that it could cut upto 350gsm (but this would require deeper cuts, presumably those marked 4 -10), acetate, shrink plastic, flex, mirror board, foam and encapsulated glitter card, and I think another presentation advised it could cut doflex (not sure if this is the right term, but I understand this can be used for making stencils).

However the above copy email suggests some of these claims may not be completely accurate. I am not sure how 80-90lbs would be represented in gsm, but I suspect it would be nowhere near 350 gsm.

So, was the presenter misinformed or has someone misunderstood? Just what is the truth regarding the Cameo's capabilities, and why does the new blade have cutting stages 4-10, as I believe some people have previously cut Bazzill card with the pink blade, which I think is the equivalent of 3 on the new blade?

If the comments in the above copy email are correct, and the current blade problem is not just the consequence of a poor batch of blades, I find it difficult to believe that there will be many future potential Purchasers who will be willing to spend £300 and then a further £102 each year (for bi-monthly replacement blades) in the perhaps mistaken belief they will be able to cut up to 350gsm and other thicker media.

I do hope it is all sorted out quickly, not least because I too was hoping to become a Cameo owner in the New Year.



.

[bendog]

IN trying to resolve the issue of lbs v gms I found this:
"The European measurement of describing paper weight measures a single paper with a two dimensional height and width of one square meter. This measurement is noted as g/m2 (gm/m2, gsm, g/m2). The measurement may be measuring a hypothetical square meter, but is a good "apples to apples" reference because it compares the weights of different size papers.

The US method of paper weight may be more familiar to people, but it has its drawbacks when comparing weights of different size paper. The US method of measurement gives the weight of the paper as if weighing 500 sheets (or a ream). Differences in the dimensions of paper are not taken into account. Therefore, the US weight of a letter size paper that is thick and dense may be the same as a poster size paper that is light and tissue thin because 500 sheets of each weigh the same. It's the "which weighs more, a ton of lead or a ton of feathers" quandary."

[Lucille]

Anne, I haven't seen a machine yet that cut's thicker media advise their buyers to keep 2 separate blades, this is something I learnt from other large cutter users.

Bendog - if it helps, take a screen shot of the media settings in Studio, by default they are show in lbs then if you go to the preferences and change it to centimetres the lbs will change to metric weights as well. It's not perfect but gives something to compare with.

[megs]

In my experience, when any thing new comes onto the market wait for about 6 months before buying and all the little niggly problems will be sorted. Hey Happy days!

[bendog]

Lucille - yes, I know about that but I was trying to find some way of being able to interpret the 80 -90 lb weight quoted above which seems to equate to 163 g/m² and that is nowhere near what the C & C show stated teh Cameo could cut. I suspect the reply from Silhouette America actually refers to the original Silhouette machines and not the Cameo. It is probably a standard reply sent without anyone actually reading the real questions asked, probably triggered by a keyword such as "blade".

[fimcc4168]

Doreen, please let us know the outcome and what you find with the new blade.

I, personally, am intrigued.....I've been cutting 12 x 12 bazzill, using Silhoutte 12 x 12 templates (purchased) and quite intricate designs. I agree, some baubles with delicate centres were difficult to remove from the page and the cut a little feathery....but slight larger they would have been perfect. The thing is, my test cut for bazzill is setting 3....and so far, I haven't gone above that, bizarre.

Maybe I am not doing as much. My use of the Cameo is personal...are others doing more ie charity cards or business use, perhaps. It's difficult to determine the blade's lifetime.

As Lucille says, different blades for separate jobs, thick n thin card.....in sewing
I use different types of scissors, and never the same ones are used for card as material.

I'll be interested to see what happens here and any action Silhouette make re blades.

[Lucille]

Lucille - yes, I know about that but I was trying to find some way of being able to interpret the 80 -90 lb weight quoted above which seems to equate to 163 g/m² and that is nowhere near what the C & C show stated teh Cameo could cut. I suspect the reply from Silhouette America actually refers to the original Silhouette machines and not the Cameo. It is probably a standard reply sent without anyone actually reading the real questions asked, probably triggered by a keyword such as "blade".

Could be, they do send a lot of those boiler plated replies out. Now GUK are selling the machines, I would deal with them not America, who like I said don't give a fig about the UK where the machines are concerned there's no profit in it for them.

I was wondering, seeing as Graphtec Japan have 2 factories in China and 1 in Japan that make the machines, perhaps they thought they would get away with putting in those cheap Chinese knock-off blades in the machines, you know the ones going for a song on the net

[Chris55]

I bought a Cameo from C&C and in the description on the site it says it cuts up to 350gsm.

I haven't used it much yet so have no experience of the problems others have experienced but am now wondering if I should have waited for a while as Megs suggested.

Reading about all these problems has taken away some of the excitement at having this machine.