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I recently had to cut 200 matchboxes with my big shot. I usually use the premium crease pad with the matchbox die because I find that the cutting plates were causing the score lines to cut rather than score. I never had a problem with it until I started this big project. Fairly quickly I was finding that the die was not cutting completely through the card stock on the ends of the die. So I added a piece of cardstock as a shim. I had the same problem so I added another piece of cardstock as a shim. Same problem. I ended up cutting them all just using the cutting plates. The score lines weren't terrific, but at least the cardstock was cut all around. I'm not sure if my die is dull or if something else is going on. Has anyone else had this happen? Thanks in advance for your help!
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Dies don't cut because they're sharp, they're doing something called a "crush cut" - it's just the pressure on the cardstock that makes it separate. So it's unlikely your problem is that your die is getting dull since it was never sharp.
It's possible that it's your machine rather than the die itself - if you're using it a lot, the mechanism may be gradually getting just a tiny bit "looser" so it's not exerting quite as much pressure when you roll your die through. I guess a die that's designed to both cut and score is probably even mroe prone to tiny differences in pressure as there must be a very small differnetial between the height of the bits designed to cut and those designed to score. Experimenting with shimming is the only solution I can think of.
PS - ask me about stiletto heels if you want a crush cut visual!
It's all about concentrating pressure. Go stand on your local football field in a pair of training shoes. No problem, you're just standing there, right? Now change into a pair of stiletto heels. Odds on that your heels sink into the turf and you end up with them embedded. The small surface area of the heel is concentrating the pressure (your body weight). That's exactly what a die is doing, it's concentrating the pressure applied by your die cutting machine in those areas where the die is raised.
How true. I thought you were going to say that you did your cutting in high heels & one broke, now that would have been a funny story! LOL! Another story I had in mind that you were going to say was that you scored with your stilettos when you couldn't find your scoring tool. That shows you where my mind was! LOL!
Hee hee, I like the idea of a stiletto as a scoring tool!
I thought of a better example when I was telling my husband about this earlier. You know the plastic cookie cutters you get for kids? They're not sharp but they "cut" through the cookie dough when you press down on them - it's the pressure that does it, not the sharpness of the edge.
I actually had to return my first matchbox die to SU because it wouldn't cut right. But it never cut correctly. They replaced it and the new one cuts and scores just fine! Hope you find a way to fix yours.
Could my matchbox die be going dull?
