When cutting adhesive vinyl or heat transfer vinyl, a “kiss cut” is used to cut the vinyl but leave the carrier sheet or backing intact. If your Cricut cuts through the backing, there are usually one of two possible issues.
Wrong Blade
If you’ve just replaced your blade and are having this problem, you probably have the wrong blade. The Explore Series and the Maker use the Premium Fine Point blade. These blades come with a white or red cap. The Fine Point Blade (formerly “Standard”) is slightly longer and will cut through vinyl and carrier/backing sheets if used with the newer machines. These blades have gray caps and are labeled as being for the Explore, which makes things confusing, but just make sure to get the Premium Fine Point blade with the red or white cap (one blade per package).
Visit this Cricut help page for more information about blades.
Wrong Setting
Since there is no dial on the Maker, you will either search or scroll the settings to find the one you want. There is a setting under Iron-On called “Heat Transfer (non-Cricut)” Don’t use it. It cuts too deep and will cut your carrier sheet. I’m not sure what material it would cut well, but it will cut too deeply for most brands of heat transfer vinyl. Use the “Everyday Iron-On” setting under the “Iron-On” category.
I hope you can avoid these issues and have lots of fun with vinyl! If you haven’t tried reverse canvas yet, here’s my tutorial.
What setting should I put it on if I want it to cut through my carrier sheet, for say permanent vinyl
You’d have to experiment with settings as the machine isn’t designed to do that. You could try the HTV setting. I wouldn’t recommend cutting through the carrier sheet because it will make transferring difficult.
I received a Maker for Christmas and am having a terrible time getting my machine to cut permanent vinyl. I am trying to cut a small quote and it does not cut all the way through. I have tried vinyl with different pressures without success. Any suggestions?
If it’s a Cricut product there will be a specific setting for it. Keep in mind that it should not cut through the carrier sheet. The vinyl will be cut and the carrier sheet will remain intact. Small lettering doesn’t do well with vinyl. You can try multiple cuts on the washi tape or washi sheet setting, but if the letters may need to be bigger and/or a thicker font used.
Thanks for your quick response. Will try your suggestion.
Thank you for this post! I have been trying for two days to cut an image out in HTV and Siser Easyweed and my Maker keeps cutting through the backing, even when I chose Everyday Iron on and changed the pressure to Less. I’ve wasted two rolls of vinyl! I’m going to give it one more try.
Jodi – I’m having the same problem. I have the correct blade and the correct settings, but it’s still cutting about 1/2 of the design carrier sheet on the light pressure. I was fine, cut some cardstock with other blades, put the correct one back in and now I’m having a problem. What did you do and did it work?
Susan, if you are using the Premium Fine Point blade with the white cap and it is cutting the carrier sheet, you need to call Cricut.
I was literally sobbing because my machine was cutting through both layers of my HTV and I was on a deadline for making my grandson a t-shirt for his birthday. This article saved my sanity!!!! Thank you!!!
Hi there! I have an Explore Air and never had any cutting issues with my machine until I switched the blade to a standard one (grey cap).. I see that you recommend the fine point with the white cap. Is that the same as the German carbine premium blade (red cap)? At this point, I’m at a loss in terms of what blade I need to use for my Explore Air without it cutting through the transfer.. (I’ve already wasted 3 sheets of HTV)
Yes, the older packages say “German carbide” and have a red cap. They are the same as the Premium Fine Point Blade (white cap).
Life saver! Just purchased a cricut maker and was trying to use htv, kept cutting through my project. I had the wrong blade! Going to purchase correct blade tomorrow…as it is 1230 am….as I now can go to sleep! So glad I found your website!
The blade that came with the machine, the Premium Fine Point blade, is the correct blade. You need to use the Everyday Iron-On setting.
Is there a way to change a setting after? I have a maker and bought replacement blades (now turns out they are the wrong ones) and can’t return – any suggestions?
You’ll have to experiment with settings to find ones that work with those blades. I would start with less pressure and move up as needed.
https://help.cricut.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009501793-How-do-I-choose-the-material-settings-#Maker
https://help.cricut.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009383274-How-do-I-use-or-create-a-Custom-material-setting-
Thank you so much for this post. I was using ‘Heat Transfer Non Cricut’ for Cricut setting and it was cutting through all the layers. Your suggestion to leave on Cricut Everyday Iron On solved my problem!!
Great! Glad I could help!
Thank you so much for your post! I have an issue where it cuts with uneven pressure no matter what I cut. Specifically it cuts deeper on the left side but only scores the right, so if I’m cutting the letter ‘O’ , the left side has cut right through but the right side has barely scored the surface. Any thoughts on this?
P.s I’ve replaced the blade already with a premium fine point blade.
I would try a new mat.
have you found any lighter cutting settings for the explore air 2 using a standard blade? i just bought them not knowing that they don’t work with my machine and am really bummed it’s cutting through htv. my store has a no return policy about cricut items :/
I’m sorry, I don’t use the standard blades. You’ll need to do some test cuts.
Hello Lydia, i sure hope you can help me…i spoke with cricut for over an hour and they could not help. i cut quite a bit of vinyl for making word signs…i have the maker. i changed the fine point blade and it now cuts all the way through the backing and scores the matt lightly…i changed the blade again, thinking it was possible something wrong with it…then i switched to a premium fine point blade and it still cuts too deep. i used the “less” selection on the pressure and it did cut a little less deep, but still through the backing…i have always selected the “vinyl” choice, and even used a professional grade sign makers vinyl and it cut completely through that thicker vinyl as well…
I’m sorry, I don’t think I will be able to help you. I can’t see what’s going on. You can try test cuts with different settings, but I suggest calling Cricut back and asking for a technician. They can run diagnostics on the machine.
Jeannie
Did you find a solution? I’m having the exact same problem. 4 calls to cricut and after updated firmware… still no luck
by mistake I used the vinyl setting rather than the iron on setting. I use the easy press and the vinyl looks fine. This is a baby gift and I want to make sure there will not be any issues regarding my error. what is the difference between vinyl setting and iron on setting? Thank you for your help. I will hold off sending gift until I confirm all is fine.
If it cut and weeded fine, there’s not a problem. There’s not a huge difference between the vinyl and iron-on settings.
Thank you! I bought the wrong blades and this helped me solve my issue right away!
Thank you for this. I am a Cricut Maker noob and my first go at Siser EasyWeed Stretch (and my very first try at any HTV) and it cut right through the carrier sheet. Siser’s own recommendation is to use the “not Cricut” setting. Yeah, no. I have learned to do a simple cut test with every new material because the teensy logo I had cut out to be mask-sized was stuck to my mat. With your setting recommendation, it came out a perfect kiss cut afterwards. Thanks!
Hello there! I purchased the cricut maker and am just now replacing the fine point blade. I ejected the old blade from the housing, and replaced it with the new one (i confirmed its the correct one, the premium fine point blade), i pushed down on the plunger, put the blade in, and it doesn’t go down all of the way. The blade sticks out a bit and when I use it to cut regular vinyl, it cuts too deep and cuts the backing. I backed down on the pressure setting and it still did the same thing, albeit slightly less cut through. Am I doing something wrong or could my blade housing be defective? I can’t force it any further down…
I just purchased a Maker and out of the box I tried making a hoodie. I used the setting Every Day Iron On, chose automatic pressure and it cut through the carrier sheet. I tried again and chose the lightest pressure and it STILL cut through the carrier sheet. Why is this happening and how do I stop it? Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
It’s really hard to say without seeing it. I’ve never had a problem on that setting. Make sure the clear carrier sheet is down on the mat. You want the HTV facing up and the design mirrored. If you’ve done all that, I suggest calling Cricut on Monday.
It was a Natalie Malan® Patterned Iron-On Sampler, so it was easy to tell which side should go down (the back looked yellow and the carrier sheet was on the front with the colors) and the carrier sheet was definitely facing down. It was mirrored and I was able to put it on the sweatshirt, but had to go SUPER slow when weeding and also had a harder time removing the carrier sheet once I had ironed it on. Good to know that I did everything correctly. I will call Cricut and see what they say. Thanks!
THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!
Thank you for the info on the “Everyday Iron-On” setting. You saved my wife a lot of heart ache and money in vinyl.
Hello I can’t change the pressure setting the pressure setting is set at default
You shouldn’t need to change the pressure setting if you are using the premium fine point blade with the white cap and the correct setting for your material. You can create a custom material setting if you want to: https://help.cricut.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009383274-How-do-I-use-or-create-a-Custom-material-setting-.
I just got a Cricut explore air 2 and I am pretty sure it’s using the premium fine point blade. I have the dial set to iron-on and it cut through the carrier sheet. Should I set the dial to custom and select the everyday iron on?
If you bought the machine new, you have a premium fine point blade. If you didn’t buy it new, I would replace the blade. I would try turning the dial to custom and using everyday iron-on.