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Cutting machines and heat presses

Measure twice, cut once

Pick your machine and your material. See the blade, the mat and the starting preset, then the time and temperature to press it, taken from the makers' own guides.

Cut settings finderHeat press settings

Heat press, from the makers

  • Siser EasyWeed

    305 F 10 to 15 s

    medium, hot or cold peel

  • Cricut Everyday Iron-On, cotton

    315 F 30 s

    firm, cool peel, EasyPress 2

All transfers and blanks →

Find your cut settings

Open the full cut settings finder →
1. Machine
2. Material

Cricut Explore Adhesive vinyl

Blade
Fine point blade
Mat
StandardGrip (green)
Preset
Choose this material in Design Space and keep its preset.
Pressure or depth
Default
  • Cut a small test shape first and change one setting at a time.

Topics on the mat

From choosing a cutter to running a small shop, each topic collects its settings, fixes and gear.

1"Choosing a machineCricut, Silhouette, Brother and plotter lineups compared so you buy the cutter that fits your projects.10 pages · 6 gear guides2"Setup and softwareGetting a new cutter out of the box, connected, calibrated and running in Design Space, Silhouette Studio or plotter software.9 pages · 0 gear guides3"Cut settings and materialsBlade, mat and pressure choices for vinyl, cardstock, fabric, felt and wood, with sizes each machine can handle.12 pages · 6 gear guides4"Heat presses and transfersEasyPress, AutoPress, mug presses and clamshells, plus the time and temperature that make iron-on stick.9 pages · 3 gear guides5"TroubleshootingFixes for cutters that will not connect, cut, feed or grip, sorted by the symptom you actually see.13 pages · 0 gear guides6"Small shop and plottersSelling shirts and decals changes the math: wider material, longer runs, faster weeding and a press that holds heat and pressure evenly. A vinyl plotter and a clamshell or swing-away press are the usual next step.7 pages · 4 gear guides
Light blue LightGrip, green StandardGrip, purple StrongGrip and pink FabricGrip mats with example materialsLightGripCopy paperThin cardstockVellumStandardGripVinylIron-onCardstockStrongGripChipboardBasswoodMagnet sheetFabricGripCotton fabricFeltBonded fabric
Cricut mats by grip. Match the grip to the material so it holds still during the cut and peels off without curling.

Tool

Heat press settings

Choose an iron-on or Infusible Ink product and see the temperature, time, pressure and peel from the maker's instructions.

EasyWeedEcoStretchGlitterEveryday Iron-OnInfusible Ink
Open heat press settings →

Gear guides

All gear guides →

Comparisons

All pages →

How-tos

All pages →

Fixes

All fixes →