How to Cut Craft Foam with Silhouette 2mm Kraft Blade (Cut Settings)

It's now easier than ever to cut Craft Foam with your Silhouette machine...and you don't even need to have a CAMEO 4!

The new 2mm Silhouette Kraft Blade cuts Craft Foam like butter and I have the perfect cut settings for you.
The 2mm Kraft Blade works in the Silhouette CAMEO 4, the CAMEO 3, Portrait 2, and Curio. In other words - any machine that has a 2mm clearance!

Power on and connect the Silhouette cutting machine machine. Place a sheet (or sheets) of Craft Foam on a Strong Hold Cutting Mat.

In the Send panel of Silhouette Studio select the Available machine from the machine list.

Go to the Design area.

Start by opening the Page Setup panel and select the machine as Auto CAMEO, the cutting mat as Auto CAMEO, and the media size as Auto 12x12.

Open your design by dragging and dropping or going to File > Open.

I am using an adorable cactus design from the Best of Beck McCormick Bundle on So Fontsy.

I separated the design (select > right click > release compound path and/or ungroup) to cut each piece of the design on different colors of the craft foam.

Filling the pieces with color using the Fill Color tool and revealing the grid lines helps me visualize where each colored piece of craft foam should go on the cutting mat.

I removed some of the "prickles" from the original design since they are so small - and given that the Kraft Blade has a larger blade, the overcut on small areas is pretty pronounced. 

Go back to the Send panel.

Select Craft Foam as the Material from the drop down list.

CAMEO 3, CURIO, Portrait 2 users: Select the Action as cut and the tool as Kraft Blade. 

CAMEO 4 users: The Action (Auto Cut) and Tool (Auto Kraft Blade) should be automatically selected for you thanks to the auto tool detection and sensor on the back of the adapter.

I would recommend adjusting the cut settings from the defaults. I found the best craft foam cut settings with the Silhouette 2mm Kraft Blade to be:

Blade: 20

Speed: 4

Force: 30

Passes: 2

 

The Kraft Blade dulls quickly due to the dense materials it can cut. For this reason, don't be surprised if you need to adjust these settings (specifically increasing the force and number of passes) often.

Twist the area around the blade to adjust the blade depth. I would recommend starting at 0 and turning from there so you ensure you are on the correct depth.

Put your 2mm Kraft Blade into the tool carriage of your machine and locking it in. No adapter is needed for the CAMEO 3, Portrait 2, or Curio.

In the CAMEO 4, the 2mm Kraft Blade must be used with the white tool adapter in the left carriage.  Make sure the blade is in the adapter correctly or it will not hit the material when cutting.

Return to the Send Panel and click "Send" to begin the cutting.

Here's a quick version...or you can watch in real time in this Silhouette School Facebook Live.

Keep in mind there is also a 3mm Kraft Blade that is ONLY available for the CAMEO 4 and will only work in the right high pressure carriage.  The 2mm Kraft Blade can not take advantage of the high pressure tool carriage, which means it is more limited in the materials it can cut - but it still does an awesome job.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. By clicking on them and purchasing products through my links, I receive a small commission. That's what helps fund Silhouette School so I can keep buying new Silhouette-related products to show you how to get the most out of your machine!

Get Silhouette School lessons delivered to your email inbox! Select Once Daily or Weekly.

Subscribe Here!