One of the most annoying things about owning a Silhouette is when the blade no longer makes clean cuts. I mistakenly thought that my Silhouette blades were dull and when this happened I would replace them. Rookie mistake! Today I’m all about Cleaning a Silhouette Blade.
My biggest mistake was thinking the Silhouette blades were dull. They weren’t dull at all, they just needed cleaning. And, today I am going to show you how to clean your Silhoutte blades and extend its life.
First things first. Remove the blade from your Silhouette and set it to the number 0 {zero}.
On the very tip of the blade housing is a cap that covers the blade. This little cap unscrews ~ oh, yes it does! Unscrew this cap to the left and remove it ~ just don’t lose the cap.
Voila! Cap removed.
Notice how linty the blade is. That is after cutting out lots of paper designs. Towards the end of my cutting, I was getting some spots that didn’t always make perfect cuts. That means it is time to clean the blade.
I have a variety of things I use to clean my blades. If I’m in a hurry I used a can of compressed air. Sometimes I quickly brush off the lint with the lint brush that goes to my sewing machine. If I am cutting something like adhesive-backed card stock then I may need to use an alcohol wipe to remove any sticky residue that might be on the blade.
Clean as a whistle. All lint removed and ready to cut again. It doesn’t get much easier than that!
All that’s left is putting the cap back on the blade and you are ready to cut again.
The same steps work for the fabric blade as well. Just repeat the above steps with one exception. When you cut fabric it will likely have fusible web on the back. This quickly builds up and the blade will no longer make clean cuts. It is necessary to use an alcohol swab to clean off the sticky residue. I have a quick tutorial on it here.
Regularly cleaning your Silhouette blades will save you money ~ which leaves a little something for buying more fabric!
Sarah Markos says
January 27, 2014 at 1:01 pmI just got a silhouette machine for Christmas and this post is priceless. Thank you!!!!!
Kim B says
January 27, 2014 at 8:50 pmThank you! Any and all help with this machine is helpful! Any thoughts on how to be frugal with the vinyl? I hate throwing away the negative or positive space….just don’t like wasting supplies.
Camille says
February 2, 2014 at 12:18 pmKim, try to save your negative/positive space vinyl for another project – just save the backing of your vinyl and place ‘weeded vinyl’ back on it.
Julia @ It's Always Ruetten says
January 27, 2014 at 9:04 pmGreat tutorial. I have a dumb question, though that I’m hoping you can answer. I just got a Silhouette for Christmas and when the cap is on it, the blade doesn’t pop out the bottom hole. Is that supposed to happen? How does it cut if the blade isn’t out further than the cap. I’m hoping you can help me out and give me some basic Silhouette blade 101 answers! Thanks! 🙂 – Julia
Leslie says
January 28, 2014 at 6:46 amIf you blade is set on 0 or 1 you might not see the blade. Even at a setting of 5 it barely shows but that doesn’t mean it won’t cut. I always follow the Silhouette setting and never have problems.
Allison @ The Golden Sycamore says
January 28, 2014 at 12:12 pmSo smart! Thanks so much for sharing!
Jill says
January 29, 2014 at 9:13 amThis is such a great tip! I’ll have to remember this!!
Tessa says
January 29, 2014 at 10:41 amGREAT TIP!!!!! Thanks for sharing!
Havalah says
January 29, 2014 at 1:24 pmthis is good to know. Thanks
Jeannine @ The Concrete Cottage says
January 30, 2014 at 7:29 amI’ve had a Silhouette for years now and had no idea the top of the blade unscrewed. You are a genius!!! Thanks so much for this tip. I always knew the blade being dirty really affected how it cut, and I tried to clean it as best I could, but this makes it so much easier! So glad I saved most of my old blades (not sure why I did, but now I know)!!
Kristy says
January 31, 2014 at 7:55 amI cannot, for the life of me, get that little white tip to screw or pop off. Any advice?
Leslie says
January 31, 2014 at 9:47 amIf you have a pair of jewelry pliers this might help give you a better grip to unscrew the cap.
Camille says
February 2, 2014 at 12:19 pmI took a pair of tweezers and spread them just a little bit to fit around the cap and turned. It took a couple of tries, but it worked.
Bernadette says
January 31, 2014 at 12:44 pmThanks for sharing! I found you over at the Creativity Unleashed Link Party.
natashalh says
February 1, 2014 at 7:34 pmThis is so timely for me! Thank you. I just ordered a Silhouette and it’s supposed to be delivered Monday.
Camille says
February 2, 2014 at 12:21 pmI had always heard to turn the dial counter clockwise to 8 or 9 and you could see the lint/paper and that worked pretty well. Yesterday I cut a BUNCH of paper and was having problems. I was able to finish, but this morning when I read this, I tried it. Sure enough! Little pieces of paper down in there. Thank you SO much for this fabulous tip! I’m visiting from Think Pink Sunday.
Terry says
February 3, 2014 at 3:09 amDo you know how many of these I have thrown away for this reason! Next one I am going to clean first to see if that is my fix. thanks so much, now can you get the trash man to bring my old blades back?
Jenna says
February 3, 2014 at 5:28 amAwesome to know! Thanks for sharing!
Sarah says
February 3, 2014 at 8:46 pmThank you! I know mine will be due for a cleaning soon, it’s gets a lot of use 🙂 This looks pretty easy.
Ariean @OneKriegerChick says
February 4, 2014 at 3:50 pmThanks for the great tip…I’ll have to try this on my Cricut blade. I’ve always just purchased a new one. 🙁
~Ariean
J Pier says
February 28, 2014 at 5:29 pmThe blade that came with my Silhouette Cameo does not have the projection on the white part that is supposed to unscrew. The white part is all one level. Nothing to grab on to. Now what?
Leslie says
February 28, 2014 at 8:23 pmIf your blade is set on zero you won’t be able to see it. Try changing the setting.
Lucia Gonzalez says
March 24, 2014 at 8:17 pmWow, thanks for sharing with us that tip, I almost throw away two blades that doesn’t work any more until I read this. I´m going to clean it wright now, thanks so mucho again. God bless you!
Lucía
Beja says
June 14, 2014 at 10:44 amYou just saved my deadline!!!! Thank you for helping me not have to go purchase a blade 25 miles away, so over an hour round trip plus coming home in between my work’s final destination. THANK YOU!!! Found you on Google.
Rosie says
June 18, 2014 at 1:43 pmThank you for that great tip. I found that the cap on my blade was coming off while I used it so had to screw it on tighter.
Do you have any handy hints for making the cutting mat stickier. Someone suggested spray on re-positioning glue.
Thank you and I also found you on Google.
Leslie says
June 19, 2014 at 10:38 amTry using KK2000 on the mat. I’ve done this before with some success.
Rene says
September 2, 2014 at 2:26 pmGreat info. I ordered replacement blades, but this helped me fix whatever was not right. Now, I was able to finish my project before my deadline. I can put the new blades up for another day!
I also found you through Google!
Blessings!
Paula Foulsham says
April 26, 2015 at 12:05 pmBrilliant will hopefully save us a fortune
Janice says
July 20, 2015 at 9:16 pmI just don’t want to take such a money-saving tip and run with it. I wanted to take time to let you know how appreciated your tip is. I just purchased the Silhouette and trying to start my business. My blade just quit!
I am impatient and was thinking of going to find a place to buy another blade when I saw your post! The darn thing had paper stuck in it! I learned this only after reading your post and following the instructions. I like knowing the mechanisms I am working with. Thank you so much for sharing the knowledge.
Fatima says
September 21, 2015 at 1:34 amThank you
Debra says
February 22, 2016 at 11:38 amWAs just about to buy blade, you are so smart, there was so much lint around the blade, it must not have been able to move. Thank you
Johanna Mahnke says
May 27, 2016 at 12:54 pmGreat tip!! Thanks so much – I nver knew this.
Masya says
June 14, 2016 at 9:45 pmVery useful tip. Thanks so much.
Janice Brown says
July 22, 2016 at 11:54 amYou are so awesome for this tip. Thank you very much!!!
Dee says
August 6, 2016 at 6:20 amGreat tutorial and information, awesome for newbie. Thank you!!!
Kay Gramling says
October 15, 2016 at 7:03 amThanks so much for this information, I know sometimes my cuts are not clean and this is something I didn’t know to do.
Isabel says
December 1, 2016 at 11:35 pmHi! I just cut a bunch of cardstock for my daughter’s school project and immediately after, I tried to make a monogram decal. I had sooooo much trouble doing so when I never have before. It cut the vinyl but it was nearly impossible to weed. Could it be because of the cardstock that I had just cut??
Leslie says
December 2, 2016 at 6:58 amYes. I keep separate blades that I label because cardstock ruins blades.
Denise says
April 12, 2017 at 3:11 pmThis helped me out a lot. Thank you!!!
Jenna says
April 13, 2017 at 1:09 pmYou are a lifesaver !!!!
Lana Price says
January 18, 2018 at 2:18 pmSo I am a newbie and took my blade apart thinking it was in a case… and I needed to take it out. (pausing so you can stop laughing.) When I put it back together on which setting do I put the red line? I have a cameo 3 and the blade has a red line.
Leslie says
January 20, 2018 at 6:47 pmThe setting depends on what you are cutting. Set on either 3 for paper or 5 for yardstick.
Annette says
March 7, 2018 at 2:18 pmOh wow! I’m a newbie with the silhouette cameo and was just about to buy a new blade. I’m so thankful to you for posting this!