Original Silhouette: Start by aligning the left edge of the cutting mat with the vertical guideline located directly in front of the left white roller. Lining the mat up with this mark will ensure that both sides of the cutting mat are evenly and properly gripped by both white rollers during the cutting process.

Once your mat is in the correct position, you will load your mat or material into the machine. The Silhouette has a turn the feed knob (located on the left-hand side of the Silhouette, opposite the power button) away from you (or toward the back of the Silhouette) in order to engage the cutting mat and roll it into the Silhouette. Continue to roll the mat into the Silhouette until the top edge of the mat (the clear plastic part) is lined up with the Guide marks located above the black cutting strip on the right-hand side of machine, as seen below:

If you are unable to see the guide marks, you may alternately roll your mat in until the top edge of your paper (as placed on the mat) is covering the black cutting strip.

Silhouette SD: The Silhouette SD does not have a manual knob but rather an auto-feed feature. Start by aligning the left edge of the cutting mat with the left-hand vertical guideline located in front of the left white roller (the right-hand vertical guideline is used if using the older yellow cutting mat model). Lining the mat up with this mark will ensure that both sides of the cutting mat are evenly and properly gripped by both white rollers during the cutting process.

Then press the "Enter" key located on the Silhouette machine (near the LCD screen).

If you are using the Cutting Mat/Carrier Sheet, this will be the default option. If you are loading in another material that has its own adhesive backing and is wide enough to be gripped by both rollers (such as vinyl), you may press the Right Arrow button to select a different loading option for media used without the carrier sheet.

Continue