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How to Cut Longer Than the Silhouette Cutting Mat (V4 Tutorial)

If you have a vinyl wall decal or another design that requires that you cut longer than the Silhouette cutting mat, you need to set it up that way in Silhouette Studio.

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These two important adjustments in Silhouette Studio will allow you to cut design up to 10' long with your Silhouette CAMEO or Portrait.

The first thing you want to do is open Silhouette Studio.

You'll notice that your Design area will open, by default, with a 12x12 virtual cutting mat and work area. In the Page Setup panel you can see the Page Size is set to Automatic CAMEO and the cutting mat is the 12x12.

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Open up the design you want to cut in the Silhouette Studio work area. I'm working with this You Are My Happily Ever After Design which would be perfect for a master bedroom vinyl wall decal or as a wood sign design.

You can see that at the size I want to cut this design it's not going to fit on the cutting mat.

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This is where you need to make some changes to your settings so you can cut longer than the mat.

First select the design and rotate it so it's going vertically.  You can rotate it by selecting the design and then grabbing the green circle at the top of the design and pulling it 90 degrees. The other option is to select the design and open the Rotate tab on the Transform panel and pick "90 degrees".

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Return to the Page Setup Panel.

Change the Cutting Mat to "None."  This applies whether you are using the Silhouette Roll Feeder or just feeding a sheet of vinyl or HTV by itself. 

For the Media Size you will need to manually type in a custom material size.  Since my design is 35" long, I need a piece of vinyl that's at least 36" so I am giving myself a little padding which is why I'm going with 40" for the height.

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Now your large vinyl (or htv) design is ready to be cut from the Send Panel!

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I would suggest you add weeding lines in Silhouette Studio to designs of this size to help with weeding and prevent you from wasting vinyl. 

Because you are able to cut large designs all in one piece, you can easily transfer and apply wall decals as a single design using the hinge method, as opposed to piecing them together.

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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!

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15 comments

  1. How would the settings work for with a portrait using the feeder roll? Still 12 by whatever length?

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  2. 1, SO WILL THIS WORKK ON CURIO AS WELL ? 2, DOES THE MACHINE AUTO ADVANCE TO CUT A, SAY 36" SIGN ? THANKS FOR THIS TUT.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have tried this but my vinyl always slips. What am I doing wrong?

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  4. Thank you! Just to clarify--no mat is needed and the blade settings will adjust automatically (on a Cameo 3)??

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  5. My vinyl goes all over the place! Help!

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    Replies
    1. Make sure you move the right roller in so it catches the side of the vinyl on both sides.

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    2. I have the same problem with my Cameo 3 . I've moved my right roller in and even made a DIY roll holder, but not matter what I do or how closely I watch the machine while it's cutting the vinyl eventually get's cockeyed and misaligned. I can't cut designs longer than about 12-18" without a mat without things getting misaligned and wasting a ton of vinyl. -_-

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  6. How do I change my "show cut border" to 12x24 so it doesn't cut my design off at 12x12 ?

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    Replies
    1. Hi there, you need to ensure that your mat settings and media settings are set up like the photos above.

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  7. I've changed my settings to None for mat and then under Media Size I changed it to custom and put in 12" x 48" but when I press the send button I get an error message that says the selected media width is too wide to be used with the specified Silhouette device. Select a compatible media size and retry. I have a Cameo 4 and have cut large designs before and have never had this difficulty. What am I doing wrong?

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  8. I am having the same issue, I have tried everything I can think of, changed ever option. I cannot get it to cut anything longer then 12x12.

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    Replies
    1. Hi there! This isn't the easiest platform to troubleshoot as we'd need more details. We do offer 1:1 help and a priority help inbox along with in depth premium videos, over at Silhouette U https://silhouetteu.com/pages/silhouette-videos-help

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    2. Did you try typing the length of your design in the height spot of your design?

      Delete

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