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Q: How do I prolong the life of my Cutting Mats?
A: Here are a few tips that will help prolong its life that you may find helpful:
1) Rotate your mat and insert it in the other direction. You'll notice that a full piece of paper is centered squarely in the center of the mat. So even though the printed text indicates one direction, we designed it to be rotated as well.
2) We recommend that you use and rotate a number of mats at the same time. This seems to extend the overall life of each mat.
3) Be sure to store them with the plastic film over them. Without them, your mat can collect dust or debris and not last as long. It is also a bad idea to store mats with a sheet of paper on them.
4) Don't cut too deep. Make sure the blade height is set just enough to get through the material you are cutting. If it cuts deeper into the mat, it just wears it our faster.
5) Don't use a full sheet of paper if you are cutting something small. Every time you put a piece of paper on the mat and lift it up, it will leave fibers behind and take adhesive with it. Limiting the number of sheets pressed into different areas of the mat will greatly expand the life of your mat. (It may also be a good idea to sometimes place these smaller pieces of paper in areas of the mat that get less use--such as the middle or the corners opposite the blade.)
6) You can usually squeeze out a good handful of additional cuts by pressing the paper or cardstock down extra firmly when the mat is placed on a soft surface like carpet.
7) Take care not to expose your mat to extreme heat, particularly leaving it out in the sun. Under these conditions the adhesive may melt and, in some conditions, the mats may curl.
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Rank: Advanced Member
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cricut.com had a print out guide that tells you what setting to use on what. Very helpful.
Fiskateer#5524 Wife of scrapbooking hubby.  
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Can you tell I am not scrapbooker? When I first started to read this subject, I thought it was about those plastic mats for food.
Once known for a brief time as Adele... Remember, Oh My is not God's first name nor is Da*m It God's last name.
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Rank: Advanced Member
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oh, i am sorry about that
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Great tips, thanks for sharing them. I always turn my mats around to alternate the sides. I usually use 2 mats at once, so that while 1 is cutting I'm taking the paper off of the other one. I also don't stick my paper at the ends everytime. I'll put the paper on a part of the mat like the middle that's sticky and then use the navigation arrows. I posted the directions to re-stick your mats. Let me find the post and I'll add them here too.
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Here is my other post about re-sticking your mats. I re-stick mine all the time. Clean them with baby wipes like Joanne said. That will bring the stickyness back. After a while of doing that you can re-stick your mat with glue. I use a jumbo zig pen. If you use a spray on adhesive just remember to tape the edges of your mat-the part that the rollers touch. I just glue the sticky part of the mat with a zig pen and let it sit over night. It will be as good as new. Just be aware that if you re-stick your mat you will void your one year warranty on your cricut. My machine is over a year old and I re-stick my mats all the time without any problems. Just want to give you a heads up about the warranty. I have had my machine since 2007 and have only bought 1 set of mats other than the mat that came with the machine. I threw 1 mat out because I cracked it once while I was cleaning it. I do keep a separate mat for when I'm using glittery paper. It does make a mess and is hard on the mat but I love using it.
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Rank: Advanced Member
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Great We should know how to clean a mat now :0)
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I use MR Clean wipes. The biggest problem I have is dirty mats. When you clean off the micro pieces of paper, the mat suddenly works like brand new.
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Great info, TFS!
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I just did theat the other day, I bought the big Zig glue pen and it works like it is a new mat. After you apply it you have to wait about 20 min to 30 min.
It is like new now
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I clean my mat, then spray with stencil adhesive. Works perfect! Good tip for the cleaning wipes; I'll try that next time.
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