My eCraft is OFFICIALLY Coming!!!

That's right folks!  I have a UPS tracking for my eCraft, and it is scheduled to arrive this Thursday!  I will start making videos immediately!  I want to video the very first cuts that I make so that everyone can learn along with me this machine.  That means that everyone will be able to see the positives and negatives right off the bat!  I have several different papers that I am going to be test cutting, and can't wait to get started!

From various reports that I have read, it seems like the eCraft is going to take some getting used to.  With this machine, there are some different settings, and they may be different for each type of paper, so as I go along, I will be making up a list of the tested papers and the settings that I have found work the best from a papercrafter's point of view.  Two of these settings involve the "microtabs", one for the width (how big the tab is) and the density (how far apart these tabs are spaced).  The process that I will be going through to determine the best settings, is to first determine the pressure as well as the multi cut with a larger tab settings.  Once we have determined the pressure and multicut, I will then begin to test  the tabs by changing one setting at a time until we get the width and density down as small as possible.  I will be doing this on at least two intricate shapes at the smallest available size.  If I get mixed results on these two images, I will add in more until I can find the settings that will work best with most shapes.

Another thing to note is about the paper itself.  Tom at Create & Cut noted that he believes that the grain of the paper makes a difference in how successful the cut is.  Meaning that we are better off inserting the paper in a certain way to get a succcessful cut.  I will be testing this as well, as this is not something that I have ever experienced with electronic die cutters before.  Another thing that Tom has noted is that the heavier papers seem to cut better. This is something that I am also going to experiment with, and it is something that will be a bit of challenge.  As I am sure most of you know, the "lb" rating on a piece of cardstock is not a very accurate measurement.  The reason for this is that the paper gets weighed at 500 sheets before the paper is cut.  Why is this important?  Because not all cardstock is manufactured at the same size.  So in other words, one company makes their "pre-cut" sheets at 17"x22" and another can make theirs at 24"x24".  They can both be weighed and have the same weight (or that "lb" rating that we see on the label), and then they are cut into the final product.  Since the pre-cut sheets are different, but the weight is the same, our final products will be different.  The 24"x24" pre cut paper will be lighter than the smaller pre-cut sheet of 17"x22".  To get past this, I will simply have to give you my opinion on which papers are "denser".    The first two cardstocks that I plan to test are Papertrey Ink's which is 120 lb and Stampin Up's which is 80 lb.  I do notice a difference in these papers and PTI's is definately the heavier paper, but not to the degree that you would think by looking at the pound rating.  I believe that we will see that both of these papers will probably be cut at the same settings.

When the software is available (ETA September 1st), I will be sharing videos of that as well.  With my knowledge of Make the Cut, I hope that I can learn this software fairly quick so that we can fully explore all the options and again note the positives and negatives.

I am very excited to get this machine, but I want all of you to know that I will report my findings accurately.  I fully expect that the eCraft will have it's flaws and I will point them out to you.  While the machine will have flaws, I will also see if I can figure out a way to work around those flaws, and I will also be letting Craftwell know about my findings so that hopefully they can correct these things in future editions of the eCraft or even with a firmware update, or a software update.  No machine is perfect right out of the gate.  I remember all the issues that I had with my Cricut, and most of those issues still exist, but I have been able to find a way to work around most of them as well.  I also want to encourage everyone to ask questions, offer solutions, etc, because I believe that the crafting community is one of the most innovative out there.  Individually we all have our strengths and weaknesses, but together we can solve any issues that may come up!

I will post the first video on Friday, and I expect that there will be several more after that, so check back often!

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