Blade cutting through the backing and the vinyl?

This will usually mean you either have too much blade exposed, or too much pressure on the machine. The “ball-park” length of blade that you’ll want exposed will be no more than half the thickness of a credit card. Hold the blade edge-wise against the side of your credit card (see image below). The tip of the blade should end half-way through the thickness of the credit card. If the tip of the blade goes past or reaches the other side of the card as in the pictured below, then you have too much blade showing. NOTE: Standard cutting force or pressure (“press”) should be set to 100g on the cutter, for most vinyl materials.