Last Updated: August 6th, 2014

The subtitle to this should be:  A Cautionary Tale!  How I Broke My Cameo, But Then Fixed It.

You see, I have lots of Print-and-Cut projects that I want to do, but I wanted to calibrate my Cameo to ensure that the cuts were as accurate as possible.  I headed over to the official website for support on how to do the calibration.  I didn’t understand the instructions very well, but I forged on anyway.  I shouldn’t have!  Long story short, I ended up making my Cameo cut parallelograms instead of squares, but I fixed it.  So, of course, now I have to share my newly found knowledge to help you not make the same mistakes as me!

---

 Before You Begin

You should calibrate when:

1. You have made sure you’ve done all other things necessary for Print-and-Cut correctly.
   • Registration marks are checked to show on your paper.
   • Your design is not in the areas that cannot be cut in during a Print-and-Cut.
   • Your printer has printed accurately what is on the screen.  (Some HP printers, in particular, are known to give inaccurate Print-and-Cuts.)
   • You’ve placed your paper onto the cutting mat the same way as shown in Silhouette Studio.
   • You’ve loaded the cutting mat with proper alignment to the rollers and chose the correct load option.
   • Your Cameo is in a well lit area.  The machine uses what is called an “optical eye” to see the registration marks.  (You may need to put a lamp over the Cameo to ensure enough lighting.)
2. The distance that the cut is off is the same across the paper.  If it is 2cm off on the far left side, but only 1cm on the far right side, Silhouette America recommends that you don’t calibrate.

If you meet these two requirements, you may proceed to the instructions!

---

WARNING:  Do not attempt to do this while you are distracted.  Do not attempt if you’re not willing to read all the instructions before starting.  You can break your machine’s ability to do Print-and-Cuts if not careful!!

 

Part 1

1. Turn your Cameo or Portrait on.
2. Open Silhouette Studio.
3. Go to File->Cut Settings.  Lower your thickness to make shallow cuts instead of cutting all the way through your card stock.*
   • *I normally have a thickness of 15 for my card stock, so I lowered the thickness down to 10.  This will make the paper easier to remove later and allow you to make double cuts.
4. Go to File->Calibration.  What I have shown in the screenshot will appear.
   • ***Silhouette Studio V3 users will need to access Calibration this way!***
5. Print the Calibration Test Page with your card stock.
6. Place the printed out test page on your cutting mat as shown in Silhouette Studio.
7. On your Cameo/Portrait, use the arrow keys to choose Load Cutting Mat, align your cutting mat against the machine’s rollers, and press the Enter key.

Part 2

1. In Silhouette Studio, use the blue arrows to move your blade to the inside of the first green box.  (I have marked the first one with a 1. in my screenshot.)
2. Click Calibrate in Silhouette Studio and wait for it to finish reading the registration marks and cutting the two cut lines.  (Calibrate is labeled with a 2. and a red outline.)
   • Watch the area that I have starred in the screenshot.  Notice that when you press “Calibrate”, it goes from “Ready” to “Working”.  This is important.
3. Unload your cutting mat from your Cameo/Portrait.

Part 3

1. Starting with the horizontal test line, use a ruler to measure the distance in millimeters between the cut line to the the middle of the test line and write it down.
   • The calibration will accept as small as a .05 millimeter change for V2.
   • If the cut line is closer to the orange arrow in my screenshot, your measurement will be positive.
   • If the cut line is closer to the green arrow in my screenshot, your measurement will be negative.
2. Now with the vertical test line, use a ruler to measure the distance in millimeters between the cut line to the the middle of the test line and write it down.
   • The calibration will accept as small as a .05 millimeter change for V2.
   • If the cut line is closer to the blue arrow in my screenshot, your measurement will be positive.
   • If the cut line is closer to the purple arrow in my screenshot, your measurement will be negative.
3. Reload your cutting mat into your Cameo/Portrait.

Part 4

1. In Silhouette Studio, use the blue arrows to move your blade to the next green box.
2. Click Calibrate and after the cut is complete, click and drag the arrows in the area of Silhouette Studio that I have marked as 3. in my screenshot.
   • This is time sensitive!  You need to do this while the Status is still “Working”!
   • If Silhouette Studio reverts your adjustment back to what it was before, it was not accepted and so your calibration has not been changed.
     • Wait until the Status says “Ready” and try to Calibrate again.
       • Move your blade to a new green box first, if needed.
3. Once Silhouette Studio has accepted your adjustments, you can press the X to exit the calibration.
4.  Unload your cutting mat from your Cameo/Portrait.

Did It Work?

You should do a test Print-and-Cut to try out your new calibration settings.  You can use the one that I made.  Download it here.

You’re Done!

If you have done the calibration correctly, the Print-and-Cut test should be perfect or very, very close!