Can you cut chipboard with cricut explore air 2

Over the past year, I’ve caught myself chatting it up in the Cricut aisle with my fellow craft and DIY’ers in local Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores while shopping for project supplies. Since the Explore was first released I’ve loved answering questions and giving my honest opinion about the features and quality of the machine. Now that the Cricut Explore Air is available I thought it would be fun to share my #1 favorite feature to talk about – Cricut Explore Air: What Can it Cut?

Yep, you totally read that right! The Cricut Explore Air can cut 60+ materials! It’s insane, and just pure awesome. I mean come on, that feature alone is a huge selling point for me (besides the fact that it can create wirelessly and everywhere). Today I’m showing you 12 of my top favorite materials to cut with the Explore Air so far.

TIP: To keep things cutting great I suggest using separate blades for paper/vinyl, fabric, wood/glittered cardstocks. Just like good scissors that you cut fabric with you wouldn’t cut paper with. This will help them to last longer. To keep from getting the blades mixed up you can color code them with a dot of nail polish on the end that inserts in the blade housing.

CANVAS
Cut Setting: Custom – Canvas 0.75mm

You will need a regular blade and StandardGrip Mat. You will also need to add stabilizer to the fabric for a clean cut. I used Heat n’ Bond on mine. This will only need 1x pass to cut through and it cuts perfectly. You can see a more detailed cut HERE that it worked great on.

CHIPBOARD, 50pt
Cut Setting: Custom – Chipboard Heavy, 0.7mm

You will need a deep-cut blade and StrongGrip Mat. I have also used a StandardGrip Mat and it’s worked great as long as the mat isn’t dirty. It will need to do a 4x cut but it comes out perfectly!

DUCT TAPE
Cut Setting: Custom – Duct Tape

You will need a regular blade and StandardGrip Mat. I used a duct tape sheet so that it has a protective backing while cutting. This will only need 1x pass to cut through.

FELT, Regular Craft Store Felt
Cut Setting: Custom – Felt w/ Backing

You will need a deep-cut blade and StrongGrip Mat. I have also used a regular blade with a StandardGrip Mat and it’s worked great as long as the mat isn’t dirty. You will also need to add stabilizer to the fabric for a clean cut. I used Heat n’ Bond on mine. I did try freezer paper just out of curiosity, but it’s no good so don’t try it.

DENIM
Cut Setting: Custom – Fabric, Denim w/ Backing – 0.9mm

You will need a regular blade and StrongGrip Mat. I have also used a StandardGrip Mat and it’s worked great as long as the mat isn’t dirty. You will also need to add stabilizer to the fabric for a clean cut. I used Heat n’ Bond on mine. This will need to do a 3x cut.

CARDSTOCK
Cut Setting: Cardstock

You will need a regular blade and StandardGrip Mat. This will only need 1x pass to cut through and it cuts perfectly. The details it can cut on paper is crazy. I’ve cut incredibly small detailed things like confetti seen HERE and it cut it so well.

TRANSPARENCY
Cut Setting: Custom – Transparency

You will need a regular blade and StandardGrip Mat or LightGrip Mat. First of all I was looking for Acetate and couldn’t find any (I think it’s been discontinued), so I found this super cute striped transparency material. This will only need 1x pass to cut through and it cuts perfectly.

FABRIC, COTTON
Cut Setting: Fabric

You will need a regular blade and StandardGrip Mat. You will also need to add stabilizer to the fabric for a clean cut. I used Heat n’ Bond on mine, but any stabilizer will work. This will only need 1x pass to cut through and it cuts perfectly.

CORK
Cut Setting: Custom – I created a custom setting with a cut pressure of 250, 4x cut.

You will need a regular blade and StandardGrip Mat, make sure your mat is clean. This will need 4x pass to cut through.

LEATHER
Cut Setting: Custom – Leather, Medium 1.8mm

You will need a regular blade and StandardGrip Mat, make sure your mat is clean. Leather will leave a mess on your mat, use a lint roller to clean. You can see this project HERE to see how well it cuts. This is one of my favorite things to cut. This will need 4x pass to cut through.

Aluminum, Soda Can
Cut Setting: Custom – Aluminum Metal, 0.14mm

You will need a regular blade and StandardGrip Mat. This is really fun, but be careful of sharp edges. This will need 2x pass to cut through. Think of all the fun Diet Coke projects you can make!

Balsa Wood, 1/16″
Cut Setting: Custom – I created a custom setting with a cut pressure of 230, 5x cut.

You will need a deep-cut blade and StandardGrip Mat. You will need to run this cut twice to cut through the balsa wood.

Like I mentioned for some of the materials I needed to create a custom setting. You can do this when you are on the “GO” screen. Once you’ve selected the custom setting on your machine dial, you will need to select a material to cut. Click on Custom Materials. Then you can enter the info needed for the cut like cut pressure, and how many times you want it to cut through the material.

This is just a small sampling of the materials that can be cut, for a full cut list of all the materials the Cricut Explore Air can cut go HERE. I hope you will experiment with cutting some new materials!

To see even more about how you can Create On The Go With Cricut Explore Air go HERE.

Create On The Go With Cricut Explore Air

Disclosure | This post is sponsored by Cricut. All ideas and opinions are 100% my own!

What is the thickest material a Cricut Explore Air 2 can cut?

For machines in the Explore series, the thickest materials the devices can cut are 2 mm. The Cricut materials list for the Explore series includes the following: Paper, including cardstock, poster board, glitter paper, photo paper, cardboard and sticker paper.