|
Post by AngieandSnoopy on Jun 15, 2016 15:06:04 GMT
How would you even be able to tell which ones do NOT smell before you buy? They all seem to be green except for the light grip and extra heavy grip mats. I got the 12x24 because I DO have a bunch of 11x17 paper and I have a lot of vinyl. I have lots of dies including alphabets up to 4 inches tall. So the Expression is to make BIG stuff for the most part! I thought it was most cost effective to get a 2 pack of 24 inch mats and just cut one in half to have two 12x12 mats. As I said, this fell into my lap, otherwise, I'd have gone the Silhouette route IF I'd been planning to buy a electronic cutter. Should I try to get a blue light grip mat? From what I read above, that one might not stick so bad? I wonder if I cut one in half, peel off the adhesive, if that will cut down on the smell. Hopefully, keeping it in the garage for a while will help. After all I've read, I'm thinking I'll do good to just use only carts, do NOT go to Craft Room and deal with ProvoCraft as little as possible. My new carts should be coming in today and I will want to do some playing. Although, I might be wanting to set up a table on the front porch!
|
|
|
Post by OntarioScrapper on Jun 20, 2016 14:04:13 GMT
What colour are the mats? The new green ones are extra sticky now. Sometimes the stickiness lifts up and they stink like cat pee. The blue ones are good for light paper and cardstock, vinyl. I use the green because I can't find the blue ones at a decent price on Amazon. It only comes a 3 pack. Purple would be for stuff like cardboard. I'm afraid to find out how sticky those ones are! Craft Room isn't for the tablet, just Design Space and for Apple products only right now. I have Craft Room on my Windows 8.1 computer and it worked fine the last time I used my E2 (though I haven't used it much in 1.5 years since I got the Explore). I just wished DS wasn't so glitchy because I have done so much more with my Explore. It's the head pounding against the wall when DS acts up that slows me down. I'm glad you warned me but they were already here in town at the post office. I picked them up this morning. I think cat pee would be an improvement! On my gosh, such a strong chemical smell. I cut out a few things and had to throw it on the porch and air out the living room. They are now hanging in the garage. I hope the smell eventually goes away. But, if it lifts up, I'll just pull it up and put Tack it Over and Over or something else on it! It is an improvement over my improvised test mat, that one was curling at the corners and hard to feed in because it was curling. I hope the smell goes away, if not, I maybe be cutting with it on the front porch! In that case, I for sure won't be using Craft room. Many crafters are now getting rid of what's on the mat and putting their own stuff on. So yes, you have to air them out. Also I pat the mats down with my hands because they are so sticky now! I try to de stick it a bit. The smell eventually goes away.
|
|
|
Post by OntarioScrapper on Jun 20, 2016 14:13:36 GMT
That sucks you can't upload pictures to the Design Space app. I thought that would be a given feature, since the app is supposed to be user friendly for crafters going to crops. Does the Cameo app allow picture uploads? I forgot that the Design Space app is probably limited since Design Space is so Flash heavy and iOS/Android hates Flash. It just amazes me that ProvoCraft can get away with harassment on FB forums. Can you imagine if Silhouette Cameo or Brother Scan n Cut techs came in and tried something like that? I seriously doubt that would ever happen. I know Cameo reps do read the forums but usually with any issues they are happy to know about them and will thank you. Then something truly weird happens. The problems get fixed, lol. Everyone be so careful of the mat smell. I can't believe this hasn't been fixed yet. I almost ended up in the hospital because of the mats causing me an asthma attack. Over at the old forum I brought up the issue and ProvoCraft contacted me with a massive apology. I remember that another lady her daughter did end up in the hospital because the mats triggered an asthma attack. This mat issue was during the Cricut Expression days. I think the E2 might have been out then. Please be careful if you have family members with respiratory problems at home because the mat smell is really bad. When I bought my Explore my husband took the mat out of the box and made sure it was ok. They may have fixed the smell of mats for newer ones. They just didn't recall any of the older ones with the smell! I don't know if the person who was in my group was really with ProvoCraft. He claimed he was an ex employee and had to post with this additude that the techs knew what they were doing. Then why in the hell would you build a program with a Flash based system?!?! The time period that they were coming up with Design Space was the time when in all the tech circles and even the general public were saying that Flash was going to die out because it was a crappy system. If you are so high tech, you'd know that! He took offense to our complaining about that. If they made a program that you could use offline, you would not be able to see their ads! I noticed that about Design Space. Everytime I go to look at my cartridges for images, I get an ad first and of course you see the images you can get if you pay their monthly fee for the Access (library). I mostly can ignore that now and go directly to my stuff. But you can't personalize it so you first see ONLY your stuff. For them it makes sense in a business way. I just find it intrusive. It is too bad they didn't come up with the option to use the program offline if you chose too. The App isn't glitchy but it's limited.
|
|
|
Post by OntarioScrapper on Jun 20, 2016 14:21:24 GMT
How would you even be able to tell which ones do NOT smell before you buy? They all seem to be green except for the light grip and extra heavy grip mats. I got the 12x24 because I DO have a bunch of 11x17 paper and I have a lot of vinyl. I have lots of dies including alphabets up to 4 inches tall. So the Expression is to make BIG stuff for the most part! I thought it was most cost effective to get a 2 pack of 24 inch mats and just cut one in half to have two 12x12 mats. As I said, this fell into my lap, otherwise, I'd have gone the Silhouette route IF I'd been planning to buy a electronic cutter. Should I try to get a blue light grip mat? From what I read above, that one might not stick so bad? I wonder if I cut one in half, peel off the adhesive, if that will cut down on the smell. Hopefully, keeping it in the garage for a while will help. After all I've read, I'm thinking I'll do good to just use only carts, do NOT go to Craft Room and deal with ProvoCraft as little as possible. My new carts should be coming in today and I will want to do some playing. Although, I might be wanting to set up a table on the front porch! Crafters who have been buying their 30 pack of mats seem to be getting non cat smelling pee mats. The thing that gets me is that I still have my old style mat from my Expression 2 and it works fine! With the new mats I have had to deal with smelly mats, stickiness coming off and even some breaking! The blue mat is for lighter material like the pattern paper you get that's not as thick as cardstock. I use my 12x24 mats for my vinyl only. And they are the older style mats so no cracking, so pee smell and no losing stickiness! I had used a smaller piece of vinyl on my newer 12x12 mats and when I was getting the backing of the vinyl off, I lost some spots of the stickiness on my mat. Grumple. I really should just destick them all and restick with repositional adhesive spray. And go to a hardware store because they sell them cheaper. Have you had time to play with your new carts? You can still use Craft Room for any of the free images they offer. Some are there for a while and some a short time. Hooking your Cricut up won't link any of your carts.
|
|
|
Post by OntarioScrapper on Jun 20, 2016 14:27:12 GMT
I just have the regular 12x12 mats and they smell fine. I bought them on circuit for 30 marts for $100 so a little over $3 a piece. When would I need the other mats specifically? From what I have read on the FB forums, these mats seem to not have the smell. I was thinking of maybe buying the big pack because I have had 3 mats crack on me. Maybe that's why they offer the big pack? I personally haven't used the other colour mats.Blue is Light Grip and for things like your pattern paper. Purple is Heavy Grip for things like cardboard. Though I have used the green mats for cardboard fine when they were first really sticky! I can't image how the Purple ones could be more sticky. You do get warned on the groups that if you resticky a mat and use it in your machine while under warranty, your warranty if void. Warranty lasts a year for the machine and honestly how will they tell? As long as you tape the edges when resticking the mats, you shouldn't get any stickiness on the rollers.
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
May 4, 2024 16:45:43 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2016 8:07:34 GMT
OntarioScrapper- Ah, I understand now about the "Tech" guy. That is so odd he is doing that. I was just stunned PC went in this direction. I should not be stunned that PC goes in these directions, lol. I remember at the old forum the tech guys did come in to answer questions. We knew who they were. If he's an ex-employee he is not allowed to do this. ProvoCraft is pretty strict about this with their employees and ones who are no longer with the company. I found Craft Room intrusive too. I try to ignore it also but I am like they are spying on me while I make an elephant, lol. I think the new Cameo software is a bit intrusive also. At least I can use MTC with my Cameo and get away from all the intrusiveness. scrappinheather- That is a really great deal on mats. I have only used the regular mats for all my projects. If I need one with less tack I just use one of my old mats. If I need one with more tack I just spray my mat with quilt basting spray. To make the mats less sticky pat the mat with an old clean t-shirt. I use a baby wipe and lint roller after doing this. It really works. I have ruined sooo many projects due to over sticky mats. Yes, Silhouette Cameo I am looking at you too on this issue. AngieandSnoopy- You can cut your 12x24 mats in half for 12x12. A lot of Cricut girls used to do this to get more mats for the money.
|
|
|
Post by AngieandSnoopy on Jun 23, 2016 15:17:30 GMT
Since the mats smell so bad, I'm just leaving them in the garage until I need to cut something HUGE! Someone on my other message board mentioned that she likes Sizzix eclips mats better so I went ahead and ordered a set of 12x12 mats and extra blades from Walmart.com. They were a good price, free shipping and tiny employee discount so I went for it. Hopefully, they won't stink, I won't have to be sticking them on fairly lint free fabric to get the stickyness toned down. She said they last longer, she just adds more adhesive when needed. I know Sizzix has something to add adhesive, I've been told other people use Xyron repositionable (which I have), I think Zig pen was mentioned and Aleenes Tack it over and over. Thanks for all the responses! I think I kind of took over the thread but I sure learned a lot here.
|
|