(I'm reposting this from my forum so as to keep both WWG and Ebbles in sync on cutter resources.)

Huh?

When you use a craft cutter, a sticky plastic carrier sheet is included. You mount the printout on it, feed the carrier into the machine, and cut. The purpose of the carrier sheet is to keep parts from coming off the sheet during the cutting process.

So why would I want to make my own?

Reason #1: The plastic carriers that come with the machines are sometimes much too tacky, resulting in tearing, curling, or crumpling of parts during the removal process.

Reason #2: Speed. With just the plastic carrier, you are forced to stop between cutting jobs to peel off parts before you can use it again. When you make your own sheets, you can prepare enough sheets beforehand so that you can feed and remove pages quickly. For large cutting jobs, the time savings that DIY backing sheets provide amounts to anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes per page because you can immediately feed in the next sheet without worrying about the previous sheet.

Reason #3: When each page has its own backing sheet, you are not forced to peel parts immediately. You can leave them safely on the backed sheet until you're ready to peel and build. This allows you to optimize your time into discrete task chunks, and you ultimately get a lot more done in a shorter time.

So...how do I go about making my own carriers?

You don't need anything special. Regular cardstock works nicely, and this is a good use for misprints or scrap sheets. You simply apply a coat of repositionable adhesive to one side of the sheet, then cover it with wax paper until you need it.

What kind of repositionable adhesive can I use?

The quickest, cheapest, and neatest method is to use Krylon Easy-Tack 7020 spray adhesive. A light dusting will do--too much will leave residue. Use outdoors or with plenty of ventilation--this stuff is smelly and flammable.

Sulky KK-2000 quilt basting spray is non-toxic, nearly odorless, can be used indoors, but is much more expensive and the tack wears off as it absorbs into the paper. Heavier coats are needed than with the Krylon spray in order to counteract the short-lived tack. I used to like this stuff, but I've found a better and much cheaper indoors alternative, discussed next.

When I can't spray outside due to weather or other circumstances, I've found that brushing a thin layer of Elmer's No-Wrinkle Rubber Cement (in the brown bottle with the orange/white/blue label) on the backing sheet yields a nice repositionable bond that is good for several uses. Let it dry before you mount the print on it.

But it only costs $20 for 2 brand new plastic carriers! You're telling me I need to spend $6 on another ream of cardstock, $8 on spray adhesive, $2 on wax paper, et cetera, et cetera...

These $20 twin-packs of plastic carriers don't last very long. If you assume that each carrier is good for 125 uses (I'm being wildly generous here), you're essentially spending $20 to cut out one 250-sheet ream of cardstock, or 8 cents per page.

When you make your own carriers, a $8 can of Krylon Easy-Tack yields about 100 pages' worth of coverage. Yes, that's about 8 cents per sheet right there, but bear with me.

If you assume that the cardstock costs $6 for a package of 150 sheets, that's 4 cents per page. So, each sheet costs you about 12 cents to make.

Each of these pages can be used at least 5 times, however. That brings the cost equivalent down to 2.4 cents for each page that you cut. Over the long run, using your own carriers costs almost 75% less than buying replacement plastic carriers.

-Mel

I have to note that I've had really good luck with using thin plastic file folders for replacement carriers. Cut off the front and back and you're good to go. So long as they are roughly the same thickness as your original carrier and the non-textured type, you can use them over and over again (respraying when needed).

Using a light dusting of Krylon, I recently ran about 50 pages on a single spray using this technique. Its starting to give way a little now but its still going.

The only downside is that they aren't as speedy to use as Mel's above mentioned technique.

If you have enough of those plastic file folder sheets handy, you get the same speed benefits. The more carriers you have, the more you can batch the cuts.

When I have one carrier for each printout and use cut scoring instead of perfing, the whole process is lightning fast. With perfing, the 1:1 carrier-to-printout ratio is still fast, but is bottlenecked by the speed at which the machine perforates the fold lines. If you're just doing a handful of pages, using a single carrier sheet isn't so bad. When you have to do a lot of pages, though, you start seeing a huge time savings when you don't have to peel anything between jobs.

I like the idea of using plastic file folders as raw materials--if they're soft enough, they're a lot gentler on the blade than fibrous substrates like paper or cardstock. Next time I visit Officious Despot or Malwart, I'll check out file folders and dividers.

-Mel

My tips on cardstock carrier sheets:

1) Spray the absolute minimum EZ Tack you can on the sheet. It takes almost none to get a page to grip.

2) Never attach the printout to the carrier sheet until immediately before you want to cut.

3) When you attach, use almost no pressure. Just get it aligned right -- the rollers on the SD will keep it together fine.

4) Peel off the cut work immediately, don't let it sit too long attached or it will be hard to peel off.

Loyd

The supplies Mel mentioned:

What if, when you create a new document in ROBO Master, you UNcheck "Use Carrier Sheet". Will the robo itself then simply prompt you to 'load media' or will the robo still prompt you to 'load w/ carrier'?

I've now been getting about 10 cuts on a carrier sheet before it needs more spray or it starts getting tore up too bad. That's a pretty good return for a single piece of cardstock and a little bit of spray.

Also if I have two carrier sheets (or more) and I need to put them aside for a while or even store them a few days I'll mount them (glue side to glue side). Then when I need them again I gently pull them apart and use them.

I found the following some weeks ago, ordered a set and tried them. It worked without a problem and I just ordered another set of 8 sheets:
http://www.pearl.de/a-VM6279-2316.shtml

For the non-german speaking users: These are contact transparent front cover A4 280my (plastic comb)
* 8-contact transparent front cover for plastic binding
* Format: A4
* Thickness: 280 my
* A4

They cost 2,90 Euros for a set of 8.

Perhaps someone can make use of this.

Best wishes,
Timo

This thread is old, but I just wanted to note that using my own carrier sheets made an enormous difference, mainly due to reason #1.

Using the "official" ones was frustrating and time-consuming, and more than half the pieces were ruined cause it was too tacky. Kinda put me off of using the cutter, it was almost more work using it than just cutting by hand.

With the cardstock and easytack, it's a breeze, and with the right cut settings it seems I can use one sheet of cardstock at least 5 times.

I personally gave up on my own carrier sheets - I might try it again now that I know my printer actually prints square... Still, I've been using the one carrier sheet that came with my cutter for over a year now, cutting hundreds of pages. I use some spray mount adhesive once in a while, and every now and then I scrub it with soapy water, which does wonders for bringing the tackiness back.

I wanted to mention in case it wasn't said before or obvious to others... When I bought my (first and only) house 16 years ago, my parents gave me two home fix-it books. I've never cracked them open. BUT, they are a great size to put in front of and behind my cutter. It prevents the sheet from bending at all while the cutter is working, which helps prevent pieces from popping up. It also is the right size behind the cutter for me to push it up against the wall and be sure the cutting mat won't run out of room.

I suppose using cardstock as a custom cutting mat would be more rigid, but since I use the product's cutting mat and it's rather, uh, floppy, this helps out.

True, washing the adhesive off and spraying the easytack on the original carriers would achieve the same effect as far as stickiness goes. I might give that a try as well, can't hurt.

By the time I got my SD cutting accurately and my printer behaving, my carrier sheet was pretty much toast. The second sheet that came with the SD was so sticky, it tore the sheet. I just didn't want to mess with it.
But I tried this and I'm amazed! Even when the sheets don't feel sticky (to me) any more, they have enough grip to hold the paper and I've been getting some awesome cuts! I have to say, it doesn't take much spray at all... And the first couple pages were a bit curled... But now that I know to expect that, I can use some scrap paper to de-stick the carrier pages a bit after the initial spray.

Just wanted to say thanks for the advice!

Just so I get this right, you use the same kind of cardstock, that you printed your template on, as a carrier sheet?
Or do you use thicker cardstock for it?

Either way works.
I had a bunch of cheapo 110lb stock (heavy and not too bright) that I quit using when I found a good 80lb stock (that was bright and sturdy) - the 110lb stock became backing sheets for my 80lb printouts. Worked great.