Frequently Asked Questions
Computer To Cutter
When I send a cut job from my computer to cutter, nothing happens.
- Make sure your page layout in CutEngrave, Cutworks or whatever software you’re using matches your page width on the display screen of your cutter. (On the BREN 500-Series Cutters, the width is displayed in millimeters when you initially size your material).
- Make sure you’ve installed the BREN cutter driver. The driver is located on your BREN Installation Disc or USB flash drive that came with your cutter. If you no longer have either of these, please email us your company name and the serial number of your cutter HERE.
- If your page layout is correct and you’ve installed the driver, make sure the driver is activated. Open Control Panel in Windows and find ‘View Devices and Printers’. Once there, locate your BREN cutter and right click it and select Printer Properties. If your printer serial number is showing, you’re good to go. If not, enter it to complete the driver activation process. (If your printer isn’t connected to the internet, you can hold down the shift key when you press ok to go thought the manual activation process on a mobile device or another computer that is online.)
- Clear the BREN cutter’s print queue. Previous print jobs can sit in the print queue and cause new ones to fail. In your control panel, view your devices and printers and locate the BREN cutter. Right click it and select ‘See What’s Printing”. If any print jobs are still pending, delete or clear those and try send your print job to your BREN cutter again.
- Make sure your cutter is ready to receive a print job. After you turn your cutter on, press the down arrow key labeled DOWN or OUT (On 600 & 700-Series Models). On 500-Series model cutters, press the F1 key.
- If after you've checked or completed the previous steps and you still can't get your BREN cutter working, please either send us a tech support request HERE or call (800) 826-3991 for further assistance.
Cutting Blades
How far should my cutting blade be extended out past the tip of my blade holder?
The general rule is that the blade should not be extended more than the thickness of a credit card. By having too much extension on your blade you will ruin your cutting strip by causing scratches and gauges in the strip which will then lead to uneven cutting as well as many other cutting issues.Even worse, incorrect blade extension will cause "drag" on the cutting-head motor; this can cause motor failure which is not covered under your warranty. If the blade is extended too far, it can cause the “Error: Check Carriage Sensor or VC Motor” which can be corrected by adjusting the blade back to the correct length.
See the Quick Guide on suggested blade length below for more information.
Faulty Cuttings
Why are my cut jobs coming out so poorly? My characters or images are coming out jagged or the blade isn’t cutting all the way through the material.
If you’ve checked your force setting and blade extension are both correct and you’re using the recommended blade for the material, the issue more than likely is your cutting strip. The white strip that sits at the base of the machine below the blade and blade holder is your cutting stip. Over time it wears down and your cutter doesn’t have a flat surface to cut from. Even if you extend the blade out further and increase the force on your cutter, you still won’t get a good cut. Most of the time, replacing the cutting strip resolves all of these issues.
You can order a replacement cutting strip for your BREN cutter here:
If you have already ordered a new cutting strip, follow these steps to replace your cutting strip:
Multiple Colors
How can I create signs with multiple colors?
Assuming you are speaking of a cut vinyl sign, let's use an example of say a three color sign. In short, and this to some extent depends on the software you are using, you set the sign size, load and cut each color of vinyl, weed out the waste on all, place transfer tape on each and then place each color on the sign blank as needed. Certainly there are several ways to do this, but this is basically all there is to it.
Blade Life
How long do cutting blades last?
There is actually no precise rule for this; the lifetime of a blade is completely dependent on a variety of factors, such as how much you use them, how often, and what type of material you are cutting. For example, vinyl material is typically very thin and easy to cut (easy on the blade), where reflective material has glass beads within the material; this will wear down the blade much faster. The key to extending the life of your blade is to perform test cuts regularly to ensure you have your blade extension, as well as your force correctly set.