Let’s Explore v4 – Overcut

The Overcut feature can be a great help in some difficult to cut designs.

This tutorial is written using version v4.3.353 of the Silhouette Studio software.

If you are using a version prior to v4.3, then the Send tab will look just a little bit different and you will find the Overcut option on the right side of the cut settings as shown in this photo.

What is Line Segment Overcut?

It is often just referred to as Overcut. This is a feature that when turned on, takes the blade a little bit past the end of a corner and then lifts the blade, changes directions and sets it back down a little before the start of the cut to make the corner.

If you look at the Overcut icon, you will see that the triangle shows the cut lines of the corners overlapping and this is exactly what it does with the blade.

The normal movement of the blade is to make one long continuous cut on a design with a solid line, however, for some designs or materials this doesn’t always result in a good cut. Corners get bunched up, the cut lines do not meet up, etc.
Each user may experience something different and each design can be different.

The Overcut option can allow for cleaner corners on a design.

For this example I used a Palm Tree by Silhouette – Design #1410 because there are many corners to this design.

On the left side you can see how the corners lifted or bunched up.
On the right side, it is a much cleaner cut.

A couple things to note about the Overcut feature:
– Overcut sounds different than cutting without it on. This is because the blade is lifting and setting down again with each corner.
– Overcut will take longer to cut than without it turned on. This is again because the blade is lifting, moving, and setting down again.
And it will vary, depending on the design.
– Does it always work? No, sometimes you may find it doesn’t work well at all. For instance, sometimes when cutting vinyl, you may find that it will cause the corners to come up and stick to the blade more. But, this is going to vary depending on your design. If you are not getting clean corners it’s worth a shot and the best way to know is to test it out.

Line Segment Overcut Options

The default for the Line Segment Overcut feature is 0.10 mm. This means that it will go 0.10 mm past the point of the corner, lift the blade and move it to set back down at 0.10 mm before the start of the corner it is cutting.

If this is not enough of an overcut for the project, you can adjust this up to 0.90 mm.

Click on the More button on the Send tab (or the 3 dots on the Send tab in older versions)

This will open up the Advanced Materials Panel and the distance can be increased for the Overcut.

Hopefully this information will help you get a smoother cut on your projects in the future.

I would love to hear if you use this feature and see the projects you have created. Feel free to post on my Facebook group at Silhouette Secrets with EllyMae.

Save this post for future reference by pinning the image below.

Enjoy!

**This post may contain affiliate links. What that means is that I may receive compensation if you purchase through the links I have provided. The price you pay for the product or service is not higher but I may get compensated for sharing.