Tip for Making Memories Trimmer Owners

Here's a tip for those of you who may own the "Making Memories Precision Paper Trimmer." In a moment of inspiration (that maybe wasn't too wise!), I decided to use it to cut thin chipboard. After that, it seemed to want to rip any paper I tried to cut, giving it a distressed edge look. Unfortunately distressed edges were not what I was after!

If you've had this happen with this particular paper trimmer, try these steps:

1. Slide the red button (located at the top right in the photo above) in the direction of the imprinted arrow.
2. You can now remove the silver slider bar.
3. Remove the rotary trimmer black plastic part from the silver slider bar. (i.e. remove the black thing you slide when you're cutting; it's the part with the "M" on it.)
4. Check for any tiny strips of paper that might be stuck in the cutting groove in the base of the trimmer. Remove any you find.
5. Here's the cool part! One of the great design features of this trimmer is it's self sharpening blade. When it starts ripping paper, it's usually because the blade has dulled. Take the black casing you removed in step three, and place it in the cutting groove but without the slider bar for now.
6. Move the casing along the cutting groove. As you move the casing, very slightly apply pressure so the rotary blade is moving along the left side of the cutting groove. You may hear a light metal-to-metal sound, similar to the sound a knife makes when it is moved along a sharpening stone. Do this several times to resharpen the blade.
7. Reassemble the trimmer.

Just like magic, it cuts clean and smooth again! Hope you don't find yourself needing this tip but in case you do, give it a try. (And maybe another tip is don't cut a big stack of chipboard with your "paper" trimmer! Ha!)