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Operation Manual
Cutting Machine
Product Code: 891-Z01
Be sure to read this document before using the machine.
We recommend that you keep this document nearby for future reference.
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Summary of Contents for Brother CM100DM

  • Page 1 Operation Manual Cutting Machine Product Code: 891-Z01 Be sure to read this document before using the machine. We recommend that you keep this document nearby for future reference.
  • Page 2 All information provided related to future Intel products and plans is preliminary and subject to change at any time, without notice. The Brother logo is a registered trademark of Brother Industries, Ltd.
  • Page 3: Introduction

    We assume no responsibility for damages arising from earthquakes, fire, other disasters, actions of third parties, the user’s intentional or negligent operation, misuse or operation under other special conditions. ● For additional product information, visit our web site at www.brother.com IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS Symbols Used in This Document The following symbols are used in this document.
  • Page 4: Important Safety Instructions

    Important Safety Instructions The following precautions should be observed for safe use of the machine. Power Supply and AC Adapter WARNING Place the AC adapter and power cord in a safe location, where they will not be stepped on, while they are being both used and stored.
  • Page 5 CAUTION Do not place objects around the power cord or block access to the power cord. Otherwise, the power cord cannot be unplugged in an emergency. IMPORTANT Take precautions when sharing the electrical outlet with other device. Avoid using the same electrical outlet used by chargers for portable phones or high-voltage devices such as copiers.
  • Page 6 For Safe Operation WARNING If the machine malfunctions or is dropped or damaged or if water or a foreign object enters it, immediately unplug the AC adapter from the machine and electrical outlet, and then contact the retailer who sold you this machine or the nearest authorized service center.
  • Page 7 Do not fold or stretch the mat with extreme force. If the mat is damaged, it may no longer be possible to cut, draw or scan. Do not use a damaged mat. Make sure that the edges of the mat do not become dirty. Otherwise, the mat type cannot be detected, which will interfere with the proper operation of the machine.
  • Page 8: Regulation

    ● Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help. IMPORTANT Changes or modifications not expressly approved by Brother Industries, Ltd. could void the user’s authority to operate the equipment. Industry Canada Compliance Statement (For Canada Only) This Class B digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES-003.
  • Page 9: Table Of Contents

    CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .......... 1 Recalling............... 41 DRAWING FUNCTIONS ......43 IMPORTANT NOTICE ........1 Drawing ..............43 IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS ..1 Cutting Around Drawings ........44 Symbols Used in This Document......1 Important Safety Instructions......... 2 4 SCANNING FUNCTIONS ... 47 REGULATION ..........
  • Page 10: Features

    FEATURES Patterns (“Pattern” mode) Scanning (“Scan” mode) Select a pattern and edit it to create your own design. Scan an illustration, photo or your own drawing to By simply loading craft paper or fabric, you can create personalized cut designs. The design can then quickly create precision paper and fabric cutouts.
  • Page 11: Getting Started

    Chapter 1 GETTING STARTED PARTS AND FUNCTIONS Unit Descriptions - Front Unit Descriptions - Rear a Operation Panel Allows you to control the unit and specify settings with a USB Port the LCD panel and operating buttons. The angle of the Allows a USB flash drive to be connected for saving operation panel can be adjusted to one of three levels.
  • Page 12: First Steps

    FIRST STEPS The following procedures describe basic operations, from preparing the material to performing trial cutting. To store away the operation panel, first raise it until it Removing the Transport Packing is vertical, and then it can be lowered and stored away.
  • Page 13: Operation Of Lcd Panel

    Press in the operation panel. Operation of LCD Panel When the opening screen appears, touch anywhere on the display. After the machine is turned on, the operation screens appear in the touch panel. To perform operations in the screens, use the included touch pen. When the following message appears, touch the “OK”...
  • Page 14: Mat And Cutting Blade Combinations

    Mat and Cutting Blade Combinations Use the following chart to select the correct combination of accessories for the material to be cut or drawn on. Depending on the machine model, some accessories listed in the chart may not be included. In that case, they must be purchased separately.
  • Page 15 ■ 2 Medium Weight Paper Note • Place the material within the attaching area (grid area) on the adhesive side. If the material extends from the attaching area, it may be damaged by the feed rollers when the mat is fed.
  • Page 16 Peel off the protective sheet from the adhesive From its edges, attach the material to the side of the standard mat. adhesive side of the mat so that there are no wrinkles in the material. Be sure to first iron the fabric to remove any wrinkles. Note •...
  • Page 17 Peeling Off the Material (Lightweight Fabric for • If a mat with a support sheet attached is not to be used for a certain length of time, peel the Quilt Piecing) support sheet off the mat and affix the Follow the steps in adjusting the blade extension protective sheet on the adhesive side of the mat (page 18), installing the blade holder (page 19) before storing it.
  • Page 18 Peel off the protective sheet from the adhesive Evenly iron the entire contact sheet to affix it to side of the standard mat. the wrong side of the fabric. With the iron on a medium temperature setting (140 to 160 °C (284 °F to 320 °F)), press each part of the sheet for about 20 seconds (the length of time differs depending on the material).
  • Page 19 Attaching Fabrics With the Double-Sided Note Adhesive Place a cutout on a base fabric and apply pressure • Place the material within the attaching area on the top of the cutout using an iron. (The (grid area) on the adhesive side. If the material contact sheet may not adhere well to some extends from the attaching area, it may be fabrics.) Hand or machine stitch to ensure that the...
  • Page 20: Adjusting The Blade Extension

    Attaching the Material (Medium Weight Fabric Cutting Settings Use the following table to select the appropriate for Any Use Other Than Quilt Piecing) Follow the steps in “Attaching the Material settings according to the material that will be cut. (Lightweight Fabric for Any Use Other Than Quilt Piecing)”...
  • Page 21: Installing And Uninstalling The Holder

    Check the thickness of the material, and then Grasp the holder grip, and then insert the adjust the blade extension. See “Appropriate holder into the carriage. Blade Extension” on page 18. The larger the holder scale setting, the further the blade extends.
  • Page 22 ■ Selecting the Test Pattern ■ Loading the Mat Cut out a test pattern from paper. Attach the material that will be cut to the mat. Memo • For details on attaching material to the mat, see “Mat and Cutting Blade Combinations” on •...
  • Page 23 ■ Cutting ■ Unloading the Mat Select “Cut” in the draw/cut selection screen. Press in the operation panel to feed out the mat. The “Start/Stop” button in the operation panel lights up. Note • Make sure that patterns that will be cut out are arranged in the cutting area corresponding to the size of the material attached before Peel off the material from an area that is easily...
  • Page 24 ■ Checking the Trial Cutting Results Adjust the blade extension according to the trial cutting results. Repeatedly perform trial cutting and adjust the blade extension until the material is cut cleanly. With an Appropriate Blade Extension When the material is peeled off, a faint trace of the cut remains on the mat surface.
  • Page 25: Machine Settings

    MACHINE SETTINGS Settings Screen From the LCD panel, the settings for specific functions can be selected and settings can be adjusted. To display the settings screen, press in the operation panel. • Touch the “OK” key to apply the settings. ■...
  • Page 26: Auto Shutdown

    Seam Allowance Auto Shutdown Specify the seam allowance. This is applied when drawing on fabric, then cutting it, for example, when making quilt pieces. For details, see “Cutting Around If the machine is not used for a specified length of Drawings”...
  • Page 27: Basic Operations

    Chapter 2 BASIC OPERATIONS PATTERN CUTTING The following procedures use built-in patterns to Select the category for the pattern to be cut out describe the entire series of operations, from in the pattern category selection screen. selecting a pattern and editing it to cutting. For this example, select Tutorial 1 - Cutting Patterns a Touch to return to the previous screen.
  • Page 28 ■ Selecting and Editing the Second Check the pattern arrangement. Pattern The two patterns that will be cut out appear in the pattern layout screen. After checking the arrangement, Touch the “Add” key in the pattern layout touch the “OK” key. screen.
  • Page 29: Tutorial 2 - Cutting Advanced Patterns

    Adjust the cutting speed and pressure. Touch the pattern to be deleted in the screen. To delete multiple patterns, use the function for Before cutting the pattern, adjust the cutting speed and selecting multiple patterns. For details, see pressure. These adjustments can be made from the “Selecting Multiple Patterns”...
  • Page 30 ■ Selecting and Editing the First Pattern Edit the size of the entire pattern using the pattern sizing screen. Piece After editing is finished, touch the “OK” key. Select “Pattern” in the home screen. • For details on the pattern sizing screen, see “Pattern Sizing”...
  • Page 31 Edit the pattern piece using the pattern piece Press the “Start/Stop” button to start cutting. editing screen. After the first pattern piece has been cut out, the following message appears. In order to cut out After editing is finished, touch the “Set” key. the second pattern piece, touch the “Select the •...
  • Page 32 ■ Editing and Cutting the Second Pattern Piece Select and edit the second pattern piece, and then touch the “OK” key. For details on editing the pattern, follow steps (page 29) in “Selecting and Editing the First Pattern Piece”. a Touch to return to the pattern category selection screen for selecting another pattern.
  • Page 33: Pattern Selection

    PATTERN SELECTION Four pattern selection functions are available in the Individually touch all the patterns you want to layout editing screen depending on your preference. select in the screen, and then touch the “OK” key. Touch in the pattern layout screen to use the pattern selection functions.
  • Page 34 ■ Specifying the Selection Area Touch in the layout editing screen for making multiple pattern selection. Touch for specifying an area to select the patterns. Touch and drag the area resizing keys to specify the area, and then touch the “OK” key. a Keys for specifying the area b Patterns to be selected Note...
  • Page 35: Advanced Operations

    Chapter 3 ADVANCED OPERATIONS CUTTING AND EDITING FUNCTIONS b Sizing (Width) Pattern Editing Functions Edit the pattern width while maintaining the aspect ratio. Touch to adjust the setting. Touch The pattern editing functions available may differ to edit only the width. depending on the pattern you select.
  • Page 36: Pattern Editing Functions - Advanced Patterns

    f Mirroring Pattern Editing Functions - Advanced Flip the pattern along a vertical axis. Patterns The pattern editing functions available may differ depending on the pattern you select. Follow the instructions in either this section or “Pattern Editing Functions” on page 33. ■...
  • Page 37: Pattern Layout Screen

    Pattern Layout Screen Layout Editing Functions The arrangement of the patterns can be edited. The The layout editing functions are available when cutting/drawing area specified with the “Cut Area” is touched in the pattern layout screen. setting (page 23) in the settings screen is displayed in the preview screen.
  • Page 38: Welding

    e Editing Individual Patterns g Welding (Merging the Outlines of Multiple Edit the selected individual pattern. Patterns) Touching this key displays the pattern editing Weld the outlines of multiple patterns to create a screen. From that screen, an individual pattern single outline.
  • Page 39 Touch in the layout editing screen. • For details on the functions in the layout editing screen, see “Layout Editing Functions” on page 35. Note • This function welds the outermost outline of the patterns. When welding certain types of Select , and then touch the “OK”...
  • Page 40: Auto Layout Functions

    Auto Layout Functions Scanning a Background Image The auto layout functions is useful when you do not In this example, we will use material with a cutout in wish to waste the material attached to the mat. its upper-left corner as a background image. Touch in the pattern layout screen (page 35) to perform the auto layout function.
  • Page 41 Attach the material for the background to the Touch mat, and then press in the operation panel. For details on preparing the material and loading the mat, see “Loading the Mat” on page 20. The layout editing screen appears. Memo •...
  • Page 42: Character Input Functions

    d Space key e Letter/accented character/number selection Character Input Functions f Backspace key (deletes one character from the Characters can be selected, edited, cut out and end of those displayed) drawn as a single pattern. Select the character type Memo from the pattern category selection screen.
  • Page 43: Memory Functions

    USB flash drive may not be usable with this Touch this key to start saving. When saving is machine. Please visit our website “ http://solutions.brother.com ” for more finished, the following message and the name of details. the saved file appear.
  • Page 44 Touch the desired destination, and then select Check the preview of the pattern layout in the the desired pattern. screen, and then touch the “OK” key. • To recall data from a USB flash drive, plug the USB flash drive into the USB port on this machine. a Touch to return to the list of patterns at the destination.
  • Page 45: Drawing Functions

    DRAWING FUNCTIONS With a pen and pen holder, you can draw patterns Remove the cap from the pen, and then insert on material. Using the seam allowance settings also the pen into the pen holder with the point down. allows you to draw patterns with seam allowances on material and then cut them out.
  • Page 46: Cutting Around Drawings

    Load the mat with the material for drawing Cutting Around Drawings (cutting) attached. • Lightly insert the mat into the feed slot, and press In this example, we will specify a seam allowance in the operation panel. for a built-in pattern and draw the pattern, then cut •...
  • Page 47 Apply the seam allowance. Check the pattern arrangement, and then touch the “OK” key. Touch to apply the seam allowance. If When using fabric, the patterns may not be cleanly cut appears in gray, the seam allowance cannot be if they are arranged near the edge of the fabric. In this applied.
  • Page 48 Remove the pen holder, and then install the blade holder. The “Start/Stop” button in the operation panel lights up. Adjust the pen pressure. For details on adjusting the drawing pressure, see step (page 44) in “Drawing”. Press the “Start/Stop” button to start drawing. Note •...
  • Page 49: Scanning Functions

    Chapter 4 SCANNING FUNCTIONS SCANNING FOR CUTTING (Direct Cut) A printed image or an original hand-drawn Press to turn on the machine. illustration can be scanned and its outline can be cut • For details, see “Turning On/Off the Machine” on out or drawn.
  • Page 50 To cut around the image for the pattern, touch Memo the “OK” key. • In “Direct Cut” mode, the optional 12" × 24" (305 mm × 610 mm) mat and scanning mat • Touch to cut any of a variety of shapes as a cannot be used.
  • Page 51: Advanced Cutting Functions

    ■ Outlining and Framing Advanced Cutting Functions Any shape can be specified as the cutting line for the scanned image. ■ Outline Distance Available in the following screen Specify the distance from the cutting line to the outline →Tutorial 3; Step (page 48) Image trim screen of the scanned image.
  • Page 52: Creating Cutting Data (Scan To Cut Data)

    CREATING CUTTING DATA (Scan to Cut Data) A printed pattern or image or an original hand-drawn Select “Scan to Cut Data” in the scanning mode illustration can be scanned, converted to cutting selection screen. lines for cutting/drawing with this machine, then saved as data.
  • Page 53 ■ Saving Data Difference in cutting lines depending on detection Select the destination where the data will be standard saved. a Outline b Region c Line Select either the USB flash drive or the machine’s detection detection detection memory as the destination for saving the data. Touch the key for the desired destination.
  • Page 54: Editing Pictures

    Edit the cutting data as necessary, and then cut Touch to delete all of the selected spots. or draw. For details on finishing cutting, follow the procedures under “Loading the Mat” (page 20) and “Cutting” (page 21). Editing Pictures By adjusting the output level of data for a scanned image, you can reproduce the image in a wide variety of ways.
  • Page 55 Specify an object size smaller than which is not Specify the threshold for converting an image to be converted to cutting lines. to a two-tone image using a Magnifying c Size Adjustment Keys e Locking/Unlocking the Aspect Ratio Cutting line created No cutting line created Touch the “OK”...
  • Page 56: Scanning Images (Scan To Usb)

    SCANNING IMAGES (Scan to USB) A pattern printed on paper or fabric, an image, a Touch the “Scan” key in the home screen to pattern template or an original hand-drawn select the scanning mode. illustration can be scanned and saved as image data on a USB flash drive.
  • Page 57 ■ Scanning and Saving Select the size of the scanning area. From the list, touch the key for the size of the original Attach the original that will be scanned to the to be scanned. For this example, select the A4 size. mat.
  • Page 58: Appendix

    Chapter 5 APPENDIX CONSUMABLES Replacement Criteria Replacing the Blade For the safe operation of this machine, replace the ■ Removing following consumables according to the replacement criteria. To purchase parts, contact the retailer who Twist off the holder cap to remove it. sold you this machine or the nearest authorized service center.
  • Page 59 Pull up the holder to leave the blade in the Twist on the holder cap to attach it to the rubber area. holder. Fully tighten the cap until the blade extension reaches its maximum, and then loosen the cap until the blade is no longer visible.
  • Page 60: Care And Maintenance

    CARE AND MAINTENANCE ■ Cleaning the Holder Cleaning If material cuttings, lint or dust accumulate in the holder, it may not operate correctly. Clean the holder after every use. ■ Cleaning the Mat Twist off the holder cap to remove it. Cuttings and cut edges of patterns attached to the mat may reduce the mat’s adhesive strength and prevent correct operation.
  • Page 61: Cleaning The Scanner Glass

    ■ Cleaning Inside the Machine Cleaning the Scanner Glass If there are vertical lines or blank areas in the scanned image, lint or dust may have accumulated in the machine. The Lint may also attach to the If there are unwanted vertical lines in the scanned surface of the feed rollers, preventing a mat to be image or if scanning cannot be done cleanly, the loaded or unloaded correctly.
  • Page 62: Adjusting The Screen

    Dampen a soft lint-free cloth with water and Adjusting the Screen firmly wring it out, and then wipe the scanner glass at the inside on the bottom of the machine. If the screen does not respond correctly when you touch a key (the machine does not perform the operation or performs a different operation), follow the steps below to make the proper adjustments.
  • Page 63: Troubleshooting

    If the machine stops operating correctly, check the following possible problems before requesting service. You can solve most problems by yourself. If you need additional help, the Brother Solutions Center offers the latest FAQs and troubleshooting tips. Visit us at http://solutions.brother.com.
  • Page 64 Symptom Possible Causes (or Results) Solutions Reference The mat’s adhesive strength has Press the “Feed” button to feed out the page 21 decreased, or the material is not mat, and then replace the mat with a new page 56 The mat or the material secured.
  • Page 65 Symptom Possible Causes (or Results) Solutions Reference An iron-on fabric appliqué contact Not all of the material to Iron the entire contact sheet to affix it be cut is cut. Some sheet is not firmly attached to a page 16 firmly to the wrong side of the fabric.
  • Page 66: Error Messages

    ERROR MESSAGES The following table lists some of the messages that may appear while the machine is operating as well as their corresponding solutions. Perform the necessary operation according to the instructions in the message or the solution described here. If the problem persists, contact the retailer who sold you this machine or the nearest authorized service center.
  • Page 67 USB flash drive. For information about USB flash drive compatible with this machine, visit our website The data cannot be saved. “ http://solutions.brother.com ”. A mat that cannot be recognized has been inserted. If a mat designed specifically for this machine is not being used, use the specially designed mat.
  • Page 68: Upgrading The Software

    The following are available as optional accessories be upgraded. For upgrade information, refer to to be purchased separately. details posted on the Brother Solutions Center (http:// solutions.brother.com/). If an upgrade file is posted, download the file, and then upgrade the machine according to the following procedure.
  • Page 69: Index

    INDEX Operation panel ............9 Optional accessories ...........66 Advanced (art category) pattern cutting ......27 Outline distance ............49 Auto shutdown .............23 Outlining and framing ..........49 Background ..............23 Parts and functions ............9 Background scanning ..........38 Pattern category selection screen .......25 Basic pattern cutting ...........25 Pattern editing functions ..........33 Blade extension ............18 Pattern editing screen ...........25...
  • Page 72 Please visit us at http://solutions.brother.com where you can get product support and answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs). English 891-Z01 Printed in China XF5251-001...

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891-z01

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