how to change blade on cricut

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How do you change a Cricut blade?

If your Cricut machine is no longer cutting well, or you are having trouble weeding your designs, then it's probably time to change the blade.

Today I'll be showing you step-by-step how to change a premium fine point blade in your Cricut Maker and Explore Air 2 machines. This is the same for changing the deep point blade, and you can also use the following method to clean your blade as well.

How To Change Cricut Blade

how to change a cricut blade

If you we're looking for other Cricut Blade info, take a look at these posts:

Cricut Blades Guide – we look at all the different types of blade & what they are used for
Cricut Maker Tools – a deeper look at the Cricut Maker QuickSwap Tools
Cricut Supplies – the essential tools & accessories for getting started with Cricut

When To Change Your Blade

How do you know when it's time to change your blade?

If you are having trouble weeding your projects because of the cut lines
If you find yourself changing the default pressure to more on multiple projects
If you are using the correct settings but your Cricut is not completely cutting through the material
If your machine is not cutting intricate designs well

How often should you change your blade?

This will entirely depend on:

How often you use your machine
The types of materials you cut with your machine

If you use your machine once a week, you could go 6 months or longer without needing to change your blade. However, if you use your machine more frequently, you may need to change it after a few weeks.

Also, if you are cutting mostly thicker materials, your blade will become dull quicker, whereas if you are only using thinner materials, it will last a lot longer.

Some materials are particularly messy and may shed. Completing glitter cardstock or cork projects, for example, can be very messy and the blade can quickly become clogged up after only a couple minutes of cutting. This means you may need to clean out the blade several times during the same project.

How To Change Cricut Maker Blades

how to replace cricut blade
The following process is the same for both the Cricut Maker and the Explore Air 2 machines.

This process is also the same for the fine point blade, premium fine point blade, deep point and deep cut blade. The knife blade and the rotary blade are different, see the videos at the end of this post for instructions on how to change these blades.

In your machine you will see that there are two accessory compartments. There is

Clamp A: For pens or the scoring stylus

Clamp B: For blades, such as the Rotary blade, knife blade, premium fine point blade etc.

Step 1: Open the B (B for blade) accessory clamp in your Cricut machine.

how to change cricut explore air 2 blade

Step 2: Remove the entire blade housing from the clamp.

how to change blade on cricut maker

Step 3: Press down the button on top of the blade housing. This pushes out the blade. Carefully grip the end of the blade and remove it from the housing.

how to remove cricut blade from housing

Step 4: Depending on the condition of your blade, it may just need a clean, or you may want to replace it completely. Throw the dull blade away safely.

how to clean your cricut blade

Step 5: Place the new blade inside the housing with the sharp end sticking out of the housing. Inside the housing is a magnet which will pull the blade inside. When it is inside properly, you should barely be able to see the tip of the blade.

how to insert cricut blade to machine

Step 6: Place the housing back into the B clamp in your Cricut machine.

how to remove cricut blade

Step 7: Close the lever of the clamp so that the housing is locked into place.

how do you know when its time to change cricut blade

How To Change Cricut Explore Air 2 Blades

The process is actually exactly the same for the Cricut Explore Air 2.

The blade holder design is the same on both machines. You only need to keep in mind that there are specific tools that can only be used with the Maker, while the Maker can use all the same blades as the Explore.

changing cricut blade