Silhouette Cameo 4 Blades Explained: What You Need To Know

Introducing 5 new blades

The Cameo 4 comes with 5 blades and tools that are either completely new or upgraded from the Cameo 3 versions.

The new blades are:

• Autoblade 2
• Rotary blade
• Kraft blade
• Punch tool
• Pen holder

The autoblade and the pen holder can go in carriage slot 1, while the others can go into carriage slot 2. The Cameo 4 software will then automatically detect which tool you are using.

What blade comes with the Cameo 4?

The blades that are included when you buy a Cameo 4 can depend on where you buy it. In most cases the Cameo 4 only comes with the autoblade.

This means you will have to buy the rotary blade, kraft blade, punch blade, and pen holder separately.

If you already have one of the other Silhouette machines, you can also use those tools with your Cameo 4.

What is each Cameo blade for?

The naming of the blades is a little ambiguous. Besides the autoblade and pen holder it’s difficult to guess what the other blades are used for.

When to use the autoblade and when to use the rotary blade?

Let’s look at all the blades and tools individually to see what they are used for.

1. Autoblade

The autoblade is the standard blade that comes with the Cameo 4. You will use this blade for most of your cutting.

The “auto” part in its name comes from the fact that it will automatically find the right cut settings for common material types.

This takes away some of the guessing work for beginners.

Of course, you can still adjust the settings inside the Silhouette software if you want to.

2. Rotary blade

The rotary blade cuts by having its blade roll across the surface of your material.

This makes is great for working on fabric and other delicate materials such as leather, felt, wool, and crepe paper.

Moreover, the rotary blade does all of this without needing an additional stabilizer.

3. Kraft blade

The kraft blade is for cutting thick and sturdy materials such as leather, balsa wood, and craft foam.

Instead of rolling over the surface like the rotary blade, the kraft blade slices straight through your material.

However, the kraft blade is pretty broad so you won’t be able so make super detailed and intricate cuts.

The Cameo 3 also came with a kraft blade, but that one could only cut up to 2 mm deep. The new kraft blade for the Cameo 4 can cut up 3 mm deep, made possible by the extra clearance of the Cameo 4.

Note that if you want to cut even thicker materials you will need the Silhouette Curio which can cut up to 5 mm. For more info, read our Silhouette machine comparison article.

4. Punch tool

The punch tool marks which parts of your design needs to be weeded or removed after the cut is complete.

This is particularly useful when you are working with vinyl or heat transfers.

You can either mark the negative space (outside the design) or the positive space (the design) for weeding. The latter is great for making stencils.

5. Pen holder

Finally, we get to the new pen holder of the Cameo 4. Normally the Cameo 4 can only use the special Silhouette sketch pens. But if you use the pen holder, you can use your favorite art markers, gel pens, fabric pens, and pencils.

The pen holder has 3 different size adapters that you can choose from depending on the diameter of your pen.

Unfortunately the pen holder can only go into the left slot of the carriage. This means that you can no longer make multicolor sketches like you could with the Cameo 3. Instead you will have to manually replace the pens with every new color.

Can the Cameo 4 emboss, stipple or etch?

The tools used by the Silhouette Curio for embossing, stippling or etching are not compatible with the Cameo 4.

So currently you won’t be able to do any of these with the Cameo 4.

Maybe in the future Silhouette will release additional tools, but until that time comes you will have to use the Silhouette Curio for this.

More information

Want to know more about the Cameo 4? Then you can ready my full Cameo 4 review here.

If you are interested in other Silhouette machines, you can also read my Silhouette machine comparison post.