Fixing "Material not supported with current tool types" Cricut error
Bottom line up front: Connect a computer to the cutter and run the project from Design Space on it.
I recently purchased a Cricut Maker. After a painful time spent cutting chipboard, I decided to outsource such work in the future to a robot.
I decided on the Maker model because of the range of materials it can cut--important for me chipboard, wood, and sheet styrene. These are in addition to fabric (important for my wife's sewing hobby) and leather, vinyl, and foil, should we ever be interested in those.
After setting up the machine and calibrating it, I was eager to put it to work on some bases and movement trays for 28mm Napoleonic figures. I purchased Cricut-brand 2mm chipboard for this at the same time as the machine in anticipation of this first project. The machine included a knife blade cartridge, so I thought I was ready to go but after preparing the project in Cricut Design Space, I learned that I would need a heavy knife blade cartridge to cut the chipboard. I bought it at a local store, I was so eager to get things going.
Home and with the cartridge installed, I opened Design Space on my phone and readied the project. After choosing chipboard as the material, Design Space presented an error message:
"Material not supported with current tool types"
How could it not be? I was using a Cricut blade with Cricut material. I checked to ensure I had the blade cartridge installed correctly. It was. The material was firmly attached to the heavy-duty mat. I tried to cut the project again. Same error message.
I turned to the Internet for help, as expected. The top search results, however, did not address the problem, at least not until I looked again at a FAQ from Cricut. The pertinent answer:
"Knife Blade functionality has not been added to the mobile app at this time. Knife Blade cuts require multiple passes, often more than ten. Depending upon the complexity of your image and the material being cut, the time needed to complete these cuts can range from minutes to hours, which would restrict the use of your mobile device for that period of time."
Put another way, to use the knife blade cartridges, connect a computer to the cutter and run the project from it. In writing the error message, Cricut considered the device driving the cutter as a tool just as well as the cutter and cartridge, but I didn't think of it that way and other users may not, either.
I did this, and it worked for me.
Lil' Leftenant Sebastian has a chipboard dais and I have pain-free hands. Leftenant Sebastian not pictured.