Help please - cutting multi aperture double mount

[Jag62]

Help please.

I'm cutting a multi (4) aperture double mount and am really struggling to get good alignment between top & bottom mounts.

I cut my top mount then overlayed it on bottom mount & marked out the apertures on bottom mount. I then reduced apertures on bottom mount by 4mm all round & cut it out.

Alignment of the 2 is not terrible but not good enough to send out.

Please can someone talk me through the process and/or tell me where I'm going wrong ?

I'm sure it's user error as presume the original (purple) Keencut Ultimat should be up to the job ?

Many thanks,

Neil

[Gesso&Bole]

Shouldn't be too much of a problem, and the Ultimat is certainly up to the job.

The secret is to cut the top mount, retain the fall outs, then use atg tape to stick the second mount (trimmed about 1cm smaller in each direction) to the back of the top mount.

Then remove the slip mat from the machine (the top mat is now the slip mat) and use the (same) edges of the top mat to guide the measurements for the undermat cuts.

This way any slight imperfections will be the same top and bottom.

Hope that's enough detail for you to get the gist

[Jag62]

Many thanks.

[Not your average framer]

I do the same as above. The top mount is large, but all the ruled lines to cut the top mount go all the way to the edge of the top mount and pencil lines are added to cross across the cut likes of the cut outs for the top mount, so that the fall out pieces can be correctly aligned in the correct cut holes in the correct orientation.

A small piece of double sided sticky tape is added to the center of each fall out and some double sided sticky tape is added to fix the back mount to the top mount. Since the original pencil lines go all the way to the edge of the top mount and the top mount is larger than the bottom mount, you will be able to see the ends of the original front mount marking out lines and can trace these across the back of the bottom mount.

After this, it is a simple matter of measuring the size of the reveal required inside these line to be able to cut the smaller aperture in the bottom mount, so that the required size of reveals is shown from the bottom mount. It may take a little while to get your head arond this the first time that you do this, but it starts to make sense after you have don't it.

Making little arrows around each cut out, is a good way of making sure that you are always cutting in the right direction so that all the bevels are cut the right way round. Try not to rush cutting multi-aperture mounts to avoid making unfortunate mistakes.

[Jag62]

Thanks both. I also read that you can cut the bottom mat first on top of the top mat which leaves markings in place on the top mat to help map out the top mount. THis is the technique I went with and am please with final result.

The frustration I'm having with the Keencut is aligning the blade with the cut lines plus I thin the bearing is getting a bit iffy & sticky. I think I need to upgrade. I read somewhere that the Fletcher 2200 handles multiple mats better than the Keencut - any reason for this ? Or is the Futura the best way to go ?

Regards, Neil

[Gesso&Bole]

Have you taken the cutting head off the bar and given it a good clean and tighten up? That might improve things a bit.

That said, the Fletcher 2200 and the Futura would both be a significant step up. I personally favour the Futura out of those two, but they are both excellent machines.

[Jag62]

I have tried that but it still has a slight wobble & slight tendency to bind a little.