guillotine advice

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ff453
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guillotine advice

Post by ff453 »

Hi all,

I’m an artist who wants to make his own frames. I currently cut on a chop saw. I use the chop saw for many uses, so it’s never set up full time for framing. I have limited space, and as I think I would make about 1 or 2 frames a week at the most, was thinking of getting a guillotine to cut the wood. A tabletop one would be ideal. Does anyone have recommendations for a guillotine for such uses? I saw this one: https://www.diyframing.com/store_viewIt ... ItemID=86

I was also considering to continue using the chop saw and something like this to finish the cuts: https://www.diyframing.com/store_viewIt ... temID=481

Thanks in advance for any advice.
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Rainbow
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Re: guillotine advice

Post by Rainbow »

Welcome to the forum.

I use an Axminster mitre trimmer, which is similar to the one you've mentioned.

https://www.axminstertools.com/axcalibe ... mer-951813

Does the job nicely. You can only trim/shave on it though, it's not designed for mitre cutting lengths.

Never used a sander.
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Re: guillotine advice

Post by Not your average framer »

Then sander which you were looking at is about the same price as what I paid for my electric bench top belt and disc sander which has an adjustble angled fence which can be set to the angle required. I find this very useful and sometimes clean up the edges of mouldings which have not always produced a perfect clean cut on the Morso.
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Gesso&Bole
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Re: guillotine advice

Post by Gesso&Bole »

It takes a lot of skill to get a good mitre on an electric sander - it is extremely easy to overdo it. I use one for making triangular frames, but they are unfinished, so I can make good afterwards.

The hand sander is very popular with framers in the USA, and is easy to control, and very effective, but a bit slow.

I would try the mitre trimmer first, if you can master that, you probably won't need the sander. But as previously mentioned, the mitre trimmer is only useful after you have cut a few mm over on your saw.
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Re: guillotine advice

Post by Not your average framer »

I can get it quite close on the 45 degrees mitres with my sliding mitre saw and only need clean up the sawn edges on my sander a very small amount just to get a completely gap free joint. My sander is quite a basic one with a relatively low power motor and a not very fast sanding speed, so it does not remove wood at an excessive speed and when the mitre gauge is accurately set to 45 degrees with my digital angle finder and the horizontal support table is also set at 90 degrees to the sanding disc, it seems to produce a really well fitting joint without removing any significant amount of wood. It works quite well on wood which is too wide to cut on the Morso!
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Re: guillotine advice

Post by Ultima Thule »

I have a "new" shop compared to some -Victorian - with attendant damp problems and ditched MDF years ago because of its hygroscopic tendencies. An Eco Air Simple dehumidifer is in constant use, plumbed in to an outside drain and it takes a tank's worth and more out of the place daily. I don't have any machinery which solves a lot of the dust problem and the filters are cleaned twice a week but it has transformed the atmosphere if the premises.
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Re: guillotine advice

Post by fitz »

Years ago I attended a weekend framing course run by diy framing and on return spent about £800 on the equipment we had been using on the course. This included the mitre trimmer. Sadly I soon discovered that very little of the equipment I bought was fit for any kind of volume purpose including the mitre trimmer. It’s not reliable in my experience and very difficult to get exact lengths of moulding. I’ve now spent thousands more on industry standard machinery and equipment and always regret that initial spend which with hindsight was ill advised.
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Re: guillotine advice

Post by prospero »

Get a floor-standing manual Morso and learn how to use it. 8)

Buying a trimmer or sander is a bit silly as you are spending money and time to correct errors made by a saw
not fit for the purpose. The Morso is simple and not excessively noisy/dusty. With a bit of thought it will fit into
quite small spaces.
Used ones can be had for not-a-lot of cash and it will hold it's value for years to come. :clap:
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Re: guillotine advice

Post by Not your average framer »

Prosperro is right a Morso is by far the easiet way to cut accurate mitres in picture frame mouldings and it's also easy to use when producing batches of frames too! I have varios trade customers for batches of frames and It's really quick and easy on my Morso. Speed and accuracy arereally important aspects in this day and age. I have one particular trade customer, who buy 16" x 12" Oak frames in batches. The Morso produces an excellent result cutting Oak and producing batches of these frames is quick, easy and the frames look consistant and great. I also produce small batches of ready made frames. These are mainly a way of using up my off cuts and left overs. Again, speed and accuracy is what it's all about. Making money out of ready made frames is somehing what needs to be quite well targeted to what will sell and the days of cheap and cheerful ready made frames have largely gone. Customers can be very fussy when deciding what to buy these days, even when they are looking to get a good deal. There are just too many cheap frames in supermarkets and places like IKEA and The range these days.

Originally most of these cheap frames from such places wre of poor quality, but their are tending to also be selling some more up market stuff as well, As a result it has been necessary to produce ready made frames, with more style and appeal to attract customers who want something special, while still buying ready made frames. Often this creates more pressure on the time which is worth spending on producing these frames, in order to sell the at a still worthwhile price. This is where the ease, speed and accuracy of making small batches of frames, when using a Morso can really pay off. I often cut around knots in Oak, or pine mouldings, just gessing what will make a usable length for making small rustic frames. It's don't difficult to just eyeball to these instead of setting up the measurement stop on the morso, this saves valuable time and avoid needing to spend time setting up the stop again to continued cutting lengths of moulding for the same batch of frames. I have discovered that there are many people, who are lookig for small frames at the right price, for faming various nick nacks to sell on the internet.

These people are only in the market for frames at fairly low prices, but it's still a worthwhile sale, during the less busy time of the year and the only other thing to do with the off cuts, would have been to put them in the dumpster. Again, this only makes any sense to make these, if they are quick and easy to do and the Morso certainly is quick and easy to use especially if you areproducing small batches. Yes, getting a Morso is well worthwhile! It's speedy, easy to use and accurate!
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Re: guillotine advice

Post by Gesso&Bole »

Bear in mind the OP said he was going to be making 1 or 2 frames a week as a maximum, I don't see the issue with a mitre trimmer and sander. A Morso is obviously better, but size and cost are factors when you consider such low volume.
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Re: guillotine advice

Post by Not your average framer »

Yes that's true!
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Re: guillotine advice

Post by Stevie »

Yes i agree get a manual Morso that's what i did i've not been framing for that long but it is the best thing i done.You will get a far better result on the finished product and a happy customer :clap:
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Re: guillotine advice

Post by Not your average framer »

The Morso will help you to acheive a really good result and the word will hopefully get around and your volume of work will increase. The Morso is a great investment a you will be have no difficulty in selling if you decide to one day in the future. I wish you sucess.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
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