my new toy

[stcstc]

OK my new toy arrived today

I got a Gunnar F1 Hybrid

sarah is here sorting it

we cut an order of mounts today that i reckon we saved 6 hours on doing it with our manual cutter


Sarah is very very helpful. apart from showing us how to actually use the machine gave us loads of tips and tricks. and even pointed us at suppliers for other kinds of materials we were looking for etc

Other thing is the machine worked out on a very reasonable setup. we went for the rental program which enabled us to have the machine a good 10 months before we would of if we had to borrow the money from the back etc


cant recommend it enough at the moment

[David]

Was there any particular reason you went with the Gunnar, I'm looking at getting a CMC in the near future but there does not seem to be alot between them?

David.

[stcstc]

i looked at the 4 main manufacturers

the valiani had a couple of extra features that would be nice, but when renting (through simons) worked out a lot more money up front, buying the heads and extra software etc
also i liked the feel of the software on the gunnar better on the short demos i had of them

the trucut, had a demo at spring fair, felt the software was not great at all, they seemed to always be going out to another app then importing things

wizard, actually the software i liked the best, coming from a graphic design type background it felt the most comfortable. downsides were, they only do a big one, didnt like having to keep tweaking the blade depth manually

the gunnar f1 hybrid, felt the software was a very close second to the wizard, liked the auto blade depth. and the costs, as not having to buy extra heads or software ment the cost of setting up using the rental was much less than th others, and like i said allowed us to get one almost a year before we would have it we went and borrowed the money

also liked the idea of the support being at the end of a mobile phone, having two people in the uk that i can ring if i mess it all up!!!!

[Roboframer]

Congratulations - CMCs make you smile!

Today I got to work about 0845 (open at 9) and as I lifted the shutter I saw my CMC there and remembered an email I had last night from a wedding stationer - Joanne. The person that made me bite the CMC bullet!

She wanted a table plan - header with top table below (both landscape) and 7 tables below (Portrait), a row of three and a row of four underneath.

Already saved as 'Jo 2plus7'

Switched on the rear workshop lights, switched on the power, turned the PC on, turned the compressors on, turned the radio on, turned the heating on (only on for the first half hour of the day this time of year). Grabbed a sheet of mount board of the correct colour.

Turned the CMC on (PC is warmed up by now - takes about 8 secs - my CMC software is the only programme on it) Mountboard on CMC bed - stoop over PC 'Open' - 'Customers' - 'Jo 2plus7' - 'cut' .........

PSSST - THUNK - WHEEEEEE - PSSST - THUNK - WHEEEE (etc)

Switch front workshop lights on - in to shop - opening ritual. 30 mins later I'm back in the workshop having totally forgotten about that multi-opening mount that would have taken me about an hour to plot and cut manually.

Smiled.

[upload]

Hi stcstc ,

I should be getting my gunner F1 in 2-3 weeks , glad you like it . looking forward to getting mine

[stcstc]

yea robo, i only had it a day and can really see how much time and how many other things i gonna be able to do

upload, you getting the f1 or the f1 hybrid?

having waited for mine, which did drive me nuts

and in the time waiting had more multi apreture mounts etc to cut than ever before, grrrrrrr

we actually today layed out a 12 apreture mount that i cut by hand a week ago

it took maybe 5 mins to do, took me about an hr to do a week ago

[upload]

just the gunner F1 NON hybrid, but i would like to upgrade hopefully in a few months .

Ive never used one before so any tips or advise would be great .

[stcstc]

well i come from a graphic design background, so i think i am wrecking sarahs head already with things i am asking to be able to do

well i have only had today with it, but sure will let you know when i figure anything out


tell you what send me an email with your details we can chat offline to then etc

tell you what though for the small amount of difference in cost the hybrid is worth the extra,

[David]

Thanks for the summary stcstc, have fun.

David.

[Jared Davis CPF, GCF]

Hey stsstc,

Congratulations! You made the right choice mate.

Join the Gunnar Facebook page if you want - http://www.facebook.com/gunnarcmc

Shoot me an e-mail, and I'll be happy to send you a few cool new files you might like to cut with the new GMC software.

Jared Davis CPF, GCF
GUNNAR Product Manager - Down Under
jared@megawood.com.au
http://www.jared-davis.com

[stcstc]

jared

thanks, i will mail you later

i think it will take me a few days to get used to the software. coming from a design background i am used to layout etc. using page layout and photoshop type apps every day. it seems like i need to think in a slightly different way on cmc software. but some of the things i can see already to do is very cool.


already have started adding other streams of business by having the machine

[swanlinnet]

Good on you mate Bet you're buzzing trying out this excellent bit of kit

Good luck, Vince

[stcstc]

man i have to be soooo careful, i have had soooo many ideas already, and it means i aint doing work that pays the bills, he he

[Nigel Nobody]

stcstc,
I'm extremely envious!
My Gunnar Rapido is something like 10 years old but still a great workhorse. To have all the new features that the F1 Hybrid has would be truly awesome.

David,
If you think that there's not a lot between the brands of CMC, you probably need to research a little more and go play with each brand before you buy! There are quite a lot of differences really!

[stcstc]

from my research i found a few things i like about the gunnar more than the others

the depth of cut is done in software, which means you can be very accurate, and actually store different settings for different boards, it also has a feature for dialing out blade hooks for and given board setting

as when mine was first setup, it had a slight hook on a daler board, by adjusting settings in software we were able to dial it out

another feature i liked was being able to add a delay between blade entry and head movement. which for one of two things allows me to dial out shudder from the head stopping etc

being able to design on my main desktop computer, and save it on my server so i can pickup the designs from next to the mount cutter is very very cool too.

[Roboframer]

We all have our own reasons for choosing any or all of the equipment we have - I can say why I like something as (compared to a CMC) inexpensive as my pneumatic point driver - I love it, it's never jammed once, my manual one jammed daily!

But I've never owned a different make of pneumatic point driver and I don't think anyone here, or on TFG has ended up with whatever CMC they have, as a result of liking it over several other makes they have owned. But plenty say the make they have is the best just because it's the one they chose and know - they don't know other makes are worse from experience.

Whichever CMC you go for, if upgrading from a manual cutter, and if all you want to do is what you always could do, but faster and better, plus a couple of things you never wanted to do - it will blow you away!

[Nigel Nobody]

Robo,
I agree with that!
That's why when I am looking to buy a camera or a new computer or other major framing equipment, I check out the specifications, features, reviews, applicable forums, industry reputation of the brand, then test drive the product if that's possible! I can then make an informed decision. Cost always comes into the decision, but is related to what I will get for that cost in addition to affordability!

[Dermot]

Congrats on your new "toy" it will make a huge difference to your business.

When I made my decision to buy my CMC I test drove all four CMC that were realistically available to me at the time, by quite a bit the CMC I chose out preformed the others. CMC's, I was also very impressed by the road map for development that the manufacture of the CMC I chose had for there equipment line going forward, many of the new features are now available with a quite few more gems in the pipe line.

That said any of the four CMC's I looked at would provide a great process improvement for most framing operations.

[stcstc]

sorry if i sounded biased or anything, that wasnt what i ment to do

i was just expessing what features i liked best, and suited my business best

[Roboframer]

Sorry if it sounded like that was what I was suggesting - I was just generalising. The reasons you gave for choosing the Gunnar are great food for thought for anyone thinking of a CMC.