Moulding - finish damage by cut

[stripethespringer]

Hi

I am using a deep rebate moulding ( Lions L703) and every time I cut on Morso, the finish of the back of the frame is being left as a rough edge and damaging the finish.

This is a brand new Morso with new blades and I do not appear to have the problem with other mouldings.

Any ideas? Is it the type of moulding or me/Morso?

Any guidance appreciated

thanks

Steve

[Spit]

It could be that the blades are not far enough forward on the final cut. Do you know how to adjust it?

[stripethespringer]

No, new to the equipment...can you provide any basic instructions

thanks

steve

[Spit]

Under the front of the morso bed, you'll see a nut and an adjuster (see photo).

My procedure is to put the blades as if you were on the last but one cut, loosen the nut and adjust the blade so that if you have a bit of mountboard vertically against the fence, the blades just touch it (holding the blades down while adjusting). Tighten everything up again, and still on the second notch, try cutting the mountboard - it should just scratch the surface, maybe up to 0.5 mill deep. Remove the mountboard, bring the blades down and move to the final cut position. The blades shouldn't touch the fences. If they do, back off & readjust.

morso.jpg (23.79 KiB) Viewed 10147 times

[ceebdub]

Sorry to but in on this one. I had a similar issue with a sharp Morso.
By spacing the moulding forward a couple of mm,it has stopped the damage along the rear edge.
My question is, are we trying to get the knives as close to the guide as possible without actually touching them?
and secondly , the adjuster underneath, is it a locknut and a cam? How does it adjust?
Thanks.

[Gesso&Bole]

The blades of the Morso where they join in the point should JUST go into the groove on the back fence that marks the centre of the cut, BUT NOT TOUCH anywhere.
By putting a sheet of mountboard behind the moulding you are cutting you are in effect making the same adjustment in a temporary manner.

To adjust as per the earlier instructions, loosen the nut, grip the cam immediately above the nut, adjust, and then re-tighten the nut.

[Roboframer]

They may be new blades but are they 'fresh' blades?

I've only ever had to make the adjustment described above once. I sometimes get the same problem with the back not cutting neatly and it's always dull blades or too-soft moulding.

If your blades are fairly fresh try moving the moulding back a long way from the front of the blades, the back gets far less action unless you cut a lot of wide stuff, if you still have the problem it's probably just morso-unfriendly wood. I see that moulding has been greatly reduced by Lion, maybe you're seeing the reason?

[Graysalchemy]

One thing no one has mentioned and reading back at you original post,

This is a brand new Morso with new blades and I do not appear to have the problem with other mouldings.

Cr*p wood but I must say lion are usually better than others. I may incure the wrath of Lion for that but it is a possibility.

However following everyone else's train of thought it may be blades not fitted properly. If I remember from the dark distant past, when I used a morso, if your morso blades are not lined up properly were they come together you will get that problem, Also dust shavings getting against the plate were the blades are attached may knock it out a bit.

[guzzijim]

I see Lion have reduced L703 to 50pence per meter from £2.00, was/is there a problem or just not a popular moulding.

[johnwphotography]

If all else fails, order from Lions chop service, see how they get on. It is worth keeping a chop saw on hand for those awkward cuts and it should still finish off on the Morso.

[stevebowen]

I had the same problem with their black extra deep moulding a few years ago, at the time I was told it was a problem with my morso but eventially discovered it was due to the gloss finish on the wood being applied too thick on that one batch.

Adjusting the morso does help a bit but will not fix these problems.

I also find that some obeche mouldings (various suppliers) are lighter than others from the same box and as such are softer. The deep rebate ones can be crushed by the blades that also leave a jagged back edge. In my experience its usually just the odd lengh and sometimes just a small part of one length that will not cut.

If in doubt, do you know any other local framers?
I took a sample to one so I could test it on his morso.

[Lee Tandy]

Hi Steve,

The notes about Morso adjustement, checking blades and cutting further back on the blades are all good, useful tips. Jim's note about using a piece of mountboard as a temporary spacer can be very useful for working with mouldings that might be on sub-standard wood, have a thick layer of gesso, or are just an awkward shape - very deep with a flat back or a slightly concave back edge.

We've checked some of the remaining stock of L703 moulding here and it seems OK. I does sound like you might have a couple of duff lengths though, it does happen from time to time and unfortunatley there is little we can do to test or check before it's sent out.

Please send a small piece back to us, we'll cut it here on a Morso and let you know whether the the fault is with the moulding, your Morso / blades or a little of both.

The particular moulding in question hasn't been reduced in price because of quality issues (if this were the case we'd only sell it in bulk after prior discussion with the customer). The reason for deletion is that we changed supplier of these mouldings so we could have a) FSC Certified mouldings, and b) Black and White versions with no layer of gesso to contend with when cutting on a Morso. When we changed supplier we took the oppurtunity to delete this one because it was a slow seller - the colour is a little too orange.

Cheers,

Lee

[Graysalchemy]

I think you have a result there and plenty of advice to check your morso.

However because it is only happening on that one moulding I wouldn't go messing with the set up of your morso just for that one moulding. It is more than likely a duff piece of moulding.

If you cut box quantities of moulding like I do you sometimes come across lengths which are not satisfactory, some times it can be just a few feet of a length some times a high proportion of the box. I must say this hasn't happened as much in recent years but was a problem 2-3 years ago.

As I said try not to adjust your morso to much as you may adjust it to much and not be able to back track, and send your some back to Lion.

Good Luck

I managed to come out of that one unscathed for a change

[ceebdub]

This is all good info. thanks. I mentioned by moving the moulding away from the fence by a couple of mm solves the issue, so it could be the tip and I guess most vulnerable part of the blade could be blunt, rather than it being a set up issue. I can cut this particular moulding in this way. I would rather not mess up the settings as this early stage of my framing career.

[Graysalchemy]

Glad you seem to have resolved the issue for now. If you do get your blades sharpened make sure you have them hollow ground, few commercial blade sharpeners will do this so you need to find one that does or use someone like lion. Some framing Wholesalers are able to do it. It does make all the difference. Also when you can afford to make sure you have at least three sets of blades so that you have got one in the machine one away sharpening (some services take 2 weeks) and one spare. There is nothing worse than blunting blades and not having spares. I have bought a new set before now because it was the only way I could carry on working.

Cheers

AG

[ceebdub]

I have a spare set,and they are hollow ground. I just decided to adjust as per instructions, I moved the blades about half a mm towards the fence and bingo, perfect cut. I am chuffed to bits. I wonder if the previous framer/owner (no names) had problems with it. Anyway sorted and chuffed and thanks.

[Graysalchemy]

Well done