Bendy mountboard and the CMC

[Bagpuss]

As I was positioning a rather warped sheet of Colourmount into my Valiani mat-pro today, I was wondering just how much aggrevation this causes your CMCs ? I'm still thinking about getting a CMC and it occurred to me that "bendy" board must cause rather a lot of bother.

Like most people I store my board vertically but as we all know, some of it can become a bit bendy and if your CMC has the bars to hold down board and not a vacuum then I'm assuming this can cause problems, am I right ?

cheers,
Adam/Bagpuss

[Jonny2morsos]

Not usually too much of a problem. The clamps are bottom and left hand side and you would normally position the mount to be cut in the bottom left hand corner. Sometimes on larger mounts you just need to hold the board flat with your hand keeping it clear of the blade of course!

[Graysalchemy]

no problem with my trucut clamp machine as the wheel infront of the blade pushes it flat, but i suppose badly warped board and a vacum machine may cause problems.

[stcstc]

i have no problem cutting it on my gunnar

but its still a pain in the hole, as it means i have to stand there while its being cut

if the board is flat i can have it cut a bunch of stuff while i am doing something else

[David]

Generally not a problem. I did crash the head into the edge of the board in the early days, before I new better , now I either turn the board round, tape the edge with masking tape or hold the edge down until the head is over the board. So it's not really an issue.

[Graysalchemy]

Like most people I store my board vertically but as we all know,

I store mine flat as I buy by the pallet. My 1400micron has been bendy from the first sheet down to almost the last, its also to do with moisture fluctuations as well as bowing in a rack.

[Steve N]

now I either turn the board round, tape the edge with masking tape or hold the edge down until the head is over the board. So it's not really an issue.

Same here, just have to keepan eye open that's all

[kev@frames]

I store half of mine flat, and the rest upright, as and where it will fit.

cmc problems with bendy board come when you are cutting nested arrays out of full sheets and happen worse nearer the corner formed by the two edges where the clamps are not. tape helps, sometimes.

I'm swapping out my colourmount for arquadia board wherever I can as it cuts better in my cmc.

bendy colourmount and what seems to be inconsistent thicknesses have caused us all sorts of niggles and wasted board recently. Can't be arsed taping it down any more, frankly. Neither do I expect my staff to stand there watching it just in case, and jumping all over the cmc holding bits and pieces down just to make sure it doesn't fold itself up while its being cut.

I'm not sure what seems to have changed in the past year or two with colourmount boards, maybe nothing (?) but it doesn't seem to cut so well in a cmc as it used to. And i'm basing that on 3 cmcs over the past few years, and this one is only a few months old so it isn't a clapped out machine to blame.....

whether this is due to conditions here, at the wholesaler or before that I don't know. But my arquadia comes from the same place and that cuts fine, stays flat and stores well upright or flat. I've seen how ventons store their board in the warehouse and there is nothing at all wrong with the way they store it, or the conditions.

Perhaps someone from colourmount could join in and offer some ideas what the issue may be for some of us with cmcs.

And I don't like looking at the fatg url every time I open a pack, and thats a good enough reason for me to change to another brand, but thats another story which we don't go into here

[Jonny2morsos]

I have noticed Arqadia board does stay flatter than Colourmount and Daler in storage. Also Arq. board seems to have got a bit denser recently and when it is cut manually the extra resistance is noticable. If I buy Arq. it is always in full packs so don't know if the packaging helps retain its flatness.

[kev@frames]

A picture's worth a thousand words?

wizardbugger.jpg (8.6 KiB) Viewed 10871 times

[Not your average framer]

I don't yet have a CMC, but I've been switching over the Arqadia mountboard over the last 6 months to a year, because the quality is so consistent, it's a good price and it cuts so well. I'm still using up my remaining stock of mostly Nielsen Bainbridge and in most cases I won't be re-ordering any of this as it is used up.

Eventually almost all of my mountboard stock will be Arqadia. I think that Arqadia mountboards are stiffer and denser than the others and they also require greater effort to cut. I encounter bending in other mountboards, but not in Arqadia. All my mountboards is stored vertically, mostly in the same rack.

[Graysalchemy]

As you all know I use arqadia's hayseed in both 3500 and 1400. My trucut is set up for this and it cuts great everytime. However a customer asked me to use another colour minuet in 3500. Now that was a b*gger to cut. It is much denser and caused all sorts of problems. The main problem being that it needed a relatively high pressure on the compressor, which was fine whilst the tank was full but the pressure in the tank had to drop below the pressure I needed to cut in order to trigger the compressor. Once I figured it out (and wasted 10 sheets) it was OK.

Having said all that I love arqadia board.

[Gesso&Bole]

And hopefully you still love that customer who insisted on Minuet!

[Bagpuss]

Thanks for your thoughts everyone, well once I've finally decided on a CMC it looks like I'll have to change my mountboard as well

cheers,
Bagpuss

[Graysalchemy]

And hopefully you still love that customer who insisted on Minuet!

I do do

[Elite]

Having just purchased a Valiani CMC, we have had our first training day. It was mentioned that placing a strong magnet on the top right hand corner of the matboard will help keep it 'in place' if required, providing your machine has the stainless steel protective sheet on it. Have'nt had the necessity to yet but just thought I would 'throw the idea' out there. Good luck with your decision.....we are very happy with ours....

[Steve N]

postby Elite
Having just purchased a Valiani CMC, we have had our first training day. It was mentioned that placing a strong magnet on the top right hand corner of the matboard will help keep it 'in place' if required, providing your machine has the stainless steel protective sheet on it.

Good tip, will have to give it a try, many thanks