Looking for a Twin Head CMC

[TheRoyalMileGallery]

Hi everyone,

I run The Royal Mile Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has been a family run business in Edinburgh's Old Town for over 30 years with my fathers opening the shop in the 90's and myself taking over since then.

We sell Antique maps, prints and reproductions. Due to the nature of our stock I cut countless mats every day and have been doing so for over a decade. It's time to take another step into the future,

I have been advised that a twin head CMC suits my needs due to the massive turn over of mats I cut. I do some standard sizes in bulk and some bespoke mounts but cut anywhere between 20 and 100 mats a day.

I am leaning towards a Gunnar due to the very helpful staff in the UK but would consider a Valliani.

I don't need to anything fancy as I only cut rectangular mats and use only one type of mount board and one type of back board. Just 90 and 45 degree cuts but I understand most cutters will do oval etc regardless.

A new one is just a little bit of a painful investment so I am investigating second hand. I'm willing to pay for what I know is a worthwhile investment.

Any help offered is very much appreciated. I have done a fair bit of research so know what I am after but am open to any suggestions and help form more experienced CMC users as I understand the sheer amount of mounts I am cutting can be an issue. (how many blades will I go through? etc)

I have seen some machines for sale but they are all from quite a few years ago so I'm unsure whether to chase them up,

Thanks a lot and greetings from Scotland!

Alex
The Royal Mile Gallery

[JFeig]

IMHO a daily output of 20-100 mounts per day is not an exorbitant amount of output for a single head machine.
Are all the mounts being cut multiples or one of's?
I used to cut thousands of ready made mats on a single head machine at a rate of up to 100 per hour from precut (OD) boards. The weakest link is the stiffness of board stock. Stiffer boards with more "sizing" require less blade changing. It is all about planning(work flow) of your production.

[TheRoyalMileGallery]

Thanks for your reply.

I was advised by Sarah that twin head would be more reliable at bulk just because each head is doing less and replacing the hybrid is more expensive but am very much open to anecdotal experience such as yours.

I cut big batches of multiples but I do put in a lot of one offs as well as none of the antique things are standard sizes.

I am cutting everything on the same Mk1 mount board that is basically the cheapest available front board. I would describe my shop as more of a gift shop/ antique shop rather than a framers so the precision of my work isn't paramount compared with the quick turnover.

I was imagining laying big boards of maximum size for the machine and it cutting the outer and bevelled edge for me. With me hopefully just loading in the boards and unloading the finished mounts. This may require a twin head.