The Framers Forum

we are a new framing business and I am the sales peson, I am starting to get new business on board but have started to get a number of multi apps coming through and my husband is struggling to do them on his keencut, we havent the revenue to invest in more equip yet so wanted to know if anyone had any good tips on hoe to do them with the keencut its the utimat purple version. Thanks Dawn

Hi Dawn
Welcome to the Forum. Good talking to you the other day.
I am sure that somebody with a manual mount cutter will be along shortly to give you some tips.

I know that for a new start up a CMC is a HUGE outlay.

Here is hoping that your venture takes off and that you do indeed get lots of Multi Apertures to cut. 50 aps Cigarette Card mounts or Film Cell mounts in quantity.
When the pennies start rolling in and you look back and see the wastage in mountboard (mistakes) and the time taken you will then be a step closer to that CMC.

Dont forget though that there are Mount Cutters here on the Forum that serve the internet and could supply you for when you get those unusual or large orders.

Hi Dawn
Sounds to me like you have the ultimat gold, the good news is that this will cut multi aperture mounts, the bad news is that I'm not sure if I can explain how it works but I'll give it a go!

Firstly you need to mark out the apertures on the back of your mount board. Set the start of cut stop to zero then insert the board with one of the pencil lines along the edge of the guide rail just where the 45 degree blade runs. You will have 2 lines running at right angles to the cutting head, these lines mark the start of cut and end of cut positions. Depress the start of cut finger and move the cutter head untio the tip of the finger reaches the horizontal line at the biginning of a marked aperture. Insert the bevel blade fully. Release the start of cut finger. Cut until the depressed tip of the start of cut finger reaches the hotizontal line at the end of the marked aperture. Repeat on all four sides of the aperture and then do the same on the remaining apertures.

Have you got and instruction book with your cutter? if it is an ultimat gold and you don't have the instructions drop me a line and I'll photocopy the relevant page from my copy

Hope this helps

Peter

Only draw lines that you cannot set the stops for. E.g. - if you have, say, 3 apertures in a row, you only need to plot the 'bars' between them - even if they are not all the same size, so - just 4 lines. You can use the margin guide and the stops for all the other cuts and you have no need to plot the outer lines of any multiple aperture.

Here is the best tip you can get (IMHO).

Ring Keencut (the number is on your machine) and book yourself (and hubbie) on one of their mount cutting courses. Last time I heard it was £25 for the day including lunch (or free if you buy a new machine).

They are in Corby, Northants which is probably not much more tha 2hrs drive from Donny (A1 to Stamford and then A43).

You will learn how to calibrate your machine correctly, cut standard mounts, multi aps., V grooves, reverse bevel cutting and more. Ask nicely and they will probably throw in some freebies like blades.

I think Keencut are the best company for after sales service I have ever come across in any industry.

John.

"Ring Keencut (the number is on your machine) and book yourself (and hubbie) on one of their mount cutting courses. Last time I heard it was £25 for the day including lunch (or free if you buy a new machine)."

Unfortunately Keencut stopped their mount cutting course some time ago You could always attend the one day "Introduction to Framing" at Lion in Birmingham which is usually run by Roy Rowlands, £76.40 + VAT with a "free" lunch.

Shame to hear Keencut no longer run the course. Tutor was Dick Clarke from Oakham.

Heres a link to his business:

http://www.oldhousegalleryrutland.co.uk/

Perhaps he would do you a day's training?

John.

Major tip for Ultimat Gold when cutting multiaperture mounts.


Say for the sake of arguement that you are creating a long, narrow style mount for three photos, all identical sizes and orientation, e.g:-

* aperture sizes need to be 80mm long by 140 wide.
* external borders need to be 45mm on all sides.
* space between each window mount needs to be 30mm.

Start by drawing all of the external lines at 45mm (rather like drawing lines for a single aperture mount.

Next, it is inportant to check you Ultimat manual, because there may be a quirk about where to draw the lines for one side of each aperture.

It would be easiest to do the lines for the long sides of the mount first, since there will be no variation in distance from the top or bottom of the apertures.

When marking out the cross cuts.

1. Set side bar on ultimat at 45. Draw guidelines for outermost cuts (one at either end).

2, Pay attention: this is the science bit!

It may be a peculiarity of the Ultimat cutters, but one needs to offset the line for the second side of an aperture in a mulitaperture sequence (if you get my drift), in order to allow for the difference between lining up the marker line against the cutting guide, and the actual blade cutting position. (Used to wreck my head when I first started cutting MA mounts). Basically for the second line, you add the aperture value to the setting of the previous line, and then SUBTRACT 1mm.

e.g for 3 landscape photos in a line as per above, the settings for the cutter bar when drawing lines for the short sides should be set at:

First Cut - 45
Second Cut - 45+140-1 = 184
Third Cut - 45+140+30 = 215

If the arrangement is totally symmetrical, you can draw the settings for both sides by swapping the board thru 180 degrees each time you reset the cutter bar.

Easier to demonstrate, but hope you get the idea. If you don't take into account the -1mm offset, you will end up with uneven borders between your apertures.

Hi Jocelyn

Cigarette cards were collectible cards which used to be distributed with packs of cigarettes and could be collected into sets. They featured themes like soccer players, famous cars, birds, steam engines etc. They can be framed usually with glass both sides to show the backs. The mounts have multi apertures and are usually cut with 90 degree bevels so the cards can just be placed in the apertures without fixing.

They are like baseball cards in the us

Hth

Ps good luck with quitting smoking, I quit 10 years ago on June 13th, best thing I ever did after marrying my wife!