The Framers Forum

Hi All

I thought I'd drop a line and say Hi.

Im another one of the "newbies" to framing. I currently run a canvas printing company, which specialises in limited edition prints, limited edition canvases, and trade printing and ICC calibration.

My background in 20 years in corporate IT and spent a number of years as the senior IT manager of a leading publishing house, so have a wealth of knowledge in printing in the digital arena.

When Im not doing that, I also work for the emergency services - all good fun!

Feel free to ask if you need any IT type of help, but for any other emergencies dial 999 like everyone else !!

I made the conscious decision recently, to stop using canvas stretcher bars and move to what I would call a more professional look by using quality moulding, getting a the supplier to chop for me and provide the bare lengths that we would then underpin and stretch with our kit.

I here lots and lots about Cassesse and was looking at the CS79 or perhaps the CS88 pneumatic, but then today Ive seen the Alpha M3 and M4 - both of which look like fantastic machines but I cannot seem to get anyone to explain the difference to me on the kit - can anyone offer their comments.

I also currently use Stanley Professional Staple Gun, but with buying an underpinner I thought Id upgrade to pneumatic as well, home based- so would be using the Bambi silent compressor of some sort.

I look forward to any comments.

Best wishes all

John

Welcome to the forum! I've only been here a couple of months but it is a really useful place if you need either opinion or advice - you'll get plenty of both!!

I can't comment on the kit you mention although I will say we recently replaced our Alpha manual underpinner with a Casesse pnumatic which is absolutely brilliant, we also use stretcher moulding which we cut to whatever size we need and we use an electric stapler mainly because our compressor is in a different building to where we finish our work!

Good luck and as you appear to be a quality printer, why not let us all have your details so we can check out your website!

Regards

Paul@Perfection

Thanks for your comments Paul - the biggest issue with the website we are having done at the moment is trying to choose the right mascot character - hehe.

Hiya John

Welcome to the forum.

It could be output determines which is the better underpinner for you to buy ... that is ... whether to buy a pneumatic or manual one.

That said, I have spoken with lots of people here on this
forum who do use a manual underpinner and their output is what I would call at a commercial level.

I am sure if you have any specific questions about underpinners then there are lots of people here who will
gladly help.

I do know Cassese is a well-known brand and before I purchased the underpinner I have at the moment I was considering buying a Cassese. Even so, after speaking with a few members of the forum I discovered there are quite a few reliable underpinners to choose from.

Good to hear from you John. Vince

John,
Welcome!

You said "to stop using canvas stretcher bars and move to what I would call a more professional look by using quality moulding,"
I'm not sure I know exactly what you mean by this. Do you mean that you are going to mount the canvas using a different method, then fit the mounted canvas into a frame so that the frame surrounds the outside of the canvas?

That sounds good to me. I hate 'gallery wraps' for a number of reasons!

During the past 25 years I have owned a Euro vee nailer, two models of Alpha vee nailers and a few years ago bought a Cassese 3099 Ultra. They have all been pneumatic.
I wish I had bought the Cassese a lot earlier. There are a number of unique features that Cassese vee nailers have that help to tighten the mitre joints! Check their website! I don't think the lower end models like CS79 and CS88 have the double acting clamp though.
Prior to getting the 3099 I used bog on 80-90% of joints. Since getting this machine, the bog only gets used on about 0.5% of joints! I can't remember getting it out this year, yet!
Alpha vee nailers are pretty good too, and would be adequate for most framers.