How did your CMC change your life ?

[Bagpuss]

I did a post about a week ago asking members about turnaround time for jobs, I said I was quoting 2 weeks and was interested to know what everybody else quoted. There seemed to be a mixture of responses but I noted that a few members were quite bullish ( in a good way ) about turning around the job in a week or as quick as possible. As a "one man band" without a CMC, 2 weeks is just about manageable and I'm assuming those that were quoting a week were probably not working alone and probably had a CMC as well.

This got me thinking about the "seismic change" that a framer would go through when he starts using a CMC for the first time, I do want to get one next year and can appreciate the obvious benfits but I'd be interested to know from CMC converts what impact this had on their working day and their business ?

Thanks,
Adam/Bagpuss

[stcstc]

my business grew hugely

and having the machine means i can cope with the extras

even simple things like just cutting backing boards for for frames, last week i had to cut around 180, 20*16. took no time at all really

the other thing is its allowed me to add a whole range of other product to offer my clients

for example, just adding signatures to mounts

cool thing is once you have a photographer doing it with you their hooked and basically dont go elsewhere

[David]

I was having a conversation similar to this yesterday. I got my Gunnar CMC earlier in the year.

We are still quoting 2-3 weeks turnaround it hasn’t reduced this significantly, although we are doing more than we were 6 mths ago so maybe we would be quoting 3-4 weeks if we hadn’t got a CMC. Most of the work we do is ones and twos with very little repetitive work where the greatest savings would be seen. Having said that I recently did a set of 8 double mounts and a lot of time was saved.

I thought we would be offering a lot more fancy mounts but this has not been the case, we are doing about the same number as before. Most pictures and framing jobs do not warrant anything too fancy and I’m not going to do it just because I can.

The biggest benefit I hadn’t expected, most of what we do now I could have done before , decorative and offset corners, rounded corners, multi apertures, reverse bevels even hand carving, simple debossing and inlays. I could do it – but didn’t - in many cases because I had to charge £20 or more for simple designs £75 - £100 for more technical stuff the cost was prohibitive. Now we can offer these extra design elements at reduced cost for little or no extra labour, need to pay for the machine though. Also I don’t have to do them, either of my two framers can produce designs where I would have had to do the mount at least.

Of course there are also things we can do now and couldn’t before, a lot more doors can be opened.

I have also realised that a CMC doesn’t make you a brilliant or even a good framer, like the best artist materials don’t make you a good artist. You still need the design skills to be able to use the machine to produce quality work, it does however give you a lot more options at a practical cost.

[markw]

It changes many aspects of your business - the knowledge that you can tackle almost anything as far as mounts are concerned gives you a confidence when designing for your customer. Its the silly little things that bring that home. Good example is a long panoramic landscape that because of the way the paper is joined has a slight curve - by hand a nightmare - on the CMC a doddle - would you like a pin line around that as well?

Its not improved my turnaround - but then I am busier and we are only a husband and wife team - well the three of us Me - The missus and Val.

[Bagpuss]

Its not improved my turnaround - but then I am busier and we are only a husband and wife team - well the three of us Me - The missus and Val.

Val sounds like a right little cracker, hopefully I'll have a "Val" of my own in the New Year

[Steve N]

Just the two, me and Val , in fact Val was the first bit of equipment I bought (off Merlin), and that governed the business plan. Val helps to cope with work in the shop and the Interweb, orders in by lunchtime (the web that is), dispatched first thing next day.

Steve

[Roboframer]

The CMC has not reduced my turnaround time but it's made life a whole lot easier, plus enabled me to offer (read 'push') things that I'd run a mile from previous, like multi aperture triple mounts, and not just rectangles, with the bottom board 8 ply and the top apertures reverse bevelled for fillets, and maybe some embossed lines around each aperture/the whole thing.

It was a wedding stationer that clinched the decision to purchase - I used to dread her coming through the door with her orders for table plans, many requiring jumbo board. Plotting them would write off the workbench; now all her designs are stored and any new ones can be quickly adapted from an existing one. While it's being cut, I'm doing something else.

[Bill Henry]

A CMC made me more popular and a lot better looking.

… well, it would have … if only I had one … which I don't.

[Graysalchemy]

I thought we would be offering a lot more fancy mounts but this has not been the case, we are doing about the same number as before. Most pictures and framing jobs do not warrant anything too fancy and I’m not going to do it just because I can.


I have also realised that a CMC doesn’t make you a brilliant or even a good framer, like the best artist materials don’t make you a good artist. You still need the design skills to be able to use the machine to produce quality work, it does however give you a lot more options at a practical cost.

Well said a lot of framers buy a cmc and automatically offer hundreds of fancy designs, which are OK but as you said in the second part of your reply it is your design skills which is most important. Just because you have the ability to cut 1000's of novelty designs doesn't mean that they are good designs or appropriate for the market.

My Trucut enabled me to cut volume. I regularly make frames for hotels and It means that as a one man band I can frame upwards of 100 frames a day, with help from my trusted cassese saw and underpinner (i would be lost with out these too).

I can also easily cut deep bevels which probably accounts for 70% of my mount work, multi apertures and boxes. But I think were it really scores is that I frame up a lot of limited editions and artists originals which are of standard sizes. I can save the designs and call them up when I need them. It means if I have a mix bag of sizes I can mount them quickly and efficiently, saving time and money.

They are expensive and do take some time to recoup the capital outlay but they are well worth the investment.

One final point is that I bought the worlds oldest Trucut machine yes about 15 years old and had it refurbished and up graded by trucut. I payed a fraction of what a new Alpha would have cost me and less than their current trophy machine, but ended up with a very robust, fast machine (faster than alot of new machines available from other manufacturers) which is worth its weight in gold. Old machines do come on the market occasionally and they are worth having a look at if you are prepared to have them serviced or refurbished.

AG

[Ian Goodman]

I have a gunnar CMC 601 which has been very good except for one thing ie the vgrrove setting on the blade keeps shifting and i have had this apart several times and put locktite on the thread many times but it keeps shifting so i am now an expert in fixing these annoying problems.
The new release in software GMC did not recognise too well the designs done in SPT32 and I am not sure if that problem has been fixed yet.
But overall I have been very impressed by this CMC