Valiani Mat Pro UltraV 150 question

[faps]

Fist post on this forum so fist of all I would like to say hello to everyone. I have enjoyed reading posts over the last few days and I'm looking forward to joining in the conversations and learning from the vast experiences of others on this forum.

I am about to make my first purchase of a CMC and the Valiani Mat Pro Ultra 150 is on my short list. I have a question on the cutting heads which at 1k each play a significant part of the overall cost of the package. I am wondering if I will manage with one 45 degree and one 90 degree cutting head to start off with. I need to cut standard mound board (with V-Grooves) and also 5mm foam core board. Will a third head be required to do the Foam Core?

Also interested in other user experiences with this model, which might help me with making a final decision.

Thanks in advance

John

[Fruitini]

Hi John

In my opinion you will need 3 heads:

BLUE 45° - this will cut your standard thickness boards face down, and can also tackle your thicker boards. This head breezes through 3500 micron board no problem. The blue head doesn’t handle intricate design, shapes, text etc very well. For this you will need....

GREEN 40° - this head is generally used for face up cuts and handles detailed cuts well. You will need this head for vgrooves, reverse bevels. The 40° head will cut a slightly narrower bevel in appearance than the 45° head

YELLOW/GREY 90° - you’ll need this head for cutting foamcore and any 90° cuts on mountboard.

I also invested in the pen stylus head and gave found this to be a great extension to our offerings. Are you thinking of buying new or second-hand? TGS Repairs usually carry second-hand heads and are available at £500 generally.

Hope that helps

[Not your average framer]

Before she solld her shop and moved away, we had a good friend who had South Street Gallery in Exeter. She did great things with her CMC and drew in incredible numbers of customers for her framing. The great thing about much of her framing, was how she used her CMC creatively. A large part of her hallmark in how she framed things, Was wide mount borders, triple mounts and triple V grooves on the front mount. She also did hand finished deep wrapped mount bevels using foam board cut a 45 degrees on her CMC.

Used right, a CMC can really put your business on the map, as the place to go for framing. I was truely astounded at the prices, that she was able to charge for her work. Exeter is a fairly expensive place as far as framers go, but in an already expensive place, she was charging lots more than anyone else. I learnt a lot about marketing and mountcutting, just seeing how she did things! Her shop windows were full of framed prints and artworks and there was a lot of really stunning, tasteful, but not over the top mountcutting and also her fabulous hand finished wrapped deep mount bevels.

She also did a bit of gilding as well. You may not necessarily need every type of available cutting head, but I would have a very good look at what the various heads can do for you in preparing stunning work for your shop and shop windows. I hope that you will do very well with your CMC!

[Steve N]

Hi John

In my opinion you will need 3 heads:

BLUE 45° - this will cut your standard thickness boards face down, and can also tackle your thicker boards. This head breezes through 3500 micron board no problem. The blue head doesn’t handle intricate design, shapes, text etc very well. For this you will need....

GREEN 40° - this head is generally used for face up cuts and handles detailed cuts well. You will need this head for vgrooves, reverse bevels. The 40° head will cut a slightly narrower bevel in appearance than the 45° head

YELLOW/GREY 90° - you’ll need this head for cutting foamcore and any 90° cuts on mountboard.

I also invested in the pen stylus head and gave found this to be a great extension to our offerings. Are you thinking of buying new or second-hand? TGS Repairs usually carry second-hand heads and are available at £500 generally.

Hope that helps

I agree with all the above, only thing I would add is on the Yellow head, have the Teflon foot, rather than the nylon foot as it wears out very quick,

[Fruitini]

Have you not tried the metal feet Steve? I used to use the Teflon feet but found they still wore too quickly and I was constantly fighting with depth adjustments. The metal feet don’t appear to wear at all. I’ve had the same ones on for months without any wear. They don’t mark dark boards anymore than than the Teflon ones do either. Definitely an upgrade for me.

http://tgsrepairs.co.uk/metal-pad-for-blue-yellow-head/

[Steve N]

I thought the metal ones were coated with Teflon, it's the metal one I use, sorry didn't make that clear

[faps]

Hi John

In my opinion you will need 3 heads:

BLUE 45° - this will cut your standard thickness boards face down, and can also tackle your thicker boards. This head breezes through 3500 micron board no problem. The blue head doesn’t handle intricate design, shapes, text etc very well. For this you will need....

GREEN 40° - this head is generally used for face up cuts and handles detailed cuts well. You will need this head for vgrooves, reverse bevels. The 40° head will cut a slightly narrower bevel in appearance than the 45° head

YELLOW/GREY 90° - you’ll need this head for cutting foamcore and any 90° cuts on mountboard.

I also invested in the pen stylus head and gave found this to be a great extension to our offerings. Are you thinking of buying new or second-hand? TGS Repairs usually carry second-hand heads and are available at £500 generally.

Hope that helps

That's great information to have. Thank you for answering my questions. I will also look for TGS to find out what they have.

[faps]

Before she solld her shop and moved away, we had a good friend who had South Street Gallery in Exeter. She did great things with her CMC and drew in incredible numbers of customers for her framing. The great thing about much of her framing, was how she used her CMC creatively. A large part of her hallmark in how she framed things, Was wide mount borders, triple mounts and triple V grooves on the front mount. She also did hand finished deep wrapped mount bevels using foam board cut a 45 degrees on her CMC.

Used right, a CMC can really put your business on the map, as the place to go for framing. I was truely astounded at the prices, that she was able to charge for her work. Exeter is a fairly expensive place as far as framers go, but in an already expensive place, she was charging lots more than anyone else. I learnt a lot about marketing and mountcutting, just seeing how she did things! Her shop windows were full of framed prints and artworks and there was a lot of really stunning, tasteful, but not over the top mountcutting and also her fabulous hand finished wrapped deep mount bevels.

She also did a bit of gilding as well. You may not necessarily need every type of available cutting head, but I would have a very good look at what the various heads can do for you in preparing stunning work for your shop and shop windows. I hope that you will do very well with your CMC!

Thanks Mark. That's good to read. I am really looking forward to learning more about these machines. Exiting stuff!