Upgrading from Keencut to Valiani. Opinions sought.

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Townsend
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Upgrading from Keencut to Valiani. Opinions sought.

Post by Townsend »

Thinking of changing from my trusty old Keencut Ultimat Gold to a Valiani MatPro 150.......the non-CMC version. Has anyone else made a change like this and found the upgrade worthwhile? Did you keep your old cutter, or dispose of it?
Abacus
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Re: Upgrading from Keencut to Valiani. Opinions sought.

Post by Abacus »

I did exactly that. Loved the Mat Pro. Try to get one with the end cutter, great for sizing the mounts before cutting. The mat pro cut down on waste massively and the quality of mounts (especially double mounts) went up massively. It also saved a bunch of time.

I kept the keencut “just in case” and still have it (unused for the last few years).

I upgraded from the Mat Pro to a Wizard 8000 after a couple of years and got my money back on the Valiani. This was a great investment, especially for multi mounts and ovals circles etc

I swapped to a Wizard 9000 last year and got most of my money back on the 8000 (probably shouldn’t have upgraded really because I don’t really use any of the extra features of the 9000 and it cost me a packet!

HTH
Townsend
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Re: Upgrading from Keencut to Valiani. Opinions sought.

Post by Townsend »

Thanks for that Abacus. Quite often I will mark up the back of a board for multiple openings and cut them "freehand" on the Keencut. If using a MatPro, which cuts from the front of the board, I assume every opening will mean a re-set of the stops. Am I right in thinking this? If I was doing enough of them a CMC would be the answer. I'm just trying to establish what advantages the 150 would bring and the more accurate double mounts is certainly one......also, cutting from the front would be great for mount slips.
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Steve N
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Re: Upgrading from Keencut to Valiani. Opinions sought.

Post by Steve N »

Townsend wrote
"Thanks for that Abacus. Quite often I will mark up the back of a board for multiple openings and cut them "freehand" on the Keencut. If using a MatPro, which cuts from the front of the board, I assume every opening will mean a re-set of the stops. Am I right in thinking this? If I was doing enough of them a CMC would be the answer. I'm just trying to establish what advantages the 150 would bring and the more accurate double mounts is certainly one......also, cutting from the front would be great for mount slips."

Correct on all counts, great for starting out on multi orders aswell, easy to cut 50 to 100 mounts, good entry level, wealso kept our Keencut, which was mainly used for cutting spacers for box framing
You can cut the double mounts in one go, stick mounts together, cut the front mount, remove waste, flip down a stop (5mm) then cut the under mount, you have enough flip down stops to cut a quadruple mounts if that is your want :sweating:

Also as you setting your stops from the bottom left corner and cutting on the stops, your blank mount does not have to be dead on size to get the correct size window, unlike when using a manual mount cutter, as you are measuring from the outside edge when setting the mount guide, so if the blank is 2mm too big or too small :Slap: , then the window will reflect this, but not when using the 150 :clap:
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Townsend
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Joined: Fri 07 Mar, 2008 12:22 am
Location: Ireland

Re: Upgrading from Keencut to Valiani. Opinions sought.

Post by Townsend »

You guys are a fund of information.....thanks. One last thing - my Keencut handles the Arqadia Solid Core board quite well, even the 3mm. Recently I needed a 1.6mnm jumbo board cut and the guy I brought it to had a Speed Mat which couldn't cut this hard board. Has anyone had a problem cutting it on a Valiani 150?
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