morso measurements???? help please

[framethatthing]

hey guys, im new to this forum and i feel like an ideot to ask this question but how do you work out the measurements to cut a frame? i can work out the measurements for making up stretcher bar frames and i measure from the outside of the moulding and with a tape measure but its the fact of measuring the inside step of the moulding to be accurate enought for the size required.

i know its a silly question but my head is on meltdown thinking about it lol


best regards


thanks in advance


o p.s my morso is the morso F foot operated gillotine.

best regards againw

[Roboframer]

Welcome FrameThatThing!

Your Morso has 3 scales

1. A long fixed horizontal scale
2. A sliding scale that slides along that fixed scale.
3. A short vertical scale just to the right of the blades.

Let's say your glass is 500x500mm and the width of your moulding - at the bottom - the bit that rests on the morso table when you cut it - is 25mm.

The outside size of the frame should be the 'glass size' plus twice the width of the bottom of the moulding - so, in this case, 550mm - plus a bit of play.

So - you can either set '0' on the sliding scale to 550mm (+) on the fixed scale - or .........

You can use the vertical scale as it was intended ........

Put your moulding across the vertical scale and read what it says (25mm in this example/case)

Set the 25mm point (plus a fraction) on the sliding scale to the 500mm point on the fixed scale.

The sliding scale graduations are already doubled - 1 cm marked on the sliding scale is actually 2cm.

Err on the side of caution - you need about 2mm of play in the frame rebate - you can't make a cut length longer, but you can trim it down - cut the long sides first, if you screw up you can make them in to short sides (I realise a square frame does not have long & short sides, but you know what I mean)!!

[prospero]

Hi framethatthing and welcome to the Forum.

The measuring scale on the Morso is very cunning.....


First you need to know the width of the moulding across the back. That's from the outer edge to the edge of the rebate, not the entire width of the moulding. There is a transverse scale on the Morso near the right fence to measure this. Cut one end and slide the moulding up and lean over to eyeball this measurement. (Or just use a ruler on the back before you start cutting. ). Say the inner (rebate) size of the frame needs to be 600mm dead. The back of the moulding is 50mm. The outer size of the frame will need to be 50 x 2 (each rail has two ends) + the rebate size = 700. The extra you need on each rail is always twice the width of the back of the moulding. (as long as the corners are 90 deg).
If you look at the scale on the sliding stop, you will notice that it's twice as big as it should be. 10mm actually measures 20mm. So if you align 50 on the sliding scale with 600 on the fixed scale you will cut a tail 700 long.

The main thing is to get an accurate reading of the width. Any slight inaccuracy will be doubled. Some profiles can be hard
to measure on the Morso scale. I find a vernier guage with a digital readout to be the weapon of choice for this job.

Hope that helps.


*** Thank you John for stealing my thunder. Why aren't you at Shaylas's party?

[Roboframer]

*** Thank you John for stealing my thunder. Why aren't you at Shaylas's party?

It's not really her birthday - I had a word with her and she altered her profile to distract people so I could look good answering questions.

[Jonny2morsos]

Remember the sliding scale reads Right to Left NOT Left to Right.

Most common error is to cut 10mm undersize due to reading left to right (as you would written text).

John.

[birdman]

Why did nobody tell me that when I started! I learnt through experience and a box full of short lengths ....



Then I learnt that "professionals" called my short lengths ready made frames (RMFs)

Rolf