The Framers Forum

Had my Futura for about 10 months and seem to be having a few problems with blade marks at start of cut. It's always been there and have tried both the single sided Tech S 12 & 15 blades and Tech D 12's and it does it on all blades.... It's more pronounced on the black as it looks more like a shine mark ....the S 12 were better but not perfect.

I only use Centrado's Spectra mountboard purely based on price in bulk but I understand it's a Daler board anyway so should be good quality. Just wondered if anyone has a Futura and this mountboard combo?? .... or if I sent some to you could you test it?

Had to have a new slideway on it as it was hooking when first bought which they duly replaced as it was bent and twisted.... I took it back to Keencut again as I am only 15miles away as I wasn't sure the new slideway fixed it but they said it's a common fault and the only way around it is leave the blade in and lift the handle which moves the board while the blade returns... it did help. they said it's in the manual.... did take a while to find. They say it's down to the board being very dense hence pinching the blade and pulling the fibres causing the mark.

The board is a standard 1400mic and I only use the Black, White, Textured White and Soft White and all of them have no problem being cut on a Gunnar when I get my Multi Apps done on another members CMC.

I've not had any comments from customers so it maybe just me being extremely picky but IMHO it shouldn't do it.

Not sure what to do with it TBH...

No one got a Futura?

If you are only a stones throw from Keencut I would go back there with it and show them the problem, I am sure they would want to see if there is a problem.

Already been back ... they say it's a common problem... not sure that should be right on a £1k+ machine. doesn't do it on the CMC.

Want to see if anyone else gets the same problem... or I can send them some of my mountboard to test for me as ammunition to go back to Keencut with.

Oh that makes it alright then..........................NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If it is such a common problem what are they going to do about fixing it?

Have you got a photo of what is happening?

I can tell you it doesn't do it on our valiani cmc and not on the ultimat gold we had before that.

My mistake from original post.... Mark is at the "end of cut"



Have now tried .... smooth and textured Spectra, Arqadia Minuet, Colourmount and Daler Rowney mount boards and all doing the same. All boards no thicker than 1400mic!!!!!!!!!!

Used Tech S.012, Tech D.012 and both the thicker variants but still no joy.

At the end of every cut the blade doesn't return .... Keencut Futura Manual says ... section 6.5 "Cutting Thick Mats"

AT THE END OF THE CUT
Some boards will show a scuff mark on the bevel which is due to the pressure the board puts onto the sides of the
blade as it is reversed out of the cut. This can be avoided by holding the blade in whilst lifting the long black handle
just enough to release the board, then lift the blade holder to pull out the blade.

Doesn't work and I'm NOT using Thick Mats.

Any advice greatly received ....

Finally got round to taking a couple of pics...

Not a cure but will cosmetically fix the problem, rub with a little fine sandpaper or emery board should do the trick.

Are you cutting face down?

Yes, face down.

My guess is that the clamping arm is being released at the end of the cut before the blade has been swivelled back from the cut position. You probably want to keep a bit of pressure on the arm and not release it until after the blade has been withdrawn. I know that is the opposite to what you have been told, but might be worth a try, if you have not done so already (though I suspect that you have). Also bear in mind that I have not actually used a straight mount cutter for more than 15 years.

Not used this cutter model. But I would second the point about backing the blade before releasing pressure on the clamp arm. It is important to keep an even pressure as the cutter guide can creep slightly. I have a C&H and the guide does move noticeably as you press down. So don't release the pressure while the blade is still engaged in the cut.

Is there a similar indentation on the bevel of the cut-out?

This is a well known and historic problem connected with cutting many of the higher density mountboards in use today. I first encountered this problem while using an original Keencut ultimat and later on a Keencut Ultimat Gold.

I'm surprised that after all this time, this problem has not been addressed and solved, but obviously not as the problem still exists. The most obvious solution to the problem is to use a lower density mountboard and this results in less pressure between the sides of the blade and the inside faces of the cut, during removal of the blade at the end of the cut.

An alternative, but less easy to explain solution, (which I devised myself) can be employed by sticking a thin strip of 120 gsm cartridge paper the other side of the slot in the base from the cutter bar.

The slip mat and mount to be cut are placed in position and the cut is made as normal. As the cut is made, the weight of the cutting bar will allow the mount cut-out under the cutting bar to be pressed down, causing the cut to open very slightly.

As the end of cut position is reached, firm downward pressure on the trailling end of the cutting head and hand pressure to the edge of the mountboard alongside the blade position, but also adjacent to the margin guide will cause the margin side of the cut to rise slightly at the same time as the cutter bar is depressing the other side of the cut. This allows the cut to open very slightly, so that the blade can be withdrawn without scuffing the face of the cut bevel.

I'm an ex-design engineer, so solving technical problems used to be my job. As you can see, the solution is no big deal at all and took almost no time to figure it out.

I hope that the explaination was easy to understand, if not please let me know.

Had an Ultimat Gold Prior to this and it had none of these problems with the same board and cut just fine even with a Tech D blade.

John....No marks on drop out

Have just tried Lions TiN SE 030 blades and they were the same... it's got to be the Futura.

Email sent to Keencut.

Has no one else on the Forum got a Futura I can send some board to test???? or even PM me a number so I can call?

Hey Chris, I also have a futura, send me a pm if I can be of any help at all!

CanvasChris wrote:Had an Ultimat Gold Prior to this and it had none of these problems with the same board and cut just fine even with a Tech D blade.

I takes only very marginal conditions to make the difference between getting and not getting this problem. For a while I could not figure out, why moving the mountcutter from one bench to another determined whether I would get this problem, or not.

In my case, it also had an effect on whether I got hooking at the start of the cut, or not. All it takes is a little misalignment due to twisting, or flexing of the aluminium base board due to a slightly twisted, or not quite flat bench top, for the blade to not cleanly exit the board at the end of cut.

Don't take my word for it, but cut a small piece of mountboard and try it under each corner of the mountcutter in turn. This will quite often give you a hooking problem, or lead to scuffing the bevel at the end of cut. My old C & H had a solid MDF base covered both sides with formica and it did not matter if the bench top was flat, or not.

An extruded aluminium base on the other hand has a little bit more give, so if the bench top is not flat this can cause problems. This does not mean that there is anything wrong which the mountcutter, but it just needs a good flat bench top to real perform at it's best. I hope that this makes sense.

In my previous post, the amount of movement opening the cut while extracting the blade from the cut is not easily visible, but it's the difference between the blade scuffing the cut bevel and not scuffing the bevel.

Thanks for your reply Mark

The blade doesn't come out of the cut without manually lifting it or lifting the bar. Have also tried padding each foot out but no joy.

My bench in the workshop is a kitchen worktop, my kitchen has a granite top and my dining room table is a solid oak top... all extremely flat and all give the same result.

I have certainly tried all sorts to remedy it apart from it going back to Keencut with whom I have an email waiting in their inbox which was sent tonight.

It wasn't right from the first day I bought it as it needed a new slideway as it was twisted but guessing there is something still twisted somewhere.

That's strange! It's also kind of hard to understand how something that strong could become twisted.

Was the new slideway an improvement?

iirc there was someone else here on the forum who had to have the slideway replaced due to being twisted so not uncommon.

Yes, the slideway cured the hooking but introduced my current issue. Will wait to see what keencut say, they have been great in the past and have asked they take it into their workshop to check..... In only 10 miles from them so no big deal to get there