The Framers Forum

Hi all

This is my first post as I am new to the world of framing. I took Paul Cascio's framing course earlier in the year and it has taken me nearly 4 months to get all my equipment and supplies imported (I live in Jamaica). Anyway in that time my brain seems to of totally dumped all memories of the Morse chopper.

I have just started trying to operate it today and for some reason its chipping the front of the moldings, particularly on the last cut, even splitting it in some cases.

Now when I do not use the rebate supports and hold the molding secure with my hands, this seems to be less.

The problem is definately the rebate supports, they just do not seem to be holding the molding securely in place, I vaguely remember that the supports go on top of the rebate and are suppose to hold it in place that way, but mine just seem to flail about, even when I secure them using the knobs behinds them.

Any hints on what I am doing wrong would be greatly appreciated, bet yet would be a "Morso F for Dummies" breakdown.

Thanks in advance.

Andrea

The rebate supports support the rebate and go under the 'lip' of the frame.

They are not there to hold anything in place - they are there to prevent the weight of the blades from doing what yours are without them ....... by the sound of it.

Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwelcome anyway!!

Hi Andrea,

Welcome to the forum.

Sunny Jamaica, you lucky thing. Just send the ticket and I'll nip over to help you with the Morso problem.

Perhaps you have memories of a Morso H with pneumatic clamps that held the moulding in place.

Your machine (Morso F) does not have this feature and you must screw up each rebate support so that they lightly touch the underside of the moulding rebate. Do this while ensuring that the moulding is held flat on the bed of the machine.

It is important that the moulding is held firmly on each side of the blade as you make your cut. And don't try to cut in one go, rather take nibbles at it, you will soon get a feel for just how large a bite each nibble should be. Sometimes you have to manually slide the supports back in order to bring the blade forward for the next bite, but if you do this ensure that the supports are repositioned back under the rebate before taking the next nibble. For best results, ensure that the last cut is just a thin sliver.

I hope you weren't too affected by the recent hurricane Dean.

The rebate supports are not the Morso's strongest point. They should slide back as you advance the cut, but in practice they tend to bind on at least one side, even if you lubricate the slideways. The higher you have to set them, the worse they stick. There is a neat add-on that I fitted a few years back that consists of a couple of bars that holds the supports in a position relative to the moulding while the cutter block moves. However, I can't seem to find any mention of this accessory in any spares lists anymore. Does anyone else have this fitted? I know it was not easy to fit as it involved actually drilling into the thick bit that the cutter head slides in.

btw. Andrea. I find the best way to set the hight of the supports is to gently lower the blades onto the moulding so they just barely bite and then wind up the supports until you feel resistance. On some deep moulding you will find the supports will not go high enough. You can (I think) get replacement supports that go higher, but they are expensive. If you only occaisionally cut deep mouldings then two short pieces of wood approx 10mm sq tacked onto the supports with a bit of doublestick tape does the job.

As others have said the rebate (rabbet) support goes under the lip. We usually raise the support until it just touches the lip, then back off about 1/8 turn. This keeps it from binding and rocking down with the blade as you lower it.

However, chipping shouldn’t occur even with a loose rebate. You will end up with a lousy join, though. Despite your assurances that the problem lies in the rebate support, it sound to me like one of two things:

1) Your blades are not as sharp as they could be (did you buy the Morsø new or used?), or 2) you are having trouble with compo mouldings (are you having trouble with soft, un-embellished mouldings, too:?)

If (1), then have them sharpened. This may sound easy, but honing a blade to a “hollow ground” is a skill and technique that most run-of-the-mill saw and knife sharpeners lack. Even though we are in the land of chain saws and axes, none of the sharpeners in our area are capable of honing a Morsø blade. We have to ship them to a specialist in the mid west.

If (2), the gesso or plaster detail is getting chipped, it may be the moulding itself. It may have become dried out and brittle. Other than using a fine toothed saw there is probably not much else to be done. If soft woods are also chipping, my bet would be on the sharpness of the blades.

Wow, so many replies.

Thank you so much, I am now getting perfect cuts. I think I was just having a brain fart the other day and was trying to chop the molding upside down. Like I said, its been a while since my course.

Thanks again

Andrea

John wrote:Sunny Jamaica, you lucky thing. Just send the ticket and I'll nip over to help you with the Morso problem.

Oy, John! Back of the queue, if you don't mind!!!

Welcome to the forum, Andrea!

Another tip for cutting extra-deep rebated mouldings. If the moulding has a completely flat profile, it can be easier to cut it upside-down on the Morso (no need for rebate supports).

silicon spray lubricant instead of oil in the support tracks helps alleviate the sticking supports (sliding back motion) quite a bit.
Dont bother with the industrial stuff, use the stuff they sell in spray cans for curtain tracks if you have it locally, or get some silicone grease from one of your local dive shops, smear it on, and polish it all off, the residue will give a smooth "teflon" like coat to the tracks

Polish out the tracks with wire wool then give it a coat of silicon.

But, sadly, as said above, the rebate supports are not the machine's strongest point, and they need all the help they can get.

On some mouldings we do away with them alotogether and insert a sacraficial piece of slip or handy size moulding under there insstead, and cut through the lot.

You'll find in due course that some mouldings are a PITA to cut and some are worse with the supports than others. Its a good plan to "discontinue" these sooner rather than later (eg. before people get used to you stocking them).

Welcome to the madhouse
Kev

ps. Probably the best tip:
you can often cut flat profile mouldings upside-down, and then there is no need for the supports at all.

Is there an echo in here....

An afterthought, Andrea. Don't assume that the rebate height will be consistent for the full length of the moulding - check the stability of the moulding on the Morso before each cut supports to ensure that it's not being "lifted" by the rebate supports as you move along its length. (Not a problem with the Morso, just cr@p quality mouldings. )

Also don't turn the supports too high like I once did years ago
( admittedly it was a slightly warped piece of wood so the height changed just like moglet says) because it cracks or breaks the whole rebate off