The Framers Forum

The vertical blade holder on my KeenCut Ultimat Gold does not return naturally to the up position.

It's as if the spring is not man enough to overcome the friction in the mechanism. It doesn't happen all the time - sometimes it flips up correctly.

I can't find anything in the manual indicating this part should be lubricated....

Anyone have any advice before I take it to bits and look closer?

Thanks,
Roy

Roy, is the nut a bit tight? mine was loose so tightened it up.... sorted

If you can't sort it give Keencut a call they have an excellent after sales care reputation.

CanvasChris wrote:Roy, is the nut a bit tight? mine was loose so tightened it up.... sorted

Chris,

Many thanks for your response.

Apologies for the delay in responding...

I have slackened off the nut - but I have to go so far get it to work properly that it causes far too much lateral play. It would not cut straight. I guess I'll just have to pull it to bits and understand what's going on.

Thanks,
Roy

GeoSpectrum wrote:If you can't sort it give Keencut a call they have an excellent after sales care reputation.

I have seen a number of posts on this forum about how good KeenCut after sales care is - but unfortunately that has not been my experience.

I have a second hand machine and they will not talk to me about any problems at all. They say they have a policy of not dealing with queries from second hand machine owners - they have no history of how the machine has been used/treated. Too time consuming - for them. They have given me the contact details for third part engineers - to be fair I have not made contact with them yet but I will - and I'll report back my findings.

Even so - I would not call that "excellent after sales care".

It's a pity that they don't run some sort of monitored forum - that would be a step in the right direction. I also think their troubleshooting FAQ could be much improved - perhaps that would reduce the number of calls they get.

I did manage to get through to their technical department some months ago, after much badgering, and the guy was very helpful and fixed my problem in about 3 minutes - but that is not the norm and they won't talk to me about this sticky vertical cutter problem. It's a shame because I'm sure it's a common problem - I have seen it on a number of machines - I'm sure there is a standard fix.

Regards,
Roy

I did manage to contact one of the third part engineers.

He was very helpful - recommended that I try blowing out with an air gun first as it usually gets bunged up with dust from the mount card cutting. Failing that, take it to bits, clean and reassemble. Only lubricate with something like silicon or PTFE oil - if necessary - and even then very sparingly.

Interestingly he asked if I had phoned KeenCut to ask for help, and I explained about the second hand machine rule. He and I both agreed that this is not a very good way to treat KeenCut owners. Without doubt my next mount cutter, probably in about 12 months time, and probably new, is unlikely to be a KeenCut - I will take a very close look at the competition.

Roy

These are very hard times for a lot of companies. I would suspect that sales of top end of the market mountcutters will have been hit by some many framers switching to CMC's and by CMC owners selling so many top grade mountcutters on the secondhand market.

If they've had to reduce staff levels, due the above or the recession in general, survial may dictate their policy. Many of the competitors have no direct representation in the UK at all, in which case you would normally contact one of their distributions.

I would suggest that you contact a machinery person at Lion, Simons, or another supplier which keeps good stocks of spares for framing equipment. The support is still there, just speak to a distributor.

Just to be fair to our independant framing engineers, some are able to supply an extensive stock of spares, on a next day delivery service and are often willing to give free advice over the phone.

I'm retired now... but I worked many years for a multi national blue chip computer company that lost their way as far as customers were concerned.

They very nearly went out of business. Scary times.

I learned one thing from that - the customer is everything.

When a man won't talk to me for two minutes to help fix a problem on one of his machines, second hand or not, it does not leave a lasting impression of care. That sticks in my mind.

Regards,
Roy

I can sympathize with both parties but I think on balance I would say that as a company Keencut don't really owe a second owner anything as it is only the original purchaser that earns them any money.

If the serial number is quoted I guess they can also tell how long ago the machine was made and this may have been many years ago in which time it may have been very heavily used.

Even with high value items like cars, wear and tear items will be excluded from any warranty and usually proof of servicing is required to make any sort of claim.

I bought a Keencut Ultimat Gold new about 6 or 7 years ago and had a free day's training thrown in. In the intervening period I have contacted them for some technical help which was freely given along with a pack of thicker blades sent in the post free of charge. A short while back I needed a small part and this was received within 24hours.

In my experience their after sales has been nothing short of faultless but I did buy new.