Making square cuts.....

**Jack Flesher** · 4-Jul-2007, 09:52

Crooked cuts making it almost impossible to get decent double-mats was the main reason I swallowed hard and bought the "standard" basic model Speed-Mat 40x60 cutter. Almost everybody I know who does mats seriously on their own has this machine or the smaller 32x40 version. Bottom line is it allows you to cut PERFECT mats first time, every time -- single, double or even triple mats, 4-ply or 8-ply -- it chews though any of them effortlessly. It also has a built in trimmer for initial sizing. It aint cheap, but it's one of the few tools I own I feel has fully paid for itself, and that was after double-matting just 24 16x20's for a show... Details here: http://www.speed-mat.com/

Cheers,

**David A. Goldfarb** · 4-Jul-2007, 10:03

I saw the Speed-Mat cutter at PMA and it was impressive.

**Jack Flesher** · 4-Jul-2007, 10:32

PS: I should add that this machine holds the entire sheet of mat-board and you cut all 4 sides from behind without having to move the mat. As such, your double-mat is registered to the exact same corner position even if it is a slightly different overall size. Then stops drop down to make the inner mat smaller by whatever dimension you chose on the stops, and this is what allows the perfect double (or triple) mat cuts.

**turtle** · 4-Jul-2007, 10:43

Looks impressive. I bought an 'ultimat' conventional cutter (essentially same as Fletcher 2000 etc) and it is superb. However alignment takes time to get perfect if the cutter has been moved or messed wth and once sorted I daren't move it. Left alone on the bench it is fine, but then again I have not tried a double mount with a 30+ inch window...

My first mount cutter was a heavily advertised cheap model that made all sorts of claims, none of them accurate. Seems you get what you pay for. Very few people get good results with the ultra cheap models it seems. With mine it always seemed like it was my fault, but with the new one its dead easy.

**Don Sparks** · 4-Jul-2007, 11:22

I used to have this same problem. I now use two or more passes instead of trying to cut through with one single pass....just lower the blade a little more on each pass....no more ruined mat boards.