C&H

stud d

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
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For those of you that have C&H Advantage Pro mat cutters, tell me what you think. I have pretty much just used Fletcher and PMC (a company that I think was bought by C&H sometime ago). I am thinking about investing in one and would like to know how folks feel about them.

Thanks
d
 
Since I have only used the C&H since I started framing, I have nothing to compare it to. But I will say that I have no complaints about it whatsoever. The only problem I did experience early on was "hooked" corners, and that was immediately remedied by switching to single edged blades.


-Mike.
 
I have used both the Fletcher and C&H and I like both of them.....

Fletcher
I like the bearings on the Fletcher.
I prefer the blade magazine
I prefer the head assembly. It fits my hand better.

If you get atg or dirt on the bearing they are hard to clean.
The base is too flexible.

C&H Advantage Pro

I prefer the mat guide and its one screw adjustment.
I prefer the production stops
V-Grooves are easier to set up.
The wide heavy base is nice.

Using the straight cutter on the head assembly to trim boards hurts my hand.
The squaring arm is a waste of money. It gets in the way and doesn't stay square.

I own a C&H but would like a Speed-mat.

Mitch
 
I have used the Fletcher 2100, the bearings would have to get cleaned occasionally but it was a decent cutter. When I opened my own shop I bought the C+H pro 48 as you mentioned and also have been battling the "hook" . Thanks to Hobbes I am going to switch to single edge blades. Over all the cutting head is smoother because it glides and doesn't roll on bearings. I hope this helped.
 
I forgat to add that I think the abitlity to cut wider mat reveals is better on the fletcher, if memory serves I think you can cut up to a 8 or 9 inch border with the bar on as oppsed to a 5 or 6 with c+h. These numbers are half guessed but it was something I noticed on the first multi opening I did with my new cutter.
I would personally still buy the C+H but you can't really go wrong with either.
 
Agree with all the above. Except I prefer the C&H head to the Fletcher! The bearing sounds bother me, don't know why, just prefer the quiet glide of the C&H.

I would buy the Pro Plus over the Pro because of the mat size issue mentioned. I do a lot of multi-openings and the removing of the mat guide bar gets old after a while! But the single knob adjustment is great, and easy to check with the v-groove blocks.

Production stops yes, straight edge bar, great for measure the multi-openings, but would probably do without it if I had the longer base.
 
I've only used the C&H and no major problems with the exception of one .. as mentioned earlier, the squaring arm is constantly moving out of square. If someone has a hint on how to keep it square, I'd love to know.
 
Wally

In line with the old tongue twister of"How much wood would a woodchuck chuck"

I have no secrets on keeping the squaring arm square, but I do keep a square near my squaring arm to verify square before I square with it.

Honestly I do keep my carpenter square handy before squaring or making my lines for multi-openings. I also check that my mat guide is square fairly often, and after taking it apart for cleaning I square the whole thing all over again!
 
Bob,

Thank you for the response. I too keep a metal carpenters square near the cutter. Perhaps its the nature of the beast to require so much "squaring" and if so - so be it. Boy am I in a mellow mood.
 
Have found that squaring my C&H is so much more square by carefully using a 30x40 sheet of glass to do the squaring. I have screwed my squaring arm down to the table, also. Hope this may help some. Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving!!!! Bud Cole
 
We too screwed out squaring arm down into a slight recess.

As for cutting wider mats on the Fletcher - - hooey! Partner likes that restraining bar and production stops, I do mine the old fashoned way with a marking guage and free-hand. Only way to cut a 12-12-12-14 mat. . . . don't ask.

yes it was a white mat, and yes it was a blk frame.
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