Fetcher 2100 injury

southernmoon

CGF, Certified Grumble Framer
Joined
Nov 10, 2002
Posts
110
Loc
Charleston, SC
Recently one of my employees got a nasty cut (requiring 6 stitches)while cutting mat board on a Fletcher 2100. She was using the straight edge cutter when the blade slipped out of the cartridge and stuck in the mat. Fortunately ???, she cut her thumb on the dull edge of the razor blade.

I have had the blades slip out of the cartridge before but never causing a severe injury.

Anyone else have this type of problem?


Carol
 
Amazing. I guess the "Dull" edges isn't very dull.

Sorry about your employee. I can commiserate. My left ring finger is healing nicely now, after losing half the tip from glass breaking.
 
I have had blades slip out of the straight cartridge on my Hendrixson head/Keeton Kutter - but I have been aware enough to avoid injury. Came THIS close, though, a couple of times.

I think its one of those things that a person just has to be careful about. It could probably happen to any type of cutter - blade gets dull - board is dense - nut comes loose.

OUCH.
 
Those of us who work with sharp blades all day long occasionally get cut. Accidents happen. Sorry about your employee.

This kind of injury happens with all kinds of cutters -- the Fletcher machines certainly are no more prone to accidents than any others. On the contrary, I think the cartridge design is more user-friendly than machines that don't use them.
 
southernmoon,
I had almost the identical accident happen about 6 years ago. The injury was to my index finger of my right hand and required 6 weeks in a splint and over a year of therapy before I could fully close my finger. It still hurts and is somewhat stiff.

After I returned from the emergency room and investigated the scene of the crime, it became evident that the blade had been inserted into the cartridge upside down, which is why it was such a nasty accident. I now instruct all new employees several times on the blade changes, and require them to call me to observe the blade changes for several more times before I let them take it on for themselves. It was bad enough that it happened to me, but I was so thankful it didn't happen to an employee.

I do think the blade has a tendency to drag out of the cartridge when cutting, but it's usually because the blade is extended too far for the material I'm trying to cut. BTW, I've owned 3 different brands of matcutters, and it happens on all of them. This is one of the main reasons I've recently purchased the wall mounted 3000. Now I don't have to do all of my
trimming on the 2100.
 
I had a small similiar accident many years ago but not so bad. I always hate removing the extra screw they put on the Signature cutter I have now which uses an allen wrench to remove it before a blade can be removed. I'm sure it has saved me from more cuts.
 
Of course, later when I couldn't sleep last night, I remembered that when my little accident happened I had a Fletcher 2000 (not the 2100).
Not that it really matters which model I had--it was still operator error.

Jerry's got a point. Now that we have the Fletcher 3000 (did I mention that 100 times yet?), we all fight over who gets to cut the acrylic.
 
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