Fillet Cutter Which One

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K

klh

Grumbler in Training
Joined
Jul 16, 2001
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Loc
Auburn, NH. USA
I am about to purchase a fillet cutter and would like some help choosing one. Should it be the
Mini-Mitre from ITW-AMP or the Trim Cutter from
Frame Square. I have not used any of these before
and your thoughts on these two pieces of equipment
would be a great help.
 
Art Mac Micro Mitre, absolutely hands down, no question. Was I emphatic enough? The only one of your choices I've used is the Framesquare. I never had a happy fillet cutting experience until I started using the Micro Mitre a couple of years ago. It is more substantial than the Framesquare. There is not one profile I have found difficult to cut on the Micro Mitre. The hardwoods on the Framesquare were challenging to say the least. When you have to slice little bits off the Micro Mitre also handles that much better than the Framesquare. That's my story, I'm sticking to it. Good Luck!
 
I can't remember the exact name of the one we have in our shop. It might be the Art Mac Mighty Mitre. It's made in England. I like it a lot. It paid itself off in no time.
 
I just saw Kathy's post. She beat me by three minutes! See, great minds think alike. I think she got the name right. I must have been thinking of Mighty Mouse.
 
Thank you for such a fast reply. I have not heard of the Art Mac Micro Mitre before. Who do I contact to get info on it.
Thanks Again.
Ken
 
Larson Juhl carries it. Jana is right, it is made in the UK, and great minds do think alike! :D
 
Just another opinion to muddy the water.....

The comments about the ArtMac are fairly accurate. It is much beefier and more expensive than the FrameSquare but there were so many problems with the one we received that it never cut the first fillet. There is no fine tuning the mitre angle and the one we received was set to 43.7 degrees on the left mitre and 45.8 degrees on the right mitre. I don't remember the length of the measuring guide, but it was not long enough for many of the fillets that we build. There were parts missing, which LJ could not provide. The measure tape was either eighths or sixteenths which was not small enough units to suit our needs. I seem to remember problems with the safety device being impractical if left in place and shame on the person who uses the cutter without it. There is no calibration or maintenance documents that come with it, nor does LJ Tech Support have access to any of these documents for it.

The FrameSquare cutter is made to cut fillet and also plastic rabbetspace. It comes with an extension to the measuring guide that has accomodated the longest fillet we have ever sold. Its mitre is adjustable so that a perfect 45 mitre can be obtained if there is some reason it gets out of calibration. The safetyshield is much more practical for fillet use. It does not handle the large hardwood fillets as easily as the ArtMac would, but that has not been a significant problem for us. The really large fillets are cut and shaved more easily with our FrameSquare mitre saw. Measuring guide is in 32nds inch. FrameSquare is only a phone call away if you ever have problems.

Like any tool, either will take some practice to make perfect. There are times where Kathleen measures the mat opening and makes a single chop on the FrameSquare and the fillet fits perfect... no shaving required.

Our vote is FrameSquare, hands down. That's my story, I'm sticking to it. ;)
 
Rick, isn't Frame Square the one with the feet that can bend, or did they redesign it? What are your thoughts on this part of the design? I think it's Frame Square that has this potential problem, but I might be wrong.

I like the solidity of the Art Mac. Ours seems to cut accurately. I don't use the measuring guide. I prefer to mark the fillet itself and shave. In any case, it sure beats the way I used to cut fillets - with an Exacto saw and tiny miter box!
 
Jana,

The FrameSquare is definitely not as rugged as the others, but we have not had a problem with ours. If the chopper were not mounted solidly, using all 4 mounting holes, there is a good chance that the feet could bend. Especially when the hardwood or large softwood fillets are being cut. We just mounted ours to a 5 ft 1x12 shelfboard that we move around. I looked at building an extension handle to use with the tough fillets but decided there was too great a chance of tweaking the chopper frame out of kilter.

We are spoiled by the CMC. The cutouts are perfect and Kathleen just sets the chopper to the dimension of the opening and cuts all 4 rails of fillet. Occasionally she has to shave or use the mitre sander for a turn or two. Before that, she was cutting all fillets on the 10" tablesaw.
 
I have the Framesquare version, and find it o.k., but have nothing to compare it with...the only complaint so far is that some profiles of fillet are too large to fit into it, and others are too hard. I also use the big Framesquare saw to cut those little beasties. As a side issue, I have a ITW-AMP v-nailer that has been giving me a small, annoying little problem. The manual does not cover this, and despite repeated attempts to contact their technical folks, I get no response. How rude! How annoying! I would be really hacked off if it was something major! Do they have this attitude with ALL of their eqquipment?

Leslie
 
I use my Morso foot-powered chopper. No fillet too large, hard, or small for that baby! It's been known to chop a few frames too! :D
 
I've never been comfortable cutting fillets on a saw, just my personal experience. I wonder if Rick got a bad Art Mac. (Duh) I've worked in three different stores and used three different machines and I didn't have any problem with the calibration. There just has to be some way to adjust the angles although I've never had to do that. He is right about the short extension, but I mark them from the mat window so that isn't a problem for me. I think other than the hardwoods the Framesquare is probably just as good, but they make a lot of those fillets with hardwood. I've always wondered why, it is not like they need to be strong, they are purely decorative.
 
We just use the Morso guillotine for everything. Thats all folks
 
We have a Jyden chopper. In fact, I don't like using it at all. I would hate to cut fillets on that. I remember something I heard once about using the right tool for the right job. That's not to say that those who use a large chopper aren't right. If it works - great. It's just that for me it wouldn't the best way to cut fillets. The fillet chopper chops like 'buttah' (pronounced a la Mike Myers on Coffee Talk).
 
I love the Frame_Square. I have the chopper from AMP that came free with my v-nailer, and while it does the job nicely on wood fillets, it's not so hot on plastic ones. Just my 2 cents.
 
My Morso chopper--and it is an oldie--does such a good job I could not imagine buying a piece of extra equipment for filets. I rather put that money to my CMC. My filets come out perfect on the chopper --just cut a tad bit bigger and wittle down--not that time consuming. I cannot imagine a machine that would do it any better.

Are these machines you talk of so good that you measure once and cut once? I really don't know a thing of these filet machines--but cannot imagine it working any better than the good old chopper.

The measuring scale on the chopper seems to be about right on for me on filets. I just cut 1/16 bigger and then whittle down from there. Nice results.
 
Of course it just dawned on me that maybe you don't have a chopper-maybe you get your frames in chopped or use a saw to cut. So the chopper may not be an answer for you. After thought.
 
Fillet cutters can't possibly be better than a saw or chopper. What they can do is leave the saw or chopper free to cut frames. It can increase productivity.

They can't cut of your whole hand, but I'm sure they can be just as dangerous to fingers as a saw or chopper.
 
I use my Morso chopper. It took a bit of time to work out the kinks in my technique but can turn them out pretty fast. Trick is in measuring the length of the fillet; measuring with a tape works just fine but you may need to trim a bit.

Jack Cee
 
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