Gunnar 601 (ramble)

Lance E

Lance E

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Forum Donor
Joined
Oct 31, 1999
Posts
3,869
From
Hamilton, New Zealand
Business
Imageland
I am interested to know if anyone else has a Gunnar 601 on the way or installed...

Four days into having the machine I cannot get used to how darned fantastic a CMC is, very annoyed for having not bought one a long time ago. It would be fair to say that I can already see a saving in labour although I have not calculated just how much time it has saved exactly. We have purchased the machine simply on the premise of saving on labour by the increased productivity, the ability to add new and different product variations was a minor factor and will be the "icing" as such. There has been a fantastic reaction to the variation of ready-made matboards that have been introduced simply by way of us playing with the machine and testing different modes/limitations etcetera.

We purchased the machine from Hughes Mouldings in Australia and their service is as good as the machine. It would be fair to say that I have not had service as good with any machinery purchase (although we didn't get any Jelly-Beans) even with machines five times the price.

I think the ultimate question with a CMC would have to be "who put the first cut in the table" I answer with great pride that I have personally been responsible for having made this error!!! (in fact I am still the only one to have done so).

There was only one concern that I had prior to the machines arrival and that would be the clamping system, there was no reason to be concerned.

The operating software may appear to be a little clumsy and difficult to use at first, after the first hour of training I could say that I was very comfortable with it. After four days I don't think I can fault it.

more ramble later...
 
I just came back from a customer where I installed another Valiani Future CNC cutter. We distribute these machines in Belgium, Holland, Luxemburg & north of France.

I do not want to say bad things from the competition, but I can only recommend "our" VALIANI FUTURE a lot. My customers will confirm this!

Check out the Valiani website for more information:
http://www.valiani.com
You can contact them for more information, as they have a worldwide net of distributors.
 
Lance, I am VERY happy for you. I think it's great that a person of your advanced years can still get so excited about something.

Best of all, it seems unlikely that the manufacturer is in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings and failed to mention it during the installation of your CMC.

I guess this means that Bogframe is the last hold-out framer in the world using a manual cutter.
 
Hi Lance

Just a word of warning the arguments have started in Europe as to who is responsible for warranty/support on Gunner machines………….from what I can gather Gunner say the Agent/Distributor is responsible and the distributors are saying it should be Gunner, I know of one distributor in Europe who is considering washing his hands of Gunner the whole thing has got so messy.

Hopefully Hughes have sorted the warranty question before they started to sell the Gunner product in your part of the world…………I know from another life that agents tend to over look the warranty question in their haste to launch products into the market place………..Gunner would represent a new area of departure and technical expertise for Hughes.

Other than the warranty question I’m lead to believe that Gunner make a great product.
 
Dermot,

Hughes have indeed been selling Gunnar CMC's for many years. I first saw one about three or four years ago. I bought a used one about 18 months ago and so far have not needed any new parts or had any problems worth speaking about.
 
Regardless of any machinery purchase it pays to know where or how to get parts without the brand stamp on them, this may or may not be the case with the Gunnar but I would have to say that the agreement seems to have that aspect covered.
I can assure you that I was not impressed paying 70 or so dollars for a stop on the Fletcher 3100 when an engineer quoted 30 to make one. That was a day of learning...
 
Thank you for your kind words Lance (and Osgood!)

After meeting Lance, I can't exactly agree that he is of of "Advanced Years", but he is certainly one of the few framers I have met that has an extremely well rounded knowledge of the framing and photographic industries.

We have been selling Gunnar in Australia & New Zealand for over 4 years now, and Dermot is right, it was certainly a new era of technical expertise for our company... but after selling well over 100 Gunnars in our market to date, we pretty much got it figured out!

When we took on Gunnar, we also willingly took on the warranty and support for a couple of machines that already existed in our market. Compared to some of the other brands of equipment we sell, Gunnar is easily the most reliable product we sell.

As for Gunnar being in the middle of bankrupty proceedings .. ??? .. huh?? ... what?..... Sorry to use a harsh word, but I guess that must be some "crap" someone has stirred up? Looks like I will have to read this forum more often to "diffuse" these false rumors as they arise.

With the consistant sales we are putting through on Gunnar machines alone.. it is obvious they are well and truely far from that situation, and have never been close to it?

Happy Matcutting, & Seasons Greetings

Jared Davis
Hughes Mouldings Pty Ltd

jared@hughesmouldings.com.au
 
Originally posted by Jared Davis:
As for Gunnar being in the middle of bankrupty proceedings .. ??? .. huh?? ... what?..... Sorry to use a harsh word, but I guess that must be some "crap" someone has stirred up? Looks like I will have to read this forum more often to "diffuse" these false rumors as they arise.
Click to expand...
Jared and others,

That was a smart-arse reference to Regal Crown Industries, manufacturer of the Mat Maestro and iMat CMCs.

After RCI filed for bankruptcy in 2001, they continued to sell matcutters. Some buyers received non-working machines. Some didn't receive anything at all. I was one of the "lucky ones" that received a functioning CMC, but without the availability of parts, support or software upgrades. (A new company has begun offering these things.)

I checked out the matcutter prior to purchase, but failed to account for a change of leadership in the company itself. I have been preaching to framers ever since about the dangers of inadequate research. Many small framers were ruined or financially crippled by the RCI fiasco. The rest of us wish we had purchased equipment from one of the more stable manufacturers, such as Gunnar or Fletcher (among others.)

I'm quite sure Lance recognized the reference, but it was irresponsible of me to assume that everyone would. I need to go back to school and take Communications 101. I apologize for any perceived inference that Gunnar was ever mentioned in any bankruptcy rumours.
 
Back
Top