Raggedy Rag Mat on Wizard

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PaulSF

PFG, Picture Framing God
Joined
Mar 30, 2006
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Cincinnati, OH
I've been having a heckuva time cutting Crescent 1159 (4 ply Antique White) on my Wizard. It's a 100% cotton rag mat, but it seems unusually soft and crumbly. When cutting with the Wizard 8500, I always get a slightly ragged edge -- not all the way around, just in isolated spots. And I don't have this problem with all cotton rag mats. Seems to be just this one.

Does anyone have any advice to counter this, or should I just introduce my mat sample to the dumpster?
 
Try putting the matboard in your drymount press and run it through a cycle. Program 1 would probably do nicely. With those nice soft cotton mats sometimes they soak up a lot of humidity and get mushy no matter how sharp the blade. Drying them out often helps.
 
Then put the mat corner sample in the trash.
1159 is a pain to cut with or without a CMC. Don't blame this one on Wizard.

While we are talking about cutting with a CMC, I have noticed about every tenth or so blade having a burr on the tip. This is a sure fire way of messing up a matboard and raising myblood pressure. I wouldn't be supprised if they could here me yell in Washington state.
 
Well, I just tried that, and didn't get a significantly better result. Also, the mat sample says "speck-free," and I'm picking specks out of the cut mat. So I think it goes into the dumpster.
 
Oh, this is not my day for cutting mats. I just did a suede-covered mat with a reverse bevel, because I'm putting a fillet in it, and the edges of the window are actually a very slight curve. I can tell just from looking, and it's even more apparent with the straight edge of the fillet up against the curve of the window.
 
CMB 1159 is a Rag Cotton Mounting Board. It probably does not have as much sizing in the board as the other cotton rag boards. This is why it might not work for french matting and why you get a ragged edged when cutting. Just my thinking.
 
Ah, thanks Mik -- I did not know that. I typically use an Artique alphacellulose mat as my mounting board. On really valuable pieces, I use the cardboard from the boxes my glass comes in.

Just kidding!
 
You should use 2259 or 2298, both antique white. 2259 is buffered, while 2298 is unbuffered.
 
PAUL:
I recently had two issues that I FINALLY got worked out with Wizard tech help.

ONE issue was a slight curve at the end of each cut. What seemed to correct that for me was that I was setting the blade too deep for specific mats. I had been told many times from tech help how very, very slight these blade depth measurements were (implying that they are so insignificant, I shouldn't worry about it) - so I just cranked it up by 1 or 2 (11-14 is all I used). BUT, as 'Ken' explained it to me, if the cut is making more than a decent scratch on the slip sheet, the blade setting for that mat is too much. He went through every blade depth setting and gave me which matboards should be used for each setting. This has really helped (I've tweaked it a tad for a couple mats)! My curves are gone!!! And that's all it took!

Another tech person said the cartridge could be loose, but after sending another - NOT! It was the blade depth.
 
Sherry, I think you are right about it being a blade depth issue. I cut a second mat from the same board, this time a regular bevel, and with a different blade depth -- and that came out fine.
 
Wizard has a list for blade depths for different mat boards? I bet this is in that owner's manual I never read.... yet.
 
Paul,
The only way to concistently cut 1159 and 1153 is on a manual cutter using a fresh blade to cut with. They are softer than the typical cresent 1100 series boards. I have never realy gotten a perfect cut with these boards. I usualy will sand the top edge of the bevel with a fine grain sandpaper to smooth the rough edges then polish them down with my bone. Unfortunately the 1159 is a unique color. The 1153 and 2253 are almost identical in color but the 1159 has more of a pinkish tone that the 2259 which has more of a yellow tone.

If you are going to cut it on your Wizard make sure that you have both a fresh blade in and also a frsh slip sheet to cut on. I can suggest adding a notch or two to the blade depth, say at 13.5 instead of 11.
 
I managed to get the three mats I needed with the 1159, although it took me three sheets of 32x40 matboard instead of one. And I did the sanding thing that you suggested. I don't think it will be noticeable when under glass. And now the sample is in the trash, so I won't run the risk of using it in a design again.

Considering how several people now have chimed in about their problems with this particular mat, I'm wondering if there's anyone that hasn't thrown out the sample yet!
 
Ellen,
I have never found the blade depth 'guideline' in any Wizard info - I've only read framer's banter it on TG/HH's.

This was the first time in 3 years that a Wizard "techie" offered this valuable information. Like I said - and he had mentioned it - I've changed a couple of them because the blade didn't cut through on a couple. I was encouraged to make a list of my different mats and before cutting one for an order, cut a small mat beforehand to be guarantee the blade depth, checking off each mat on the list once tested.
 
Anyone like to share their list with us, wherever it came from, Wizard or trial and error? Sure would save us all from more error, not to mention matboard.

You'd be our new best friend!!:D

Dani, is there a list of recommended matboard blade depths out there in Oz??
 
ditto Val

I second Vals request for the list...sounds like it could save me a lot of headache after my new baby (Ive named it Wizzy) arrives in 2 weeks. If I had a list of any value I would share it with you...honest I would.
 
A couple of years ago I had exactly the same issue with a BB mat; very dark bluish color, whose number I have happily forgotten and learned never to sell again - but not before I ruined 4 mats and lost a decent amount of hair and sanity.
 
Let me call Wizard again to see if he will email me this list. Honestly, he 'spit it out' so fast, I missed a couple. I will then post it on this thread.
 
As promised, I just spoke to the Wizard Tech Help Department and asked for the complete list of blade depths for each mat boards. I was told that Wizard prefers to work with each company on a "case by case" scenario because some times there are other situations that need to be addressed.

So......call them for assistance. They ARE very nice, you know!

I will again share this information given to me: it is important to note the slipboard after you've made a cut. If the slipboard has more than a scratch on it, the blade setting is too deep. And obvioulsy, if the mat is not pierced on all four sides, the mat depth s not deep enough.
 
I have just had Wizard's Australian Guru spend a couple of half-days giving me some training and my new Wizard a "tune-up".

I have, on a couple of occasions, had a problem with matts not being cut completely through even though they are the same board I have cut previously on the same setting. He told me that even in top quality boards the thickness of the material will vary fractionally from colour to colour. It is also a good idea to go a stop or so deeper for tight curves to compensate for depth lost through blade flex.

I used to cut my standard (Watermark) matts on 11 and Rag Matts on 10. Now I just cut everything on 11 and it seems to work out fine. The depth settings are pretty fine so even a couple of stops too deep probably wouldn't cause any grief.
 
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