The following will add to what John Ranes has posted earlier.
Here are the steps I use when I square any Fletcher Wall cutter.
You need the following tools.
1. 6" to 10" Crescent wrench - the type with the roller piece that you rotate to open and close the jaws.
2. Correct 5/32 " Allen key for the three front button head machines screws that lock the right and left horizontal bars. (2 on left 1 on right)
3. 4 ft or preferably a 6 ft 2" wide carpenter ruler 1/8" thick that is absolutely straight. You can pick this up at your local lumber yard or hardware store for $12 to $20
4. A piece of 4ft x 6ft piece of cardboard - If you do not have a piece this big get the biggest piece of rigid material you can. A 40 x 60 piece of mat or foam board will also do. Check to make sure that one lower long edge is absolutely straight. If it does not look absolutely straight put a new blade into your cutter and cut an inch off the longest side to get a straight and clean edge.
5. Time & Patience - You might be able to accomplish the following in five minutes or fine adjusting may take up to 30 minutes.
6. A sharp pencil
7. A chair or three step stool to stand on so you can view the top of the cutting blade when lifted up to the top edge of the cardboard.
8. One 6" C-Clamp.
9. One Canadian beer or two US beers in the fridge to crack when finished. If you are south of the 49th and do not know why you only need one Canadian beer or two American beers then I can't help you. I think it has something to do with the exchange rate on beer. While the exchange rate on our dollar is lower the exchange rate on our beer is higher.
Definitions:
Right Squaring Edge Bar - the 48" piece of 1" x ¾" steel that the glass rests on in the left channel.
Left Squaring Edge Bar - the 24" (F3000 48" and 60") or 30" in a F3100 - piece of 1" x ¾" steel that the glass rests on in the right channel.
Eccentric Nut - the large nuts that you rotate on the back of the right and left squaring Edge Bars. They rotate around the button head screw. There are two of the left side and one on the right side. The hole drilled in the centre of these nuts is off-centre so the nut moves the Squaring Bars up and down when the nut is rotated.
12 Step Programme for Squaring the Fletcher Glass and Card Cutters
Step by Step Procedure
1. Check the horizontal "straightness" of the left and right bars by laying your 4ft or 6 ft ruler on edge along the two bars or in the "glass channel" Put the ruler into the left side and slide it to the middle where the gap is between the left and the right bar. Carefully examine if the left bar is absolutely flush with the lower edge of your carpenters ruler that is on edge. Be particular to look by the centre locking button head machine screw. If the left bar is "concave" or lower it needs to be raised. If it is "convex" or high then it needs to be lowered. Adjust only this centre bolt and nut to make sure your left bar is "flat." To adjust this put the crescent wrench on the eccentric nut on the back, loosen the button head machine screw, then rotate the crescent wrench to the left or the right to bring the squaring bar flush with the straight edge.
2. Set the ruler on the left squaring edge bar and slowly slide the ruler to the right while looking and "feeling" what happens when it initially touches the left side of the right squaring edge bar. If both the right and the left bar are level then the ruler should simply slide onto the right bar. If the right bar is too low on the far right end, you will note a small "bump" by the ruler when it initially touches the right bar, and as you continue to slide the straight edge to the right you will see space under the right side of the straight edge. If the right squaring edge bar is too high, at the outer right end, then the ruler will slowly lift up off the left side as it is pushed to the right, and you will see space under the ruler on the left and right side.
3. To adjust the right Squaring Edge Bar. - One person can do this, but I usually get someone to hold the ruler down snug against the left squaring bar with two hands spread apart. Slide the ruler to the right so that the right end of the ruler is about 1" in from the right outer end of the right squaring edge bar. Put the crescent wrench on the large eccentric nut on the back of the button head machine screw that locks the right squaring edge bar and loosen the machine screw in the front with the 5/32" Allen key. Examine the outer right end of the ruler and note if it is above the squaring edge bar or resting on the squaring bar. Hold the crescent wrench with your left hand and hold the outer right hand end of the carpenters ruler with your right thumb and index finger. Move the ruler from front to back while you rotate the crescent wrench back and forth. (If you do not have a second person helping to hold the long straight edge flat and tight on the left side, the C-Clamp comes in handy to hold it tight to free up two hands). While moving the ruler backwards and forwards and rotating the crescent wrench to the left and the right, listen for the initial contact of the ruler and the squaring bar. Fine adjust the right squaring edge bar so it is just barely touching the carpenters ruler. At this point the left bar and the right bar should be in a flat level plane. Your cutter may or may not be square. The next step will start to align the squareness.
4. Take the large piece of matboard, foamboard or corrugated cardboard and place it on the cutter with one half of it to the right of the cutting ahead and one half to the left. Then clamp the material with the hold down clamp. Then carefully cut all the way through the sheet at the bottom of the board for about one inch up from the bottom. Then cut down from the top about one inch. Then remove the board and making sure the bottom cut remains at the bottom turn the board back to front and put it back in the cutter.
5. Then align the lower cut so that it aligns exactly with the cutting blade at the bottom and set the clamp down on the board.
6. Raise the cutting head to the top of the board while standing on the three step stool or chair. Gently lower the cutting blade against the board and before cutting, note where it is going to cut relative to the original cut made before the board was turned over. Then cut into the board.
7. If the cut you have made at the top is to the left of the original cut then you must lower the left hand squaring edge bar. If the cut you have made is to the right of the original cut then you must raise the left hand squaring bar. If the two cuts you have made at the top are on top of each other then your cutter is square.
8. How much do you raise and lower the left side squaring edge bar while adjusting for squareness? This is the crucial adjustment. Before you do any adjusting take the sharp pencil and rub it back and forth on the top of the far left top side of the left squaring bar against the back of the channel. This will leave a visual mark for you to determine how much you raise or lower the bar. Do not raise or lower the left hand squaring bar more than the pencil width you have drawn.
9. Raise or lower the left squaring edge bar the width of the line. Then place your straight edge on the left squaring edge bar with the right side of the straight edge at the outer right end of the left sided squaring bar. Loosen the locking bolt in the middle of the left squaring edge bar and rotate the eccentric nut on the back with the crescent wrench as required to make the left bar absolutely flat. When you have made it flat then go back to Step #3 above and do this procedure over again to get the left and the right bars absolutely level. Your cutter will be square when the two cuts at the top cut exactly on top of each other.
10. Go back to Step # 4 and again follow down to Step 9. Repeat this as many times as required moving the left squaring edge bar a pencil width at a time to arrive at the perfectly squared machine.
11. When you have gotten the cutter as square as you can, set your production stop on the left side for about 30". Then cut a piece of board to 30 x 30 and measure the diagonals to see if they are identical. If they are, then you know you have a square machine. If you do not have a production stop, use the c-clamp to clamp the end of the ruler at 30" so your measurement is exact.
12. Go get the well deserved cold beer.
Notes:
Carefully check that the left squaring edge bar is actually true. I have seen two "out of the box machines" that came with permanent, uncorrectable curves in the left squaring bar from the factory. These are impossible to work with and the squaring bar must be replaced under warranty.
It is rare that the left side of the Fletcher Glass cutter is not square on arrival when brand new. What I usually discover is that the customer will fail to correctly line up the right side. Then they start adjusting the left side and put the new cutter completely out of alignment.
The first tendency when you see that your two upper cuts are more than 1/8" apart is to move the left squaring bar up and down TOO MUCH. Follow step # 8 and you will quickly square up your machine.
Good Luck,
Alan Sturgess
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40 East 60th Avenue, Vancouver Canada, eh!
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