An Old Tool Returns

[J.A.F.E.]

I bought this new some years ago. In todays money it would have been about 3k plus shipping and some accessories. But I made a bonehead move by selling it and have regretted it ever since. It's no longer made and I couldn't afford it now if it was so I decided I wanted to try and get it back. Luckily a friend was able to help in my quest and the buyer never could figure out how to use it I got it back.

It cuts circle and oval* shapes in picture frame matboard and foam board either beveled or straight and will also score glass in those shapes. Modern equipment does the mats via a computer driven flatbed cutter modeled on an X/Y plotter but they are very costly and large. And they won't do foamboard or glass.

I have a project coming up where I will need to cut some round and oval shapes and now I can get to it. I mounted it on a planer cart with casters as space here is limited. If there's interest I'll post some pix of things I have done with it.

The cutting surface is glass on top of an acrylic turntable. A glass cutting surface will not dull a cutting tool - this uses an X-Acto #22 blade.


*Note: technically they are ellipses.

[goodfellow]

Fancy! --- not everyday you see something like this. Glad it found its way back you Steve.

[slip knot]

I bet that does take some skill to run it correctly. Probably not many folks around who even know what it is much less how to use it.

[J.A.F.E.]

There is a learning curve. The basic shapes are pretty easy but some special treatments can get get a little tricky. Glass is tricky too because the shape must be released from the surrounding waste but glass always has challenges.

[john k]

I would look at it, guess, then still walk away confused

[Uncle Buck]

I would look at it, guess, then still walk away confused

Me too!

[bonneyman]

Glad it found it's way out of the Matrix to ya!

I've had that happen once or twice - so happy when you get something rare back in your tool box.

[skfarmer]

pics?

heck yea cuz i sure can't tell what it does from here.

[muddy]

I would look at it, guess, then still walk away confused

He explained it, and showed pictures and I'm still confused!

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

[J.A.F.E.]

Sorry for the delayed response had to take the pix and figure a better narrative than I did in the OP.

I did the following frames some time ago when I had the machine originally. The first one is a frame hanging in our guest bath. The mat is a double mat of the same white and I painted the bevels black.

The second one is a print hanging in our bedroom. I combined straight cuts and round cuts to do the corners. It, too is two layers of the same mat. Combining straight and round/oval cuts together is a bit tricky because round/ovals are normally cut from the front to show the bevel and straight cuts are done from the back.

The last one is an alien and his late cat Sinbad. The alien is camera shy while Sinbad is a ham. This combines a double oval and square corners with a third mat with a rectangular opening.

I took some additional pix of the cutter to show how it works in a little more, but not intricate, detail if there is interest.

[zeke]

Glass does not dull a blade? Is this true for most utility blades or are Exacto exceptionally hard?

[john k]

Lady here cuts the mat from forms she keeps on hand.  Never realized there was such a special jig to do this.  The middle pic looks like a page from a magazine, 1920s, done by an artist the name of Maxfield Parrish.  He did dozens of illustrations, and advertising.   I have a similar pic advertising. MAZDA automotive lamps.  Mazda was a US trade name, not Japanese. 

[J.A.F.E.]

Glass does not dull a blade? Is this true for most utility blades or are Exacto exceptionally hard?

No glass does not dull blades in general and the glass does not get scratched nothing special about the X-Actos. It makes a good cutting board as long as you don't chip the edges of the glass.

[J.A.F.E.]

Lady here cuts the mat from forms she keeps on hand.  Never realized there was such a special jig to do this.  The middle pic looks like a page from a magazine, 1920s, done by an artist the name of Maxfield Parrish.  He did dozens of illustrations, and advertising.   I have a similar pic advertising. MAZDA automotive lamps.  Mazda was a US trade name, not Japanese.

It is indeed Maxfield Parrish. It was removed from a book of his images. Very good eye!

[Uncle Buck]

I bet that does take some skill to run it correctly. Probably not many folks around who even know what it is much less how to use it.

That's me!