Fletcher Substrate Cutter

[Baz]

So this year, cutting so many covid related pvc signs by hand. I swore that i was going to buy a Fletcher cutting system!

I looked into it a little bit but did not find many places selling these things in Canada.
Grimco Canada had it listed but was not in stock and ordering it from them would mean they would order it from the US and ship it up here. That made the unit more expensive than it should be and decided to hold off on the purchase.

Last Tuesday i got an advertising email from one of my other suppliers saying they had them in stock.
Well, i called late afternoon on Tuesday. Wednesday morning got a call from accounting and they had an invoice for me. I paid it. Received the system today! Woohoo!

I plan on a wall mount installation.
Is there anything i should look out for. Anything to avoid. Anything to make sure of?
I haven't read the installation manual yet so i am just asking in general.

 

[pjfmeister]

been looking at these for a while....please share your thoughts once you get it going...does your model also cut ACP?

 

[Baz]

From the specs sheet:

Multi-Material Cutting Capabilities

• Aluminum Composites (ACM) up to 4mm
• Aluminum Sheets up to .063"
• Corrugated Plastics up to 1/2" (13mm)
• PVC and Foamboard up to 1/2" (13mm)
• Acrylics/Plexiglass up to 1/4" (6mm)
• Glass/Mirrors up to 1/4" (6mm)
• MDF up to 3/32" (2.4mm)
• Metal Cutting for Print-on-Metal Applications

 

[Gino]

We got ours from Grimco about 10 years ago at a show Grimco was holding over the weekend in Connecticut. The Fletcher rep was there and explained just about everything to me about the unit. He said it will stay and cut more accurately if you use the tripod, instead of a wall mount. Also, we can cut 6mm ACM. Never tried the glass or metal. Have other equipment for that. I think you've seen ours in action and it only takes up a little less than 3' out from the wall, fully set up. We also have a laser at the top to help in case it goes outta square, which has really only happened once from a clumsy person who fell into it. Wonder who that could've been ??

Only thing to be careful about is, don't overtighten the hold-down bar. Although it doesn't look like it's tight up against, it is.

 

[balstestrat]

Just do the calibration properly and tighten things up. Good to go.

Plenty of SteelTraks out there, they make some good time for their owners.

 

[signheremd]

We have ours mounted so that bottom of material is sitting about 30" above the floor - wouldn't go any higher. We use it almost every day. Love to flatbed print 4x8 sheets of coro and trim down to 10x 18x24s - fast and easy. We use it on polystyrene, komatex and foamcore too. Enjoy

 

[balstestrat]

We have ours mounted so that bottom of material is sitting about 30" above the floor - wouldn't go any higher. We use it almost every day. Love to flatbed print 4x8 sheets of coro and trim down to 10x 18x24s - fast and easy. We use it on polystyrene, komatex and foamcore too. Enjoy

Why so high? You need to lift higher and reach higher, no?

 

[Baz]

Hi Gino. I appreciate the info about overtightening the hold-down bar (will look out for this).

I remember now you talking about the wall vs. tripod installation.
Thing is the specs say it has a depth of 43" on the tripod and 17" for wall mount.
My shop is less than a quarter of the size yours is . I have to try it wall mounted.
I have the perfect spot for it but if taking up 43", it would be awkward. (Doable, but it would take up important walking space)

I'll have a look at the hardware and if needed, get bigger lag bolts to secure the thing i will.
I've got plenty of levels i can use to make sure the thing is square.

 

[Baz]

I cut allot of Rowmark material for my laser engravers as well.
Looking forward to see how well it cuts that!

 

[signheremd]

Why so high? You need to lift higher and reach higher, no?

Comfortable height so you don't need to stoop. Good for 48" material, a bit lower would be better for 60" material.

 

[CanuckSigns]

We had the keen cut one, keep an eye on it, mine liked to constantly go out of square. It won't cut rowmark either, but you can score it and snap it.

 

[Gino]

We had the keen cut one, keep an eye on it, mine liked to constantly go out of square. It won't cut rowmark either, but you can score it and snap it.

Was yours floor or wall mounted ??

 

[Evan Gillette]

We picked one up at an auction a couple years ago, works good for the most part but we rarely use it. If anyone is looking for one I would consider selling and going to a table-mounted version. The problem we run into isn't with the machine, its the banana shaped coro sheets, which is the most common material we cut with it. I have just developed the habit of reaching for the straight edge and core claw instead, and I also stock 18x24 and 24x36 because it's cheaper than the time to break down 4x8s.

 

[Behrmon]

We've always struggled with our in regards to cutting ACM (otherwise basically fine), always get a bend due to the nature of the pass thru with the cutting wheel, unless we've been doing it wrong all this time?

 

[Evan Gillette]

We've always struggled with our in regards to cutting ACM (otherwise basically fine), always get a bend due to the nature of the pass thru with the cutting wheel, unless we've been doing it wrong all this time?

From talking with several reps, acm will do that unless clamped well. If you look at safety speed cuts dustfree cutter (similar setup) it has sliding stops to help keep the cut square.

 

[WYLDGFI]

We have had one of those for a number of years. There are ups and downs....the standard blades seem to create "wavy" cuts if you are not careful!! The ACM cutting adapter is nice.